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 CHARITY 
 
 AND ITS FRUITS; 
 
 OR, 
 
 CHRISTIAN LOVE AS MANIFESTED IN 
 THE HEART AND LIFE. 
 
 BY 
 
 JONATHAN EDWAKDS, 
 
 SOMETIME PASTOR OF THE CHURCH AT NORTHAMPTON, MASS., AND 
 PRESIDENT OF THE COLLEGE OF NEW JEIISE1'. 
 
 EDITED FROM THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPTS, 
 
 .A, ( WITH AN INTRODUCTION, ^^i 
 
 BY TRYON EDWARDS. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS 
 
 •2 6 5 BROAD W A Y . 
 
 1852. 
 
 
■ . -E 3 5 
 
 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1851, by 
 
 CARTER & BROTHERS, 
 In the Clerk's Office of the Southern District of New York. 
 
 T. B. SMITH, STEREOTYPES., 
 216 William Street, New York. 
 
 R. CRAIGHEAD, PRINTER, 
 112 Fulton Street. 
 
 ■+ -- - - 
 
 • V 
 
 «J \ 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Perhaps no person ever lived, who so habitually 
 and carefully committed his thoughts, on almost every 
 subject, to writing, as the elder President Edwards. 
 His ordinary studies were pursued, pen in hand, and 
 with his note-books before him ; and he not only often 
 stopped, in his daily rides, by the way-side, but fre- 
 quently rose even at midnight, to commit to paper any 
 important thought that had occurred to him. 
 
 As the result of this habit, his manuscripts are prob- 
 ably more thoroughly the record of the intellectual 
 life of their author, than those of any other individual 
 who has a name in either the theological or literary 
 world. These manuscripts are also very numerous. 
 The seventeenth century was an age of voluminous 
 authorship. The works of Bishop Hall amount to ten 
 volumes octavo ; Lightfoot's to thirteen.; . Jeremy Tay- 
 lor's, to fifteen ; Dr. Goodwin's, to twenty ; Owen's, to 
 
IV INTRODUCTION. 
 
 twenty-eight ; while Baxter's would extend to some six- 
 ty volumes, or from thirty to forty thousand closely-print- 
 ed octavo pages. The manuscripts of Edwards, if all 
 published, would be more voluminous than the works of 
 any of these writers, if possibly the last be excepted. 
 And these manuscripts have been carefully preserved 
 and kept together ; and about three years since were 
 committed to the editor of this work, as sole permanent 
 trustee, by all the then surviving grandchildren of their 
 author. 
 
 Included in these manuscripts are various papers, of 
 great interest and value, that have never been given to 
 the public, among which are the Lectures contained in 
 this volume. These Lectures were first preached by 
 Mr. Edwards in 1738, in a series of sermons to the 
 people of his charge in Northampton, and were appa- 
 rently designed by himself for publication ; for they 
 were written out in full, and soon after they were com- 
 pleted he began his discourses on the " History of Re- 
 demption," which, it is known, he intended should be 
 published. After his death they were selected for pub- 
 lication by Dr. Hopkins and Dr. Bellamy ; and by the 
 latter were in part copied out and prepared for the 
 press, when for some reason he was interrupted in 
 
INTRODUCTION. V 
 
 their preparation, so that now, for the first time, they 
 are given to the public. 
 
 The subject of these Lectures is eminently practical 
 and important. Love is the first outgoing of the re- 
 newed soul to God ; " We love him because he first 
 loved us." It is the sure evidence of a saving work of 
 grace in the soul ; " The fruit of the Spirit, is love" It 
 lies at the very foundation of Christian character ; we 
 are " rooted and grounded in love.'''' It is the path in 
 which all the true children of God are found ; they 
 " walk in love :" the bond of their mutual union ; 
 their hearts are " knit together in love :" their protec- 
 tion in the spiritual warfare ; they are to put on " the 
 breast-plate of love ;" the fulness and completeness of 
 their Christian character ; they are " made perfect in 
 love :" the spirit through which they may fulfil all the 
 divine acquirements ; for " love is the fulfilling of law :" 
 that by which they may become like their Father in 
 heaven, and fitted for his presence ; for " God is love" 
 and Heaven is a world of love. 
 
 As to the character of the Lectures, it is sufficient in 
 a word to say, that they are marked throughout, by 
 that strong and clear thought, those broad and compre- 
 hensive views of truth, that thorough knowledge of hu- 
 
VI INTRODUCTION". 
 
 man nature, and that accurate and familiar acquaint- 
 ance with the Scriptures, which characterize the works 
 of their distinguished author. It is believed they will 
 at once take rank with his well-known works on the 
 " Will," the "Affections," and " Redemption," and be 
 deemed as valuable in their practical bearings, as the 
 first is in its metaphysical, the second in its experi- 
 mental, or the third in its historical. Of these Lec- 
 tures, as of all his works, it may be said, as Johnson 
 said to Boswell when asked by the latter, " What works 
 of Baxter's he should read ?" " Read all, for they are 
 all excellent." 
 
 T. E. 
 
 New London, Conn. 
 November, 1851. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 LECTURE I. 
 
 PAGE 
 ALL TRUE GRACE IN THE HEART, SUMMED UP IN 
 
 CHARITY, OR LOVE 1 
 
 LECTURE II. 
 
 CHARITY, OR LOVE, MORE EXCELLENT THAN THE 
 
 EXTRAORDINARY GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT . . 38 
 
 LECTURE III. 
 
 ALL THAT CAN BE DONE OR SUFFERED, IN VAIN 
 
 WITHOUT CHARITY OR LOVE . . . .73 
 
 LECTURE IV. 
 
 CHARITY MEEK IN BEARING EVIL AND INJURIES . 96 
 
 LECTURE V. 
 
 CHARITY CHEERFUL AND FREE IN DOING GOOD . 139 
 
Vlll CONTENTS. 
 
 LECTURE VI. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHARITY, THE OPPOSITE OF AN 
 
 ENVIOUS SPIRIT 161 
 
 LECTURE VII. 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHARITY, AN HUMBLE SPIRIT . .185 
 
 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHARITY, THE OPPOSITE OF A SELFISH 
 SPIRIT 
 
 LECTURE IX. 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHARITY, THE OPPOSITE OF AN ANGRY 
 OR WRATHFUL SPIRIT 
 
 LECTURE X. 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHARITY, THE OPPOSITE OF A CENSO- 
 RIOUS SPIRIT 
 
 LECTURE XL 
 
 ALL TRUE GRACE IN THE HEART TENDS TO HOLY 
 PRACTICE IN THE LIFE .... 
 
 294 
 
 318 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 ix 
 
 • 
 
 LECTURE XII. 
 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHARITY WILLING TO UNDERGO ALL SUFFERINGS FOR 
 
 
 CHRIST . . 
 
 361 
 
 LECTURE XIII. 
 
 
 ALL THE CHRISTIAN GRACES CONNECTED AND MU- 
 
 
 TUALLY DEPENDENT 
 
 386 
 
 LECTURE XIV. 
 
 
 CHARITY, OR TRUE GRACE, NOT TO BE OVERTHROWN 
 
 
 
 410 
 
 LECTURE XV. 
 
 
 THE HOLY SPIRIT FOREVER TO BE COMMUNICATED 
 
 
 TO THE SAINTS, IN CHARITY OR LOVE . 
 
 433 
 
 LECTURE XVI. 
 
 
 HEAVEN A WORLD OF CHARITY OR LOVE 
 
 463 
 
LECTURE I. 
 
 CHARITY, OR LOYE THE SUM OF ALL VIRTUE. 
 
 " Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and 
 have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a 
 tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophesy, 
 and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and 
 though I have aJI faith, so that I could remove mountains, 
 and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I be- 
 stow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my 
 body Co be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me 
 nothing." — 1 Corinthians xiii. 1-3. 
 
 In these words we observe — First, that some- 
 thing is spoken of as of special importance, 
 and as peculiarly essential in Christians, which 
 the Apostle calls charity. And this charity, 
 we find, is abundantly insisted on in the New 
 Testament by Christ, and his apostles, — more 
 insisted on, indeed, than any other virtue. 
 
 But, then, the word "charity," as used in 
 the ISTew Testament, is of much more exten- 
 sive signification, than as it is used generally 
 in common discourse. What persons very 
 1 
 
LOVE THE SUM OF ALL VIRTUE. 
 
 often mean by "charity," in their ordinary 
 conversation, is a disposition to hope and 
 think the best of others, and to put a good 
 construction on their words and behavior; 
 and sometimes the word is used for a disposi- 
 tion to give to the poor. But these things 
 are only certain particular branches, or fruits 
 of that great virtue of charity which is so 
 much insisted on throughout the New Testa- 
 ment. The word properly signifies love, or 
 that disposition or affection whereby one is 
 dear to another ; and the original (" agape"), 
 which is here translated "charity," might 
 better have been rendered " love? y for that 
 is the proper English of it : so that by char- 
 ity in the New Testament, is meant the very 
 same thing as Christian love ; and though it 
 be more frequently used for love to men, yet 
 sometimes it is used to signify not only love 
 to men, but love to God. So it is manifestly 
 used by the Apostle in this epistle, as he ex- 
 plains himself in chapter viii. 1 — "Knowl- 
 edge puffeth up, but charity edifieth," &c. 
 Here the comparison is between knowledge 
 and charity — and the preference is given to 
 charity, because knowledge puffeth up, but 
 charity edifieth. And then, in the next two 
 
LOVE THE SUM OF ALL VIRTUE. 3 
 
 verses, it is more particularly explained how 
 knowledge usually puffs up, and why charity 
 edifleth ; so that what is called charity in 
 the first verse, is called loving God in the 
 third, for the very same thing is evidently 
 spoken of in the two places. And doubtless 
 the apostle means the same thing by charity 
 in this thirteenth chapter, that he does in the 
 eighth ; for he is here comparing the same 
 two things together that he was there, viz. : 
 knowledge and charity. " Though I have all 
 knowledge and have not charity, I am noth- 
 ing ;" and again, " charity never faileth, but 
 — knowledge, it shall vanish away." So that 
 by charity here, we are doubtless to under- 
 stand Christian love in its full extent, and 
 whether it be exercised toward God, or our 
 fellow-creatures. 
 
 And this charity is here spoken of, as that 
 which is, in a distinguishing manner, the 
 great and essential thing : which will appear 
 more fully when we observe, Secondly, what 
 things are mentioned as being in vain with- 
 out it, viz. : the most excellent things that 
 ever belong to natural men ; the most excel- 
 lent privileges, and the most excellent per- 
 formances. First, the most excellent privi- 
 
LOVE THE SUM OF ALL VIRTUE. 
 
 leges, such as preaching with tongues, the 
 gift of prophecy, understanding all myste- 
 ries, faith to remove mountains, &c. ; and sec- 
 ondly, the most excellent performances, such 
 as giving all one's goods to feed the poor, and 
 the body to be burned, &c. Greater things 
 than these, no natural man ever had or did, 
 and they are the kind of things in which men 
 are exceedingly prone to trust ; and yet the 
 apostle declares that if we have them all, and 
 have not charity, we are nothing. The doc- 
 trine taught, then, is this : 
 
 That all the virtue that is saving, and 
 that distinguishes true christians from 
 others, is summed up in christian love. this 
 appears from the words of the text, because 
 so many other things are mentioned that nat- 
 ural men may have, and the things mention- 
 ed are of the highest kind it is possible they 
 should have, both of privilege and perform- 
 ance, and yet it is said they all avail nothing 
 without this, whereas if any of them were 
 saving, they would avail something without it. 
 
 And by the apostle's mentioning so many 
 and so high things, and then saying of them 
 all that they profited nothing without charity, 
 we may justly conclude, that there is nothing 
 
LOVE THE SUM OF ALL VIRTUE. 
 
 at all that avails anything without it. Let a 
 man have what he will, and do what he will, 
 it signifies nothing without charity, which 
 surely implies that charity is the great thing, 
 and that everything which has not charity in 
 some way contained or implied in it is noth- 
 ing, and that this charity is the life and soul 
 of all religion, without which all things that 
 wear the name of virtues are empty and vain. 
 
 In speaking to this doctrine, I would first 
 notice the nature of this divine love, and then 
 show the truth of the doctrine respecting it. 
 And 
 
 I. I would speak of the natwre of a truly 
 Christian love. And here I would observe 
 
 1. That all true Christian love is one and 
 the same in its principle. It may be various 
 in its forms and objects, and may be exercised 
 either toward God or men, but it is the same 
 principle in the heart that is the foundation 
 of every exercise of a truly Christian love, 
 whatever may be its object. It is not with 
 the holy love in the heart of the Christian, as 
 it is with the love of other men. Their love 
 toward different objects, may be from differ- 
 ent principles and motives, and with different 
 views ; but a truly Christian love is different 
 
6 LOVE THE SUM OF ALL VIRTUE. 
 
 from this. It is one as to its principle, what- 
 ever the object about which it is exercised ; 
 it is from the same spring or fountain in the 
 heart, though it may flow out in different 
 channels and diverse directions, and there- 
 fore it is all fitly comprehended in the one 
 name of charity, as in the text. That this 
 Christian love is one, whatever the objects 
 toward which it may flow forth, appears by 
 the following things : — 
 
 First, It is all from the same Spirit influ- 
 encing the heart. It is from the breathing of 
 the same Spirit that true Christian love arises, 
 both toward God and man. The Spirit of 
 God is a Spirit of love, and when the former 
 enters the soul, love also enters with it. God 
 is love, and he that has God dwelling in him 
 by his Spirit, will have love dwelling in him 
 also. The nature of the Holy Spirit is love ; 
 and it is by communicating himself, in his 
 own nature, to the saints, that their hearts are 
 filled with divine charity. Hence we find 
 that the saints are partakers of the divine na- 
 ture, and Christian love is called the " love 
 of the Spirit," Eomans xv. 30, and "love in 
 the Spirit," Col. i. 8, and the very bowels of 
 love and mercy seem to signify the same 
 
LOYE THE SUM OF ALL VIRTUE. 
 
 thing with the fellowship of the Spirit, Phil. ii. 
 1. It is that Spirit, too, that infuses love to God, 
 Rom. v. 5 ; and it is by the indwelling of that 
 Spirit, that the sonl abides in love to God and 
 man, 1 John, xiv. 12, 13 ; and iii. 23, 24. And, 
 
 Second, Christian love both to God and man, 
 is wrought in the heart oy the same work of 
 the Spirit. There are not two works of the 
 Spirit of God, one to infuse a spirit of love 
 to God, and the other to infuse a spirit of 
 love to men, but in producing one, the Spirit 
 produces the other also. In the work of con- 
 version, the Holy Spirit renews the heart by 
 giving it a divine temper ; Eph. iv. 23, and 
 it is one and the same divine temper thus 
 wrought in the heart, that flows out in love 
 both to God and man. And, 
 
 Third, When God and man are loved with 
 a truly Christian love, they are both loved 
 from the same motives. When God is loved 
 aright, he is loved for his excellency, and the 
 beauty of his nature, especially the holiness 
 of his nature ; and it is from the same motive 
 that the saints are loved, for holiness' sake. 
 And all things that are loved with a truly 
 holy love, are loved from the same respect to 
 God. Love to God is the foundation of gra- 
 
8 LOVE THE SUM OF ALL VIRTUE. 
 
 cious love to men ; and men are loved, either 
 because they are in some respect like God in 
 the possession of his nature and spiritual 
 image, or because of the relation they stand 
 in to him as his children or creatures — as - 
 those who are blessed of him, or to whom his 
 mercy is offered, or in some other way from 
 regard to him. Only remarking that though 
 Christian love be one in its principle, yet it is 
 distinguished and variously denominated in 
 two ways, with respect to its objects, and the 
 kinds of its exercise, as for example, its de- 
 grees, &c. I now proceed, 
 
 II. To show the truth of the doctrine, that 
 all virtue that is saving or distinguishing of 
 true Christians, is summed up in Christian 
 love. And, 
 
 1. We may argue this from what reason 
 teaches of the nature of love. And if we duly 
 consider its nature, two things will appear. 
 
 First, That love will dispose to all proper 
 acts of respect to loth God and man. This is 
 evident because a true respect to either God 
 or man consists in love. If a man sincerely 
 loves God, it will dispose him to render all 
 proper respect to him ; and men need no 
 other incitement to show each other all the 
 
LOVE THE SUM OE ALL VIRTUE. 9 
 
 respect that is due, than love. Love to God 
 will dispose a man to honor him, to worship 
 and adore him, and heartily to acknowledge 
 his greatness, and glory, and dominion. And 
 so it will dispose to all acts of obedience to 
 God ; for the servant that loves his master, 
 and the subject that loves his sovereign, will 
 be disposed to proper subjection and obe- 
 dience. Love will dispose the Christian to 
 behave toward God, as a child to a father ; 
 amid difficulties to resort to him for help, and 
 put all his trust in him ; just as it is natural 
 for us, in case of need or affliction, to go to 
 one that we love for pity and help. It will 
 lead us, too, to give credit to his word, and to 
 put confidence in him ; for we are not apt to 
 suspect the veracity of those we have entire 
 friendship for. It will dispose us to praise 
 God for the mercies we receive from him, just 
 as we are disposed to gratitude for any kind- 
 ness we receive from our fellow-men that we 
 love. Love, again, will dispose our hearts to 
 submission to the will of God, for we are 
 more willing that the will of those we love 
 should be done, than of others. "We natural- 
 ly desire that those we love should be suited, 
 and that we should be agreeable to them; 
 
10 LOYE THE SOI OF ALL VIRTUE. 
 
 and true affection and love to God will dis- 
 pose the heart to acknowledge God's right to 
 govern, and that he is worthy to do it, and so 
 will dispose to submission. Love to God will 
 dispose us to walk humbly with him, for he 
 that lores God will be disposed to acknowl- 
 edge the vast distance between God and him- 
 self. It will be agreeable to such an one, to 
 exalt God, and set him on high above all, and 
 to lie low before him. A true Christian de- 
 lights to have God exalted on his own abase- 
 ment, because he loves him. He is willing 
 to own that God is worthy of this, and it is 
 with delight that he casts himself in the dust 
 before the Most High, from his sincere love to 
 him.. 
 
 And so a due consideration of the nature 
 of love will show that it disposes men to all 
 duties toward their neighbors. If men have 
 a sincere love to their neighbors, it will dis- 
 pose them to all acts of justice toward those 
 neighbors — for real love and friendship al- 
 ways dispose us to give those we love their 
 due, and never to wrong them. Rom. xiii. 10. 
 " Love worketh no ill to his neighbor." And 
 the same love will dispose to truth toward 
 neighbors, and will tend to prevent all lying, 
 
LOVE THE SUM OF ALL VIRTUE. 11 
 
 and fraud, and deceit. Men are not disposed 
 to exercise fraud and treachery toward those 
 they love ; for thus to treat men is to treat 
 them like enemies, but love destroys enmity. 
 Thus the apostle makes use of the oneness 
 that there ought to be among Christians, as an 
 argument to induce them to truth between 
 man and man. Ephesians iv. 25. Love will 
 dispose to walk humbly amongst men, for a 
 real and true love will incline us to high 
 thoughts of others, and to think them better 
 than ourselves. It will dispose men to honor 
 one another, for all are naturally inclined to 
 think highly of those they love, and to give 
 them honor; so that by love are fulfilled 
 those precepts, 1 Peter xi. 17, "Honor all 
 men," and Phil. ii. 3, " Let nothing be done 
 through strife or vain glory, but in lowliness 
 of mind, let each esteem other better than 
 themselves." Love will dispose to content- 
 ment in the sphere in which God hath placed 
 us, without coveting any things that our 
 neighbor possesses, or envying him on ac- 
 count of any good thing that he has. It will 
 dispose men to meekness and gentleness in 
 their carriage toward their neighbors, and 
 not to treat them with passion, or violence, or 
 
12 LOYE THE SUM OF ALL VIRTUE. 
 
 heat of spirit, but with moderation, and calm- 
 ness, and kindness. It will check and re- 
 strain everything like a bitter spirit ; for 
 love has no bitterness in it, but is a gentle 
 and sweet disposition and affection of the 
 soul. It will prevent broils and quarrels, and 
 will dispose men to peaceableness, and to 
 forgive injurious treatment received from 
 others ; as it is said in Proverbs x. 12, " Ha- 
 tred stirreth up strifes, but love covereth all 
 sins." 
 
 Love will dispose men to all acts of mercy 
 toward their neighbors when they are under 
 any affliction or calamity, for we are natural- 
 ly disposed to pity those that we love when 
 they are afflicted. It will dispose men to 
 give to the poor, to bear one another's bur- 
 dens, and to weep with those that weep, as 
 well as to rejoice with those that do rejoice. 
 It will dispose men to the duties they owe to 
 one another in their several places and rela- 
 tions. It will dispose a people to all the duties 
 they owe to their rulers, and to give them all 
 that honor and subjection which are their due. 
 And it will dispose rulers to rule the people 
 over whom they are set, justly, seriously and 
 faithfully, seeking their good, and not any 
 
LOYE THE SEM OF ALL VERTEE. 13 
 
 by-ends of their own. It will dispose a 
 people to all proper duty to their ministers, 
 to hearken to their counsels and instructions, 
 and to submit to them in the house of God, 
 and to support and sympathize with and pray 
 for them as those that watch for their souls ; 
 and it will dispose ministers faithfully and 
 ceaselessly to seek the good of the souls of 
 their people, watching for them as those that 
 must giye account. Love will dispose to 
 suitable carriage between superiors and in- 
 feriors : it will dispose children to honor their 
 parents, and servants to be obedient to their 
 masters, not with eye service, but in single- 
 ness of heart ; and it will dispose masters to 
 exercise gentleness and goodness toward their 
 servants. 
 
 Thus love would dispose to all duties both 
 toward God, and toward man. And if it will 
 thus dispose to all duties, then it follows, that 
 it is the root, and spring, and, as it were, a 
 comprehension of all virtues. It is a prin- 
 ciple, which if it be implanted in the heart, 
 is alone sufficient to produce all good prac- 
 tice ; and every right disposition toward God 
 and man is summed up in it, and comes from 
 
14 LOVE THE SUM OF ALL VIRTUE. 
 
 it, as the fruit from the tree, or the stream 
 from the fountain. 
 
 Second, Reason teaches that whatever per- 
 formances or seeming virtues there are with- 
 out love, are unsound and hypocritical. If 
 there be no love in what men do, then there 
 is no true respect to God or men in their con- 
 duct; and if so, then certainly there is no 
 sincerity. Eeligion is nothing without proper 
 respect to God. The very notion of religion 
 among mankind, is, that it is the creature's 
 exercise and expression of such respect to- 
 ward the creator. But if there he no true re- 
 spect or love, then all that is called religion 
 is but a seeming show, and there is no real 
 religion in it, but it is unreal and vain. Thus 
 if a man's faith be of such a sort that there 
 is no true respect to God in it, reason teaches 
 that it must be in vain ; for if there be no 
 love to God in it, there can be no true respect 
 to him. From this it appears that love is al- 
 ways contained in a true and living faith, 
 and that it is its true and proper life and soul, 
 without which, faith is as dead as the body is 
 without its soul ; and that it is that which es- 
 pecially distinguishes a living faith from 
 every other: but of this more particularly 
 
LOVE THE SUM OF ALL VIRTUE. 15 
 
 hereafter. Without love to God, again, there 
 can be no true honor to him. A man is never 
 hearty in the honor he seems to render to an- 
 other whom he does not love ; so that all the 
 seeming honor or worship that is ever paid 
 without love, is but hypocritical. And so 
 reason teaches that there is no sincerity in 
 the obedience that is performed without love, 
 for if there be no love, nothing that is done 
 can be spontaneous and free, but all must be 
 forced. So without love, there can be no 
 hearty submission to the will of God, and 
 there can be no real and cordial trust and 
 confidence in him. He that does not love 
 God will not trust him : he never will, with 
 true acquiescence of soul, cast himself into 
 the hands of God, or into the arms of his 
 mercy. 
 
 And so whatever good carriage there may 
 be in men toward their neighbors, yet reason 
 teaches that it is all unacceptable and in vain 
 if at the same time there be no real respect 
 in the heart toward those neighbors ; if the 
 outward conduct is not prompted by inward 
 love. And from these two things taken to- 
 gether, viz., that love is of such a nature that 
 it will produce all virtues, and dispose to all 
 
16 LOVE THE SUM OF ALL VIRTUE. 
 
 duties to God and men, and that without it 
 there can be no sincere virtue, and no duty 
 at all properly performed, the truth of the 
 doctrine follows, that all true and distinguish- 
 ing Christian virtue and grace may be sum- 
 med up in love. In the 
 
 2. The Scriptures teach tis that love is the 
 sum of all that is contained in the law of 
 God, and of all the duties required in his 
 word. This the Scriptures teach of the law 
 in general, and of each table of the law in 
 particular. 
 
 Firsts The Scriptures teach this of the law 
 and word of God in general. By the law, in 
 the Scriptures, is sometimes meant the whole 
 of the written word of God, as in John x. 34. 
 "Is it not written in your law, I said ye are 
 gods ?" And sometimes by the law is meant 
 the five books of Moses, as in Acts xxiv. 14, 
 where it is named with the distinction of the 
 "law" and the "prophets." And sometimes 
 by the law, is meant the ten commandments, as 
 containing the sum of all the duty of man- 
 kind, and all that is required as of universal 
 and perpetual obligation. But whether we 
 take the law as signifying only the ten com- 
 mandments, or as including the whole written 
 
LOVE THE SUM OF ALL VIRTUE. 17 
 
 word of God, the Scriptures teach, us that the 
 sum of all that is required in it is love. Thus 
 when by the law is meant the ten command- 
 ments, it is said in Romans xiii. 8, " He that 
 loveth another hath fulfilled the law;" and 
 therefore several of the commandments are 
 rehearsed, and it is added, in the tenth verse, 
 that "love" (which leads us to obey them 
 all,) " is the fulfilling of the law." Now un- 
 less love was the sum of what the law requires, 
 the law could not be wholly fulfilled in love ; 
 for a law is fulfilled only by obedience to the 
 sum or whole of what it contains and enjoins. 
 So the same apostle again declares, 1. Timothy, 
 i. 5, " ISTow the end of the commandment is 
 charity out of a pure heart, and of a good 
 conscience, and of faith unfeigned, &c." Or 
 if we take the law in a yet more extensive 
 sense, as the whole written word of God, the 
 Scriptures still teach us, that love is the sum 
 of all that is required in it. In Matthew xxii. 
 40, Christ teaches, that on the two precepts 
 of loving God with all the heart, and our 
 neighbor as ourselves, hang all the law and 
 the prophets ; i. e. all the written word of 
 God ; for what was then called the law and 
 2 
 
18 LOYE THE SUM OF ALL VIRTUE. 
 
 the prophets, was the whole written word of 
 God that was then extant. And, 
 
 Second, The Scriptures teach the same thing 
 of each table of the law in particular. The 
 command " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God 
 with all thy heart," is declared by Christ, 
 Matthew xxii. 38, to be the sum of the first 
 table of the law, or the first great command- 
 ment; and in the next Terse, to love our 
 neighbor as ourself, is declared to be the sum 
 of the second table ; as it is, also, in Romans 
 xiii. 9, where the precepts of the second table 
 of the law are particularly specified : and it 
 is then added, " And if there be any other 
 commandment, it is briefly comprehended in 
 this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy 
 neighbor as thyself." And so in Galatians 
 v. 14, " For all the law is fulfilled in one 
 word, even in this, Thou shalt love thy neigh- 
 bor as thyself." And the same seems to be 
 stated in James ii. 8, "If ye fulfil the royal 
 law, according to the Scripture, Thou shalt 
 love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well." 
 Hence love appears to be the sum of all the 
 virtue and duty that God requires of us, and 
 therefore must undoubtedly be the most essen- 
 tial thing — the sum of all the virtue that is 
 
LOVE THE SUM OF ALL VIRTUE. 19 
 
 essential and distinguishing in real Chris- 
 tianity. That which is the sum of all duty, 
 must be the sum of all real virtue. 
 
 3. The truth of the doctrine as shoion fty 
 the Scriptures, appears from this, that the 
 apostle teaches us, Galatians v. 6, that "faith 
 works by love" A truly Christian faith is 
 that which produces good works ; but all the 
 good works which it produces, are by love. 
 By this, two things are evident to the present 
 purpose. 
 
 First, That true love is an ingredient in 
 true and living faith, and is what is most 
 essential and distinguishing in it. Love is 
 no ingredient in a merely speculative faith, 
 but it is the life and soul of a practical faith. 
 A truly practical or saving faith, is light and 
 heat together, or rather light and love, while 
 that which is only a speculative faith, is only 
 light without heat ; and in that it wants spir- 
 itual heat or divine love, is in vain and good 
 for nothing. A speculative faith consists only 
 in the assent of the understanding ; but in 
 a saving faith there is also the consent of the 
 heart ; and that faith which is only of the 
 former kind, is no better than the faith of 
 devils, for they have faith so far as it can 
 
20 LOVE THE SUM OF ALL VIRTUE. 
 
 exist without love, believing while they trem- 
 ble. Now the true spiritual consent of the 
 heart, cannot be distinguished from the love 
 of the heart. He whose heart consents to 
 Christ as a Saviour, has true love to him as 
 such. For the heart sincerely to consent to 
 the way of salvation by Christ, cannot be dis- 
 tinguished from loving that way of salvation, 
 and resting in it. There is an act of choice 
 or election in true saving faith, whereby the 
 soul chooses Christ for its Saviour and por- 
 tion, and accepts of and embraces him as 
 such ; but, as was observed before, an elec- 
 tion or choice whereby it so chooses God and 
 Christ, is an act of love — the love of a soul 
 embracing him as its dearest friend and por- 
 tion. Faith is a duty that God requires of 
 every one. We are commanded to believe, 
 and unbelief is a sin forbidden by God. Faith 
 is a duty required in the first table of the law, 
 and in the first command of that table ; and 
 therefore it will follow, that it is comprehend- 
 ed in the great commandment, " Thou shalt 
 love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, 
 &c," — and so it will follow that love is the 
 most essential thing in a true faith. That 
 love is the very life and spirit of a true faith, 
 
LOVE THE SUM OF ALL VIRTUE. 21 
 
 is especially evident from a comparison of 
 this declaration of the apostle, that "faith 
 works by love," and the last verse of the second 
 chapter of the epistle of James, which de- 
 clares, that " as the body without the spirit is 
 dead, so faith without works is dead also." 
 The working, active and acting nature of any- 
 thing, is the life of it ; and that which makes 
 us call a thing alive, is, that we observe an 
 active nature in it. This active, working 
 nature in man, is the spirit which he has 
 within him. And as his body without this 
 spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead 
 also. And if we would know what the work- 
 ing active thing in true faith is, the apostle 
 tells us in Galatians v. 6, " Faith works by 
 love." So that it is love which is the active 
 working spirit in all true faith. This is its 
 very soul, without which it is dead, as, in 
 another form, he tells in the text, saying that 
 faith without charity or love, is nothing, 
 though it be to such a degree that it can re- 
 move mountains. And when he says, in the 
 seventh verse of the context, that charity 
 " believeth all things and hopeth all things," 
 he probably refers to the great virtues of 
 believing and hoping in the truth and grace 
 
22 LOVE THE SUM OF ALL VIRTUE. 
 
 of God, to which he compares charity in other 
 parts of the chapter, and particularly in the 
 last verse, " Now abideth faith, hope, charity, 
 &c." For in the seventh verse he gives the 
 preference to charity or love before the other 
 virtues of faith and hope, because it includes 
 them ; for he says, " charity believeth all 
 things and hopeth all things ;" so that this 
 seems to be his meaning, and not merely as it 
 is vulgarly understood, that charity believeth 
 and hopeth the best with regard to our neigh- 
 bors. That a justifying faith, as a most dis- 
 tinguishing mark of Christianity, is compre- 
 hended in the great command of loving God, 
 appears also, very plainly, from what Christ 
 says to the Jews, John v. 40-43, &c. 
 
 Second, It is further manifest from this 
 declaration of the apostle " that faith works 
 by love," that all Christian exercises of the 
 heart, and works of the life are from love / 
 for we are abundantly taught in the New Tes- 
 tament, that all Christian holiness begins with 
 faith in Jesus Christ. All christian obedi- 
 ence is in the Scriptures called the obedience 
 of faith ; as in Romans xvi. 26, the gospel is 
 "said to be " made known to all nations for 
 the obedience of faith." The obedience here 
 
LOVE THE SUM OF ALL VIRTUE. 23 
 
 spoken of, is doubtless the same with that 
 spoken of in the eighteenth verse of the pre- 
 ceding chapter, where Panl speaks of making 
 " the Gentiles obedient by word and deed." 
 And in Galatians ii. 20 he tells us, " The life 
 which I now live in the flesh, I live by the 
 faith of the Son of God," &c. ; and we are 
 often told that Christians, so far as they are 
 Christians, "live by faith;" which is equiva- 
 lent to saying that all gracious and holy ex- 
 ercises and virtues of the spiritual life are by 
 faith. But how does faith work these things ? 
 Why, in this place in Galatians, it is express- 
 ly said, that it works whatsoever it does work 
 by love. From which the truth of the doctrine 
 follows, viz. : that all that is saving and dis- 
 tinguishing in Christianity does radically con- 
 sist, and is summarily comprehended in love. 
 
 In the application of this subject, we may 
 use it in the way of self-examination, instruc- 
 tion, and exhortation. And 
 
 1. In view of it let us examine ourselves, 
 and see if we have the spirit which it enjoins. 
 From love to God, springs love to man, as 
 says the apostle, 1 John v. 1, " Whosoever 
 believeth that Jesus is the Christ, is born of 
 God : and every one that loveth him that be- 
 
24 LOYE THE SUM OF ALL VIRTtTE. 
 
 gat, loveth him also that is begotten of him." 
 Have we this love to all who are the children 
 of God ? This love, also, leads those who 
 possess it, to rejoice in God, and to worship 
 and magnify him. Heaven is made np of 
 snch. Revelations xv. 2, 3, 4, " And I saw 
 as it were a sea of glass mingled with tire ; 
 and them that had gotten the victory over 
 the beast, and over his image, and over his 
 mark, and over the number of his name, stand 
 on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. 
 And they sing the song of Moses the servant 
 of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, 
 Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord 
 God Almighty ; jnst and true are thy ways, 
 thon King of saints. Who shall not fear 
 thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name ? for thou 
 only art holy : for all nations shall come and 
 worship before thee ; for thy judgments are 
 made manifest." Do we thus delight in God, 
 and rejoice in his worship, and in magnifying 
 his holy name ? This love, also, leads those 
 who possess it, sincerely to desire, and ear- 
 nestly to endeavor to do good to their fellow- 
 men. 1 John iii. 16-19, " Hereby perceive 
 we the love of God, because he laid down his 
 life for us : and we ought to lay down our 
 
LOVE THE SUM OF ALL VIRTUE. 
 
 25 
 
 lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this 
 world's good,' and seeth his brother have 
 need, and shutteth up his bowels of compas- 
 sion from him, how dwelleth the love of God 
 in him ? My little children, let us not love 
 in word, neither in tongue ; but in deed and 
 in truth. And hereby we know that we are 
 of the truth, and shall assure our hearts be- 
 fore him." Is this spirit, which dwelt in Je- 
 sus Christ, the spirit that reigns in our hearts, 
 and is seen in our daily life ? The subject 
 may, also, be of use, 
 
 2. In the way of instruction. And 
 First. This doctrine shows us what is the 
 right Christian spirit. When the disciples, 
 on their way to Jerusalem, desired Christ to 
 call down fire from heaven to consume the 
 Samaritans who would not receive him, he 
 told them, Luke ix. 55, by way of rebuke, 
 " Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are 
 of ;" by which we are to understand, not that 
 they did not know their own hearts, but that 
 they did not know and truly feel what kind 
 of spirit was proper and becoming to their 
 character and spirit as his professed disciples, 
 and becoming that evangelical dispensation 
 that he had come to establish, and under 
 
26 LOVE THE SUM OF ALL VIRTUE. 
 
 which they were now living. It might in- 
 deed be, and doubtless was true, that in 
 many respects they did not know their own 
 hearts. But what Christ here referred to was, 
 not the want of self-knowledge in general, 
 but the particular spirit they had manifested 
 in desiring him to call down fire &c, a desire 
 which showed not so much that they did not 
 know what their own hearts or dispositions 
 were, as that they did not seem to know what 
 kind of spirit and temper was proper to the 
 Christian dispensation that was henceforth to 
 be established, and to the Christian character 
 of which they were to be examples. They 
 showed their ignorance of the true nature of 
 Christ's kingdom ; that it was to be a king- 
 dom of love and peace ; and that they did 
 not know but that a revengeful spirit was a 
 proper spirit for them as his disciples : and 
 for this it is that he rebukes them. 
 
 And doubtless there are many, now-a-days, 
 greatly to be rebuked for this, that though 
 they have been so long in the school of Christ, 
 and under the teachings of the gospel, yet 
 they still remain under a great misapprehen- 
 sion as to what kind of a spirit a truly Chris- 
 tian spirit is, and what spirit is proper for the 
 
LOVE THE SUM OF ALL VIRTUE. 27 
 
 followers of Christ and the dispensation under 
 which they live. But if we attend to the text 
 and its doctrine, they will teach us what this 
 spirit is, viz. : that in its very essence and 
 savor it is the spirit of divine and Christian 
 love. This may, by way of eminence, be 
 called the Christian spirit; for it is much 
 more insisted on in the New Testament, than 
 anything that concerns either our duty or our 
 moral state. The words of Christ whereby 
 he taught men their duty, and gave his coun- 
 sels and commands to his disciples and others, 
 were spent very much on the precepts of 
 love ; and as the words that proceeded out 
 of his mouth were so full of this sweet divine 
 virtue, he thus most manifestly commends it 
 to us. And after his ascension, the apostles 
 were full of the same spirit, in their epistles 
 abundantly recommending love, peace, gentle- 
 ness, goodness, bowels of compassion and 
 kindness, directing us by such things to ex- 
 press our love to God and to Christ, as well as 
 to our fellow-men, and especially to all that 
 are his followers. This spirit, even a spirit 
 of love, is the spirit that G-od holds forth 
 greater motives in the gospel to induce us to, 
 than to any other thing whatever. The work 
 
28 
 
 LOVE THE SUM OF ALL VIRTUE. 
 
 of redemption which the gospel makes known, 
 above all things affords motives to love ; for 
 that work was the most glorious and wonder- 
 ful exhibition of love that ever was seen or 
 heard of. Love is the principal thing that 
 the gospel dwells on when speaking of God, 
 and of Christ. It brings to light the love 
 eternally existing between the Father and 
 the Son, and declares how that same love has 
 been manifested in many things ; how that 
 Christ is God's well-beloved Son, in whom he 
 is ever well pleased ; how he so loved him, 
 that he has raised him to the throne of the 
 mediatorial kingdom, and appointed him to 
 be the jndge of the world, and ordained that 
 all mankind should stand before him in judg- 
 ment. In the gospel, too, is revealed the love 
 that Christ has to the Father, and the wonder- 
 ful fruits of that love, particularly in his 
 doing such great things, and suffering such 
 great things in obedience to the Father's will, 
 and for the honor of his justice, and law, and 
 authority, as the great moral governor. There 
 it is revealed how the Father and Son are one 
 in love, that we might be induced, in the like 
 spirit, to be one with them, and with one 
 another, agreeably to Christ's prayer in John 
 
LOVE THE SUM OF ALL VIRTUE. 29 
 
 xvii. 21-23, " That they all may be one ; as 
 thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that 
 they also may be one in ns : that the world 
 may believe that thou hast sent me. And the 
 glory which thon gavest me I have given 
 them ; that they may be one, even as we are 
 one : I in them, and thou in me, that they 
 may be made perfect in one; and that the 
 world may know that thou hast sent me, and 
 hast loved them, as thou hast loved me." 
 The gospel also declares to us that the love 
 of God was from everlasting, and reminds us 
 that he loved those that are redeemed by 
 Christ, before the foundations of the world ; 
 and that he gave them to the Son ; and that 
 the Son loved them as his own. It reveals, 
 too, the wonderful love of both the Father 
 and the Son to the saints now in glory — that 
 Christ not only loved them while in the world, 
 but that he loved them to the end. And all 
 this love is spoken of as bestowed on us while 
 we were wanderers, outcasts, worthless, guilty, 
 and even enemies. This is love, such as was 
 never elsewhere known, or conceived. John 
 xv. 13, " Greater love hath no man than this, 
 that a man lay down his life for his friends.' ' 
 Komans v. 7-10, "Scarcely for a righteous 
 
30 LOVE THE SUM OF ALL VIRTUE. 
 
 man will one die * * *.- But God commen- 
 deth his love towards us, in that while we 
 were yet sinners, Christ died for us ; * * *' 
 when we were enemies." 
 
 God and Christ appear in the gospel revela- 
 tion, as being clothed with love ; as sitting as 
 it were on a throne of mercy and grace, a seat 
 of love, encompassed about with the sweet 
 beams of love. Love is the light and glory 
 that is round about the throne on which God 
 is seated. This seems to be intended in the 
 vision the apostle John, that loving and loved 
 disciple, had of God in the isle of Patmos. 
 Rev. iv. 3, " And there was a rainbow round 
 about the throne, in sight like unto an emer- 
 ald ;" that is, round about the throne on 
 which God was sitting. So that God appeared 
 to him, as he sat on his throne, as encom- 
 passed with a circle of exceeding sweet and 
 pleasant light, like the beautiful colors of the 
 rainbow, and like an emerald, which is a 
 precious stone of exceeding pleasant and beau- 
 tiful color — thus representing that the light 
 and glory with which God appears surrounded 
 in the gospel, is especially the glory of his 
 love and covenant grace, for the rainbow was 
 given to Noah as a token of both these. 
 
LOYE THE SUM OF ALL VIRTUE. 
 
 31 
 
 Therefore it is plain, that this spirit, even a 
 spirit of love, is the spirit that the gospel 
 revelation does especially hold forth motives 
 and inducements to ; and this is especially 
 and eminently the Christian spirit — 'the right 
 spirit of the gospel. 
 
 Second. If it is indeed so, that all that is 
 saving and distinguishing in a true Christian, 
 is summarily comprehended in love, then 
 professors of Christianity may in this he 
 taught as to their experiences, whether they 
 are real Christian experiences or not. If they 
 are so, then love is the sum and substance of 
 them. If persons have the true light of 
 heaven let into their souls, it is not a light 
 without heat. Divine knowledge and Divine 
 love, go together. A spiritual view of divine 
 things, always excites love in the soul, and 
 draws forth the heart in love to every proper 
 object. True discoveries of the divine char- 
 acter, dispose us to love God as the supreme 
 good ; they unite the heart in love to Christ ; 
 they incline the soul to flow out in love to 
 God's people, and to all mankind. When 
 persons have a true discovery of the excel- 
 lency and sufficiency of Christ, this is the ef- 
 fect. "When they experience a right belief 
 
32 LOVE THE SUM OF ALL VIRTUE. 
 
 of the truth of the gospel, such a belief is ac- 
 companied by love. They love him whom 
 they believe to be the Christ, the Son of the 
 living God. "When the truth of the glorious 
 doctrines and promises of the gospel is seen, 
 these doctrines and promises are like so many 
 cords which take hold of the heart, and draw 
 it out in love to God and Christ. "When per- 
 sons experience a true trust and reliance on 
 Christ, they rely on him with love, and so do 
 it with delight and sweet acquiescence of 
 soul. The spouse sat under Christ's shadow 
 with great delight, and rested sweetly under 
 his protection because she loved him, Cant. 
 ii. 2. "When persons experience true comfort 
 and spiritual joy, their joy is the joy of faith 
 and love. They do not rejoice in themselves, 
 but it is God who is their exceeding joy. 
 
 Third. This doctrine shows the amiableness 
 of a Christian spirit. A spirit of love is an 
 amiable spirit. It is the spirit of Jesus 
 Christ ; it is the spirit of heaven. 
 
 Fowrth. This doctrine shows the pleasant- 
 ness of a Christian life. A life of love, is a 
 pleasant life. Eeason and the Scriptures 
 alike teach us, that " Happy is the man that 
 flndeth wisdom," and that "Her ways are 
 
LOVE THE SUM OF ALL VIRTUE. 33 
 
 ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are 
 peace. — Prov. iii. 13 and 17. 
 
 Fifth. Hence we may learn the reason why 
 contention tends so much to the ruin of reli- 
 gion. The Scriptures tell us that it has this 
 tendency : " where envying and strife is, 
 there is* confusion and every evil work."' — 
 James iii. 16. And so we find it by expe- 
 rience. When contention comes into a place, 
 it seems to prevent all good. And if religion 
 has been flourishing before, it presently seems 
 to chill and deaden it ; and everything that 
 is bad begins to flourish. And in the light 
 of our doctrine, we may plainly see the reason 
 of all this. For contention is directly against 
 that which is the very sum of all that is es- 
 sential and distinguishing in true Christian- 
 ity, even a spirit of love and peace. No 
 wonder, therefore, that Christianity cannot 
 flourish in a time of strife and contention 
 among its professors. No wonder that reli- 
 gion and contention cannot live together. 
 
 Sixth. Hence, then, what a watch and 
 guard should Christians heejp against envy, 
 and malice, and every hind of bitterness of 
 spirit towards their neighbors. For these 
 things are the very reverse of the real essence 
 3 
 
34 LOVE THE SUM OF ALL VIRTUE. 
 
 of Christianity. And it behooves Christians, 
 as they would not, by their practice, directly 
 contradict their profession, to take heed to 
 themselves in this matter. They should sup- 
 press the first beginnings of ill-will, and bit- 
 terness, and envy ; watch strictly against all 
 occasions of such a spirit ; strive and fight to 
 the utmost against such a temper as tends 
 that way ; and avoid, as much as possible, all 
 temptations that may lead to it. A Christian 
 should at all times keep a strong guard 
 against everything that tends to overthrow, 
 or corrupt, or undermine a spirit of love. 
 That which hinders love to men, will hinder 
 the exercise of love to God ; for, as was ob- 
 served before, the principle of a truly Chris- 
 tian love, is one. If love is the sum of Chris- 
 tianity, surely those things which overthrow 
 love, are exceedingly unbecoming Christians. 
 An envious Christian, a malicious Christian, 
 a cold and hard-hearted Christian, is the 
 greatest absurdity and contradiction. It is as 
 if one should speak of dark brightness, or a 
 false truth ! 
 
 Seventh. Hence it is no wonder that Chris- 
 tianity so strangely requires us to love our 
 enemies, even the worst of enemies (as in Mat- 
 
LOVE THE SUM OF ALL VIRTUE. 35 
 
 thew v. 44) ; for love is the very temper and 
 spirit of a Christian : it is the sum of Chris- 
 tianity. And if we consider what incite- 
 ments thns to love our enemies we have set 
 before ns in what the Gospel reveals of the 
 love of God and Christ to their enemies, we 
 cannot wonder that we are required to love 
 our enemies, and to bless them, and do good 
 to them, and pray for them, "that we maybe 
 the children of our Father which is in heaven, 
 who maketh his sun to rise on the evil and 
 the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on 
 the unjust." In the 
 
 3. Our subject exhorts us to seek a spirit of 
 love ; to grow in it more and more ; and very 
 much to abound in the works of love. If love 
 is so great a thing in Christianity, so essen- 
 tial and distinguishing, yea the very sum of 
 all Christian virtue, then surely those that 
 profess themselves Christians should live in 
 love, and abound in the works of love, for no 
 works are so becoming as those of love. If 
 you call yourself a Christian, where are your 
 works of love ? Have you abounded, and 
 do you abound in them ? If this divine and 
 holy principle is in you, and reigns in you, will 
 it not appear in your life, in works of love ? 
 
36 LOYE THE SUM OF ALL VIRTUE. 
 
 Consider what deeds of love have you done ? 
 Do you love God ? What have you done for 
 him, for his glory, for the advancement of his 
 kingdom in the world ? And how much have 
 you denied yourself to promote the Redeem- 
 er's interest among men ? Do you love your 
 fellow-men % What have you done for them ? 
 Consider your former defects in these re- 
 spects, and how becoming it is in you as a 
 Christian, hereafter to abound more in deeds 
 of love. Do not make excuse that you have 
 not opportunities to do anything for the glory 
 of God, for the interest of the Redeemer's 
 kingdom, and for the spiritual benefit of your 
 neighbors. If your heart is full of love, it will 
 find vent ;- you will find or make ways enough 
 to express your love in deeds. When a foun- 
 tain abounds in water, it will send forth 
 streams. Consider that as a principle of love 
 is the main principle in the heart of a real 
 Christian, so the labor of love, is the main 
 business of the Christian life. Let every 
 Christian consider these things ; and may the 
 Lord give you understanding in all things, 
 and make you sensible what spirit it becomes 
 you to be of, and dispose you to such an ex- 
 
LOVE THE SUM OP ALL VIRTUE. 37 
 
 cellent, amiable, and benevolent life, as is 
 answerable to snch a spirit, that yon may not 
 love only "in word and tongue, bnt in deed 
 and in truth." 
 
LECTURE II. 
 
 CHARITY MOKE EXCELLENT THAN THE EXTRAOR- 
 DINARY GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 " Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, 
 and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a 
 tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, 
 and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge ; and 
 though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, 
 and have not charity, I am nothing." — 1 Cor. xiii. 1, 2. 
 
 Having in the last lecture shown, that all 
 the virtue in the saints which is distinguish- 
 ing and saving, may be summed up in Chris- 
 tian love, I would now consider what things 
 are compared with it in the text, and to which 
 of the two the preference is given. 
 
 The things compared together, in the text, 
 are of two kinds : on the one hand, the extra- 
 ordinary and miraculous gifts of the Spirit, 
 such as the gift of tongues, the gift of pro- 
 phecy, &c, which were frequent in that age, 
 and particularly in the church at Corinth ; 
 
CHAKITY MOKE EXCELLENT, ETC. 
 
 39 
 
 and on the other hand, the effect of the ordi- 
 nary influences of the same Spirit, in true 
 Christians, viz. charity, or divine love. 
 
 That was an age of miracles. It was not 
 then, as it had been of old among the Jews, 
 when two or three, or at most a very few in 
 the whole nation had the gift of prophecy : 
 it rather seemed as if Moses' wish, recorded in 
 ISTum. xi. 29, had become in a great measure 
 fulfilled : " Would to God all the Lord's peo- 
 ple were prophets." Not only some certain per- 
 sons of great eminence were endowed with such 
 gifts, but they were common to all sorts, old 
 and young, men and women ; according to the 
 prophecy of the prophet Joel, who, preaching 
 of those days, foretold beforehand that great 
 event : " And it shall come to pass in the last 
 days (saith God), I will pour out my Spirit 
 upon all flesh : and your sons and your daugh- 
 ters shall prophesy, your young men shall see 
 visions, and your old men shall dream dreams : 
 and on my servants, and on my handmaidens 
 I will pour out, in those days, of my Spirit, and 
 they shall prophesy." Especially the church 
 of Corinth was very eminent for such gifts. 
 All sorts of miraculous gifts were, as is appa- 
 rent from this Epistle, bestowed on that 
 
40 CHAEITY HOKE EXCELLENT 
 
 church, and the number who enjoyed these 
 gifts was not small. "To one," says the 
 Apostle, " is given by the Spirit, the word of 
 wisdom : to another the word of knowledge^by 
 the same Spirit : to another faith by the same 
 Spirit : to another the gift of healing by the 
 same Spirit : to another working of miracles : 
 to another prophecy, &c. &c." " But all these 
 worketh that one, and the self-same Spirit, 
 dividing to every man severally as he will." 
 And so some had one gift, and some another. 
 " But," says the Apostle, " covet earnestly 
 the best gifts ; and yet show I unto you a more 
 excellent way," i. e., something more excellent 
 than all these gifts put together, yea, something 
 of so great importance, that all these gifts 
 without it are nothing. For " though I speak 
 with the tongues of men," as they did on the 
 day of Pentecost, yea, " and of angels" too, 
 "and have not charity, I am become" an 
 empty worthless thing, " as sounding brass, or 
 a tinkling cymbal. And though I have" not 
 only one, but all the extraordinary gifts of the 
 Spirit ; and can not only speak with tongues, 
 but " have the gift of all prophecy, and under- 
 stand all mysteries, and all knowledge," to see 
 into all the deep things of God by immediate 
 
THAN THE GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 41 
 
 inspiration ; " and though I have all faith," 
 to work all sorts of miracles, yea, even u so 
 that I could remove mountains, and have not 
 charity, I am nothing." Charity, then, which 
 is the fruit of the ordinary sanctifying influ- 
 ence of the Holy Spirit, is preferred, as being 
 more excellent than any, yea, than all the 
 extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, even Chris- 
 tian love, which, as has been shown, is the 
 sum of all saving grace. Yea, so very much 
 is it preferred, that all the extraordinary gifts 
 of the Spirit, without it, are nothing, and can 
 profit nothing. The doctrine taught, then, is : 
 That the ordinary influence of the Spirit of 
 God, working the grace of charity in the 
 heart, is a more excellent blessing than any 
 of the extraordinary gifts of the spirit. 
 Here I would endeavor to show, first, what is 
 meant by the ordinary and extraordinary gifts 
 of the Spirit ; secondly, that the extraordinary 
 gifts of the Spirit are indeed great privileges ; 
 and yet, thirdly, that the ordinary influence 
 of the Spirit working the grace of charity or 
 love in the heart is a more excellent blessing. 
 I. I would briefly explain what is meant by 
 the ordinary and extraordinary gifts of the 
 Spirit; for the gifts and operations of the 
 
42 CHAEITT MOKE EXCELLENT 
 
 Spirit of God are by divines distinguished into 
 common and saving, and into ordinary and 
 extraordinary. 
 
 1. The gifts and operations of the Spirit of 
 God are distinguished into those that are 
 common, and those that are saving. By com- 
 mon gifts of the Spirit are meant, such as are 
 common both to the godly and to the ungodly. 
 There are certain ways in which the Spirit of 
 God influences the minds of natural men, as 
 well as the minds of the godly. Thus there 
 are common convictions of sin, i. e., such con- 
 victions as ungodly men may have as well as 
 godly. So there are common illuminations, 
 or enlightenings, i. e., such as are common to 
 both godly and ungodly. So there are com- 
 mon religious affections, — common gratitude, 
 — common sorrow, and the like. But there 
 are other gifts of the Spirit, which are pecu- 
 liar to the godly, such as saving faith and 
 love, and all the other saving graces of the 
 Spirit. 
 
 2. Ordinary and extraordinary. — The ex- 
 traordinary gifts of the Spirit, such as the gift 
 of tongues, of miracles, of prophecy, &c, are 
 called extraordinary, because they are such 
 as are not given in the ordinary course of 
 
THAN THE GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT. 43 
 
 God's providence. They are not bestowed in 
 the way of God's ordinary providential deal- 
 ing with his children, but only on extraordi- 
 nary occasions, as they were bestowed on the 
 Prophets and Apostles to enable them to reveal 
 the mind and will of God before the canon of 
 Scripture was complete, and so on the primi- 
 tive church, in order to the founding and 
 establishing of it in the world. But since the 
 canon of the Scripture has been completed, 
 and the Christian church fully founded and 
 established, these extraordinary gifts have 
 ceased. But the ordinary gifts of the Spirit, 
 are such as are continued to the church of 
 God throughout all ages ; such gifts as are 
 granted in conviction and conversion, and 
 such as appertain to the building up of the 
 saints in holiness and comfort. 
 
 It may be observed then that the distinction 
 of the gifts of the Spirit into ordinary and ex- 
 traordinary, is very different from the other 
 distinction into common and special ; for some 
 of the ordinary gifts, such as faith, hope, 
 charity, are not common gifts. They are 
 such gifts as God ordinarily bestows on his 
 church in all ages, but they are not common 
 to the godly and the ungodly ; they are pecu- 
 
u 
 
 CHARITY MORE EXCELLENT 
 
 liar to the godly. And the extraordinary gifts 
 of the Spirit are common gifts. The gifts of 
 tongues, of miracles, of prophecy, &c, al- 
 though they are not ordinarily bestowed on 
 the Christian church, but only on extraordi- 
 nary occasions, yet are not peculiar to the 
 godly, for many ungodly men have had 
 these gifts, Matt. vii. 22, 23 : " Many will 
 say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we 
 not prophesied in thy name ? and in thy name 
 cast out devils ? and in thy name done many 
 wonderful works ? and then will I profess unto 
 them, I never knew you : depart from me ye 
 that work iniquity." Having explained these 
 terms, I proceed to show, 
 
 II. That the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit 
 of God are indeed great privileges. — When 
 God endows any one with a spirit of pro- 
 phecy, favors him with immediate inspiration, 
 or gives him power to work miracles, to heal 
 the sick, to cast out devils, and the like, the 
 privilege is great, yea, this is one of the high- 
 est kind of privileges that God ever bestows on 
 men, next to saving grace. It is a great privi- 
 lege to live in the enjoyment of the outward 
 means of grace, and to belong to the visible 
 church ; but to be a prophet and a worker of 
 
THA^ THE GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT. 45 
 
 miracles in the church, is a much greater 
 privilege still. It is a great privilege to hear 
 the word, which has been spoken by prophets 
 and inspired persons ; but a much greater to 
 be a prophet, to preach the word, to be in- 
 spired by God to make known his mind and 
 will to others. It was a great privilege that 
 God bestowed on Moses, when he called him 
 to be a prophet, and improved him as an in- 
 strument to reveal the law to the children of 
 Israel, and to deliver to the church so great a 
 part of the written word of God, even the first 
 written revelation that ever was delivered to 
 it ; and when he used him as an instrument 
 of working so many wonders in Egypt, at the 
 Red Sea, and in the wilderness. Great was 
 the privilege that God bestowed on David, in 
 inspiring him, and making him the penman 
 of so great and excellent # a part of his word, 
 for the use of the church in all ages. Great 
 was the privilege that God bestowed on those 
 two prophets, Elijah and Elisha, in enabling 
 them to perform such miraculous and wonder- 
 ful works. And the privilege was very great, 
 that God bestowed on the prophet Daniel, in 
 giving him so much of the extraordinary gifts 
 of the Spirit, particularly such understanding 
 
46 
 
 CHARITY MORE EXCELLENT 
 
 in the visions of God. This procured him 
 great honor among the heathen, and even in 
 the court of the King of Babylon. Nebuchad- 
 nezzar, that great and mighty and haughty 
 monarch, so admired Daniel for it, that he 
 was once about to worship him as a god. He 
 fell upon his face before him, and commanded 
 that an oblation and sweet odors should be 
 offered unto him, Dan. ii. 46. And Daniel 
 was advanced to greater honor than all the 
 wise men, the magicians, astrologers, and 
 soothsayers of Babylon, in consequence of 
 these extraordinary gifts which God bestowed 
 upon him. Hear how the Queen speaks of 
 him to Belshazzar, Dan. v. 11,12: "There 
 is a man in thy kingdom, in whom is the spirit 
 of the holy gods : and in the days of thy 
 father, light and understanding and wisdom, 
 like the wisdom of. the Gods, was found in 
 him ; whom the King Nebuchadnezzar thy 
 father, the king, I say, thy father, made 
 master of the magicians, astrologers, Chal- 
 deans, and soothsayers ; for as much as an 
 excellent spirit, and knowledge, and under- 
 standing, interpreting dreams, and showing 
 of hard sentences, and dissolving of doubts, 
 were found in the same Daniel." This privi- 
 
THAN THE GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT. 47 
 
 lege was also the thing which gave Daniel 
 honor in the Persian court. (Dan. vi. 1, 2, 3.) 
 " It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom 
 an hundred and twenty princes, which should 
 be over the whole kingdom, and over these, 
 three presidents, of whom Daniel was first, 
 that the princes might give accounts unto 
 them, and the king should have no damage. 
 Then this Daniel was preferred above the 
 presidents and princes, because an excellent 
 spirit was in him ; and the king thought to 
 set him over the whole realm." By this ex- 
 cellent spirit was doubtless among other 
 things meant the spirit of prophecy and 
 divine inspiration, for which he had been so 
 honored by the princes of Babylon. 
 
 It was a great privilege that Christ be- 
 stowed on the Apostles, in so filling them 
 with the extraordinary gifts of the Holy 
 Spirit, inspiring them to teach all na- 
 tions, and making them as it were next 
 to himself, and to be the twelve precious 
 stones, that are considered as the twelve 
 foundations of the church. Rev. xxi. 14 : 
 u And the wall of the city had twelve foun- 
 dations, and in them the names of the twelve 
 Apostles of the Lamb." Eph. ii. 20 : " Built 
 
48 
 
 CHAUITY MORE EXCELLENT 
 
 upon the foundation of the Apostles and 
 Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief 
 corner-stone." And how highly was the 
 Apostle John favored, when he was "in the 
 Spirit on the Lord's day," and had such ex- 
 traordinary visions, representing the great 
 events of God's providence towards the 
 church in all ages of it to the end of the 
 world. « 
 
 Such extraordinary gifts of the Spirit are 
 spoken of in Scriptures as very great privi- 
 leges. So was the privilege that God be- 
 stowed on Moses in speaking to him by way 
 of extraordinary miraculous revelation, as it 
 were, " face to face." And that outpouring 
 of the Spirit in his extraordinary gifts which 
 on the day of Pentecost was foretold and 
 spoken of by the prophet Joel, as a very 
 great privilege, in those forecited words in 
 Joel ii. 28, 29. And Christ speaks of the 
 gifts of miracles, and of tongues, as great 
 privileges that he would bestow on them that 
 should believe in him : Matt. xvi. 17, 18. 
 
 Such extraordinary gifts of the Spirit have 
 been looked upon as a great honor. Moses 
 and Aaron were envied in the camp because 
 of the peculiar honor that God put upon them, 
 
THAN THE GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT. 49 
 
 Psal. cvi. 16. And so Joshua was ready to 
 envy Eldad and Medad because they pro- 
 phesied in the camp : Num. xi. 27. And 
 when the angels themselves have been sent 
 to do the work of the prophets, to reveal 
 things to come, it has set them in a very 
 honorable point of light. Even the Apostle 
 John himself, in his great surprise, was once 
 and again ready to fall down and worship the 
 angel, that was sent by Christ to reveal to 
 him the future events of the church ; but the 
 angel forbids him, acknowledging that the 
 privilege of the spirit of prophecy which he 
 had, was not of himself, but that he had re- 
 ceived it of Jesus Christ : Rev. xix. 10, and 
 xxii. 8, 9. The heathen of the city of Lystra 
 were so astonished at the power the Apostles 
 Barnabas and Paul had to work miracles, 
 that they were about to offer sacrifices to 
 them as gods : Acts xiv. 11, 12, 13. And 
 Simon the sorcerer had a great hankering 
 after that gift that the Apostles had of con- 
 ferring the Holy Ghost, by laying on their 
 hands, and offered them money for it. 
 
 These extraordinary gifts are a great privi- 
 lege, in that there is in them a conformity to 
 Christ in his prophetical office. And the 
 4 
 
50 CHARITY MOKE EXCELLENT 
 
 greatness of trie privilege appears also in 
 this, that though sometimes they have been 
 bestowed on natural men, yet it has been 
 very rarely ; and commonly such as have had 
 them bestowed on them have been saints, 
 yea, and the most eminent saints. Thus it 
 was on the day of Pentecost ; and thus it 
 was in more early ages. Pet. i. 21 : " Holy 
 men of God spake as they were moved by the 
 Holy Ghost." These gifts have commonly 
 been bestowed as tokens of God's extraordi- 
 nary favor and love, as it was with Daniel. 
 He was a man greatly beloved, and therefore he 
 was admitted to such a great privilege, as that 
 of having these revelations made to him : Dan. 
 ix. 23, and x. 11, 19. And the Apostle John, as 
 he was the disciple whom Jesus loved, so he 
 was selected above all the other Apostles, 
 to be the man to whom those great events 
 were revealed that we have an account of in 
 the book of the Revelation. I come now, 
 
 III. To show, that though these are great 
 privileges, yet that the ordinary influence of 
 the Spirit of God, working the grace of charity 
 in the hea/rt, is afar more excellent privilege 
 than any of them : a greater blessing than 
 the spirit of prophecy, or the gift of tongues, 
 
THAN THE GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT. 51 
 
 or of miracles, even to the removing of moun- 
 tains ; a greater blessing than all those miracu- 
 lous gifts that Moses, and Elijah, and David, 
 and the twelve Apostles were endowed with. 
 This will appear, if we consider, 
 
 1. This Messing of the saving grace of God 
 is a quality inherent in the nature of him that 
 is the subject of it. — This gift of the Spirit of 
 God, working a truly Christian temper in the 
 soul, and exciting gracious exercises there, 
 confers a blessing that has its seat in the heart, 
 a blessing that makes a man's heart or nature 
 excellent ; yea, the very excellency of the na- 
 ture does consist in it. Now it is not so with 
 respect to these extraordinary gifts of the 
 Spirit. They are excellent things, but not 
 properly the excellency of a man's nature, for 
 they are not things that are inherent in the 
 nature. For instance, if a man is endowed 
 with a gift of working miracles, this power is 
 not anything inherent in his nature. It is not 
 properly any quality of the heart and nature 
 of the man, as true grace and holiness are ; 
 and though most commonly, those that have 
 these extraordinary gifts of prophecy, speak- 
 ing with tongues and working miracles, have 
 been holy persons, yet their holiness did not 
 
52 CHARITY MOKE EXCELLENT 
 
 consist in their having these gifts. These 
 extraordinary gifts are nothing properly in- 
 herent in the man. They are something 
 adventitious. They are excellent things, but 
 not excellences in the nature of the subject. 
 They are like a beautiful garment, which does 
 not alter the nature of the man that wears it. 
 They are like precious jewels, with which the 
 body may be adorned ; but true grace is that 
 whereby the very soul itself becomes as it 
 were a precious jewel. 
 
 2. The Spirit of God communicates himself 
 much more in hestowing saving grace than in 
 hestowing these extraordinary gifts. — In the ex 
 traordinary gifts of the Spirit, the Holy Ghost 
 does indeed produce effects, in men, or by 
 men ; but not so as properly to communicate 
 himself, in his own proper nature, to men. A 
 man may have an extraordinary impulse in 
 his mind by the Spirit of God, whereby some 
 future thing may be revealed to him ; or he 
 may have an extraordinary vision given him 
 representing some future event ; and yet the 
 Spirit may not at all impart himself, in his 
 holy nature, by that. The Spirit of God may 
 produce effects in things in which he does not 
 communicate himself to us. Thus the Spirit 
 
THAN THE GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT. 53 
 
 of God moved on the face of the waters, 
 but not so as to impart himself to the 
 water. But when the Spirit, by his ordinary 
 influences, bestows saving grace, he therein 
 imparts himself to the soul in his own holy 
 nature, — that nature of his, on the account of 
 which, he is so often called in Scripture, the 
 Holy Ghost, or the Holy Spirit. By his pro- 
 ducing this effect, the Spirit becomes an in- 
 dwelling vital principle in the soul, and the 
 subject becomes spiritual, being denominated 
 so from the Spirit of God that dwells in him, 
 and whose nature he is partaker of. Yea, 
 grace is, as it were, the holy nature of the 
 Spirit imparted to the soul. But the extraor- 
 dinary gifts of the Spirit, such as knowing 
 things to come, or having power to work mira- 
 cles, do not imply this holy nature. Not but 
 that God, when he gives the extraordinary 
 gifts of the Spirit, is commonly wont to give 
 the sanctifying influences of the Spirit with 
 them ; but one does not imply the other. And 
 if God gives only extraordinary gifts, such as 
 the gift of prophecy, of miracles, &c, these 
 alone will never make their receiver a par- 
 taker of the Spirit, so as to become spiritual 
 in himself, i. e. y in his own nature. 
 
54 
 
 CHARITY MOKE EXCELLENT 
 
 3. That grace or holiness, which is the effect 
 of the ordinary influence of the Spirit of God 
 in the hearts of the saints, is that wherein the 
 spiritual image of God consists / and not in 
 these extraordinary gifts of the Spirit. — The 
 spiritual image of God does not consist *in 
 having a power to work miracles, and foretell 
 future events, but it consists in being holy as 
 God is holy: in having a holy and divine 
 principle in the heart, influencing us to holy 
 and heavenly lives. Indeed, there is a kind 
 of assimilation to Christ in having a power to 
 work miracles, for Christ had such a power, 
 and wrought a multitude of miracles, John 
 xiv. 12 : " The works that I do, he shall do 
 also." But the moral image and likeness of 
 Christ does much more consist in having the 
 same mind in us which was in Christ / in 
 being of the same Spirit that he was of ; in 
 being meek and lowly of heart ; in having a 
 spirit of Christian love, and walking as Christ 
 walked. This makes a man more like Christ 
 than if he could work ever so many miracles. 
 
 4. That grace which is the effect of the ordi- 
 nary influences of the Spirit of God, is a 
 privilege which God bestows only on his own 
 favorites and children, but the extraordinary 
 
THAN THE GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT. 55 
 
 gifts of the Spirit are not so. — It has been ob- 
 served before, that though God most com- 
 monly has chosen saints and eminent saints 
 to bestow extraordinary gifts of the Spirit 
 upon, yet he has not always done so ; but 
 these gifts are sometimes bestowed on others. 
 They have been common to both the godly and 
 the ungodly. Balaam is stigmatized in Scrip- 
 ture as a wicked man, 2 Pet. ii. 15 ; Jude 11 ; 
 Rev. ii. 14 ; and yet he had the extraordinary 
 gifts of the Spirit of God for awhile. Saul 
 was a wicked man, but we read, once and 
 again, of his being among the prophets. 
 Judas was one of those whom Christ sent 
 forth to preach and work miracles : he was 
 one of those twelve disciples, of whom it is 
 said in Matt. x. 1 : " And when he had called 
 unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them 
 power against unclean spirits to cast them out, 
 and to heal all manner of sickness, and all 
 manner of disease." And in the next verses 
 we are told who they were, their names are 
 all rehearsed over, and " Judas Iscariot, who 
 also betrayed him," among the rest. And in 
 verse 8, Christ says to them, " Heal the sick, 
 cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out 
 devils." The grace of God in the heart, is a 
 
56 
 
 CHARITY MOKE EXCELLENT 
 
 gift of the Holy Ghost peculiar to the saints. 
 It is a blessing that God reserves only for 
 those who are the objects of his special and 
 peculiar love. But the extraordinary gifts of 
 the Spirit are what God sometimes bestows on 
 those whom he does not love, but hates ; which 
 is a sure sign that the one is infinitely more 
 precious and excellent than the other. That is 
 the most precious gift, which is most of an 
 evidence of God's love. But the extraordi- 
 nary gifts of the Spirit were, in the days of 
 inspiration and miracles, no sure sign of the 
 love of God. The prophets were not wont to 
 build their persuasion of the favor and love 
 of God on their being prophets, and having 
 revelations ; but on their being sincere saints. 
 Thus, it was with David. See Psal. xv. 1-5, 
 and xvii. 1-3, and cxix. throughout : and in- 
 deed, the whole Book of Psalms bears witness 
 to this. So the Apostle Paul, though he was 
 so greatly privileged with the extraordinary 
 gifts of the Spirit, was yet so far from making t 
 these the evidences of his good estate, that he 
 expressly declares, that without charity they 
 are all nothing. And hence we may argue, 
 
 5. From the fruit and consequence of these 
 two different things, that the one is infinitely 
 
THAN THE GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT. 57 
 
 more excellent than the other. — Eternal life 
 is, by the promises of the gospel, constantly 
 connected with the one, and never with the 
 other. Salvation is promised to those who 
 have the graces of the Spirit, bnt not to those 
 who have merely the extraordinary gifts. 
 Many may have these last, and yet go to hell. 
 Jndas Iscariot had them, and is gone to hell. 
 And Christ tells us, that many who have had 
 them, will, at the last day, be bid to depart, 
 as workers of iniquity, Matt. vii. 22, 23. And 
 therefore when he promised his disciples these 
 extraordinary gifts, he bade them rejoice, not 
 because the devils were subject to them, but 
 because their names were written in heaven, 
 intimating that the one might be, and yet not 
 the other, Luke x. 17, &c. And this shows that 
 the one is an infinitely greater blessing than 
 the other, as it carries eternal life in it. For 
 eternal life is a thing of infinite worth and 
 value, and that must be an excellent blessing 
 indeed that has this infallibly connected with 
 it, and of infinitely more worth than any privi- 
 lege whatsoever, which a man may possess, 
 and yet after all go to hell. 
 
 6. Happiness itself does much more imme- 
 diately and essentially consist in Christian 
 
58 CHAPJTY ilORE EXCELLENT 
 
 grace, wrought by ike ordinary influences of 
 the Spirit, than in these extraordinary gifts. 
 Man's highest happiness consists in holiness, 
 for it is by this that the reasonable creature is 
 united to God. the fountain of all good. Hap- 
 piness doth so essentially consist in knowing, 
 loving, and serving God, and having the holy 
 and divine temper of soul, and the lively 
 exercises of it, that these things will make a 
 man happy without anything else ; but no 
 other enjoyments or privileges whatsoever will 
 make a man happy without this. 
 
 7. This divine temper of soul, which is the 
 fruit of the ordinary sanctifying influences of 
 the Spirit, is the end of all the extraordinary 
 gifts of the Holy Ghost. — The gift of j>ro- 
 phecy, of miracles, of tongues, &c, God gave 
 for this very end, to promote the propagation 
 and establishment of the gospel in the world. 
 And the end of the gospel is, to turn men from 
 darkness to light, and from the power of sin 
 and Satan to serve the living God, i. <?., to make 
 men holy. The end of all the extraordinary 
 gifts of the Spirit, is the conversion of sinners, 
 and the building up of saints in that holiness 
 which is the fruit of the ordinary influences 
 of the Holy Ghost. For this, the Holy Spirit 
 
THAN THE GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 59 
 
 was poured out on the Apostles after Christ's 
 ascension ; and they were enabled to speak 
 with tongues, work miracles, &c. ; and for this, 
 very many others, in that age, were endued 
 with the extraordinary gifts of the Holy 
 Ghost, Eph. iv. 11 : " And he gave some, 
 Apostles : and some, Prophets : and some, 
 Evangelists." Here the extraordinary gifts 
 of the Spirit are referred to ; and the end of 
 all is expressed in the next words, viz. : "For 
 the perfecting of the saints, for the work of 
 the ministry, for the edifying of the body of 
 Christ." And what sort of edifying of the 
 body of Christ this is, we learn from verse 16 : 
 " Maketh increase of the body, unto the edi- 
 fying of itself in love." In love, that is, in 
 charity, the same that is spoken of in our 
 text, for the word in the original is the same, 
 and the same thing is meant. And so it is the 
 same as in 1 Cor. viii. 1 : charity eclifieth. 
 
 But the end is always more excellent than 
 the means : this is a maxim universally allow- 
 ed ; for means have no goodness in them any 
 otherwise than as they are subordinate to the 
 end. The end therefore must be considered as 
 superior in excellency to the means. 
 
 8. The extraordinary gifts of the Spirit 
 
60 CHARITY MORE EXCELLENT 
 
 will he so far from profiting without that 
 grace to hie h is the fruit of the ordinary influ- 
 ences of the Spirit, that they will hut aggra- 
 vate the condemnation of those that have them. 
 Doubtless Judas' condemnation was exceed- 
 ingly aggravated by his having been one 
 that had had snch privileges. And some, 
 that have had snch extraordinary gifts, have 
 committed the sin against the Holy Ghost, 
 and their privileges were a main thing that 
 rendered their sin, the unpardonable sin ; as 
 appears from Heb. vi. 4, 5, 6 : " For it is im- 
 possible for those who were once enlightened, 
 and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were 
 made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have 
 tasted the good word of God, and the powers of 
 the world to come, if they shall fall away, to re- 
 new them again unto repentance : seeing they 
 crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, 
 and put him to an open shame." Those who 
 fell away, were such as apostatized from Chris- 
 tianity after having made a public profession 
 of it, and received the extraordinary gifts of 
 the Holy Ghost, as most Christians did in 
 those days. They were instructed in Chris- 
 tianity, and through the common influences 
 of the Spirit they received the word with joy, 
 
THAK THE GIFTS OF THE SPIEIT. 61 
 
 like those in Matt. xiii. 20 ; and withal re- 
 ceived the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit : 
 " were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, 
 tasted of the heavenly gift, and the powers of 
 the world to come ;" spake with tongnes ; 
 prophesied in Christ's name ; and in his name 
 cast ont devils ; and yet after all, openly re- 
 nounced Christianity ; joined to call Christ 
 an impostor, as his murderers did; and so 
 "crucified to themselves the Son of God 
 afresh, and put him to open shame." Of 
 these it is that the Apostle says : "It is im- 
 possible to renew them again to repentance." 
 Such apostates, in their renouncing Christian- 
 ity, must ascribe the miraculous powers which 
 themselves had possessed to the devil. So 
 their case became hopeless ; and their con- 
 demnation must be exceedingly aggravated. 
 And from this it appears that saving grace is of 
 infinitely more worth and excellence, than the 
 extraordinary gifts of the Spirit. And, lastly, 
 
 9. Another thing that shows the jpreferable- 
 ness of that saving grace, which is the fruit 
 of the ordinary influences of the Holy Sjpirit, 
 to the extraordinary gifts, is, that one will 
 fail, and the other will not. — This argument 
 the Apostle makes use of, in the context, to 
 
62 CHARITY MORE EXCELLENT 
 
 show that divine love is preferable to the ex- 
 traordinary gifts of the Spirit, verse 8 : 
 " Charity never faileth : but whether there 
 be prophecies, they shall fail ; whether there 
 be tongues, they shall cease ; whether there 
 be knowledge, it shall vanish away." Divine 
 love will remain throughout all eternity, but 
 the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit will fail in 
 time. They are only of the nature of means, 
 and when the end is obtained they shall 
 cease; but divine love will remain forever. 
 In the improvement of this subject, I remark : 
 
 1. If saving grace is a greater Messing than 
 the extraordinary gifts of the /Spirit, we may. 
 doubtless hence argue, that it is the greatest 
 ^privilege and blessing that ever God bestows 
 on any person in this world. — For these extra- 
 ordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost, such as the 
 gift of tongues, of miracles, of prophecy, &c, 
 are the highest kind of privileges that God 
 ever bestows on natural men, and privileges 
 which have been very rarely bestowed on 
 such, in any age of the world, the apostolic 
 age excepted. 
 
 If what has been said be well considered, it 
 will appear evident beyond all doubt, that the 
 saving grace of God in the heart, working a 
 
THAIS' THE GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT. 63 
 
 holy and divine temper in the soul, is the 
 greatest blessing that ever men receive in this 
 world : greater than any natural gifts, greater 
 than the greatest natural abilities, greater 
 than any acquired endowments of mind, 
 greater than the most universal learning, 
 greater than any outward wealth and honor, 
 greater than to be a king or an emperor, greater 
 than to be taken from the sheepcote, as David 
 was, and made king over all Israel ; and all 
 the riches and honor and magnificence of 
 Solomon in all his glory, are not to be com- 
 pared with it. 
 
 Great was the privilege that God bestowed 
 on the blessed Virgin Mary, in granting that 
 of her should be born the Son of God. That 
 a person, who was infinitely more honorable 
 than the angels, yea, who was the Creator and 
 King of heaven and earth, the great sovereign 
 of the world, that such an one should be con- 
 ceived in her womb, born of her, and nursed at 
 her breasts, was a greater privilege than for 
 her to be the mother of the child of the great- 
 est earthly prince that ever lived, yet even 
 that was not so great a privilege, as to have 
 the grace of God in the heart ; to have Christ, 
 as it were, born in the soul, as he himself doth 
 
64 
 
 CHARITY MORE EXCELLENT 
 
 expressly teach, us, in Luke xi. 27, 28 : " And 
 it came to pass, as he spake these things, a 
 certain woman of the company lift irp her 
 voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb 
 that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast 
 sucked." But he said, "Yea, rather blessed 
 are they that hear the word of God and keep 
 it." And once when some told him, that his 
 mother and his brethren stood without, desir- 
 ing to speak with him, he thence took occasion 
 to let them know, that there was a more 
 blessed way of being related to him than that 
 which consisted in being his mother and 
 brethren according to the flesh, Matt, xii, 46, 
 47, 48, 49, 50 : " Who is my mother ?" said he, 
 " and who are my brethren ? and he stretched 
 forth his hand towards his disciples, and said, 
 Behold my mother and my brethren, for who- 
 soever shall do the will of my Father which is 
 in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, 
 and mother." 
 
 2. Hence these two kinds of privileges are 
 not to he confounded, by talcing things that 
 have some appearance of an extraordinary 
 miraculous gift of the Spirit, for sure signs 
 of grace. — If persons at any time have some 
 extraordinary impression made upon their 
 
 
THAN THE GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT. 65 
 
 minds, which they think is from God, reveal- 
 ing something to them that shall come to pass 
 hereafter, this, if it were real, would argue an 
 extraordinary gift of the Holy Ghost, viz. the 
 gift of prophecy ; but, from what has been 
 said, it is evident, that it would be no certain 
 sign of grace, or of anything saving : even if 
 it were real, I say, for indeed we have no rea- 
 son to look on such things when pretended to, 
 in these days, as any other than delusion. 
 And the fact that such impressions are made 
 by texts of Scripture coming suddenly to the 
 mind, alters not the case ; for a text of Scrip- 
 ture coming to the mind, proves no more to 
 be true, than the reading of it proves. If 
 reading any text of Scripture, at any time, 
 and at all times, as it lies in the Bible, does not 
 prove such a thing, then its coming suddenly 
 to the mind does not prove it ; for the Scrip- 
 ture speaks just the same thing at one time, 
 as it does at another. The words have the 
 same meaning when they are read along in 
 course, as they have when they are suddenly 
 brought to the mind. And if any man there- 
 fore argues anything further from them, he 
 proceeds without warrant. For their coming 
 suddenly to the mind does not give them 
 5 
 
66 CHARITY MOKE EXCELLENT 
 
 a new meaning, which they had not before. 
 So if a man thinks that he is in a good estate, 
 because such a text of Scripture comes sud- 
 denly to his mind, if the text does not prove 
 it, as it lies in the Bible, and if it would not 
 have proved it, had he only read it, as he was 
 reading along in course, then by such a text 
 coming to his mind, he has no evidence that 
 he is in a good estate. So if anything appears 
 to persons, as though they had a vision of some 
 visible form, and heard some voice, such 
 things are not to be taken as signs of grace, 
 for if they are real and from God, they are 
 not grace, for the extraordinary influence of 
 the Spirit, producing visions and dreams, such 
 as the prophets of old had, are no sure signs 
 of grace. All the fruits of the Spirit, which 
 we are to lay weight upon as evidential of 
 grace, are summed up in charity, or Christian 
 love ; because this is the sum of all grace. 
 And the only way, therefore, in which any can 
 know their good estate, is by discerning the 
 exercises of this divine charity in their hearts, 
 for without charity, let men have what gifts 
 you please, they are nothing. 
 
 3. If saving grace is more excellent than 
 the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, then we 
 
THAN THE GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT. 67 
 
 cannot conclude from what the Scripture says 
 
 of the glory of the latter times of the church, 
 that the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit will 
 he granted to men in those times. — Many 
 have been ready to think that, in those glo- 
 rious times of the church, which shall be after 
 the calling of the Jews, and the destruction 
 of Antichrist, there will be many persons that 
 will be inspired, and endued with a power 
 of working miracles. But what the Scripture 
 says concerning the glory of those times does 
 not prove any such thing, or make it proba- 
 ble. For it has been shown, that the pouring- 
 out of the Spirit of God, in his ordinary and 
 saving operations, to fill men's hearts with a 
 Christian and holy temper, and lead them to 
 the exercises of the divine life, is the most 
 glorious way of pouring out the Spirit, that 
 can be ; more glorious, far more glorious, than 
 a pouring out of the miraculous gifts of the 
 Spirit. And therefore the glory of those times 
 of the church does not require any such thing 
 as those extraordinary gifts. Those times 
 may be far the most glorious times of the 
 church, that ever have been, without them. 
 Their not having the gift of prophecy, of 
 tongues, of healing, &c, as they had in the 
 
68 CHARITY MORE EXCELLENT 
 
 Apostolic age, will not hinder there being far 
 more glorious times than there were then, if 
 the Spirit be poured out in greater measure 
 in his sanctifying influences ; for this, as the 
 Apostle expressly asserts, is a more excellent 
 way, 1 Cor. xii. 31. This glory is the great- 
 est glory of the church of Christ; and the 
 greatest glory which Christ's church will ever 
 enjoy in any period. This is what will make 
 the church more like the church in heaven, 
 where charity or love hath a more perfect 
 reign, than any number or degree of the ex- 
 traordinary gifts of the Spirit could do. So 
 that we have no reason on this account, and 
 perhaps not on any other, to expect that the 
 extraordinary gifts of the Spirit will be poured 
 out in those glorious times which are yet to 
 come. For in those times, there is no new 
 dispensation to be introduced, and no new 
 Bible to be given. Nor have we any reason 
 to expect our present Scriptures are to be 
 added to and enlarged ; but rather in the end 
 of the sacred writings which we now have, it 
 seems to be intimated, that no addition is to 
 be made till Christ comes. See He v. xxii. 
 18-21. 
 
 4. What cause have they to Mess God, and 
 
THAN THE GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT. 69 
 
 to live to his glory, who have received such a 
 privilege, as is implied in the influence of the 
 Holy Spirit, working saving grace in the heart. 
 If we do but seriously consider the state of 
 the godly, of those who have been the sub- 
 jects of this inexpressible blessing, we cannot 
 but be astonished at the wonderful grace be- 
 stowed upon them. And the more we con- 
 sider it, the more wonderful and inexpressible 
 it will appear. When we read in the Scrip- 
 tures of the great privileges conferred on the 
 Yirgin Mary, and on the Apostle Paul, when 
 he was caught up into the third heaven, we are 
 ready to admire such privileges as very great. 
 But after all, they are as nothing compared 
 with the privilege of being like Christ, and 
 having his love in the heart. Let those, then, 
 that hope they have this last blessing, con- 
 sider more than they ever yet have done, how 
 great a favor God has bestowed upon them, 
 and how great their obligations to glorify him 
 for the work he hath wrought in them, and to 
 glorify Christ who hath purchased this bless- 
 ing for them with his own blood, and to glo- 
 rify the Holy Spirit who hath sealed it to 
 their souls. What manner of persons ought 
 such to be in all holy conversation and godli- 
 
70 CHARITY MOEE EXCELLENT 
 
 ness ! Consider, yon that hope in God's 
 mercy, how highly he hath advanced and ex- 
 alted you ; and will yon not be diligent to live 
 for him ? Will yon dishonor Christ so as to 
 regard him bnt little, not giving him your 
 whole heart, but going after the world, neg- 
 lecting him, and his service, and his glory? 
 Will you not be watchful against yourselves, 
 against a corrupt, worldly, proud disposition, 
 that might lead you away from God who has 
 been so kind to you, and from the Saviour 
 who has purchased such blessings for you, at 
 the cost of his own agonies and death ? Will 
 you not every day make this your earnest in- 
 quiry, " What shall I render unto the Lord 
 for all his benefits towards me ?" What could 
 God have done more for you than he has 
 done ? What privilege could he have be- 
 stowed, better in itself, or more worthy to 
 engage your heart in thankfulness? And 
 consider how you are living — how little you 
 have done for him — how much you do for self 
 — how little this divine love hath wrought in 
 your heart to incline you to live for God and 
 Christ, and for the extension of his kingdom? 
 O ! how should such as you, show your sense 
 of your high privileges, by the exercises of 
 
 
THAN THE GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 71 
 
 love ; love that is manifest toward God in 
 obedience, submission, reverence, cheerful- 
 ness, joy and hope, and toward your neighbor, 
 in meekness, sympathy, humility, charitable- 
 ness, and doing good to all as you have oppor- 
 tunity. Finally, 
 
 5. The subject exhorts all unrenewed per- 
 sons, those who are strangers to this grace, to 
 seek this most excellent blessing for themselves. 
 Consider how miserable you now are while 
 wholly destitute of this love, far from right- 
 eousness, in love with the vanities of the 
 world, and full of enmity against God. How 
 will you endure when he shall deal with you 
 according to what you are, coming forth in 
 anger as your enemy, and executing his fierce 
 wrath against you. Consider, too, that you 
 are capable of this love ; and Christ is able 
 and willing to bestow it ; and multitudes have 
 obtained it, and been blessed in it. God is 
 seeking your love, and you are under unspeak- 
 able obligation to render it. The Spirit of 
 God has been poured out wonderfully here. 
 Multitudes have been converted. Scarcely a 
 family has been passed by. In almost every 
 household some have been made nobles, kings, 
 and priests unto God, sons and daughters of 
 
72 CHARITY MORE EXCELLENT, ETC. 
 
 the Lord Almighty ! "What manner of per- 
 sons, then, ought all of ns to be, how holy, 
 serious, just, humble, charitable, devoted in 
 God's service, and faithful to our fellow-men. 
 As individuals and as a people, God has most 
 richly blessed us, and as both individuals and 
 a people, it becomes us to be a royal priest- 
 hood, an holy nation, a peculiar people, show- 
 ing forth the praises of him that hath called us 
 all out of darkness into his marvellous light ? 
 " Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest 
 I tear you in pieces and there be none to de- 
 liver. Whoso offereth praise glorifleth me, 
 and to him that ordereth his conversation 
 aright, will I show the salvation of God !" 
 
LECTURE III. 
 
 THE GREATEST PERFORMANCES OR SUFFERINGS IN 
 VAIN WITHOUT CHARITT. 
 
 "And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and 
 though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, 
 itprofiteth me nothing." — 1 Cor. xiii. 3. 
 
 In the previous verses of this chapter, the 
 necessity and excellence of charity are set 
 forth, as we have seen, by its preference to 
 the greatest privileges, and the utter vanity 
 and insignificance of these privileges without 
 it. The privileges particularly mentioned are 
 those that consist in the extraordinary gifts 
 of the Spirit of God. In this verse, things of 
 another kind are mentioned, viz. those that 
 are of a moral nature ; and it is declared that 
 none of these avail anything without charity. 
 And, particularly, 
 
 First. That our performances are in vain 
 without it. Here is one of the highest kinds 
 
74 PERFORMANCES &KD SUFFERDsGS 
 
 of external performances mentioned, viz. giv- 
 ing all onr goods to feed the poor. Giving to 
 the poor, is a dnty very much insisted on 
 in the word of God, and particularly under 
 the Christian dispensation. And in the primi- 
 tive times of Christianity, the circumstances 
 of the church were such, that persons were 
 sometimes called to part with all they had, 
 and give it away to others. This was partly 
 because of the extreme necessities of those 
 who were persecuted and in distress, and 
 partly because the difficulties that attended 
 being a follower of Christ and doing the 
 work of the gospel were such, as to call for the 
 disciples disentangling themselves from the 
 care and burden of their worldly possessions, 
 and going forth, as it were, without gold, or 
 silver, or scrip, or their purses, or even two 
 coats apiece. The Apostle Paul tells us, that 
 he had suffered the loss of all things for 
 Christ; and the primitive Christians, in the 
 church at Jerusalem, sold all that they had, 
 and gave it into a common fund, and " none 
 said that aught that he had was his own," 
 Acts iv. 32. The duty of giving to the poor, 
 was a duty that the Christian Corinthians at 
 this time had particular occasion to consider, 
 
 
VAIN WITHOUT CHARITY. 75 
 
 not only because of the many troubles of the 
 times, but by reason, also, of a great dearth 
 or famine that sorely distressed the brethren 
 in Judea ; in view of which, the Apostle had 
 already urged it on the Corinthians, as their 
 duty, to send relief to them, speaking of it 
 particularly in this Epistle, in the sixteenth 
 chapter, and also in his second Epistle to the 
 same church, in the eighth and ninth chapters. 
 And yet, though he says so much in both 
 these Epistles, to stir them up to the duty of 
 giving to the poor, still he is very careful to 
 inform them, that though they should go 
 ever so far in it, yea, though they should be- 
 stow all their goods to feed the poor, and have 
 not charity, it would profit them nothing. 
 
 Secondly. The Apostle teaches, that not 
 only our performances, but also our sufferings 
 are of no avail without charity. Men are 
 ready to make much of what they do, but 
 more of what they suffer. They are ready to 
 think it a great thing when they put them- 
 selves out of their way, or are at great ex- 
 pense or suffering for their religion. The 
 Apostle here mentions a suffering of the most 
 extreme kind, suffering even to death, and 
 that one of the most terrible forms of death, 
 
76 
 
 PERFORMANCES AND SUFFERINGS 
 
 and says that even this is nothing without 
 charity. When a man has given away all 
 his goods, he has nothing else remaining that 
 he can give, but himself. And the Apostle 
 teaches, that when a man has given all his 
 possessions, if he then goes on to give his own 
 body, and that to be utterly consumed in the 
 flames, it will avail nothing if it is not done 
 from sincere love in the heart. The time when 
 the Apostle wrote to the Corinthians, was a 
 time when Christians were often called not 
 only to give their goods, but their bodies, 
 also, for Christ's sake ; for the church then was 
 generally under persecution, and multitudes 
 were then or soon after put to very cruel 
 deaths for the gospel's sake. But though they 
 suffered in life, or endured the most agonizing 
 death, it would be in vain without charity. 
 What is meant by this charity, has already 
 been explained in the former lectures on these 
 verses, in which it has been shown that charity 
 is the sum of all that is distinguishing in the 
 religion of the heart. And therefore the doc- 
 trine that I would derive from these words is 
 this, 
 
 That all that men can do, and all that 
 they can suffer, can never make up for 
 
VAIN WITHOUT CHARITY. 77 
 
 THE WANT OF SINCERE CHRISTIAN LOVE IN THE 
 HEART. 
 
 I. There may he great performances, and so 
 there may he great sufferings without sincere 
 Christian love in the heart. And, 
 
 1. There may be great performances with- 
 out it. The Apostle Paul, in the third chapter 
 of the Epistle to the Philippians, tells us what 
 things he did before his conversion, and while 
 he remained a Pharisee. In the fourth verse, 
 he says, " If any other man thinketh that he 
 hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I 
 more." Many of the Pharisees did great 
 things, and abounded in religious perform- 
 ances. The Pharisee mentioned in Luke 
 xviii. 11, 12, boasted of the great things he 
 had done, both towards God and men, and 
 thanked God, that he so exceeded other men 
 in his doings. And many of the heathen 
 have been eminent for their great perform- 
 ances ; some for their integrity, or for their 
 justice, and others for their great deeds done 
 for the public good. Many men without 
 any sincerity of love in their hearts, have been 
 exceeding magnificent in their gifts for pious 
 and charitable uses, and have thus gotten to 
 themselves great fame, and had their names 
 
78 PERFORMANCES AXD SUFFERINGS 
 
 handed down in history to posterity with great 
 glory. Many have done great things from 
 fear of hell, hoping thereby to appease the 
 Deity and make atonement for their sins, and 
 many have done great things from pride, and 
 from a desire for reputation and honor among 
 men. And though these motives are not wont 
 to influence men to a constant and universal 
 observance of God's commands, and to go on 
 with a course of Christian performances, and 
 with the practice of all duties towards God 
 and man through life, yet it is hard to say 
 how far such natural principles may cany 
 men in particular duties and performances. 
 And so, 
 
 2. There may be great sufferings for re- 
 ligion, and yet no sincerity of love in the 
 heart. Persons may undergo great sufferings 
 in life, just as some of the Pharisees used 
 themselves to great severities, and to penances 
 and voluntary inflictions. 3J any have under- 
 taken wearisome pilgrimages, and have shut 
 themselves out from the benefits and pleas- 
 ures of the society of mankind, or have spent 
 their lives in deserts and solitudes, and some 
 have suffered death, of whom we have no rea- 
 son to think that they had any sincere love to 
 
Y&m WITHOUT CHARITY. 79 
 
 God in their hearts. Multitudes among the 
 Papists, have voluntarily gone and ventured 
 their lives in bloody wars, in hopes of merit- 
 ing heaven by it. In the wars carried on 
 with the Turks and Saracens, called the Holy 
 Wars, or Crusades, thousands went volunta- 
 rily to all the dangers of the conflict, in the 
 hope of thus securing the pardon of their 
 sins, and the rewards of glory hereafter ; and 
 many thousands, yea, some millions, in this way 
 lost their lives, even to the depopulation, in a 
 considerable measure, of many parts of Europe. 
 And the Turks were many of them enraged by 
 this exceedingly, so as to venture their lives, 
 and rush, as it were, upon the very points of 
 the swords of their enemies, because Mahomet 
 has promised that all that die in war, in de- 
 fence of the Mahometan faith, shall go at once 
 to Paradise. And history tells us of some, 
 that have yielded themselves to voluntary 
 death, out of mere obstinacy and sturdiness 
 of spirit, rather than yield to the demand of 
 others, when they might, without dishonor, 
 have saved their lives. Many among the 
 heathen have died for their country; and 
 many, as martyrs for a false faith, though not 
 in any wise in such numbers, nor in such a man- 
 3 
 
80 
 
 PERFORMANCES AND SUFFERINGS 
 
 ner, as those that have died as martyrs for the 
 true religion. And in all these cases, many 
 doubtless have endured their sufferings, or 
 met death, without having any sincere divine 
 love in their hearts. But, 
 
 II. Whatever men may do or suffer, they 
 cannot hy all their performances and suffer- 
 ings, make up for the want of sincere love in 
 the heart. — If they lay themselves out ever 
 so much in the things of religion, and are 
 ever so much engaged in acts of justice and 
 kindness and devotion; and if their prayers 
 and fastings are ever so much multiplied ; or 
 if they should spend their time ever so much 
 in the forms of religious worship, giving days 
 and nights to it, and denying sleep to their 
 eyes and slumber to their eyelids, that they 
 might be the more laborious in religious exer- 
 cises ; and if the things that they should do 
 in religion were such as to get them a name 
 throughout the world, and make them famous 
 to all future generations, it would all be in 
 vain without sincere love to God in the heart. 
 And so if a man should give most bounteously 
 to religious or charitable uses ; and if possess- 
 ing the riches of a kingdom he should give it 
 all, and from the splendor of an earthly prince 
 
VAIN WITHOUT CHAEITY. 81 
 
 should reduce himself to the level of beggars ; 
 and if he should not stop there, but when he 
 has done all this, should yield himself to 
 undergo the fiercest sufferings, giving up not 
 only all his possessions, but also giving his 
 body to be clothed in rags, or to be mangled 
 and burned and tormented as much as the wit 
 of man could conceive, all, even all this, 
 would not make up for the want of sincere 
 love to God in the heart. And it is plain that 
 it would not for the following reasons :■ — ■ 
 
 1. It is not the external work done, or the 
 suffering endured, that is, in itself, worth any- 
 thing in the sight of God. — The motions and 
 exercise of the body, or anything that may be 
 done by it, if considered separately from the 
 heart — the inward part of the man, is of no 
 more consequence or worth in the sight of 
 God, than the motions of anything without 
 life. If anything be offered or given, though 
 it be silver, or gold, or the cattle on a thou- 
 sand hills, though it be a thousand rams, or 
 ten thousands of rivers of oil, there is nothing 
 of value in it, as an external thing, in God's 
 sight. If God were in need of these things, 
 they might be of value to him in themselves 
 considered, independently of the motives of 
 6 
 
 
82 
 
 PERFORMANCES AXE SrEFEEESGS 
 
 the heart that led to their being offered. "We 
 often stand in need of external good things, 
 and therefore such things offered or given to 
 ns, may and do hare a value to us, in them- 
 selves considered. But God stands in need of 
 nothing. He is all-sufficient in himself. He 
 is not fed by the sacrifices of beasts, nor en- 
 riched by the gift of silver, or gold, or pearls, 
 " Every beast of the forest is mine, and the 
 cattle upon a thousand hills. If I were hun- 
 gry, I would not tell thee, for the world is 
 mine, and the fulness thereof," Psalm 1. 10, 
 12. "All things come of thee, and of thine 
 own. have we given thee. O, Lord, our God, 
 all this store that we have prepared to build 
 thee an house for thine holy name, cometh of 
 thine hand, and is all thine own,'' 1 Chroni- 
 cles xxix. 11, 18. And as there is nothing 
 profitable to God in any of our services or per- 
 formances, so there can be nothing accejrtable 
 in his sight in a mere external action without 
 sincere love in the heart, " for the Lord seeth 
 not as men seeth ; for man looketh on the out- 
 ward appearance, but God looketh on the 
 heart." The heart is just as naked and open 
 to him as the external actions. And therefore 
 he sees our actions, and all our conduct, not 
 
VAIN WITHOUT CHARITY. 83 
 
 merely as the external motions of a machine, 
 but as the actions of rational, intelligent crea- 
 tures, and voluntary free agents, and therefore 
 there can be, in his estimation, no excellence 
 or amiableness in anything we can do, if the 
 heart be not right with him. 
 
 And so God takes no pleasure in any suffer- 
 ings that we may endure, in themselves con- 
 sidered. He is not profited by the torments 
 men may undergo, nor does he delight to see 
 them putting themselves to suffering, unless it 
 be from some good motive, or to some good 
 purpose and end. We sometimes may need 
 that our fellow-men, our friends and neigh- 
 bors should suffer for us, and should help us 
 bear our burdens, and put themselves to in- 
 convenience for our sake. But God stands in 
 no such need of us, and therefore our suffer- 
 ings are not acceptable to him, considered 
 merely as sufferings endured by us ; and are 
 of no account apart from the motive that leads 
 us to endure them. ]STo matter what may be 
 done or suffered, neither doings nor sufferings 
 will make up for the want of love to God in 
 the soul. They are not profitable to God, or 
 lovely for their own sake in his sight ; nor 
 can they ever make up for the absence of that 
 
84 PEEFOEMANCES AND SUFFEEINGS 
 
 love to God and love to men, which is the sum 
 of all that God requires of his moral crea- 
 tures. 
 
 2. Whatever is done or suffered, yet if the 
 heart is withheld from God, there is nothing 
 really given to him. — The act of the individual, 
 in what he does or suffers, is in every case, 
 looked upon not as the act of a lifeless engine 
 or machine, but as the act of an intelligent, 
 voluntary, moral being. For surely a ma- 
 chine is not properly capable of giving any- 
 thing : and if any such machine, that is with- 
 out life, being moved by springs, or weights, 
 places anything before us, it cannot properly 
 be said to give it to us. Harps, and cymbals, 
 and other instruments of music, were of old 
 made use of in praising God in the temple 
 and elsewhere. But these lifeless instruments 
 could not be said to give praise to God, be- 
 cause they had no thought, nor understanding, 
 or will, or heart, to give value to their pleasant 
 sounds. And so though a man has a heart, 
 and an understanding, and a will, yet if when 
 he gives anything to God, he gives it without 
 his heart, there is no more truly given to God, 
 than is given by the instrument of music. 
 
 He that has no sincerity in his heart, has 
 
VAIN WITHOUT CHARITY. 85 
 
 no real respect to God in what he seems to 
 give, or in all his performances or sufferings ; 
 and therefore God is not his great end in what 
 he does or gives. What is given, is given to 
 that which the individual makes his great end 
 in giving. If his end be only himself, then 
 it is given only to himself, and not to God ; — 
 and if his aim be his own honor or ease, or 
 worldly profit, then the gift is but an offering 
 to these things. The gift is an offering to 
 him to whom the giver's heart devotes, and for 
 whom he designs it. It is the aim of the 
 heart that makes the reality of the gift ; and 
 if the sincere aim of the heart be not to God, 
 then there is in reality nothing given to him, 
 no matter what is performed or suffered. So 
 that it would be a great absurdity to suppose, 
 that anything that can be offered or given to 
 God, can make up for the absence of love in 
 the heart to him ; for without this, nothing is 
 truly given, and the seeming gift is but mock- 
 ery of the Most High. This further appears, 
 3. From the fact, that this love or charity is 
 the sum of all that God requires of us. — And 
 it is absurd to suppose that anything can make 
 up for the want of that which is the sum of all 
 that God requires. Charity or love is some- 
 
86 PERFORMANCES AND SUFFERINGS 
 
 thing that has its seat in the heart, and in 
 which, as we have seen, consists all that is 
 saving and distinguishing in Christian charac- 
 ter. This love it is, of which our Saviour 
 speaks as the sum of all required in the two 
 tables of the law ; and which the Apostle de- 
 clares is the fulfilling of the law ; and how 
 can we make up for the defect, when by with- 
 holding it, we do, in effect, withhold the sum 
 total of all that God requires of us. It would 
 be absurd to suppose that we can make up for 
 one thing that is required by offering another 
 that is required — that we can make up for one 
 debt by paying another. But it is still more 
 absurd to suppose, that we can make up for 
 the whole debt without paying anything, but 
 by continuing still to withhold all that is re- 
 quired. As to external things without the 
 heart, God speaks of them as not being the 
 things that he has required (Isaiah i. 12), and 
 demands that the heart be given to him, if we 
 would have the external offering accepted. 
 
 4. If we make a great show of respect and 
 love to God, in the outward actions, while there 
 is no sincerity in the heart, it is hut hypocrisy 
 and practical lying unto the Holy One. — To 
 pretend to such respect and love, when it is 
 
VAIN WITHOUT CHARITY. 
 
 87 
 
 not felt in the heart, is to act as if we thought 
 we could deceive God. It is to do as Is- 
 rael did in the desert, after they had been 
 delivered from Egypt, when they are said to 
 have "lied unto God with their mouth, and 
 to have flattered him with their tongues," Ps. 
 lxxviii. 36. But surely it is as absurd to sup- 
 pose that we can make up for the want of 
 sincere respect by flattery and guile, as to 
 suppose we can make up for the want of truth 
 by falsehood and lying. 
 
 5. Whatever may he done or suffered, if 
 there he no sincerity in the heart, it is all hut 
 an offering to some idol. — As observed before, 
 there is nothing, in the case supposed, really 
 offered to God, and therefore it will follow, 
 that it is offered to some other being or object 
 or end ; and whatever that may be, it is what 
 the Scriptures call an idol. In all such offer- 
 ings, something is virtually worshipped, and 
 whatever it is, be it self, or our fellow-men, or 
 the world, that is allowed to usurp the place 
 that should be given to God, and to receive 
 the offerings that should be made to him. 
 And how absurd to suppose we can make up 
 for withholding from God that which is his 
 due, by offering something to our idol. It is 
 
88 PERFORMANCES AND SUFFERINGS 
 
 as absurd as it is to suppose that the wife can 
 make up for want of love to her husband, by 
 giving that affection which is due to him, to 
 another man who is a stranger ; or that she 
 can make up for her want of faithfulness to 
 him, by the guilt of adultery. 
 
 In the application of this subject, it becomes 
 us to use it, 
 
 1. In the way of self-examination. — If it 
 be indeed so, that all that we can do or suffer 
 is in vain, if we have not sincere love to God 
 in the heart, then it should put us upon search- 
 ing ourselves whether or no we have this love 
 in sincerity in our hearts. There are many 
 that make a profession and show of religion, 
 and some that do many of the outward things 
 which it requires ; and possibly they may think 
 that they have done and suffered much for 
 God and his service. But the great inquiry 
 is, has the heart been sincere in it all, and has 
 all been suffered or done from a regard to the 
 divine glory. Doubtless if we examine our- 
 selves we may see much of hypocrisy. But 
 is there any sincerity ? God abominates the 
 greatest things without sincerity, but he ac- 
 cepts of and delights in little things when 
 they spring from sincere love to himself. A 
 
VAIN WITHOUT CHARITY. 
 
 89 
 
 cup of cold water given to a disciple in sincere 
 love, is worth more in God's sight, than all 
 one's goods given to feed the poor, yea, than 
 the wealth of a kingdom given away, or a 
 body offered up in the flames without love. 
 And God accepts of even a little sincere love. 
 Though there be a great deal of imperfection, 
 yet if there be any true sincerity in our love, 
 that little shall not be rejected because there 
 is some hypocrisy with it. And here it may 
 be profitable to observe, that there are these 
 four things that belong to the nature of sin- 
 cerity, viz, truth, freedom, integrity and pu- 
 rity. And, 
 
 First, truth . — That is, that there be that truly 
 in the heart, of which there is the appearance 
 and show in the outward action. Where there 
 is, indeed, true respect to God, the love that 
 honors him will be felt in the heart, just as 
 extensively as there is a show made of it in 
 the words and actions. In this sense it is 
 said in the fifty-first psalm, "Behold thou 
 desirest truth in the inward parts." And in 
 this view, it is, that sincerity is spoken of in 
 the Scriptures as the opposite of hypocrisy, 
 and that a sincere Christian is said to be one 
 that is such indeed as he appears to be — one 
 
90 PERFORMANCES AND SUFFERINGS 
 
 "without guile," John i. 47. Examine jour- 
 self, therefore, with respect to this matter. 
 If in your outward actions, there is an appear- 
 ance or show of respect to God, inquire if it 
 be only external, or if it be sincerely felt in 
 your heart ; for without real love or charity 
 you are nothing. The 
 
 Second thing, in the nature of sincerity, is 
 freedom. On this account, especially, the 
 obedience of Christians is called filial, or the 
 obedience of children, because it is an ingen- 
 uous, free obedience, and not legal, slavish, 
 and forced, but that which is performed from 
 love and with delight. God is chosen for his 
 own sake ; and holiness for its sake, and for 
 God's sake. Christ is chosen and followed 
 because he is loved, and religion because it is 
 loved, and the soul rejoices in it, finding in 
 its duties its highest happiness and delight. 
 Examine yourself faithfully on this point, 
 whether or no this spirit is yours. The 
 
 Third thing, belonging to the nature of this 
 sincerity, is integrity. The word signifies 
 wholeness, intimating that where this sincerity 
 exists, God is sought, and religion is chosen 
 and embraced with the whole heart, and ad- 
 hered to with the whole soul. Holiness is 
 
VAIN WITHOUT CHARITY. 
 
 91 
 
 chosen with, the whole heart. The whole of 
 duty is embraced, and entered upon most 
 cordially, whether it have respect to God or 
 to man, whether it be easy or difficult, whether 
 it have reference to little things or great. 
 There is a proportion and fulness in the char- 
 acter. The whole man is renewed. The 
 whole body, and soul, and spirit are sanctified. 
 Every member is yielded to the obedience of 
 Christ. All the parts of the new creature are 
 brought into subjection to his will. The seeds 
 of all holy dispositions are implanted in the 
 soul, and they will more and more bear fruit 
 in the performance of duty and for the glory 
 of God. The 
 
 Fourth thing, that belongs to the nature of 
 sincerity, is purity. The word sincere often 
 signifies pure. So in 1 Peter ii. 2, " As new- 
 born babes, desire the sincere milk of the 
 word, that ye may grow thereby ;" i. e. pure, 
 unmixed, unadulterated. This appears in the 
 opposition of virtue to sin. The one is spoken 
 of as defilement, and impurity, and unclean- 
 ness : the other, as that which is free from 
 these things. The apostle compares sin to a 
 body of death, or a dead body, which of all 
 things is most polluting and defiling, while 
 
92 PERFORMANCES AND SUFFERINGS 
 
 holiness is spoken of as purity and holy 
 pleasures as pure pleasures, and the saints in 
 heaven as without spot before the throne of 
 God. Inquire then, whether this purity is 
 yours, and whether in its possession you find 
 the evidence that you sincerely love God. 
 This subject may, also, 
 
 2. Convince those ivho are still in an unre- 
 generate state, of their lost condition. — If it 
 be indeed so, that by all you can either do or 
 suffer, you cannot make up for the want of a 
 holy, sincere principle of love in your heart, 
 then it will follow that you are in an undone 
 condition till you have obtained God's re- 
 generating grace to renew a right spirit within 
 you ; and that do what you will, or undergo 
 and suffer what you will, you cannot be de- 
 livered from your wickedness without the 
 converting grace of God. If you make ever 
 so many prayers, that will not make your 
 case less miserable, unless God, by his mighty 
 power, is pleased to give you a new heart. If 
 you take ever so much pains in religion, and 
 cross and deny yourself, and do or suffer 
 ever so much, all will not avail without this. 
 Therefore whatever you have done, though 
 you can look back upon a great many prayers 
 
VAIN WITHOUT CHABITT. 93 
 
 offered, and much time spent in reading and 
 meditation, you have no reason to think that 
 these things have made any atonement for 
 your sins, or rendered your case any the less 
 deplorable, or left you any other than a 
 wretched, lost, miserable, guilty and ruined 
 creature. 
 
 Natural, unrenewed men, would be glad to 
 have something to make up for the want of 
 sincere love and real grace in their hearts ; 
 and many do great things to make up for the 
 want of it, while others are willing to suffer 
 great things. But alas ! how little does it all 
 signify! No matter what they may do or 
 suffer, it does not change their character ; and 
 if they build their hopes upon it, they do but 
 delude themselves, and feed upon the East 
 wind. If such be your case, consider how 
 miserable you will be while you live without 
 hope in the only true source of hope, and how 
 miserable when you come to die, when the 
 sight of the king of terrors will show the 
 nothingness and vanity of all your doings ! 
 How miserable when you see Christ coming 
 to judgment in the clouds of heaven ! Then 
 you will be willing to do and suffer anything, 
 that you may be accepted by him. But doings 
 
94 PERFORMANCES AND SUFFERINGS 
 
 or sufferings will not avail. They will not 
 atone for your sins, or give you God's favor, 
 or save you from the overwhelming storms of 
 his wrath. Rest, then, on nothing that you 
 have done or suffered, or that you can do or 
 suffer ; but rest on Christ.* Let your heart be 
 filled with sincere love to him ; and then, at 
 the last great day, he will own you as his 
 follower and as his friend. The subject, 
 
 3. Exhorts all, earnestly to cherish sincere 
 Christian love in their hearts. — If it be so, 
 that this is of such great and absolute necessity, 
 then let it be the one great thing that you 
 seek. Seek it with diligence and prayer ; 
 and seek it of God, and not of yourself. He 
 only can bestow it. It is something far above 
 the unassisted power of nature ; for though 
 there may be great performances, and great 
 sufferings, too, yet without sincere love they 
 are all in vain. Such doings and sufferings 
 may, indeed, be required of us, as the followers 
 of Christ, and in the way of duty ; but we are 
 not to rest in them, or feel that they have any 
 merit or worthiness in themselves. At best 
 they are but the outward evidence and the 
 outflowing of a right spirit in the heart. Be 
 exhorted, then, as the great thing, to cherish 
 
VAIN WITHOUT CHARITY. 
 
 95 
 
 sincere love, or Christian charity in the heart. 
 It is that which you must have ; and there is 
 nothing that will help yonr case without it. 
 Without it, all will, in some respect, but tend 
 to deepen your condemnation, and to sink you 
 to but lower depths in the world of despair ! 
 
LECTURE IV. 
 
 CHAEITY DISPOSES US MEEKLY TO BEAR THE 
 INJURIES RECEIVED FROM OTHERS. 
 
 " Charity suffereth long and is kind." — 1 Corinthians xiii. 4. 
 
 The Apostle, in the previous verses, as we 
 have seen, sets forth how great and essential 
 a thing charity, or a spirit of Christian love, is, 
 in Christianity : that it is far more necessary 
 and excellent than any of the extraordinary 
 gifts of the Spirit ; that it far exceeds all ex- 
 ternal performances and sufferings ; and, in 
 short, that it is the sum of all that is distin- 
 guishing and saving in Christianity — the very 
 life and soul of all religion, without which, 
 though we give all our goods to feed the poor, 
 and our bodies to be burned, we are nothing. 
 And now he proceeds, as his subject naturally 
 leads him, to show the excellent nature of 
 charity, by describing its several amiable and 
 
CHARITY DISPOSES US MEEKLY. 97 
 
 excellent fruits. In the text two of these 
 fruits are mentioned: suffering long, which 
 has respect to the evil or injury received from 
 others ; and being kind, which has respect to 
 the good to be done to others. Dwelling, for 
 the present, on the first of these points, I 
 would endeavor to show, 
 
 That charity, or a truly Christian spirit, 
 will dispose us meekly to bear the evil that 
 is received from others, or the injuries that 
 others may do to us. 
 
 Meekness is a great part of the Christian 
 spirit. Christ, in that earnest and touching 
 call and invitation of his that we have in the 
 eleventh chapter of Matthew, in which he in- 
 vites all that labor and are heavy-laden to 
 come to himself for rest, particularly men- 
 tions, that he would have them come, to learn 
 of him ; for he adds, " I am meek and lowly 
 of heart." And meekness, as it respects in- 
 juries received from men, is called long-suf- 
 fering in the Scriptures, and is often men- 
 tioned as an exercise, or fruit of the Christian 
 spirit (Galatians, v. 22) : " But the fruit of 
 the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering ;" 
 and (Ephesians iv. 1, 2) : "I, therefore, the 
 prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk 
 7 
 
98 CHARITY DISPOSES ITS MEEKLY 
 
 worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are 
 called, with all lowliness, and meekness, with 
 long-suffering, &c. ;" and Colosians iii. 12, 
 13 : " Put on therefore, as the elect of God, 
 holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, 
 humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering ; 
 forbearing one another, and forgiving one an- 
 other, if any man have a quarrel against any ; 
 even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye." 
 
 In dwelling more fully on this point, I 
 would, 1. Take notice of some of the various 
 kinds of injuries that we may receive from 
 others ; 2. Show what is meant by meekly 
 bearing such injuries ; and, 3. How that love 
 which is the sum of the Christian spirit, will 
 dispose us to do this. And, 
 
 I. I would briefly notice some of the various 
 kinds of injuries thai we may or do receive from 
 others. — Some injure others in their estates, by 
 unfairness and dishonesty in their dealings, by 
 being fraudulent and deceitful with them, or at 
 least by leading them to act in the dark, and 
 taking advantage of their ignorance; or by op- 
 pressing them, taking advantage of their neces- 
 sities ; or by unfaithfulness towards them, not 
 fulfilling their promises and engagements, and 
 being slack and slighting in any business they 
 
TO BEAR INJURIES FROM OTHERS. 
 
 99 
 
 are employed in by their neighbors, aiming at 
 nothing but just to meet the letter of their en- 
 gagements, and not being careful to improve 
 their time to the utmost in accomplishing that 
 which they are engaged to do ; or by asking 
 unreasonable prices for what they do ; or by 
 withholding what is due, from their neigh- 
 bors, unjustly, neglecting to pay their debts, 
 or unnecessarily putting their neighbors to 
 trouble and difficulty to get what is due from 
 them. And besides these, there are many 
 other methods in which men injure one an- 
 other in their dealings, by an abundance of 
 crooked and perverse ways in which they are 
 far from doing to others as they would have 
 them do to themselves, and by which they pro- 
 voke, and irritate, and injure one another. 
 
 Some injure others in their good name, by 
 reproaching or speaking evil of them behind 
 their backs. No injury is more common, and 
 no iniquity more frequent or base than this. 
 Other ways of injury are abundant ; but the 
 amount of injury by evil-speaking of this kind, 
 is beyond account. Some injure others by 
 making or spreading false reports about them, 
 and so cruelly slandering them. Others, 
 without saying that which is directly false, 
 
100 CHARITY DISPOSES ITS MEEKLY 
 
 greatly misrepresent things, picturing out 
 everything respecting their neighbors in the 
 worst colors, exaggerating their faults, and 
 setting them forth as far greater than they 
 really are, always speaking of them in an un- 
 fair and unjust manner. A great deal of 
 injury is done among neighbors by thus un- 
 charitably judging one another, and putting 
 injurious and evil constructions on one an- 
 other's words and actions. 
 
 Persons may greatly injure others in their 
 thoughts, by unjustly entertaining mean 
 thoughts, or a low esteem of them. Some are 
 deeply and continually injurious to others, by 
 the contempt they habitually have of them in 
 their hearts, and by their willingness to think 
 the worst about them. And, as the outflowing 
 of the thoughts, a great deal is done to the injury 
 of others by the words ; — for the tongue is but 
 too ready to be the wicked instrument of ex- 
 pressing the evil thoughts and feelings of the 
 soul, and hence in the Scriptures (Job v. 21), 
 it is called a scourge, and is compared (Ps. 
 cxl. 3) to the fangs of some very poisonous 
 kinds of serpents, whose bite is supposed to 
 cause death. 
 
 Sometimes men injure others in their treat- 
 
TO BEAK INJURIES FROM OTHERS. 101 
 
 merit and actions towards them, and in the 
 injurious deeds they do them. If clothed with 
 authority, they sometimes carry themselves 
 very injuriously toward those over whom their 
 authority extends, by behaving very assum- 
 ingly, and magisterially, and tyrannically to- 
 ward them; and sometimes those who are 
 under authority, carry themselves very inju- 
 riously toward those who are over them, by 
 denying them that respect and honor which 
 are due to their places, and thus to themselves 
 while they occupy them. Some carry them- 
 selves very injuriously toward others by the 
 exercise of a very selfish spirit, seeming to be 
 all for themselves, and apparently having no 
 regard to the good or benefit of their neigh- 
 bor, but all their contrivance is only to better 
 their own interests. Some cany themselves 
 injuriously in the manifestation of a very 
 haughty and proud spirit, as though they 
 thought they were more excellent than all 
 others, and that nobody was at all to be re- 
 garded except themselves alone ; and this 
 appears in their air, and talk, and actions, and 
 their greatly assuming behavior in general, 
 all of which are such, that those about them 
 feel and justly feel, that they are injured by 
 
102 CHARITY DISPOSES US MEEKLY 
 
 them. Some cany themselves very inju- 
 riously by the exercise of a very wilful spirit, 
 being so desperately set on having their own 
 way, that they will, if possible, bend every- 
 thing to their own will, and never will alter 
 their career, or yield to the wishes of others : 
 they shut their eyes against the light or mo- 
 tives others may offer, and have no regard to 
 any one's inclination but their own, being 
 always perverse and wilful in having their 
 own way. Some carry themselves injurious- 
 ly in the course they take in public affairs, 
 acting not so much from a regard for the pub- 
 lic good, as from the spirit of opposition to 
 some party, or to some particular person ; so 
 that the party or person opposed is injured, 
 and oftentimes is greatly provoked and exas- 
 perated. Some injure others by the malicious 
 and wicked spirit they cherish against them, 
 whether with or without cause. It is not an 
 uncommon thing for neighbors to dislike and 
 even hate one another ; not cherishing any- 
 thing like love to each other in their hearts, 
 but whether they acknowledge it or not, in 
 reality hating one another, having no delight 
 in each other's honor and prosperity, but, on 
 the contrary, being pleased when they are cast 
 
TO BEAR INJURIES FROM OTHERS. 
 
 103 
 
 down and in adversity, foolishly and wickedly 
 thinking, perhaps, that another's fall is their 
 own elevation, which it never is. Some in- 
 jure others by the spirit of envy they show 
 toward them, cherishing ill-will toward them 
 for no other reason than for the honor and 
 prosperity they enjoy. Many injure others 
 from a S23irit of revenge, deliberately return- 
 ing evil for evil, for real or imaginary injuries 
 received from them ; and some, as long as 
 they live, will keep up a grudge in their 
 hearts against their neighbor, and whenever 
 an opportunity offers, will act it out in injury 
 to him in the spirit of malice. And in innu- 
 merable other particular ways which might 
 be mentioned, do men injure one another; 
 though these may suffice for our present pur- 
 pose. But, 
 
 II. I would go on to show what is meant by 
 meekly hearing such injuries, or how they 
 ought meekly to be borne. — And here I would 
 show, first, the nature of the duty enjoined ; 
 and then why it is called long-suffering, or 
 suffering long. And, 
 
 1. I would show the nature of the duty of 
 meekly bearing the injuries we suffer from 
 others. And, 
 
104 , CHARITY DISPOSES TJS MEEKLY 
 
 First, It implies that injuries offered should 
 he home uithout doing anything to revenge 
 them. — There are many ways in which men 
 do that which is revengeful ; not merely by 
 actually bringing some immediate suffering 
 on the one that may have injured them, but 
 by anything either in speech or behavior, which 
 shows a bitterness of spirit against him for 
 what he has done. Thus, if after we are of- 
 fended or injured, we speak reproachfully to 
 our neighbor, or of him to others, with a de- 
 sign to lower or injure him, and that we may 
 gratify the bitter spirit we feel in our hearts 
 for the injury that neighbor has done us, this 
 is revenge. He, therefore, that exercises a 
 Christian long-suffering toward his neighbor, 
 will bear the injuries received from him with- 
 out revenging or retaliating, either by inju- 
 rious deeds or bitter words. He will bear it 
 without doing anything against his neighbor 
 that shall manifest the spirit of resentment, 
 without speaking to him, or of him, with re- 
 vengeful words, and without allowing a re- 
 vengeful spirit in his heart, or manifesting it 
 in his behavior. He will receive all with a 
 calm, undisturbed countenance, and with a 
 soul full of meekness, quietness and goodness ; 
 
TO BE*AR INJURIES FROM OTHERS. 105 
 
 and this he will manifest in all his behavior 
 to the one that has injured him, whether to 
 his face or behind his back. Hence, it is, 
 that this virtue is recommended in the Scrip- 
 tures under the names of gentleness, or as 
 always connected with it, as may be seen in 
 James iii. 17, and Galatians v. 22. In him 
 that exercises the Christian spirit as he ought, 
 there will not be a passionate, rash, or hasty 
 expression, or a bitter, exasperated counte- 
 nance, or an air of violence in the talk or be- 
 havior ; but, on the contrary, the countenance 
 and words and demeanor, will all manifest 
 the savor of peaceableness and calmness and 
 gentleness. He may perhaps reprove his 
 neighbor. This may clearly be his duty. But 
 if he does, it will be without impoliteness, and 
 without that severity that can tend only to 
 exasperate ; and though it may be with 
 strength of reason and argument, and with 
 plain and decided expostulation, it will still 
 be without angry reflections, or contemptuous 
 language. He may show a disapprobation 
 of what has been done ; but it will be not 
 with an appearance of high resentment, but 
 as reproving the offender for a sin against 
 God, rather than as for the offence against 
 
106 CHARITY DISPOSES US MEEKLY 
 
 himself; as lamenting his calamity, more than 
 resenting his injury; as seeking his good, not 
 his hurt ; and as one that more desires to de- 
 liver the offender ont of the error into which 
 he has fallen, than to be even with him for the 
 injury done to himself. The duty enjoined 
 also implies, 
 
 Secondly, That injuries be borne with the 
 continuance of love in the heart, and without 
 those inward emotions and passions that tend 
 to interrupt and destroy it. — Injuries should 
 be borne, where we are called to suffer them, 
 not only without manifesting an evil and re- 
 vengeful spirit in our words and actions, but 
 also without such a spirit in the heart. "We 
 should not only control our passions when we 
 are injured, and refrain from giving vent to 
 outward revenge, but the injury should be 
 borne without the spirit of revenge in the 
 heart. Not only a smooth external behavior 
 should be continued, but also a sincere love 
 with it. We should not cease to love our 
 neighbor because he has injured us. We may 
 pity, but not hate him for it. The duty en- 
 joined also implies, 
 
 Thirdly, That injuries be borne without our 
 losing the quietness and repose of our own 
 
TO BEAK INJURIES FROM OTHERS. 
 
 107 
 
 minds and hearts. — They should not only be 
 borne without a rough behavior, but with a 
 continuance of inward calmness and repose 
 of spirit. When the injuries we suffer are al- 
 lowed to disturb our calmness of mind, and 
 put us into an excitement and tumult, then we 
 cease to bear them in the true spirit of long- 
 suffering. If the injury is permitted to dis- 
 compose and disquiet us, and to break up our 
 inward rest, we cannot enjoy ourselves, and 
 are not in a state to engage properly in our 
 various duties ; and especially we are not in a 
 state for religious duties — for prayer and 
 meditation. And such a state of mind is the 
 contrary of the spirit of long-suffering and 
 meekly bearing of injuries that is spoken of 
 in the text. Christians ought still to keep the 
 calmness and serenity of their minds undis- 
 turbed, whatever injuries they may suffer. 
 Their souls should be serene, and not like the 
 unstable surface of the water, disturbed by 
 every wind that blows. No matter what evils 
 they may suffer, or what injuries may be in- 
 flicted on them, they should still act on the 
 principle of the words of the Saviour to his 
 disciples (Luke xxi. 19): "In your patience, 
 
108 CHARITY DISPOSES US MEEKLY 
 
 possess ye your souls." The duty we are 
 speaking of, also implies, once more, 
 
 Fourthly, That in many cases when we are 
 injured, we should he willing to suffer much 
 in our interests and feelings for the sake of 
 peace, rather than do what we have opportunity, 
 and perhaps the right to do in defending our- 
 selves. — When we suffer injuries from others, 
 the case is often such that a Christian spirit, 
 if we did but exercise it as we ought, would 
 dispose us to forbear taking the advantage 
 we may have to vindicate and right ourselves. 
 For by doing otherwise, we may be the means 
 of bringing very great calamity on him that 
 has injured us ; and tenderness toward him 
 may and ought to dispose us to a great dea] 
 of forbearance, and to suffer somewhat our- 
 selves, rather than bring so much suffering on 
 him. And besides, such a course would 
 probably lead to a violation of peace, and to 
 an established hostility, whereas in this way, 
 there may be hope of gaining our neighbor, 
 and from an enemy making him a friend. 
 These things are manifest from what the apos- 
 tle says to the Corinthians concerning going 
 to law one with another. "Now, therefore, 
 there is utterly a fault among you, because 
 
TO BEAR INJURIES FROM OTHERS. 109 
 
 ye go to law one with another. "Why do ye 
 not rather take wrong ? Why do ye not rather 
 suffer yourselves to be defrauded?" 1 Corin- 
 thians vi. 7. Not that all endeavors in men to 
 defend and right themselves, when they are 
 injured by others, are censurable, or that they 
 should suffer all the injuries that their ene- 
 mies please to bring upon them, rather than 
 improve an opportunity they have to defend 
 and vindicate themselves, even though it be 
 to the damage of him that injures them. But 
 in many and probably in most cases, men 
 ought to suffer long first, in the spirit of the 
 long-suffering charity of the text. And the 
 case may often be such, that they may be 
 called to suffer considerably, as charity and 
 prudence shall direct, for the sake of peace, 
 and from a sincere Christian love to the one 
 that injures them, rather than deliver them- 
 selves in the way they may have opportunity 
 for. Having thus shown what is implied in 
 this virtue, I would now show, briefly, 
 
 2. Why it is called long-suffering, or suffer- 
 ing long. — And it seems to be so called, espe- 
 cially on two accounts : — 
 
 First, Because we ought meekly to bear 
 not only a small injury, out also a good deal 
 
110 CHAEITY DISPOSES -ITS MEEKLY 
 
 of injurious treatment from others. We should 
 persevere, and continue in a quiet frame, 
 without ceasing still to love our neighbor, not 
 only when he injures us a little, but when he 
 injures us much, and the injuries he does us 
 are great. And we should not only thus bear 
 a few injuries, but a great many, and though 
 our neighbor continues his injurious treatment 
 to us for a long time. When it is said that 
 charity suffers long, we cannot infer from 
 this, that we are to bear injuries meekly for 
 a season, and that after that season we may 
 cease thus to bear them. The meaning is not 
 that we must, indeed, bear injuries for a long 
 time, but may cease to bear them at last. 
 But it is that we should meekly continue to 
 bear them, though they are long continued, 
 even to the end. The spirit of long-suffering 
 should never cease. And it is called long- 
 suffering, 
 
 Secondly, Because in some cases we should 
 be willing to suffer a great while in our in- 
 terests, before we improve opportunities of 
 righting ourselves. Though we may defend 
 ourselves at last, when we are driven, as it 
 were, by necessity to it, yet we are not to do 
 it out of revenge, or to injure him that has 
 
TO BEAR INJURIES FROM OTHERS. Ill 
 
 injured us, but only for needful self-defence ; 
 and even this, in many cases, is to be given 
 up for peace, and out of a Christian spirit 
 toward him that has injured us, and lest we 
 should do injury to him. Having thus shown 
 in what ways we are often injured by others, 
 and what is implied in meekly bearing the 
 injuries thus inflicted, I come now to show, 
 
 III. How that love or charity which is the 
 sum of the Christian spirit, will dispose us 
 meekly to hear such injuries. — And this may 
 be shown both in reference to love to God, 
 and love to our neighbors. And, 
 
 1. Love to God and the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 has a tendency to dispose us to this. For, 
 
 First, Love to God disposes us to imitate 
 him, and therefore disposes us to such long- 
 suffering as he manifests. Long-suffering is 
 often spoken of as one of the attributes of God. 
 In Exodus xxxiv. 6, it is said, " And the Lord 
 passed by before him, and proclaimed, the 
 Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, 
 long-suffering, &c." And in Romans ii. 4, the 
 apostle asks, " Despisest thou the riches of his 
 goodness, and forbearance, and long-suffer- 
 ing ?" The long-suffering »of God is very 
 wonderfully manifest in his bearing innumera- 
 
112 CHARITY DISPOSES US MEEKLY 
 
 ble injuries from men, and injuries that are 
 very great, and long continued. If we con- 
 sider the wickedness that there is in the 
 world, and then consider how God continues 
 the world in existence, and does not destroy 
 it, but showers upon it innumerable mercies, 
 the bounties of his daily providence and grace, 
 causing his sun to rise on the evil and on the 
 good, and sending rain alike upon the just and 
 the unjust, and offering his spiritual blessings 
 ceaselessly and to all, we shall perceive how 
 abundant is his long-suffering toward us. 
 And if we consider his long-suffering to some 
 of the great and populous cities of the world, 
 and think how constantly the gifts of his 
 goodness are bestowed on and consumed by 
 them, and then consider how great the wick- 
 edness of these very cities, it will show us 
 how amazingly great is his long-suffering. 
 And the same long-suffering has been mani- 
 fest to very many particular persons, in all 
 ages of the world. He is long-suffering to 
 the sinners that he spares, and to whom he 
 offers his mercy, even while they are rebelling 
 against him. And he is long-suffering toward 
 his own elect people, many of whom long lived 
 in sin, and despised alike his goodness and his 
 
TO BEAR INJURIES FROM OTHERS. 113 
 
 wrath : and yet lie bore long with them, even 
 to the end, till they were brought to repent- 
 ance, and made, through his grace, vessels 
 of mercy and glory. And this mercy he 
 showed to them even while they were enemies 
 and rebels, as the apostle tells us was the case 
 with himself. " And I thank Christ Jesus our 
 Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he count- 
 ed me faithful, putting me into the ministry ; 
 who was before a blasphemer, and a persecu- 
 tor, and injurious ; but I obtained mercy, be- 
 cause I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And 
 the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant 
 with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. 
 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all 
 acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the 
 world to save sinners ; of whom I am chief. 
 Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that 
 in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all 
 long-suffering, for a pattern to them which 
 should hereafter believe on him to life ever- 
 lasting." 1 Timothy i. 12-16. Now it is the 
 nature of love, at least in reference to a 
 superior, that it always inclines and disposes 
 to imitation of him. A child's love to his 
 father disposes him to imitate his father, and 
 especially does the love of God's children dis- 
 8 
 
114 CHARITY DISPOSES ITS MEEKLY 
 
 pose them to imitate their heavenly Father. 
 And as he is long-suffering, so they should 
 be. And, 
 
 Secondly, Love to God will dispose us thus 
 to express our gratitude for his long-suffering, 
 exercised toward us. Love not only disposes 
 to imitate, but it works by gratitude. And 
 they that love God, will be thankful to him 
 for the abundant long-suffering that he has 
 exercised toward them in particular. They 
 that love God as they ought, will have such a 
 sense of his wonderful long-suffering toward 
 them under the many injuries they have 
 offered to him, that it will seem to them but 
 a small thing to bear with the injuries that 
 have been offered to them by their fellow-men. 
 All the injuries they have ever received from 
 others, in comparison with those they have 
 offered to God, will appear less than a few 
 pence in comparison with ten thousand talents. 
 And as they thankfully accept of and admire 
 God's long-suffering toward themselves, so 
 they cannot but testify their approbation of 
 it, and their gratitude for it, by manifesting, 
 so far as they are able, the same long-suffer- 
 ing to others. For if they should refuse to 
 exercise long-suffering toward those that have 
 
TO BEAR INJURIES FROM OTHERS. 115 
 
 injured them, they would practically dis- 
 approve of God's long-suffering toward them- 
 selves ; for what we truly approve of and de- 
 light in, we shall not practically reject. And 
 then gratitude for God's long-suffering, will 
 also dispose us to obedience to God in this 
 particular, when he commands us to be long- 
 suffering toward others. And so, again, 
 
 Thirdly, Love to God tends to humility, 
 which is one main root of a meek and long- 
 suffering spirit. Love to God, as it exalts 
 him, tends to low thoughts and estimates of 
 ourselves, and leads to a deep sense of our 
 unworthiness and our desert of ill ; because 
 he that loves God is sensible of the hateful- 
 ness and vileness of sin committed against the 
 being that he loves. And discerning an 
 abundance of this in himself, he abhors him- 
 self in his own eyes, as unworthy of any good, 
 and deserving of all evil. Humility is always 
 found connected with long-suffering, as says 
 the apostle, Ephesians iv. 2 : " With all lowli- 
 ness and meekness, with long-suffering, for- 
 bearing one another in love." An humble 
 spirit disinclines us to indulge resentment of 
 injuries ; for he that is little and unworthy in 
 his own eyes, will not think so much of an 
 
116 
 
 CHAJRITY DISPOSES US MEEKLY 
 
 injury offered to him, as he that has high 
 thoughts of himself, for it is deemed a greater 
 and higher enormity to offend one that is great 
 and high, than one that is mean and vile. It 
 is pride or self-conceit, that is very much the 
 foundation of a high and bitter resentment, 
 and of an unforgiving and revengeful spirit. 
 Again, 
 
 Fourthly, Love to God disposes men to 
 have regard to the hand of God in the injuries 
 they suffer, and not only to the hand of man, 
 and meekly to submit to his will therein. 
 Love to God disposes men to see his hand in 
 everything ; to own him as the governor of 
 the world, and the director of providence ; 
 and to acknowledge his disposal in everything 
 that takes place. And the fact that the hand 
 of God is a great deal more concerned in all 
 that happens to us than the treatment of men 
 is, should lead us, in a great measure, not to 
 think of things as from men, but to have 
 respect to them chiefly as from God — as 
 ordered by his love and wisdom, even when 
 their immediate source may be the malice or 
 heedlessness of a fellow-man. And if we 
 indeed consider and feel that they are from 
 the hand of God, then we shall be disposed 
 
TO BEAR INJURIES FROM OTHERS. 117 
 
 meekly to receive and quietly to submit to 
 them, and to own that the greatest injuries 
 received from men are justly and even kindly 
 ordered of God, and so be far from any ruffle 
 or tumult of mind on account of them. It 
 was with this view, that David so meekly and 
 quietly bore the curses of Shimei, when he 
 came forth and cursed and cast stones at him, 
 2 Samuel xvi. 5, 10 ; saying that the Lord 
 had bid him do it, and therefore forbidding 
 his followers to avenge it. And once more, 
 
 Fifthly, Love to God disposes us meekly to 
 bear injuries from others, because it sets us 
 very much above the injuries of men. And 
 it does so in two respects. In the first place 
 it sets us above the reach of injuries from 
 others, because nothing can ever really hurt 
 those that are the true friends of God. Their 
 life is hid with Christ in God ; and he as their 
 protector and friend, will carry them on high 
 as on the wings of eagles ; and all things shall 
 work together for their good ; Romans viii. 28, 
 and none shall be permitted really to harm 
 them, while they are followers of that which 
 is good, 1 Peter iii. 13. And then, in the 
 next place, as love to God prevails, it tends 
 to set persons above human injuries, in this 
 
118 
 
 CHARITY DISPOSES TJS MEEKLY 
 
 sense, that the more they love God the more 
 they will place all their happiness in him. 
 They will look to God as their all, and seek 
 their happiness and portion in his favor, and 
 thus not in the allotments of his providence 
 alone. The more they love God, the less they 
 set their hearts on their worldly interests, 
 which are all that their enemies can touch. 
 Men can injure God's people only with respect 
 to worldly good. But the more a man loves 
 God, the less is his heart set on the things of 
 the world, and the less he feels the injuries 
 that his enemies may inflict, because they 
 cannot reach beyond these things. And so it 
 often is the case, that the friends of God 
 hardly think the injuries they receive from 
 men are worthy of the name of injuries ; and 
 the calm and quietness of their minds are 
 scarcely disturbed by them. And as long as 
 they have the favor and friendship of God, 
 they are not much concerned about the evil 
 work and injuries of men. Love to God and 
 a sense of his favor, disposes them to say of 
 the injuries of men, when they would take 
 from them their worldly enjoyments, as Me- 
 phibosheth did of Ziba's taking the land 
 (2 Samuel xix. 30): "Yea, let him take all, 
 
TO BEAR INJURIES FROM OTHERS. 119 
 
 forasmuch as my lord the king is come again 
 in peace unto his own house." And as love 
 to God will, in these several respects, dispose 
 us to long-suffering under injuries from 
 others, so, 
 
 2. Love to our neighbor will dispose us to 
 the same. — In this sense, charity suffers long, — 
 long-suffering and forbearance are always the 
 fruit of love. As the Apostle intimates 
 (Ephesians iv. 1, 2), it is a part of our walk- 
 ing worthily of the Christian vocation, that 
 we walk " with all lowliness and meekness, 
 with long-suffering, forbearing one another in 
 love." Love will bear with a multitude of 
 faults and offences, and will incline us (Pro- 
 verbs x. 12) to cover all sins. So we see by 
 abundant observation and experience. Those 
 that we have a great and strong affection for, 
 we always bear a great deal more from, than 
 from those that we dislike, or to whom we are 
 indifferent. A parent will bear many things 
 in his own child that he would greatly repro- 
 bate in the child of another, and a friend tol- 
 erates many things in the friend that he would 
 not in a stranger. But there is no need to 
 multiply words, or reasons, on this branch of 
 the subject, for it is exceedingly plain to all. 
 
120 
 
 CHARITY DISPOSES US MEEKLY 
 
 All know that love is of such a nature, that it 
 is directly contrary both to resentment and 
 revenge ; for these imply ill-will, which is the 
 very reverse of love, and cannot exist with it. 
 Without dwelling, then, on this point, I pass, 
 in conclusion, to make some brief improve- 
 ment of the subject. And, 
 
 1. It exhorts us all to the duty of meeldy 
 bearing the injuries that may be receivedfrom 
 others. — Let what has been said be improved 
 by us to suppress all wrath, revenge, and bit- 
 terness of spirit, toward those that have in- 
 jured, or that may at any time injure us: 
 whether they injure us in our estates, or good 
 names, or whether they abuse us with their 
 tongues or with their hands, and whether 
 those that injure us are our superiors, infe- 
 riors or equals. Let us not say in our heart, 
 I will do to him, as he hath done to me. Let 
 us not endeavor, as is sometimes said, "to be 
 even with him," by some kind of retaliation, 
 or so much as suffer any hatred or bitterness 
 or vindictiveness of spirit to rise in our 
 hearts. Let us endeavor, under all injuries, to 
 preserve the calmness and quiet of our spirits ; 
 and be ready rather to suffer considerably in 
 our just rights, than to do anything that may 
 
 
TO BEAR INJURIES FROM OTHERS. 121 
 
 occasion our stirring up, and living in strife 
 and contention. To this end I would offer 
 for consideration the following motives. 
 
 First, Consider the example that Christ has 
 set us. He was of a meek and quiet spirit, 
 and of a most long-suffering behavior. In 
 2 Corinthians x. 1, we are told by the Apostle, 
 of the meekness and gentleness of Christ. He 
 meekly bore innumerable and very great in- 
 juries from men. He was very much the ob- 
 ject of bitter contempt and reproach, and 
 slighted and despised as of but little account. 
 Though he was the Lord of glory, yet he was 
 set at naught and rejected and disesteemed 
 of men. He was the object of the spite, and 
 malice, and bitter revilings of the very ones 
 he came to save. He endured the contradic- 
 tion of sinners against himself. He was called 
 a glutton, and a drunkard ; and though holy, 
 harmless, undefiled, and separate from sin- 
 ners, yet he was charged with being a friend 
 of publicans and sinners. He was called a 
 deceiver of the people, and oftentimes (as in 
 John x. 20, and vii. 20) he was said to be 
 mad, and possessed with the devil. Some- 
 times they reproached him (John viii. 48) 
 with being a Samaritan and having a devil ; 
 
122 CHAHITY DISPOSES US MEEKLY 
 
 the former being esteemed by the Jews as the 
 highest reproach, and the latter as implying 
 the most diabolical wickedness. He was some- 
 times charged (John x. 33) with being a wicked 
 blasphemer, and one that deserved death on 
 that account. Sometimes they charged him 
 with working miracles by the power and 
 aid of Beelzebub the prince of devils, and 
 even called him (Matthew x. 25) a devil him- 
 self. And such was their spite against him, 
 that they had agreed (John ix. 22) to excom- 
 municate or cast out of the synagogue any one 
 that should say that he was the Christ. They 
 hated him with a mortal hatred, and wished 
 he was dead, and from time to time endeav- 
 ored to murder him, yea, were almost always 
 endeavoring to imbrue their hands in his 
 blood. His very life was an annoyance to 
 them, and they hated him so (Psalm xli. 5) 
 that they could not bear that he should live. 
 We very often read (as in John v. 16), of 
 their seeking to kill him. And what pains did 
 many of them take to watch him in his words, 
 that they might have something of which to 
 accuse him, and thus be able, with the show 
 of reason, to put him to death. And many 
 times they combined together to take his life 
 
TO BEAR INJURIES FROM OTHERS. 123 
 
 in this manner. They often actually took up 
 stones to stone him, and once led him to the 
 brow of a hill that they might cast him down, 
 and thus dash him to pieces. And yet Christ 
 meekly bore all these injuries, without re- 
 sentment or one word of reproach ; and with 
 a heavenly quietness of spirit passed through 
 them all. And at last, when he was most 
 ignominiously dealt with of all, when his 
 professed friend betrayed, and his enemies 
 seized him, and led him away to scourging 
 and the death of the cross, he went as a lamb 
 to the slaughter, opening not his mouth. Not 
 one word of bitterness escaped him. There 
 was no interruption of the calmness of his 
 mind under his heavy distress and sufferings ; 
 nor was there the least desire for revenge. 
 But on the contrary, he prayed for his mur- 
 derers that they might be forgiven, even when 
 they were about nailing him to the cross ; and 
 not only prayed for them, but pleaded in their 
 behalf with his Father, that they knew not 
 what they did. The sufferings of his life, and 
 the agonies of his death, did not interrupt his 
 long-suffering toward those that injured him. 
 Second, If we are not disposed meekly to 
 bear injuries, we are not fitted to live in the 
 17 
 
124 CHARITY DISPOSES US MEEKLY 
 
 world, for in it we must expect to meet with 
 many injuries from men. We do not dwell 
 in a world of purity and innocence and love, 
 but in one that is fallen and corrupt, and 
 miserable, and wicked, and that is very much 
 under the reign and dominion of sin. The 
 principle of divine love that was once in the 
 heart of man, is extinguished, and now reigns 
 in but few, and in them in a very imperfect 
 degree. And those principles that tend to 
 malice and injuriousness, are the principles 
 that the generality of the world are under the 
 power of. This world is a place, where the 
 devil, who is called the god of this world, has 
 influence and dominion, and where multitudes 
 are possessed of his spirit. All men, as the 
 Apostle says (2 Thessalonians iii. 2), have 
 not faith ; and indeed but few have that 
 spirit of faith in the heart which leads to the 
 life being governed by the rules of justice 
 and kindness toward others. The aspect of 
 the world is too much that of which our Sa- 
 viour spoke, when in sending out his disciples, 
 he said (Matthew x. 16) : "Behold I send you 
 forth as sheep in the midst of wolves." And 
 therefore those that have not a spirit with 
 meekness and calmness and long-suffering 
 
TO BEAR INJURIES FROM OTHERS. 125 
 
 and composedness of soul to bear injuries in 
 such a world, are miserable indeed, and are 
 like to be wretched at every step of their way 
 through life. If every injury we must meet, 
 and every reproach and malicious and unjust 
 deed is to put our minds and hearts into a 
 ruffle and tumult, and disturb the calm and 
 peace in which we may enjoy ourselves, then 
 we can have no possession or enjoyment of 
 spirit, but shall be kept in a perpetual tur 
 moil and tumult, like the bark that is driven 
 to and fro continually on the stormy ocean. 
 Meii that have their spirits heated and en- 
 raged, and rising in bitter resentment when 
 they are injured, act as if they thought some 
 strange thing had happened to them, whereas 
 they are very foolish in so thinking ; for it is 
 no strange thing at all, but only what was to 
 be expected in a world like this. They, there- 
 fore, do not act wisely that allow their spirits 
 to be ruffled by the injuries they suffer ; for a 
 wise man doth but expect more or less injury 
 in the world, and is prepared for it, and in 
 meekness of spirit is prepared to endure it. 
 
 Third, In this way we shall he most above 
 injuries. He that has established such a 
 spirit and disposition of mind that the inju- 
 
126 
 
 CHARITY DISPOSES US MEEKLY 
 
 ries received from others do not exasperate 
 and provoke him, or disturb the calmness of 
 his mind, lives, as it were, above injuries and 
 out of their reach. He conquers them, and 
 rides over and above them as in triumph, ex- 
 alted above their power. He that has so much 
 of the exercise of a Christian spirit, as to be 
 able meekly to bear all injuries done him, 
 dwells on high where no enemy can reach 
 him. History tells us that when the Persians 
 besieged Babylon, the walls of the city were 
 so exceeding high, that the inhabitants used 
 to stand on the top of them, and laugh at 
 their enemies ; and so one whose soul is forti- 
 fied with a spirit of Christian meekness, and 
 a disposition calmly to bear all injuries, may 
 laugh at the enemy that would injure him. 
 If any that have an ill spirit against us, and 
 are therefore disposed to do us an injury by re- 
 proaching us or otherwise, see that by so doing 
 they can disturb and vex us, they are gratified 
 thereby ; but if they see that by all they can do 
 they cannot interrupt the calm of our minds, or 
 break up our serenity of soul, then they are 
 frustrated in their aim, and the shafts with 
 which they would wound us, fall back with- 
 out doing the execution they intended : while 
 
TO BEAR INJURIES FROM OTHERS. 127 
 
 on the other hand, just in proportion as we 
 allow our minds to be disturbed and embar- 
 rassed by the injuries offered by an adversary, 
 just in the same proportion do we fall under 
 his power. 
 
 Fourth, The spirit of Christian long-suffer- 
 ing and of meekness in bearing injuries, is a 
 marh of trice greatness of soul. It shows a 
 true and noble nature, and real greatness of 
 spirit, thus to maintain the calmness of the 
 mind in the midst of injuries and evils. It is 
 an evidence of excellence of temper, and of 
 inward fortitude and strength. "He that is 
 slow to anger," says Solomon (Proverbs xvi. 
 32), " is better than the mighty, and he that 
 ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city ;" 
 that is, he snows a more noble and excellent 
 nature, and more true greatness of spirit, than 
 the greatest conquerors of the earth. It is 
 from littleness of mind that the soul is easily 
 disturbed and put out of repose by the re- 
 proaches and ill-treatment of men; just as 
 little streams of water are much disturbed by 
 the small unevennesses and obstacles they meet 
 with in their course, and make a great deal of 
 noise as they pass over them, whereas great 
 and mighty streams pass over the same obsta- 
 
128 
 
 CHARITY DISPOSES US MEEKLY 
 
 cles calmly and quietly, without a ripple on 
 the surface to show they are disturbed. He 
 that possesses his soul after such a manner 
 that when others harm and injure him, he 
 can, notwithstanding, remain in calmness and 
 hearty good-will toward them, pitying and for- 
 giving them from the heart, manifests therein 
 a godlike greatness of spirit. Such a meek and 
 quiet and long-suffering spirit, shows a true 
 greatness of soul, in that it shows great and 
 true wisdom, as says the Apostle (James iii. 
 13): "Who is a wise man and endued with 
 knowledge among you ? Let him show, out 
 of a good conversation, his works with meek- 
 ness of wisdom." And the wise Solomon, 
 who well knew what belonged to wisdom, 
 often speaks of the wisdom of such a spirit : 
 declaring (Proverbs xiii. 10) that "only by 
 pride cometh contention ; but with the well 
 advised, is wisdom;" and again (xxix. 8), that 
 "wise men turn away wrath;" and still again 
 (xix. 11), that "the discretion of a man defer- 
 reth his anger." On the contrary, those that 
 are apt highly to resent injuries, and to be 
 greatly angered and vexed by them, are 
 spoken of in the Scriptures as of a little and 
 foolish spirit. "He that is slow to wrath," 
 
 
TO BEAR INJURIES FROM OTHERS. 129 
 
 says Solomon (Proverbs xiv. 29), "is of great 
 understanding ; but he that is hasty of spirit, 
 exalteth folly ;" and again (Ecclesiastes vii. 
 8, 9), " The patient in spirit, is better than 
 the proud in spirit. Be not hasty in thy 
 spirit to be angry ; for anger resteth in the 
 bosom of fools ;" and still again (Proverbs 
 xiv. 16, IT, 18), "The fool rageth, and is con- 
 fident. He that is soon angry, dealeth fool- 
 ishly ; and a man of wicked devices is hated. 
 The simple inherit folly." And on the other 
 hand, a meek spirit is expressly spoken of in 
 the Scripture, as an honorable spirit ; as in 
 Proverbs xx. 3 : " It is an honor to a man to 
 cease from strife." 
 
 Fifth, The spirit of Christian long- suffering 
 and meekness is commended to us hy the ex- 
 ample of the saints. The example of Christ 
 alone might be, and is sufficient ; since it is 
 the example of him who is our head and Lord 
 and master, whose followers we profess to be, 
 and whose example we believe to be perfect. 
 And yet some may be ready to say with re- 
 gard to the example of Christ, that he was 
 sinless, and had no corruption in his heart, 
 and that it cannot be expected of us that we 
 should do in all things as he did. 2sow though 
 9 
 
130 CHARITY DISPOSES US MEEKLY 
 
 this is no reasonable objection, yet the example 
 of saints who were men of like passions with 
 ourselves, is not without its special use, and 
 may in some respects have a peculiar influence. 
 Many of the saints have set bright examples 
 of this long-suffering that has been recom- 
 mended. With what meekness, for instance, 
 did David bear the injurious treatment that 
 he received from Saul, when he was hunted 
 by him as a partridge on the mountains, and 
 pursued with the most unreasonable envy and 
 malice, and with murderous designs, though 
 he had ever behaved himself dutifully toward 
 him. And when he had the opportunity put 
 into his hands of cutting him off, and at once 
 delivering himself from his power, and others 
 around him were ready to think it very law- 
 ful and commendable to do so, yet as Saul 
 was the Lord's anointed, he chose rather to 
 commit himself and all his interests to God, 
 and venture his life in his hands, and suffer 
 his enemy still to live. And when, after this, 
 he saw that his forbearance and goodness did 
 not overcome Saul, but that he still pursued 
 him, and when again he had the opportunity 
 of destroying him, he chose rather to go out 
 
TO BEAR INJURIES FROM OTHERS. 131 
 
 as a wanderer and an outcast, than to injure 
 the one that would have destroyed him. 
 
 Another instance is that of Stephen, of 
 whom we are told (Acts vii. 59, 60) that when 
 his persecutors were venting their rage upon 
 him by stoning him to death, "he kneeled 
 down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay 
 not this sin to their charge." This prayer is 
 mentioned as that which he made with his 
 expiring breath, and as the last words that he 
 uttered after praying the Lord Jesus to receive 
 his spirit; and immediately after making this 
 prayer for his persecutors, we are told that 
 he fell asleep, thus forgiving them and com- 
 mending them to God's blessing as the last 
 act of his life on earth. Another example, is 
 that of the Apostle Paul, who was the subject 
 of numberless injuries from wicked and un- 
 reasonable men. Of these injuries and his 
 manner of behavior under them, he gives us 
 some account in 1 Corinthians iv. 11, 12, 13 : 
 "Even unto this present hour we both hun- 
 ger,, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffet- 
 ed, and have no certain dwelling-place ; and 
 labor, working with our own hands. Being 
 reviled, we bless ; being persecuted, we suffer 
 it ; being defamed, we entreat ; we are made 
 
132 CHABITY DISPOSES US MEEKLY 
 
 as the filth of the world, and are the off-scour- 
 ing of all things unto this day." Thus he 
 manifested a meek and long-suffering spirit, 
 under all the injuries that were heaped upon 
 him. And not only do we have these records 
 respecting inspired men ; but we have ac- 
 counts in uninspired and mere human histo- 
 ries, of the remarkable heroism and long-suf- 
 fering of martyrs and other Christians, under 
 the most unreasonable and wicked treatment 
 and injuries received from men : all of which 
 should lead us to the same meek and long- 
 suffering spirit. 
 
 /Sixth, This is the way to be rewarded with 
 the exercise of the divine long-suffering toward 
 us. We are often informed in the Scriptures, 
 that men are to be dealt with by God hereafter, 
 according to their way of dealing with others. 
 Thus we are told (Psalm xviii. 25, 26) "that 
 with the merciful God will show himself mer- 
 ciful, and with the upright man, upright ; that 
 with the pure, he will show himself pure, and 
 with the fro ward, he will show himself fro- 
 ward." And again (Matthew vii. 2), " with 
 what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged : 
 and with what measure ye mete, it shall be 
 measured to you again ;" and still again 
 
 
TO BEAR INJURIES FROM OTHERS. 133 
 
 (vi. 14, 15), "that if we forgive men their 
 trespasses, our heavenly Father will also for- 
 give us, but if we forgive not men their tres- 
 passes, neither will our heavenly Father for- 
 give our trespasses." By trespasses, here, is 
 meant the same as injuries done to us ; so 
 that if we do not bear with men's injuries 
 against us, neither will our heavenly Father 
 bear with our injuries against him ; and if we 
 do not exercise long-suffering toward men, we 
 cannot expect that God will exercise long- 
 suffering toward us. But let us consider how 
 greatly we stand in need of God's long-suffering 
 with regard to our injuries toward him. How 
 often and how greatly are we injuriously be- 
 having ourselves toward God, and how ill is 
 our treatment of him every day ! And if God 
 did not bear with us, and exercise wonderful 
 long-suffering toward us, how miserable should 
 we be, and what would become of us ! Let 
 this consideration, therefore, influence all of 
 us to seek such an excellent spirit as that 
 which has been spoken of, and to disallow and 
 suppress anything of the contrary spirit or 
 practice. It would have a most happy influ- 
 ence on us as individuals, and on our fami- 
 lies, and so on all our public associations and 
 
134 CHARITY DISPOSES US MEEKLY 
 
 affairs, if such a spirit as this prevailed. It 
 would prevent contention and strife, and dif- 
 fuse gentleness and kindness, and harmony 
 and love. It would do away with bitterness 
 and confusion, and every evil work. Our 
 affairs would all be carried on, both in public 
 and private, without fierceness, or edge, or 
 bitterness of spirit ; without harsh and oppro- 
 brious expressions to others ; and without any 
 of the malignant backbiting and contemp- 
 tuous speech, that so often are heard among 
 men, and which at the same time do great 
 injury in society, and are making fearful 
 work for the judgment. 
 
 But some, in their hearts, may be ready to 
 object against such a meek and quiet bearing 
 of injuries as has been spoken of ; and some 
 of these objections it may be profitable briefly 
 to mention and answer : — 
 
 Objection 1. Some may be ready to say, 
 that the injuries they receive from men are in- 
 tolerable / that the one who has injured them 
 has been so unreasonable in what he has said 
 or done, and it is so unjust and injurious and 
 unjustifiable, and the like, that it is more than 
 flesh and blood can bear ; that they are treated 
 with so much injustice that it is enough to pro* 
 
TO BEAK INJURIES FROM OTHERS. 135 
 
 voke a stone : or that they are treated with such 
 contempt, that they are actually trampled on, 
 and they cannot but resent it. But in answer 
 to this objection, I would ask a few questions. 
 And, 
 
 First, Do you think the injuries you have 
 received from your fellow-man, are more than 
 you have offered to God \ Has your enemy 
 been more base, more unreasonable, more un- 
 grateful, than you have to the High and Holy 
 One ? Have his offences been more heinous 
 or aggravated, or more in number, than yours 
 have been against your creator, benefactor, 
 and redeemer ? Have they been more pro- 
 voking, and exasperating, than your sinful 
 conduct has been to Him who is the author of 
 all our mercies, and to whom you are under the 
 highest obligations ? 
 
 Second, Do you not hope that as God hith- 
 erto has, so he will still bear with you in all 
 this, and that notwithstanding all, he will ex- 
 ercise toward you his infinite love and favor ? 
 Do you not hope that God will have mercy 
 upon you, and that Christ will embrace you 
 in his dying love, though you have been such 
 an injurious enemy ; and that through his 
 grace, he will blot out your transgressions and 
 
136 CHARITY DISPOSES US MEEKLY 
 
 all your offences against him, and make you 
 eternally his child, and an heir of his kingdom ? 
 
 Thirds When you think of such long-suffer- 
 ing on God's part, do you not approve of it, 
 and think well of it, and that it is not only 
 worthy and excellent, but exceeding glo- 
 rious? And do you not approve of it, that 
 Christ should have died for you, and that 
 God, through him, should offer you pardon 
 and salvation ? Or do you disapprove of this ? 
 And would you have liked God better, if he 
 had not borne with you, but had long since 
 cut you off in his wrath ? 
 
 Fourth,. If such a course be excellent and 
 worthy to be approved of in God, why is it 
 not in yourself ? Why should you not imi- 
 tate it ? Is God too kind in forgiving inju- 
 ries ? Is it less heinous to offend the Lord of 
 heaven and earth, than for a man to offend 
 you ? Is it well for you to be forgiven, and 
 that you should pray to God for pardon, and 
 yet that you should not extend it to your fel- 
 low-men that have injured you ? 
 
 Fifth, Would you be willing, for all the 
 future, that God should no longer bear with 
 the injuries you may offer him, and the 
 offences you commit against him ? Are you 
 
TO BEAK INJURIES FROM OTHERS. 137 
 
 willing to go, and ask God to deal with your- 
 self for the future, as in holding this objection, 
 you think of dealing with your fellow-men ? 
 
 Sixth, Did Christ turn again upon those 
 who injured, and insulted, and trod on him, 
 when he was here below ; and was he not 
 injured far more grievously than ever you 
 have been? And have not you more truly 
 trodden under foot the Son of God, than you 
 were ever trodden on by others ? And is it a 
 more provoking thing for men to tread on and 
 injure you, than for you to tread on and 
 injure Christ ? These questions may suffi- 
 ciently answer your objection. 
 
 Objection 2. But you may still further say, 
 that those who have injured you, persist in it, 
 and do hot at all repent, hut go on doing it 
 still. But what opportunity could there be 
 for long-suffering, if injury w T ere not persisted 
 in long ? If injuries are continued, it may be 
 for the very purpose, in providence, of trying 
 whether you will exercise long-suffering and 
 meekness, and that forbearance that has been 
 spoken of. And did not God bear with you, 
 when you persisted in offending him ? "When 
 you have been obstinate, and self-willed, and 
 persevering in your injuries against him, has 
 
138 CHAEITY DISPOSES TS MEEKLY. 
 
 he ceased to exercise Lis long-suffering toward 
 you? 
 
 Objection 3. But you may object, again, 
 that your enemies will be encouraged to go 
 on with their injuries ; excusing yourself by 
 saying, that if you bear injury, you will only 
 be injured the more. But you do not know 
 this, for you have not an insight into the 
 future, or into the hearts of men. And, be- 
 side, God will undertake for you, if you obey 
 his commands ; and he is more able to put a 
 stop to the wrath of man than you are. He 
 hath said (Romans xii. 19), " Yengeance is 
 mine, I will repay, saith the Lord." He 
 interposed wonderfully for David, as he has 
 for very many of his saints ; and if you do 
 but obey him, he will take part with you 
 against all that rise up against you. And in 
 the observation and experience of men, it is 
 generally found, that a meek and long-suffer- 
 ing spirit puts an end to injuries, while a re- 
 vengeful spirit does but provoke them. Cher- 
 ish, then, the spirit of long-suffering meek- 
 ness, and forbearance, and you shall possess 
 your soul in patience and happiness, and none 
 shall be permitted to harm you more than 
 God in wisdom and kindness may permit. 
 
LECTURE V. 
 
 CHARITY DISPOSES US TO DO GOOD. 
 " Charity suffereth long and is kind." — 1 Corinthians xiii. 4. 
 
 In" the last lecture from these words, it was 
 shown, that charity or Christian love is long- 
 suffering, or that it disposes us meekly to bear 
 the injuries received from others. And now 
 it is proposed to show that it is kind, or in 
 other words, 
 
 That charity, or a truly Christian spirit, 
 will dispose us freely to do good to others. 
 
 In dwelling on this point, I would, 1, briefly 
 open the nature of the duty of doing good to 
 others, and 2, show that a Christian spirit will 
 dispose us to it. 
 
 I. I would briefly open the nature of the 
 duty of doing good toothers. — And here, three 
 things are to be considered, viz. : the act, 
 doing good ; the objects, or those to whom we 
 
140 CHAKITY DISPOSES TJS TO DO GOOD. 
 
 should do good ; and the manner in which it 
 should be done, freely. And, 
 
 1. The act which is the matter of the duty, 
 which is, doing good to others. — There are 
 many ways in which persons may do good to 
 others, and in which they are obliged so to do, 
 as they have opportunity. And, 
 
 First, Persons may do good to the souls of 
 others, which is the most excellent way of 
 doing good. Men may be, and oftentimes 
 are the instruments of spiritual and eternal 
 good to others ; and wherein any are so, they 
 are the instruments of greater good to them 
 than if they had given them the riches of the 
 universe. And we may do good to the souls 
 of others, by taking pains to instruct the 
 ignorant, and to lead them to the knowledge 
 of the great things of religion ; and by coun- 
 selling and warning others, and stirring them 
 up to their duty, and to a seasonable and thor- 
 ough care for their soul's welfare ; and so 
 again, by Christian reproof of those that may 
 be out of the way of duty ; and by setting 
 them good examples, which is a thing the 
 most needful of all, and commonly the most 
 effectual of all for the promotion of the good 
 of their souls. Such an example must accom- 
 
CHARITY DISPOSES US TO DO GOOD. 141 
 
 pany the other means of doing good to the 
 souls of men, such as instructing, counselling, 
 warning and reproving, and is needful to give 
 force to such means, and to make them take 
 effect ; and it is more likely to render them 
 effectual, than anything else whatsoever; 
 and without it, they will be likely to be in 
 vain. 
 
 Men may do good to the souls of vicious 
 persons, by being the means of reclaiming 
 them from their vicious courses ; or to the 
 souls of neglecters of the sanctuary, by per- 
 suading them to go to the house of God ; or 
 to the souls of secure and careless sinners, by 
 putting them in mind of their misery and dan- 
 ger ; and so may be the instruments of awak- 
 ening them, and the means of their conversion, 
 and of bringing them home to Christ. Thus 
 they may be of the number of those, of whom 
 we read (Daniel xii. 3), u that turn many to 
 righteousness," and who "shall shine as stars 
 forever and ever." Saints, too, may be the 
 instruments of comforting and establishing 
 one another, and of strengthening one an- 
 other in faith and obedience ; of quickening, 
 and animating, and edifying one another; 
 of raising one another out of dull and dead 
 
142 CHAEITT DISPOSES US TO DO GOOD. 
 
 frames, and helping one another out of temp- 
 tations, and onward in the divine life ; of di- 
 recting one another in doubtful and difficult 
 cases ; of encouraging one another under 
 darkness or in trial ; and generally, of pro- 
 moting each other's spiritual joy and strength, 
 and thus being mutually fellow-helpers on 
 their way to glory. 
 
 Second, Persons may do good to others in 
 outward things, and for this world. They 
 may help others in their external difficulties 
 and calamities ; for there are innumerable 
 kinds of temporal calamities to which man- 
 kind are liable, and in which they stand 
 much in need of the help of their neighbors 
 and friends. Many are hungry, or thirsty, 
 or strangers, or naked, or sick, or in prison 
 (Matthew xxt. 35, 36), or in suffering of some 
 other kind ; and to all such we may minister. 
 We may do good to others, by furthering 
 their outward estate or substance ; or in aid- 
 ing their good name, and thus promoting 
 their esteem and acceptance among men ; or 
 by anything that may truly add to their com- 
 fort and happiness in the world, whether it be 
 in the kind word, or the considerate and 
 benevolent deed. And by endeavoring thus 
 
CHARITY DISPOSES TJS TO DO GOOD. 143 
 
 to do good to them externally, we are under 
 the greater advantage to do good to their 
 souls ; for when our instructions, counsels, 
 warnings, and good examples are accompa- 
 nied with such outward kindness, the latter 
 tends to open the way for the better effect of 
 the former, and to give them their full force, 
 and to lead such persons to appreciate our 
 efforts when we seek their spiritual good. 
 And we may thus contribute to the good of 
 others, in three ways : by giving to them, of 
 those things that they need and we possess ; 
 by doing for them, and taking pains to help 
 them and promote their welfare ; and by suf- 
 fering for them, and aiding them to bear 
 their burdens, and doing all in our power to 
 make those burdens light. In each of these 
 ways, Christianity requires us to do good to 
 others. It requires us to give to others, Luke 
 vi. 38, "Give and it shall be given unto you." 
 It requires us to do for others, and to labor for 
 them, 1 Thess. ii. 9 : "For ye remember, breth- 
 ren, our labor and travail ; for laboring night 
 and day, because we would not be chargeable 
 unto any of you, we preached unto you the gos- 
 pel of God ;" and Hebrews vi. 10 : " For God is 
 not unrighteous to forget your work and labor 
 
144 CHARITY DISPOSES TJS TO DO GOOD. 
 
 of love, &c." And it requires us, if need be, 
 to suffer for others, Galatians vi. 2 : " Bear ye 
 one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of 
 Christ;" and 1 John iii. 16: "Hereby per- 
 ceive we the love of God, because he laid 
 down his life for us ; and we ought to lay 
 down our lives for the brethren." So that 
 in all these ways the Scriptures require us to 
 do good to all. I pass, then, to speak, 
 
 2. Of the objects of this act, or of those to 
 whom we should do good. These are often 
 spoken of in the Scriptures, by the expression, 
 "our neighbor;" for the duty before us, is 
 implied in the command, that we love our 
 neighbor as ourselves. But here, perhaps, we 
 may be ready with the young lawyer that 
 came to Christ (Luke x. 29, &c), to ask, 
 "who is our neighbor?" — And as Christ's an- 
 swer taught him that the Samaritan was 
 neighbor to the Jew, though the Samaritans 
 and Jews were each esteemed by the other 
 vile, and accursed, and as bitter enemies, so 
 we may be taught who those are to whom we 
 are to do good, in three respects : — 
 
 First, We are to do good both to the good 
 and to the bad. This we are to do, as we 
 would imitate our heavenly Father, for " he 
 
CHARITY DISPOSES US TO DO GOOD. 145 
 
 (Matthew v. 45) maketh his sun to rise on the 
 evil and the good, and sendeth rain on the 
 just and on the unjust." The world is full 
 of various kind of persons ; some good, and 
 some evil ; and we should do good to all. We 
 should, indeed, especially, " do good to them 
 that are of the household of faith," or that we 
 have reason, in the exercise of charity, to re- 
 gard as saints. But though we should most 
 abound in beneficence to them, yet our doing 
 good should not be confined to them, but we 
 should do good to all men as we have oppor- 
 tunity. While we live in the world, we must 
 expect to meet with some men of very evil 
 properties, and hateful dispositions and prac- 
 tices. Some are proud, some immoral, some 
 covetous, some profane, some unjust or severe, 
 and some despisers of God. But any or all 
 these bad qualities should not hinder our be- 
 neficence, or prevent our doing them good as 
 we have opportunity. On this very account 
 we should the rather be diligent to benefit 
 them, that we may win them to Christ ; and 
 especially should we be diligent to benefit them 
 in spiritual things. 
 
 Second, We should do good both to friends 
 and enemies. We are obliged to do good to 
 10 
 
146 CHARITY DISPOSES US TO DO GOOD. 
 
 our friends, not only from the obligation we 
 are under to do good to them as our fellow- 
 creatures, and those that are made in the 
 image of God, but from the obligations of 
 friendship, and gratitude, and the affection 
 we bear them. And we are also obliged to do 
 good to our enemies ; for our Saviour says 
 (Matthew v. 44) : " But I say unto you, love 
 your enemies ; bless them that curse you ; 
 do good to them that hate you ; and pray for 
 them that despitefully use you, and persecute 
 you." To do good to those that do ill to us, 
 is the only retaliation that becomes us as 
 Christians ; for we are taught (Eomans xii. 
 17, 21) to " recompense to no man evil for 
 evil," but on the contrary to "overcome evil 
 with good ;" and again it is written (1 Thes- 
 salonians v. 15) : "See that none render evil 
 for evil unto any man, but ever follow that 
 which is good, both among yourselves and to 
 all men; and still again (1 Peter iii.9) : "Not 
 rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing, 
 but contrariwise, blessing 5 knowing that ye 
 are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a 
 blessing." And, 
 
 Third, We should do good both to the 
 thankful and the unthankful. This we are 
 
CHARITY DISPOSES US TO DO GOOD. 147 
 
 obliged to do by the example of our heavenly 
 Father, for he (Luke vi. 35) " is kind unto the 
 unthankful and to the evil ;" and the command 
 is, that we "be merciful as he also is merci- 
 ful." Many make an objection against doing 
 good to others, saying, "If I do, they will 
 never thank me for it ; and for my kindness, 
 they will return abuse and injury:" and thus 
 they are ready to excuse themselves from the 
 exercise of kindness, especially to those who 
 may have shown themselves ungrateful. But 
 such persons do not sufficiently look at Christ ; 
 and they either show their want of acquaint- 
 ance with the rules of Christianity, or their 
 unwillingness to cherish its spirit. Having 
 thus spoken of the duty of doing good, and 
 the persons to whom we are to do it, I pass, 
 as proposed, to speak, 
 
 3. Of the manner in which we should 
 do good to others. — This is expressed in the 
 single word "freely." This seems implied in 
 the words of the text ; for to be kind, is to have 
 a disposition freely to do good. Whatever 
 good is done, there is no proper kindness in 
 the doer of it, unless it be done freely. And 
 this doing good freely, implies three things : — 
 
 First, That our doing good he not in a mer- 
 
148 CHAEITY DISPOSES US TO DO GOOD. 
 
 cenary spirit. We are not to do it for the 
 sake of any reward received or expected from 
 the one to whom we do the good. The com- 
 mand is (Luke vi. 35): "Do good, and lend, 
 hoping for nothing again." Oftentimes men 
 will do good to others, expecting to receive as 
 much again; but we should do good to the 
 poor and needy from whom we can expect 
 nothing in return. The command of Christ, 
 is (Luke xiv. 12, 13, 14.) : "When thou mak- 
 est a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, 
 nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor 
 
 \ thy rich neighbors; lest they also bid thee 
 again, and a recompense be made thee. But 
 
 I when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the 
 maimed, the lame, the blind ; and thou shalt 
 be blessed ; for they cannot recompense thee ; 
 for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrec- 
 tion of the just." That 'our doing good be 
 free, and not mercenary, it is necessary that 
 what we do, be done, not for the sake of any 
 temporal good, or to promote our temporal 
 interest, or honor, or profit, but from the spirit 
 of love. 
 
 Second, That our doing good be free, it is 
 requisite that we do it cheerfully or heartily, 
 and with real good- will to the one we would 
 
CHARITY DISPOSES US TO DO GOOD. 149 
 
 benefit. What is done heartily, is done from 
 love ; and what is done from love, is done with 
 delight, and not grudgingly or with back- 
 wardness and reluctance of spirit. " Use 
 hospitality," says the Apostle (1 Peter iv. 9): 
 "one to another, without grudging ;" and says 
 Paul (2 Corinthians ix. 7): "Every man, 
 according as he purposeth in his heart, so let 
 him give ; not grudgingly, or of necessity : for 
 God loveth a cheerful giver." This requisite 
 or qualification for our doing good, is much 
 insisted on in the Scriptures. "He that giv- 
 eth," says the Apostle (Romans xii. 8) "let 
 him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, 
 with diligence ; he that showeth mercy, with 
 cheerfulness." And God gives a strict charge 
 (Deuteronomy xv. 10) : "that we shall not be 
 grieved in our heart when we give to our 
 neighbor." And in a word, the very idea of 
 giving acceptably, is presented throughout 
 the Bible, as implying that we give with a cor- 
 dial and cheerful spirit. Doing good freely 
 also implies, 
 
 Third, That we do it liberally and bounti- 
 fully. We are not to be scant and sparing 
 in our gifts or efforts, but to be open-hearted 
 and open-handed. We are to " abound to 
 
150 CHARITY DISPOSES ITS TO DO GOOD. 
 
 every good work" (2 Corinthians ix. 8, 11), 
 " being enriched in everything, to all bounti- 
 fulness." Thus God requires that when we give 
 to the poor, we should " open our hand wide 
 unto him" (Deuteronomy xv. 8) ; and we are 
 told (Proverbs xi. 25), that "the liberal soul 
 shall be made fat ;" and the Apostle would 
 have the Corinthians be bountiful in their con- 
 tributions for the poor saints in Judea, assur- 
 ing them (2 Corinthians ix. 6) that " he that 
 soweth sparingly, shall reap also sparingly, 
 and he that soweth bountifully, shall reap 
 also bountifully." Having thus explained 
 the nature of this duty of freely doing good 
 to others, I now proceed, to show. 
 
 II. That a Christian spirit will dispose us 
 thus to do good to others. — And this appears 
 from two considerations : — 
 
 1. The main thing in that love which is the 
 su7n of the Christian spirit, is benevolence or 
 good-will to others. — We have already seen 
 what Christian love is, and how it is variously 
 denominated according to its various objects 
 and exercises ; and particularly how as it re- 
 spects the good enjoyed, or to be enjoyed by 'the 
 beloved object, it is called the love of benevo- 
 lence, and as it respects the good to be enjoyed 
 
CHAftlTY DISPOSES US TO DO GOOD. 151 
 
 in the beloved object, it is called the love of 
 complacence. Love of benevolence is that dis- 
 position which leads ns to have a desire for, or 
 delight in the good of another ; and that is the 
 main thing in Christian love, yea the most 
 essential thing in it, and that whereby oiir 
 love is most of an imitation of the eternal love 
 and grace of God, and of the dying love of 
 Christ which consists in benevolence or good- 
 will to men, as was snng by the angels at his 
 birth, Luke ii. 14. So that the main thing in 
 Christian love, is good-will, or a spirit to de- 
 light in, and seek the good of those who are 
 the objects of that love. 
 
 2. The most proper and conclusive evidence 
 that such a principle is real and sincere, is, 
 its heing effectual. — The proper and conclusive 
 evidence of our wishing or willing to do good 
 to another, is, to do it. In every case, nothing 
 can be plainer, than that the proper and con- 
 clusive evidence of the will, is the act ; and 
 the act always follows the will, where there is 
 power to act. The proper and conclusive evi- 
 dence of. a man's sincerely desiring the good 
 of another, is his seeking it in his practice : — 
 for whatever we truly desire, we do thus seek. 
 The Scriptures, therefore, speak of doing good, 
 
152 CHAEITY DISPOSES US TO DO GOOD. 
 
 as the proper and full evidence of love ; and 
 they often speak of loving in the deed or 
 practice, as being the same thing as loving in 
 truth and reality : — 1 John iii. 18, 19 : " My 
 little children, let us not love in word, neither 
 in tongue, but in deed and in truth :" "here- 
 by we know that we are of the truth ;" i. a. 
 know that we are sincere. And again (James 
 ii. 15, 16): "If a brother or sister be naked, 
 and destitute of daily food, and any of you 
 say unto them, Depart in peace, be you 
 warmed and filled, notwithstanding ye give 
 them not those things which are needful to 
 the body, what doth it profit ?" There is no 
 profit to them ; and so there is no evidence of 
 sincerity on your part, and that you really 
 desire that they should be clothed and fed. 
 Sincerity of desire would lead not merely to 
 words, but to the deeds of benevolence. In 
 the application of this subject, in conclusion, 
 we may use it, 
 
 1. In the way of reproof . — If a truly Chris- 
 tian spirit disposes persons freely to do good 
 to others, then all those that are of a. contrary 
 spirit and practice, may by it be reproved. A 
 malignant and malicious spirit is the very 
 contrary of the former, for it disposes men to 
 
CHARITY DISPOSES US TO DO GOOD. 153 
 
 do evil to others, and not good ; and so, also, 
 is a close and selfish spirit, whereby men are 
 wholly bent on their own interests, and un- 
 willing in anything to forego their own ends 
 for the sake of others. And they, also, are of 
 a spirit and practice the very opposite of a 
 spirit of love, who show an exorbitantly grasp- 
 ing and avaricious spirit, and who take every 
 opportunity to get all they possibly can from 
 their neighbors in their dealings with them ; 
 asking them more for what they do for, or 
 sell to them, than it is truly worth, and ex- 
 torting to the utmost from them by unreasona- 
 ble demands ; having no regard to value of the 
 thing to their neighbor, but, as it were, for- 
 cing out of him all they can get for it. And 
 they who do these things, are generally very 
 selfish, also, in buying from their neighbors, 
 grinding and pinching them down to the low- 
 est prices, and being very backward to give 
 what the thing purchased is really worth. 
 Such a spirit and practice, are the very oppo- 
 site of a Christian spirit, and are severely re- 
 proved by the great law of love, viz. : that we 
 do to others, as we would have them do to us. 
 The subject we have been considering, also, 
 2. Exhorts all to the duty of freely doing 
 
154 CHAEITY DISPOSES US TO DO GOOD. 
 
 good to others. — Seeing that this is a Christian 
 duty, and a virtue becoming the gospel, and 
 to which, a Christian spirit, if we possess it, 
 will dispose us, let us seek, as we have oppor- 
 tunity, to do good to the souls and bodies of 
 others, endeavoring to be a blessing to them for 
 time and eternity. Let us, to this end, be will- 
 ing to do, or give, or suffer, that we may do good 
 alike to friends and enemies, to the evil and 
 the good, to the thankful and the unthankful. 
 Let our benevolence and beneficence be uni- 
 versal, constant, free, habitual, and according 
 to our opportunities and ability ; for this is 
 essential to true piety, and required by the 
 commands of God ! And here several things 
 are to be considered : — 
 
 First, What a great honor it is, to be made 
 an instrument of good in the world. When 
 we fill up our lives with doing good, God puts 
 the high honor upon us, of making us a bless- 
 ing to the world ; an honor like that which he 
 put upon Abraham, when he said (Genesis xii. 
 2), "I will bless thee, and make thy name 
 great, and thou shalt be a blessing." The 
 very light of nature teaches, that this is a 
 great honor ; and therefore the Eastern kings 
 and governors used to assume to themselves 
 
CHARITY DISPOSES US TO DO GOOD. 155 
 
 the title of benefactors, that is " doers of 
 good," as the most honorable they could think 
 of (Luke xxii. 25) ; and it was a common thing 
 in heathen lands, when those that had done a 
 great deal of good in their life-time were dead, 
 for the people, among whom they dwelt, to 
 reckon them as gods, and build temples to 
 their honor and for their worship. So far as 
 God makes men the instruments of doing good 
 to others, he makes them like the heavenly 
 bodies, the sun and moon and stars, that 
 bless the world by shedding down their light : 
 he makes them like the angels, who are min- 
 istering spirits to others for their good : yea, 
 he makes them like himself, the great foun- 
 tain of all good, who is forever pouring down 
 his blessings on mankind. 
 
 Second, Thus freely to do good to others, is 
 but to do to them as we would have them do to 
 us. If others have a hearty good- will to us, 
 and show us a great deal of kindness, and are 
 ready to help us when we stand in need, and 
 for that end are free to do, or give, or suffer 
 for us, and to bear our burdens, and feel for 
 us in our calamities, and are warm-hearted 
 and liberal in all this, we most highly approve 
 of their spirit and conduct. And we not only 
 
156 CHABITY DISPOSES ITS TO DO GOOD. 
 
 approve, but we highly commend, and per- 
 haps make occasions to. speak well of such 
 persons; never thinking, however, that they 
 exceed their duty, but that they act as it be- 
 comes them to do. Let us, then, remember, 
 that if this is so noble and so much to be com- 
 mended in others when we are its objects, then 
 we ought to do the same to them, and to all 
 about us. "What we thus approve, we should 
 exemplify in our own conduct. 
 
 Third, Let us consider how hind God and 
 Christ have been to us, and how much good we 
 have received from them. Their kindness in 
 things pertaining to this world has been very 
 great. The divine mercies are new to us every 
 morning, and fresh every evening : they are 
 as ceaseless as our being. And still greater 
 good things has God bestowed for our spirit- 
 ual and eternal good. He has given us what 
 is of more value than all the kingdoms of the 
 earth. He has given his only-begotten and 
 well-beloved son, the greatest gift he could 
 bestow. And Christ has not only done, but 
 he has suffered great things, and given him- 
 self to die for us ; and all freely, and without 
 grudging, or hope of reward. " Though he 
 was rich," with all the riches of the universe, 
 
 
CHARITY DISPOSES US TO 1)0 GOOD. 157 
 
 " yet for our sakes he became poor, that we 
 through his poverty might be rich" (2 Corin- 
 thians viii. 9). And what great things hath 
 God done for those of us who are converted, 
 and have been brought home to Christ ; de- 
 livering us from sin, justifying and sanctify- 
 ing us, making us kings and priests unto God, 
 and giving us a title " to an inheritance that 
 is incorruptible, and undeflled, and that fad- 
 eth not away" (1 Peter i. 4). And all this, 
 when we were not good, but evil, and un- 
 thankful, and in ourselves deserving only of 
 wrath. And, 
 
 Fourth, Let us consider what great rewards 
 are promised to those that freely do good to 
 others. God hath promised that to "the mer- 
 ciful he will show himself merciful" (Psalm 
 xviii. 25) ; and there is scarcely any duty 
 spoken of throughout the Bible, that has so 
 many promises of reward as this, whether for 
 this world, or the world to come. For this 
 world, as our Saviour declares (Acts xx. 35), 
 "It is more blessed to give than to receive." 
 He that gives bountifully, is more blessed in 
 the bountiful gifts that he parts with, than he 
 that receives the bounty. What is bestowed 
 in doing good to others, is not lost, as if it were 
 
158 CHARITY DISPOSES US TO DO GOOD. 
 
 thrown into the ocean. It is rather, as Solo- 
 mon tells ns (Ecclesiastes xi. 1), like the seed 
 which the Orientals plant by scattering it on 
 the waters when the floods are up, and which 
 sinking to the bottom, there takes root, and 
 springing up, is found again in the abundant 
 harvest after many days. "What is so given, 
 is loaned to the Lord (Proverbs xix. 17) ; and 
 what we have thus lent him, he will pay us 
 again. And he will not only repay it, but 
 will greatly increase its amount ; for if we 
 give, it is declared (Luke vi. 38), that it shall 
 be " given to us again, good measure, pressed 
 down, shaken together, and running over." 
 Indeed this is the very way to increase ; for 
 it is said (Proverbs xi. 24), "There is that 
 scattereth, and yet increaseth, and there is 
 that withholdeth more than is meet, and it 
 tendeth to poverty ;" and again (Isaiah xxxii. 
 8), " The liberal cleviseth liberal things, and 
 by liberal things shall he stand." What even 
 Linregenerate men do give in this way, God 
 often seems to reward with great temporal 
 blessings. His own declaration is (Proverbs 
 xxviii. 27) that " he that giveth to the poor 
 shall not lack ," and the promise is not re- 
 stricted to the saints : and our observation of 
 
CHARITY DISPOSES US TO DO GOOD. 159 
 
 providence shows, that men's gifts to the 
 poor are almost as surely prospered of God to 
 themselves, as the seed which they .sow in 
 the Held. It is easy for God to make up, and 
 more than make np to us all that we thus give 
 for the good of others. It is of this very kind 
 of giving, that the Apostle tells the Corinthians 
 (2 Corinthians ix. 6-8) that " he that soweth 
 bountifully shall reap also bountifully ;" add- 
 ing that " God loveth the cheerful giver," and 
 that he " is able to make all grace abound to- 
 ward them ;" that is, to make all their gifts 
 abound to themselves. Many persons do but 
 little consider how much their prosperity 
 depends on Providence. And yet, even for 
 this world, "it is the blessing of God that 
 that maketh rich" (Proverbs x. 22) ; and of 
 him that considereth the poor, it is written 
 (Psalm xli. 1) that " the Lord will deliver him 
 in time of trouble." And if we give in the 
 way and with the spirit of Christian charity, 
 we shall thus lay up treasure in heaven, and 
 receive at last the rewards of eternity. This 
 is that laying up of treasures that fail not, of 
 which Christ speaks (Luke xii. 33), and as to 
 which he declares (Luke xiv. 13, 14, 15), that 
 though the poor whom we benefit cannot rec- 
 
160 CHAHITY DISPOSES VS TO DO GOOD. 
 
 ompense us, "we shall- be recompensed at 
 the resurrection of the just." This, then, is 
 the best way of laying up for time or for eter- 
 nity. It is the best way of laying up for our- 
 selves, and the best way of laying up for our 
 posterity ; for of the good man, who showeth 
 favor and lendeth, it is written (Psalm cxii.) 
 that " his horn shall be exalted with honor," 
 and that "his seed shall be mighty upon 
 earth, and wealth and riches shall be in his 
 house, and his righteousness endureth for- 
 ever." And when Christ shall come to judg- 
 ment, and all people shall be gathered before 
 him, then to those who were kind and benevo- 
 lent, in the true spirit of Christian love, to the 
 suffering and the poor, he shall say (Matthew 
 xxv. 34, 35, 36, 40), " Come ye blessed of my 
 father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you 
 from the foundation of the world : for I was 
 an hungered, and ye gave me meat ; I was 
 thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was a 
 stranger, and ye took me in ; naked, and ye 
 clothed me ; I was sick, and ye visited me ; 
 I was in prison, and ye came unto me." 
 " Yerily, I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have 
 done it unto one of the least of these, my 
 brethren, ye have done it unto me /" 
 
LECTURE VI. 
 
 CHARITY INCONSISTENT WITH AN ENVIOUS SPIRIT. 
 " Charity envieth not." — 1 Cor. xiii. 4. 
 
 Having already seen the nature and tenden- 
 cy of Christian charity, or divine love, with re- 
 spect to the evil received from others, that it 
 " suffers long" and also with respect to doing 
 good to others, that it "is hind" we now 
 come to the feelings and conduct to which the 
 same charity will lead us in respect to the 
 good possessed by others, and that possessed 
 by ourselves. And in reference to the good 
 possessed by others, the Apostle declares it to 
 J3e the nature and tendency of charity, or true 
 Christian love, not to envy them the posses- 
 sion of any good whatever which is theirs. 
 u Charity envieth not." The teaching of these 
 words plainly is, 
 
 That charity or a truly Christian spirit, 
 is the very opposite of an envious spirit. 
 
 11 
 
162 CHAKITY INCONSISTENT 
 
 In dwelling on this thought, I would show, 
 1, What is the nature of an envious spirit ; 2, 
 Wherein a Christian spirit is the opposite of 
 such a spirit ; 3, The reason and evidence of 
 the doctrine. And, 
 
 I. The nature of envy. — Envy may be de- 
 fined to be a spirit of dissatisfaction with and 
 opposition to the prosperity and happiness of 
 others as compared with our own. The thing 
 that the envious person is opposed to and dis- 
 likes, is, the comparative superiority of the 
 state of honor, or prosperity or happiness, that 
 another may enjoy, over that which he pos- 
 sesses. And this spirit is especially called 
 envy, when we dislike and are opposed to 
 another's honor or prosperity, because, in gen- 
 eral, it is greater than our own, or because, in 
 particular, they have some honor or enjoy- 
 ment that we have not. It is a disposition 
 natural in men, that they love to be upper- 
 most ; and this disposition is directly crossed,, 
 when they see others above them. And it is 
 from this spirit, that men dislike and are op- 
 posed to the prosperity of others, because they 
 think it makes those who possess it, superior, 
 in some respect, to themselves. And from 
 this same disposition, a person may dislike an- 
 
WITH AN ENVIOUS SPIRIT. 163 
 
 other's being equal to himself in honor or hap- 
 piness, or in having the same sources of enjoy- 
 ments that he has ; for as men very commonly 
 are, they cannot bear a rival, much, if any 
 better than a superior, for they love to be sin- 
 gular and alone in their eminence and ad- 
 vancement. Such a spirit is called envy in 
 the Scriptures. Thus Moses speaks of Joshua's 
 envying for his sake, when Eldad and Medad 
 were admitted to the same privilege with him- 
 self in having the spirit of prophecy given 
 them, saying (Numbers xi. 29), " Enviest thou 
 for my sake ? Would God that all the Lord's 
 people were prophets, and that the Lord would 
 put his spirit upon them." And Joseph's 
 brethren, we are told (Genesis xxvii. 11), en- 
 vied him when they had heard his dream, 
 which implied that his parents and brethren 
 were yet to bow down before him, and that he 
 was to have power over them. From such a 
 spirit, persons are not only unwilling that 
 others should be above them or equal to them, 
 but that they should be near them ; for the 
 desire to be distinguished in prosperity and 
 honor, is the more gratified just in proportion 
 as they are elevated and others are below 
 them, so that their comparative eminence may 
 
164 CHAEITY INCONSISTENT 
 
 be marked and visible to all. And this dis- 
 position may be exercised, either in reference 
 to the prosperity that others may obtain and 
 of which they are capable, or in reference to 
 that which they actually have obtained. In 
 the latter form, which is the most common, 
 the feeling of envy will be manifest in two 
 respects, first, in respect to their prosperity, 
 and next in respect to themselves. And, 
 
 1. It will be manifest in an uneasiness and 
 dissatisfaction with the prosperity of others. 
 Instead of rejoicing in the prosperity of 
 others, the envious man will be troubled with 
 it. It will be a grievance to his spirit to see 
 them rise so high, and come to such honors 
 and advancement. It is no comfortable feel- 
 ing to him to hear of their having obtained 
 such and such advantages and honors and pre- 
 ferments, but on the contrary very uncom- 
 fortable. He is very much of the spirit of 
 Haman, who in view of all " the glory of his 
 riches, and the multitude of his children, and 
 all the things wherein the king had promoted 
 him," still could say (Esther v. 13), "yet all 
 this availeth me nothing, so long as I see 
 Mordecai the Jew sitting in the king's gate." 
 From such a spirit, the envious person stands 
 
WITH AN ENVIOUS SPIRIT. 
 
 165 
 
 ready to rejoice at anything that happens to 
 diminish the honor and comfort of others. 
 He is glad to see them brought down, and 
 will even study how to lower their estate, as 
 Haman did how to humble and bring down 
 Mordecai. And often, like Hainan, he will 
 show his uneasiness, not only by planning 
 and scheming, but by actual endeavors of one 
 kind or another, to bring them down ; and 
 the very first opportunity of pulling them down 
 that offers, he will gladly embrace. And it 
 is from this disposition, that the sight even of 
 others' prosperity, often sets the envious on 
 talking against them and speaking evil of 
 them, even when perhaps they do not know 
 them. Envying them the prominence they 
 have obtained, they hope, by speaking evil 
 of them, in some measure to diminish their 
 honors, and lower them in the esteem of men. 
 This suggests, again, 
 
 2. That the opposition of the envious to the 
 prosperity of others will be manifest in a dis- 
 like of their persons for it. Seeing how others 
 prosper, and what honors they attain, the en- 
 vious dislike, and even hate them, on account 
 of their honor and prosperity. They enter- 
 tain and cherish an evil spirit toward them, 
 
166 CHARITY IXCOXSISTENT 
 
 for no other reason "but that they are pros- 
 pered. They are embittered against them in 
 spirit, only because they are eminent in name 
 or fortune. Thus Hainan, it is said (Esther 
 v. 9), "Was full of indignation against Mor- 
 decai," because he saw him "in the king's 
 gate," and because " he stood not up, nor 
 moved for him ;" and Joseph's brethren 
 (Genesis xxxvii. 4, 5) " hated him and could 
 not speak peaceably unto him," because his 
 father ]oved him ; and when he had dreamed 
 a dream implying their inferiority, " they 
 hated him yet the more." And so the envious 
 generally resent the prosperity of others and 
 their coming to honor, as if in it they were 
 guilty of some injury to themselves. Some- 
 times there is a settled hatred toward others 
 upon this account, leading as in the case of 
 Joseph's brethren (Genesis xxxvii. 19-28), to 
 acts of the greatest cruelty and wickedness. 
 But this may suffice for the nature of this 
 envy ; and I proceed to show, 
 
 II. Wherein a Christian spirit is the oppo- 
 site of such a spirit of envy. And, 
 
 1. A Christian spirit disallows of the exer- 
 cise and expressions of such a, spirit. He that 
 is influenced in the course of his life and ac- 
 
 
WITH AN ENVIOUS SPIEIT. 
 
 167 
 
 tions by Christian principles, though he may 
 have envy as well as other corrupt feelings in 
 his heart, yet abhors its spirit as unbecoming 
 in himself as a Christian, and contrary to the 
 nature and will and spirit of God. He sees 
 it to be a most odious and hateful spirit, and 
 he sees its odiousness not only in others, but 
 also and equally in himself. And therefore 
 whenever he perceives its emotions rising 
 within him on any occasion, or toward any 
 person, so far as he is influenced by a Chris- 
 tian spirit he will be alarmed at it, and will 
 fight against, and will not allow its exercise 
 for a moment. He will not suffer it to break 
 forth and show itself in words or actions ; and 
 he will be grieved at whatever he sees of its 
 movements in his heart, and will crucify 
 within him the hateful disposition, and do all 
 in his power to go contrary to it in his out- 
 ward actions. 
 
 2. A Christian spirit not only opposes the 
 exercise and outward expressions of an en- 
 vious spirit, hut it tends to mortify its princi- 
 ple and disposition in the heart. So far as a 
 Christian spirit prevails, it not only checks 
 the outward actings of envy, but it tends to 
 mortify and subdue the very principle itself 
 
168 CHARITY INCONSISTENT 
 
 in the heart ; so that just in proportion to the 
 power of the former, the individual will cease 
 to feel any inclination to be grieved at the 
 prosperity of others, and still more will cease 
 to dislike them, or entertain any ill-will to- 
 ward them on account of it. A Christian 
 spirit disposes us to feel contentment with our 
 own condition, and with the state which God 
 has given us among men, and to a quietness 
 and satisfaction of spirit with regard to the 
 allotments and distributions of stations and 
 possessions which God in his wise and kind 
 providence has made to ourselves and others. 
 Whether our rank be as high as that of the an- 
 gels, or as low as that of the beggar at the rich 
 man's gate (Luke xvi. 20), we shall equally be 
 satisfied with it as the post in which God hath 
 placed us, and shall equally respect ourselves 
 if we are endeavoring faithfully to serve him 
 in it. Like the Apostle (Philippians iv. 11), 
 we shall learn, if we do but have a Christian 
 spirit, " in whatsoever state we are, therewith 
 to be content." But, 
 
 3. A Christian spirit not only disallows the 
 exercise and expression of envy, and tends to 
 mortify its principle and disposition in the 
 heart, but it disposes us to rejoice in the pros- 
 
WITH AN ENVIOUS SPIRIT. 
 
 169 
 
 perity of others. It disposes us to a cheerful 
 and habitual compliance with that rule given 
 by the Apostle (Romans xii. 10) that we "re- 
 joice with them that do rejoice, and weep with 
 them that weep ;" — i. e. that we sympathize 
 with their estate and condition, in the spirit we 
 •should feel if it were our own. Such a spirit 
 of benevolence and good-will, will cast out the 
 evil spirit of envy, and enable us to find hap- 
 piness in seeing our neighbor prospered. I 
 now proceed as proposed, to show, 
 
 III. The reason and evidence of the doctrine 
 stated ; or to show that it is so, and why it is 
 so, that a Christian spirit is thus the opposite 
 of a spirit of envy. — And this will appear if 
 we consider three things : first, how much a 
 spirit and practice contrary to an envious 
 spirit, is insisted on in the precepts that Christ 
 has given ; second, how much the history and 
 doctrines of the gospel hold forth to enforce 
 these precepts ; and, third, how much a spirit 
 of Christian love will dispose us to yield to 
 the authority of these precepts, and the influ- 
 ence of the motives enforcing them. And, 
 
 1. A spirit and practice entirely contrary 
 to an envious spirit, is much insisted on in the 
 precepts of Christ. — The New Testament is 
 
170 CHARITY INCONSISTENT 
 
 full of precepts of good-will to others, and of 
 precepts enjoining the principles of meek- 
 ness, humility, aud beneficence, all of which 
 are opposed to a spirit of envy ; and in addi- 
 tion to these, we have many particular warn- 
 ings against envy itself. The Apostle exhorts 
 (Romans xiii. 13) that we " walk honestly, as 
 in the day, not in strife and envying ;" and 
 again (1 Corinthians iii. 3), he blames the Co- 
 rinthians as being yet carnal, because there 
 was envying among them ; and still again 
 (2 Corinthians xii. 20), he mentions his fears 
 concerning them, lest he should find among 
 them envyings, and that too coupled, as envy- 
 ings too often are, with " wraths, strifes, back- 
 bitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults;" and 
 again (Galatians v. 21), envy is ranked among 
 the abominable works of the flesh, such as 
 "murders, drunkenness, revellings, &c. ;" and 
 again (1 Timothy vi. 4), it is condemned as 
 implying great wickedness ; and again (Titus 
 iii. 3), it is mentioned as one of the hateful 
 sins that Christians had lived in before their 
 conversion, but which they are now redeemed 
 from, and therefore should confess and for- 
 sake. And in the same spirit, the Apostle 
 James (iii. 14, 16), speaks of envy as exceed- 
 
WITH AN ENVIOUS SPIRIT. 171 
 
 ing contrary to Christianity, and as connected 
 with every evil work, being earthly, sensual, 
 devilish; and he warns ns against it (v. 9) 
 saying, " Grudge not one against another, 
 brethren, lest ye be condemned : behold the 
 judge standeth at the door ;" and to quote 
 but one more instance, the Apostle Peter 
 (1 Peter ii. 1 and 2) warns us against all en- 
 vies, as connected with various other evils, 
 and as preventing our growth in divine 
 things. Thus we see that the New Testa- 
 ment is full of precepts which Christ has left 
 us, which enjoin the very opposite of the spirit 
 of envy. And these precepts, 
 
 2. Are strongly enforced by the doctrines and 
 history of the gospel. — If we consider the 
 Christian scheme of doctrine, we shall find 
 that it tends strongly to enforce the precepts 
 we have considered ; for all of it, from begin- 
 ning to end, strongly tends to the contrary 
 of an envious spirit. In all its bearings 
 and teachings, the Christian form of doctrine 
 militates against a spirit of envy. The things 
 it teaches as to God are exceeding contrary 
 to it ; for there we are told how far God was 
 from begrudging us the most exceeding honor 
 and blessedness, and how he has withheld 
 
172 CHARITY INCONSISTENT 
 
 nothing as too much to be done for us, or as 
 too great or good to be given us. He has not 
 begrudged us his only-begotten and well-be- 
 loved son, who was dearer to him than every- 
 thing beside ; nor hath he begrudged us the 
 highest honor and blessedness in and through 
 him. The doctrines of the gospel also teach 
 us, how far Christ was from begrudging us 
 anything that he could do for, or give us. He 
 did not begrudge us a life spent in labor and 
 suffering, or his own precious blood which he 
 shed for us on the cross ; nor will he begrudge 
 us a throne of glory with him in the heavens, 
 where we shall live and reign with him for- 
 ever. The Christian scheme of doctrine 
 teaches us how Christ came into the world to 
 deliver us from the power of Satan's envy to- 
 ward us; for the devil, with miserable base- 
 ness, envied mankind the happiness that they 
 at first had, and could not bear to see them in 
 their happy state in Eden, and therefore ex- 
 erted himself to the utmost for their ruin, 
 which he accomplished. And the gospel 
 also teaches, how Christ came into the world 
 to destroy the works of the devil, and deliver 
 us from that misery into which his envy hath 
 brought us, and to purify our natures from 
 
WITH AN ENVIOUS SPIRIT. 173 
 
 every trace of the same spirit, that we may be 
 fitted for heaven. 
 
 And if in addition to the doctrine of the 
 gospel, we consider its history, we shall find 
 that it also tends greatly to enforce those pre- 
 cepts that forbid envy. And particularly is 
 this true of the history of the life of Christ, 
 and the example he has set us. How far was 
 he from a spirit of envy ! How contented in 
 the low and afflictive circumstances in which 
 he voluntarily placed himself for our sakes 1 
 And how far was he from envying those that 
 were of worldly wealth and honor, or covet- 
 ing their condition ! He rather chose to con- 
 tinue in his own low estate; and when the 
 multitude, filled with admiration of his teach- 
 ing and his miracles, on one occasion stood 
 ready to make him a king, he refused the 
 high honor they intended to put upon him, 
 and withdrew himself to be out of their way 
 (John vi. 15), and went away into a mountain 
 alone. And when John the Baptist was so 
 greatly honored by the people as a distin- 
 guished prophet, and all Judea and Jerusalem 
 went out to hear him and to be baptized of 
 him, Christ envied him not, but himself went 
 out to be baptized of him in Jordan, though he 
 
174 CHARITY INCONSISTENT 
 
 was John's lord and master ; and John, as he 
 himself testified, had need to be baptized of 
 him. And so far was he from begrudging to 
 his disciples any honors or privileges as too 
 great for them, that he told and promised 
 them (John xiv. 12), that after his death and 
 ascension, they should do greater works than 
 he had done while he remained with them. 
 Ann, £2 we find in the Acts of the Apostles, 
 all that he foretold, in a little while came true. 
 And, 
 
 3. The true spirit of Christian love will dis- 
 pose us to yield to the authority of these jpre- 
 cepts, and to the influence of the motives enfor- 
 cing them. — And the spirit of love will dis- 
 pose us to this, directly, or by its immediate 
 tendency; and indirectly, as it teaches and 
 leads us to humility. 
 
 First, Christian love disposes us to hearken 
 to the precepts that forbid envy, and to the 
 gospel motives against it, by its own imme- 
 diate tendency. The nature of charity or 
 Christian love to men is directly contrary to 
 envy ; for love does not grudge, but re- 
 joices at the good of those who are loved. 
 And surely love to our neighbor does not dis- 
 pose us to hate him for his prosperity, or be 
 
WITH AN ENVIOUS SPIRIT. 175 
 
 unhappy at his good. And love to God, also, 
 has a direct tendency to influence us to obey 
 his commands. The natural, genuine, uni- 
 form fruit of love to God, is, obedience ; and 
 therefore it will tend to obedience to those 
 commands wherein he forbids envy, as much 
 as others, yea, to them more especially, be- 
 cause love delights to obey no commands so 
 much as those that require love. And so love 
 to God will dispose us to follow his example, 
 in that he has not begrudged us our manifold 
 blessings, but has rejoiced in our enjoyment; 
 and it will dispose us to imitate the example 
 of Christ in not begrudging his life for our 
 sakes, and to imitate the example he set us in 
 the whole course of his life on earth. And, 
 
 Second, A spirit of Christian love disposes 
 to the same, also, indirectly, by inclining us to 
 humility. It is pride that is the great root 
 and source of envy. It is because of the 
 pride of men's hearts, that they have such a 
 burning desire to be distinguished, and to be 
 superior to all others in honor and prosperity, 
 and which makes them so uneasy and dissat- 
 isfied in seeing others above them. But a 
 spirit of love tends to mortify pride, and to 
 work humility in the heart. Love to God 
 
176 CHARITY INCONSISTENT 
 
 tends to this, as it implies a sense of God's 
 infinite excellence, and therefore tends to a 
 sense of our comparative nothingness and un- 
 worthiness. And love to men tends to an 
 humble behavior among men, as it disposes 
 us to acknowledge the excellencies of others, 
 and that the honors bestowed on them are 
 their due, and to esteem them better than 
 ourselves, and thus more deserving of dis- 
 tinction than we are. But I will not now 
 dwell more particularly on this point, as in a 
 future lecture I shall have occasion more 
 fully to show how Christian love tends to 
 humility. Passing then, in conclusion, to the 
 application of the subject, I remark, 
 
 1. It should lead us to examine ourselves \ 
 whether we are in any degree under the influ- 
 ence of an envious spirit. — Let us examine 
 ourselves as to time past and look over our 
 past behavior among men. Many of us have 
 long been members of human society, having 
 lived by others, and having had to do with 
 them in very many ways, and being connect- 
 ed with them on many occasions both in pub- 
 lic and private affairs. And we have seen 
 others in prosperity, and it may be prosper- 
 ing in their affairs more than ourselves. 
 
WITH AN ENVIOUS SPIRIT. 177 
 
 They have had more of the world, and have 
 been possessed of greater riches, and have 
 lived in greater ease, and in much more hon- 
 orable circumstances than we have enjoyed. 
 And perhaps some that heretofore we used to 
 look upon as our equals, or even as inferiors, 
 we may have seen growing in wealth, or ad- 
 vancing in honor and prosperity while we have 
 been left behind, until now they have reached a 
 station far superior to our own. It may be that 
 we have seen such changes, and been called 
 to bear such trials through a great part of the 
 course of our life ; and certainly we have 
 often seen others abounding in all that the 
 world esteems of value, while we have been 
 comparatively destitute of these things. And 
 now let us inquire how these things have 
 affected us, and how have our hearts stood, 
 and what has been our behavior in these cir- 
 cumstances ? Has there not been a great 
 deal of uneasiness, dissatisfaction, and un- 
 comfortable feeling, and of a desire to see 
 those who were prosperous brought down ? 
 Have we not been glad to hear of anything 
 to their disadvantage ; and in the forebodings 
 we have expressed about them, have we not 
 in reality spoken out our wishes ; and in word 
 12 
 
178 CHAItITT INCONSISTENT 
 
 or deed, have we not been ready to do tnat 
 which might in some respect lessen their pros- 
 perity or honor? Have we ever cherished a 
 bitter or nnkind spirit toward another because 
 of his prosperity, or been ready on account 
 of it to look upon him with an evil eye, or to 
 oppose him in public affairs, or from an en- 
 vious spirit to act with the party that might 
 be against him ? As we look back on the 
 past, do we not see that in these and many 
 other kindred things we have often exercised 
 and allowed an envious spirit, and many times 
 have not our hearts burned with it toward 
 others ? 
 
 And turning from the past to the present, 
 what spirit do you now find as you search your 
 heart ? Do you carry any old grudge in your 
 heart against this or that man that you see 
 sitting with you from Sabbath to Sabbath in 
 the house of God, and from time to time sit- 
 ting with you at the Lord's table ? Is not the 
 prosperity of one and another, an eye-sore to 
 you ; and does it not make your life uncom- 
 fortable that they are higher than you ; and 
 would it not be truly a comfort to you to see 
 them brought down, so that their losses and 
 depression would be a source of inward joy 
 
WITH AN ENVIOUS SPIRIT. 179 
 
 and gladness to your heart ? And does not 
 this same spirit lead you often to think evil, 
 or to speak with contempt, or unkindness, or 
 severity of such to those about you ? And let 
 those who are above others in prosperity, in- 
 quire, whether they do not allow and exercise 
 a spirit of opposition to the comparative hap- 
 piness of those below them? Is there not a 
 disposition in you to pride yourself on being 
 above them, and a desire that they should not 
 rise higher, lest they come to be equal or 
 superior to you : and from this are you not 
 willing to see them down, and even to help 
 them down to the utmost, lest at some time 
 they may get above you ? And does not all 
 this show, that you are very much under the 
 influence of an envious spirit? But it may be 
 that in all this you may justify yourself, not 
 giving it the name of envy, but some other 
 name, and having various excuses for your 
 envious spirit by which you account yourself 
 justified in its exercise. Some are ready to 
 say of others that they are not worthy of the 
 honor and prosperity they have ; that they 
 have not half the fitness or worthiness of the 
 honor and advancement they have, as many 
 others of their neighbors who are below them. 
 
180 CHARITY INCONSISTENT 
 
 And where, I ask, is the man in the world who 
 envies another for his honor or prosperity, but 
 is ready to think or say, that that other is not 
 worthy of his prosperity and honors ? Did Jo- 
 seph's brethren esteem him worthy of the 
 peculiar love of his father? Did Haman 
 think Mordecai worthy of the honor the king 
 conferred on him ? Or did the Jews think the 
 Gentiles worthy of the privileges extended to 
 them under the gospel, when they were so 
 filled with envy on this account, as is related 
 in the Acts of the Apostles, xiii. 45, and xvii. 
 5 ? It is generally the case, that when others 
 are promoted to honor, or in any respect come 
 to remarkable prosperity, some are always 
 ready to improve the occasion to tell of their 
 faults, and set forth their un worthiness, and 
 rake up all possible evil about them. Where- 
 as it is not so much that they have faults, for 
 these would often be unnoticed if they were 
 in obscurity, as it is that they are prospered, 
 and those who talk about their faults are en- 
 vious of their prosperity, and therefore speak 
 against them. And I would desire such per- 
 sons as think that they are to be justified in 
 their opposition to others because they are not 
 worthy of their prosperity, diligently to in- 
 
WITH AN ENVIOUS SPIRIT. 181 
 
 quire which it is that pains and troubles them 
 most, their neighbor's faults, or his prosperity. 
 If it be their faults, then you would be grieved 
 on account of them whether the persons were 
 prospered or not ; and if truly grieved with 
 their faults, then you would be very slow to 
 speak of them except to themselves, and then 
 in the true spirit of Christian compassion and 
 friendship. But you may say, they make a 
 bad use of their prosperity and honor ; that 
 they are lifted up by it, and cannot bear, or do 
 not know how to manage it ; that they are in- 
 sufferable, and scornful, and there is no doing 
 anything with them in their prosperity ; and 
 it is best they should be brought down ; that 
 this will tend to humble them, and that the 
 best thing for their own good, is, to bring 
 them down to the place where they belong, 
 and which is fittest for them. But here let 
 me urge you strictly to inquire whether you 
 do in truth' lament the injury their prosperity 
 does them, and whether you mourn it for 
 their sakes, and because you love them ? Do 
 your lamentations spring from pity, or from 
 envy ? If you dislike their prosperity because 
 it is not best for them, but does them hurt, then 
 you will grieve for their calamity, and not at 
 
182 CHABITY INCONSISTENT 
 
 their prosperity. You will sincerely love them ; 
 and ont of this love, will be heartily sorry for 
 their calamity, and feel a true compassion of 
 heart for them that the disadvantages of their 
 prosperous state are so much greater than its 
 advantages. But is this in truth your real 
 feeling ? Do not deceive yourself. Is it their 
 calamity that you are grieved at, or is it 
 merely that they are prospered? Is it that 
 you are grieved for them, that their prosperity 
 injures them, or for yourself, that their pros- 
 perity is not yours ? And here also let every 
 one inquire, whether they do not sometimes 
 envy others for their spiritual prosperity ? 
 You remember what was the spirit of Cain 
 toward Abel, of the seed of the serpent toward 
 the seed of the woman, of Ishmael toward 
 Isaac, of the Jews toward Christ, of the elder 
 brother toward the prodigal. Beware that 
 you cherish not their spirit ; but rather re- 
 joice in the good estate of others, as much as 
 if it were your own. 
 
 2. The subject also exhorts us to disallow 
 and put away everything approaching to an 
 envious spirit. — So contrary is the spirit of 
 envy to a Christian spirit, so evil in itself, and 
 so injurious to others, that it should be disal- 
 
 
WITH AN ENVIOUS SPIRIT. 183 
 
 lowed and put away by all, and especially by 
 those who profess to be Christians. Great 
 numbers cherish the hope that this is their 
 character, and that they have been endued 
 with a new spirit, even the spirit of Christ. 
 Let it then be evident to all that such is your 
 spirit by the exercise of that charity that en- 
 vieth not. In the language of the Apostle 
 (James iii. 13, 14, 15, 16), " Who is a wise 
 man, and endued with knowledge among 
 you % Let him show, out of a good conversa- 
 tion, his works with meekness of wisdom. But 
 if ye have bitter envying and strife in your 
 hearts, glory not, and lie not against the 
 truth. This wisdom descendeth not from 
 above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish; for 
 where envying and strife is, there is confusion 
 and every evil work?" The spirit of envy is 
 the very contrary of the spirit of heaven, 
 where all rejoice in the happiness of others ; 
 and it is the very spirit of hell itself, which is 
 a most hateful spirit, and one that feeds 
 itself on the ruin of the prosperity and happi- 
 ness of others, on which account some have 
 compared envious persons to caterpillars, 
 which delight most in clevouriug the most 
 flourishing trees and plants. And as an en- 
 
184 CHAEITY INCONSISTENT, ETC. 
 
 vious disposition is most hateful in itself, so 
 it is most uncomfortable and uneasy to its 
 possessor. As it is the disposition of the 
 devil, and partakes of his likeness, so it is the 
 disposition of hell, and partakes of its misery. 
 In the strong language of Solomon (Proverbs 
 xiv. 30) : " A sound heart is the life of the 
 flesh, but envy is the rottenness of the bones." 
 It is like a powerful eating cancer, preying 
 on the vitals, offensive and full of corruption. 
 And it is the most foolish kind of self -injury ; 
 for the envious make themselves trouble 
 most needlessly, being uncomfortable only be- 
 cause of others' prosperity, when that pros- 
 perity does not injure themselves, or diminish 
 their enjoyments and blessings. But they are 
 not willing to enjoy what they have, because 
 others are enjoying also. Let, then, the con- 
 sideration of the foolishness, the baseness, the 
 infamy of so wicked a spirit, cause us to ab- 
 hor it, and to shun its excuses, and earnestly 
 to seek the spirit of Christian love, that excel- 
 lent spirit of divine charity which will lead us 
 always to rejoice in the welfare of others, and 
 which will fill our own hearts with happiness. 
 This love c; is of God" (1 John iv. 7) ; and he 
 that dwelleth in it, " dwelleth in God, and 
 God in him," 1 John iv. 16. 
 
LECTURE VII. 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHARITY IS AN HUMBLE SPIRIT. 
 
 " Charity vaunteth not itself; is not puffed up ; doth not 
 behave itself unseemly." — 1 Corinthians xiii. 4, 5. 
 
 Haying shown the nature and tendency of 
 charity or Christian love, in respect to our re- 
 ceiving injury, and doing good to others, that 
 it " suffers long and is hind /" and also with 
 respect to the good possessed by others as 
 compared with that possessed by ourselves, 
 that charity " envieth not /" the Apostle now 
 proceeds to show, that in reference to what 
 we ourselves may be or have, charity is not 
 proud; that " it vaunteth not itself, is not 
 puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly." 
 As, on the one hand, it prevents us from 
 envying others what they possess, so on the 
 other, it keeps us from glorying in what we 
 possess ourselves. Paul had just declared 
 
186 THE SPIRIT OF CHARITY 
 
 that charity was contrary to a spirit of envy, 
 and now he declares that it is equally contrary 
 to that spirit which specially provokes men to 
 envy others, and which they often make a 
 pretence or apology for envying them, viz. : 
 that they are purled up with their honors and 
 prosperity, and vaunt themselves on their pos- 
 session of these things. When men have ob- 
 tained prosperity or are advanced, and others 
 observe that they are puffed up and vaunt 
 themselves in it, this tends to provoke envy 
 and make others uneasy at the sight of their 
 prosperity. But if a man has prosperity or 
 advancement and yet does not vaunt himself 
 or behave in an unseemly manner on account 
 of it, this tends to reconcile others to his high 
 circumstances, and make them satisfied that 
 he should enjoy his elevation. As already 
 observed, when men envy another, they are 
 prone to excuse and justify themselves in so 
 doing, by the pretence that he does not make 
 a good improvement of his prosperity, but is 
 proud of it and puffed up on account of it. 
 But the Apostle shows how Christian love, or 
 charity, tends to make all behave suitably to 
 their condition, whatever it may be ; if below 
 others, not to envy them, and if above others, 
 
IS AN HUMBLE SPIRIT. 187 
 
 not to be proud or puffed up with the pros- 
 perity. 
 
 In the words of the text, we may observe, 
 that a spirit of Christian love is spoken of as 
 the opposite of a proud behavior, and that 
 two degrees of such a behavior are mentioned. 
 The higher degree is expressed by a man's 
 " vaunting himself," that is, by his so carry- 
 ing himself as to show plainly that he glories 
 in what he has, or is ; and the lower degree is 
 expressed by his "behaving himself unseem- 
 ly," that is, by his not conducting himself in 
 a becoming and decent manner in the enjoy- 
 ment of nis prosperity, but so acting as to 
 show that he thinks the mere fact of his being 
 prosperous exalts him above others. And the 
 spirit of charity or love is spoken of, as opposed 
 not only to a proud behavior, but to & proud 
 spirit, or pride in the heart, for charity " is 
 not puffed up." The doctrine we are taught, 
 then, in these words, is this : — 
 
 That the spirit of charity, or Christian 
 love, is an humble spirit. — In speaking to this 
 doctrine, I would show, 1, What humility is : 
 and 2, How a Christian spirit, or the spirit of 
 charity, is an humble spirit. And, 
 
 I. I would show what humility is. — Humil- 
 
188 THE SPIRIT OF CHARITY 
 
 ity may be denned to be, a habit of mind and 
 heart corresponding to our comparative un- 
 worthiness and vileness before God, or a sense 
 of our own comparative meanness in his sight, 
 with the disposition to a behavior answerable 
 thereto. It consists partly in the understand- 
 ing, or in the thought and knowledge we have 
 of ourselves ; partly in the will ; partly in the 
 sense or estimate we have of ourselves ; and 
 partly in the disposition we have to a beha- 
 vior answerable to this sense or estimate. 
 And the first thing in humility, is, 
 
 1. A sense of our own comparative mean- 
 ness. — I say comparative meanness, because 
 humility is a grace proper for beings that are 
 glorious and excellent in very many respects. 
 Thus the saints and angels in heaven excel in 
 humility ; and humility is proper and suitable 
 in them, though they are pure, spotless, and 
 glorious beings, perfect in holiness, and excel- 
 ling in mind and strength. But though they 
 are thus glorious, yet they have a comparative 
 meanness before God, of which they are sen- 
 sible ; for he is said (Psalm cxiii. 6), " to hum- 
 ble himself to behold the things that are in 
 heaven." So the. man Christ Jesus, who is 
 the most excellent and glorious of all crea- 
 
IS AN HUMBLE SPIEIT. 189 
 
 tures, is yet meek and lowly of heart, and 
 excels all other beings in humility. Humility 
 is one of the excellences of Christ, because he 
 is not only God but man, and as a man he was 
 humble : for humility is not, and cannot be an 
 attribute of the divine nature. God's nature 
 is indeed infinitely opposite to pride, and yet 
 humility cannot properly be predicated of 
 him ; for if it could, this would argue imper- 
 fection, which is impossible in God. God who 
 is infinite in excellence and glory, and infi- 
 nitely above all things, cannot have any com- 
 parative meanness, arid of course cannot have 
 any such comparative meanness to be sensi- 
 ble of, and therefore cannot be humble. But 
 humility is an excellence proper to all created 
 intelligent beings, for they are all infinitely 
 little and mean before God, and most of them 
 are in some way mean and low in comparison 
 with some of their fellow-creatures. Humility 
 implies a compliance with that rule of the 
 Apostle (Romans xii. 3), that we think not of 
 ourselves more highly than we ought to think, 
 but that we think soberly, according as God 
 hath dealt to every one of us the measure not 
 only of faith, but of other things. And this 
 humility, as a virtue in men, implies a sense 
 
190 THE SPIRIT OF CHARITY 
 
 of their own comparative meanness, both as 
 compared with God, and as compared with 
 their fellow-creatures. And, 
 
 First, Humility doth primarily and chiefly 
 consist in a sense of our meanness as compared 
 with God, or a sense of the infinite distance 
 there is between God and ourselves. "We are 
 little, despicable creatures, even worms of the 
 dust, and we should feel that we are as 
 nothing and less than nothing in comparison 
 with the majesty of heaven and earth. Such 
 a sense of his nothingness Abraham expressed, 
 when he said (Genesis xviii. 27), " Behold 
 now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the . 
 Lord, which am but dust and ashes." There 
 is no true humility without somewhat of this 
 spirit ; for however sensible we may be of our 
 meanness as compared with some of our fel- 
 low-creatures, we are not truly humble, unless 
 we have a sense of our nothingness as com- 
 pared with God. Some have a low thought 
 of themselves as compared with other men, 
 from the meanness of their circumstances, or 
 from a melancholy and despondent tempera- 
 ment which is natural to them, or from some 
 other cause, while still they know nothing of 
 the infinite distance there is between them 
 
IS AN HUMBLE SPIRIT. 191 
 
 and God ; and though they may be ready to 
 look upon themselves as humble-spirited, yet 
 they have no true humility. That which 
 above all other things it concerns us to know 
 of ourselves, is, what we are in comparison 
 with God, who is our creator, and the one in 
 whom we live, and move, and have our being, 
 and who is infinitely perfect in all things. 
 And if we are ignorant of our meanness as 
 compared with him, then the most essential 
 thing, and that which is indispensable in true 
 humility, is wanting. But where this is truly 
 felt, there arises from it, 
 
 Secondly, A sense of our own meanness as 
 compared with many of our fellow-creatures. 
 For man is not only a mean creature in com- 
 parison with God, but he is very mean as com- 
 pared with multitudes of creatures of a supe- 
 rior rank in the universe ; and most men are 
 mean in comparison with many of their fellow- 
 men. And when a sense of this comparative 
 meanness arises from a just sense of our 
 meanness as God sees it, then it is of the na- 
 ture of true humility. He that has a right 
 sense and estimate of himself in comparison 
 with God, will be likely to have his eyes open 
 to see himself aright in all respects. Seeing 
 
192 THE SPIRIT OF CHARITY 
 
 truly how he stands with respect to the first 
 and highest of all beings, will tend greatly to 
 help hirn to a just apprehension of the place 
 he stands in among creatures. And he that 
 does not rightly know the first and greatest 
 of beings, who is the fountain and source of 
 all other beings, cannot truly know anything 
 aright ; but so far as he has come to a knowl- 
 edge of the former, so far is he prepared for 
 and led unto the knowledge of other things, 
 and so of himself as related to others, and as 
 standing among them. 
 
 All this would apply to men considered as 
 unfallen beings, and would have been true of 
 our race if our first parents had not fallen, 
 and thus involved their posterity in sin. But 
 humility in fallen men, implies a sense of a 
 ten-fold meanness, both before God and men. 
 Man's natural meanness consists in his being 
 infinitely below God in natural perfection, and 
 in God's being infinitely above him in great- 
 ness, power, wisdom, majesty, &c. And a 
 truly humble man is sensible of the small ex- 
 tent of his own knowledge, and the great ex- 
 tent of his ignorance, and of the small extent 
 of his understanding as compared with the 
 understanding of God. He is sensible of his 
 
IS AN HUMBLE SPIRIT. 
 
 193 
 
 weakness ; how little his strength is, and how 
 little he is able to do. He is sensible of his 
 natural distance from God ; of his depend- 
 ence on him ; of the insufficiency of his own 
 power and wisdom, and that it is by God's pow- 
 er that he is upheld and provided for, and that 
 he needs God's wisdom to lead and guide him, 
 and his might to enable him to do what he 
 ought to do for him. He is sensible of his 
 subjection to God, and that God's greatness 
 does properly consist in his authority, where- 
 by he is the sovereign Lord and king over 
 all ; and he is willing to be subject to that 
 authority, as feeling that it becomes him to 
 submit to the divine will, and yield in all 
 things to God's authority. Man had this sort 
 of comparative littleness before the fall. He 
 was then infinitely little and mean in compar- 
 ison with God ; but his natural meanness is 
 become much greater since the fall, for the 
 moral ruin of his nature has greatly impaired 
 his natural faculties, though it has not extin- 
 guished them. 
 
 The truly humble man, since the fall, is 
 
 also sensible of his moral meanness and vile- 
 
 ness. This consists in his sinfulness. His 
 
 natural meanness, is his littleness as a crea- 
 
 13 
 
194 THE SPIRIT OF CHARITY 
 
 ture ; his moral meanness is his vileness and 
 filthiness as a sinner. Unfallen man was in- 
 finitely distant from God in his natural quali- 
 ties or attributes : fallen man is infinitely dis- 
 tant from him, also, as sinful and thus filthy. 
 And a truly humble person is in some meas- 
 ure sensible of his comparative meanness in 
 this respect, that he sees how exceedingly 
 polluted he is before an infinitely holy God, 
 in whose sight the heavens are not clean. He 
 sees how pure God is, and how filthy and 
 abominable he is before him. Such a sense 
 of his comparative meanness Isaiah had, when 
 he saw God's glory, and cried out (Isaiah vi. 
 5) : " "Woe is me ! for I am undone ; because 
 I am a man of unclean lips, and dwell in the 
 midst of a people of unclean lips, for mine 
 eyes have seen the king, the Lord of Hosts !" 
 An humble sense of our meanness in this re- 
 spect, implies self-abhorrence, such as led Job 
 to exclaim (Job xlii. 5, 6) : U I have heard of 
 thee by the hearing of the ear ; • but now mine 
 eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, 
 and repent in dust and ashes." It implies, also, 
 such contrition and brokenness of heart, as 
 David speaks of when he says (Psalm li. 17), 
 u The sacrifices of God, are a broken spirit ; a 
 
IS AN HUMBLE SPIRIT. 
 
 195 
 
 broken and a contrite heart, God, thou wilt 
 not despise ;" and such, too, as Isaiah content 
 plated when he declared (Isaiah lvii. 15), 
 " Thus saith the high and lofty One that in- 
 habiteth eternity, whose name is Holy, I dwell 
 in the high and holy place ; with him, also, 
 that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to re- 
 vive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the 
 heart of the contrite ones." And both the 
 sense of our own littleness, and the sense of 
 our moral vileness before God, are implied 
 in that poverty of spirit, which the Saviour 
 speaks of when he says (Matthew v. 3), 
 " Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is 
 the kingdom of heaven." 
 
 And in order to this sense of our own mean- 
 ness and unworthiness that is implied in 
 humility, it is not only necessary that we 
 should know God, and have a sense of his 
 greatness, without which we cannot know our- 
 selves, but we must have a right sense, also, 
 of his excellence and loveliness* The devils 
 and damned spirits see a great deal of God's 
 greatness, of his wisdom, omnipotence, &c. 
 God makes them sensible of it by what they 
 see in his dealings, and feel in their own suf- 
 ferings. However unwilling they are to know 
 
196 THE SPIRIT OF CHARITY 
 
 it, God makes them know how much he is 
 above them now, and they shall know and 
 feel it still more, at and after the judgment. 
 Bat they have no humility, nor will they 
 ever have, because though they see and feel 
 God's greatness, yet they see and feel nothing 
 of his loveliness. And without this there can 
 be no true humility, for that cannot exist un- 
 less the creature feels his distance from God, 
 not only with respect to his greatness, but 
 also his loveliness. The angels and ransomed 
 spirits in heaven see both these things ; not 
 only how much greater God is than they are, 
 but how much more lovely he is also ; so that 
 though they have no absolute defilement and 
 filthiness as fallen men have, yet as compared 
 with God, it is said (Job xv. 15, and iv. 18), 
 " The heavens are not clean in his sight," and 
 " his angels he charged with folly." From 
 such a sense of their comparative meanness, 
 persons are made sensible how unworthy they 
 are of God's ^nercy, or gracious notice. Such 
 a sense Jacob expressed, when he said (Gene- 
 sis xxxii. 10), "I am not worthy of the least 
 of all the mercies, and of all the truth which 
 thou hast showed unto thy servant;" and 
 David, when he exclaimed (2 Samuel vii. 18), 
 
IS AN HUMBLE SPIRIT. 197 
 
 ""Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my 
 house, that thou hast brought me hitherto ?" 
 And such a sense have all who are truly hum- 
 ble before God. But as humility consists in 
 a sense of our comparative meanness, so it 
 implies, 
 
 2. A disposition to a corresponding "behavior 
 and conduct. — Without this there is no true 
 humility. If it could be so that our under- 
 standing could be enlightened to see our own 
 meanness, and at the same time the will and 
 disposition of the soul did not comply with, 
 and conform to that which is answerable to 
 our sense of it, but opposed it, then there 
 would be no humility. As was just now said, 
 the devils and damned spirits see much of 
 their comparative littleness before God in 
 some respects. They know that God is infi- 
 nitely above them in power, and knowledge, 
 and majesty. And yet not knowing and feel- 
 ing his loveliness and excellence, their wills 
 and dispositions by no means comply with, 
 and conform to what is becoming their mean- 
 ness ; and so they have no humility, but are 
 full of pride. Without pretending to mention 
 everything in our behavior answerable to a 
 proper sense of our meanness and vileness to 
 
198 THE SPIRIT OF CHARITY 
 
 which, humility would dispose us, for that 
 would include the whole of our duty toward 
 God and man, I would specify some things 
 that are worthy of notice, both in reference to 
 God, and in reference to man. And, 
 
 First, Some things in our behavior toward 
 God, to which humility will dispose us. As 
 the first of these, humility disposes a person 
 heartily and freely to acknowledge his mean- 
 ness or littleness before God. He sees how fit 
 and suitable it is that he should do this ; and 
 he does it willingly, and even with delight. 
 He freely confesses his own nothingness and 
 vileness, and owns himself unworthy of any 
 mercy, and deserving of all misery. It is the 
 disposition of the humble soul, to lie low be- 
 fore God, and to humble himself in the dust 
 in his presence. Humility, also, disposes one 
 to be distrustful of himself, and to depend only 
 on God. The proud man, that has a high 
 opinion of his own wisdom, or strength, or 
 righteousness, is self-confident. But the hum- 
 ble are not disposed to trust in themselves, 
 but are diffident of their own sufficiency ; and 
 it is their disposition to rely on God, and with 
 delight to cast themselves wholly on him as 
 their refuge, and righteousness, and strength. 
 
IS AN HUMBLE SPIRIT. 
 
 199 
 
 The humble man is further disposed to re- 
 nounce all the glory of the good he has or does, 
 and to give it all to God. If there be any- 
 thing that is good in him, or any good done 
 by him, it is not his disposition to glory or 
 vaunt himself in it before God, but to ascribe 
 all to God, and in the language of the Psalm- 
 ist (Psalm cxy. 1) to say, " Not unto us, O 
 Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give 
 glory, for thy mercy and thy truth's sake." 
 It is the disposition, again, of the humble 
 person, wholly to subject himself to God. His 
 heart is not opposed to a full and absolute 
 subjection to the divine will, but inclined to 
 it. He is disposed to be subject to the com- 
 mands and laws of God, for he sees it to be 
 right and best that he who is so infinitely in- 
 ferior to God, should be thus subject; and 
 that it is an honor that belongs to God, to 
 reign over, and give laws to him. And he is 
 equally disposed to be subject to the provi- 
 dence, and daily disposal of God, and to sub- 
 mit cheerfully to his will as manifested in 
 what he orders for him; and though God 
 orders affliction, and low and depressed cir- 
 cumstances as his lot in the world, he does not 
 murmur, but feeling his meanness and un- 
 
200 THE SPIRIT OF CHARITY 
 
 worthiness, he is sensible that afflictive and 
 trying dispensations are what he deserves, 
 and that his circumstances are better than he 
 merits. And however dark the divine deal- 
 ings, with the faith which we so often see 
 manifested in those who are eminent in grace, 
 he is ready to say with Job (Job xiii. 15), 
 " Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him." 
 And as humility implies a disposition to such 
 a behavior toward God, so, 
 
 Secondly, It disposes to a behavior toward 
 men answerable to our comparative mean- 
 ness. And this I shall show by pointing out 
 what kind of behavior humility tends to pre- 
 vent. And it tends in the first place, to pre- 
 vent an aspiring and ambitious behavior 
 amongst men. The man that is under the 
 influence of an humble spirit, is content with 
 such a situation amongst men as God is pleased 
 to allot to him, and is not greedy of honor, 
 and does not affect to appear uppermost and 
 exalted above his neighbors. He acts on the 
 principle of that saying of the prophet (Jere- 
 miah xlv. 5), " Seekest thou great things for 
 thyself? Seek them not; 5 ' and also of that 
 injunction of the Apostle (Romans xii. 16), 
 "Mind not high things." Humility tends 
 
IS AN HUMBLE SPIRIT. 201 
 
 also to prevent an ostentatious behavior. If 
 the truly humble man has any advantage or 
 benefit of any kind, either temporal or spirit- 
 ual, above his neighbors, he will not affect to 
 make a show of it. If he has greater natural 
 abilities than others, he will not be forward to 
 parade and display them, or be careful that 
 others shall know his superiority in this 
 respect. If he has a remarkable spiritual 
 experience, he will not be solicitous that men 
 should know it for the sake of the honor he may 
 obtain by it ; nor does he affect to be esteem- 
 ed of men as an eminent saint and a faithful 
 servant of heaven ; for it is a small thing with 
 him what men may think of him. If he does 
 anything well, or does his duty in any respect 
 with difficulty and self-denial, he does not 
 affect that men should take notice of it, nor is 
 he careful lest they should not observe it. 
 He is not of the behavior of the Pharisees, 
 who, it is said (Matthew xxiii. 5), did " all 
 their works to be seen of men ;" but if he has 
 done anything in sincerity, he is content that 
 the great Being who sees in secret beholds and 
 will approve it. 
 
 Humility tends, also, to prevent an arrogant 
 and assuming behavior . He that is under the 
 
202 THE SPIRIT OF CHARITY 
 
 influence of an humble spirit, is not forward 
 to take too much upon him ; and when he is 
 amongst others, he does not carry it toward 
 them as if he expected and insisted that a 
 great deal of regard should be shown to him- 
 self. His behavior does not carry with it the 
 idea that he is the best amongst those about 
 him, and that he is the one to whom the chief 
 regard should be shown, and whose judgment 
 is most to be sought and followed. He does 
 not carry it as if he expected that everybody 
 should bow and truckle to him, and give place 
 to him as if no one was of as much conse- 
 quence as himself. He does not put on as- 
 suming airs in his common conversation, nor 
 in the management of his business, nor in the 
 duties of religion. He is not forward to take 
 upon himself that which does not belong to 
 him, as though he had power where indeed 
 he has not, as if the earth ought to be subject 
 to his bidding, and must comply with his in- 
 clination and purposes. On the contrary, he 
 gives all due deference to the judgment and 
 inclinations of others, and his behavior carries 
 with it the impression, that he sincerely re- 
 ceives and acts on that teaching of the Apos- 
 tle (PLilippians ii. 3), " Let nothing be done 
 
IS AN HUMBLE SPIRIT. 203 
 
 through strife, or vain glory, but in lowliness 
 of mind, let each esteem other better than 
 themselves." In talking of the things of re- 
 ligion, he has not the air, either in his speech 
 or behavior, of one that esteems himself one of 
 the best saints in the whole company, but he 
 rather carries himself as if he thought, in the 
 expression of the Apostle (Ephesians iii. 8), 
 that he was " less than the least of all saints." 
 Humility tends, also, to prevent a scornful 
 behavior. Treating others with scorn and con- 
 tempt, is one of the worst and most offensive 
 manifestations of pride toward them. But 
 they that are under the influence of an hum- 
 ble spirit, are far from such a behavior. They 
 do not despise, or look down on those that are 
 below them, with a haughty supercilious air, 
 as though they were scarce worthy to come 
 nigh them, or to have any regard from them. 
 They are sensible that there is no such vast 
 difference between themselves and their fel- 
 low-men as warrants such a behavior. They 
 are not found treating with scorn and con- 
 tempt what others say, or speaking of what 
 they do with ridicule and sneering reflections, 
 or sitting and relating what others may have 
 spoken or done, only to make sport of it. On 
 
204 THE SPIRIT OF CHARITY 
 
 the contrary, humility disposes a person to a 
 condescending behavior to the meekest and 
 lowest, and to treat inferiors with courtesy and 
 affability, as being sensible of his own weak- 
 ness and despicableness before God, and that 
 it is God alone that makes him in any respect 
 to differ from others, or gives him the advan- 
 tage over them. The truly humble will (Ro- 
 mans xii. 16) always have the spirit to u con- 
 descend to men of low estate." Even if they 
 are great men, and in places of public trust 
 and honor, humility will dispose them to treat 
 their inferiors in such a manner as has been 
 spoken of, and not in a haughty and scornful 
 manner, as vaunting themselves on their 
 greatness. 
 
 Humility tends, also, to prevent a wilful 
 and stubborn behavior. They that are under 
 the influence of an humble spirit, will not set 
 up their own will either in public or private 
 affairs. They will not be stiff and inflexible, 
 and imsist that everything must go according 
 to what they happen first to propose, and 
 manifest a disposition by no means to be easy, 
 but to make all the difficulty they can, and to 
 make others uneasy as well as themselves, and 
 to prevent anything being done with any 
 
IS AN HUMBLE SPIEIT. 205 
 
 quietness, if it be not according to their own 
 mind and will. They are not as some that 
 the Apostle Peter describes (2 Peter ii. 10), 
 " presumptuous and self-willed," always bent 
 on carrying their own points, and if this can- 
 not be done, then bent on opposing and an- 
 noying others. On the contrary, humility dis- 
 poses men to be of a yielding spirit to others, 
 ready, for the sake of peace, and to gratify 
 others, to comply in many things with their 
 inclinations, and to yield to their judgments 
 wherein they are not inconsistent with truth 
 and holiness. A truly humble man, is inflex- 
 ible in nothing but in the cause of his Lord 
 and master, which is the cause of truth and 
 virtue. In this he is inflexible because God 
 and conscience require it ; but in things of 
 lesser moment, and which do not involve his 
 principles as a follower of Christ, and in 
 things that only concern his own private in- 
 terests, he is apt to yield to others. And if 
 he sees that others are stubborn and unreason- 
 able in their wilfulness, he does not allow 
 that to provoke him to be stubborn and wilful 
 in his opposition to them ; but he rather acts 
 on the principles taught in such passages as 
 Eomans xii. 19 ; 1 Corinthians vi. 7 ; and 
 
206 THE SPIRIT OF CHARITY 
 
 Matthew v. 40, 41 : " Dearly beloved, avenge 
 not yourselves, but rather give place unto 
 wrath ;" " "Why do ye not rather take wrong ? 
 Why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be 
 defrauded ?" "If any man will sue thee at the 
 law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy 
 cloak also ; and whosoever shall compel thee 
 to go a mile, go with him twain." 
 
 Humility will further tend to prevent a lev- 
 elling behavior. Some persons are always 
 ready to level those above them down to them- 
 selves, while they are never willing to level 
 those below them up to their own position. 
 But he that is under the influence of humility 
 will avoid both these extremes. On the one 
 hand, he will be willing that all should rise 
 just so far as their diligence and worth of 
 character entitle them to ; and on the other 
 hand, he will be willing that his superiors 
 should be known and acknowledged in their 
 place, and have rendered to them all the 
 honors that are their due. He will not desire 
 that all should stand upon the same level, for 
 he knows it is best that there should be gra- 
 dations in society ; that some should be above 
 others, and should be honored and submitted 
 to as such. And therefore he is willing to be 
 
IS AN HUMBLE SPIRIT. 207 
 
 content with this divine arrangement, and 
 agreeably to it, to conform both his spirit and 
 behavior to such precepts as the following : 
 " Render therefore to all their dnes ; tribute, 
 to whom tribute is due ; custom, to whom cus- 
 tom ; fear, to whom fear ; honor, to whom 
 honor" (Romans xiii. 7) ; " Put them in mind 
 to be subject to principalities and powers, to 
 obey magistrates, to be ready to every good 
 work" (Titus iii. 1). Humility also tends, 
 once more, to prevent a self-justifying heha ■ 
 vior. He that is under the influence of an 
 humble spirit, if he has fallen into a fault, as 
 all are liable at some time to fall, or if in any- 
 thing he has injured another, or dishonored 
 the Christian name and character, will be 
 willing to acknowledge his fault, and take the 
 shame of it to himself. He will not be hard 
 to be brought to a sense of his fault, nor to 
 testify that sense by a suitable acknowledg- 
 ment of his error. He will be inwardly 
 humbled for it, and ready to show his humil- 
 ity in the manner which the Apostle points 
 out, when he says (James v. 16), " Confess 
 your faults one to another." It is pride that 
 makes men so exceedingly backward to con- 
 fess their fault when they have fallen into one, 
 
208 THE SPIRIT OF CHAEITY 
 
 and that makes them think that to be their 
 shame, which is in truth their highest honor. 
 But humility in the behavior, makes men 
 prompt to their duty in this respect, and if it 
 prevails as it should, will lead them to do it 
 with alacrity and even delight. And when 
 any one shall give such a person a Christian 
 admonition or reproof for any fault, humility 
 will dispose him to take it kindly, and even 
 thankfully. It is pride that makes men to be 
 so uneasy when they are reproved by any of 
 their neighbors, so that oftentimes they will 
 not bear it, but become angry, and manifest 
 great bitterness of spirit. Humility, on the 
 contrary, will dispose them not only to tolerate 
 such reproofs, but to esteem and prize them 
 as marks of kindness and friendship. " Let 
 the righteous smite me ;■" says the Psalmist 
 (Psalm clxi. 5), " it shall be a kindness ; and 
 let him reprove me ; it shall be an excellent 
 oil which shall not break my head." Having 
 thus shown what humility is in its nature, and 
 to what it will lead us both in spirit and be- 
 havior, in respect both to God and to our fel- 
 low-men, I proceed, as proposed, to show, 
 
 H. That the spirit of charity is an humble 
 spirit. — And this I would do in two particu- 
 
IS AN HUMBLE SPIEIT. 
 
 209 
 
 lars : first, by showing how the spirit of char- 
 ity or divine love, implies and tends to humil- 
 ity, and then by showing how such exercises 
 of this charity as the gospel tends to draw 
 forth, do especially imply and tend to it. 
 And, 
 
 1. A spirit of charity or divine love implies 
 and tends to humility. 
 
 First, It implies humility. The spirit of 
 charity or divine love, as has already been 
 shown, is the sum of the Christian spirit, and 
 of course implies humility in it, as an essen- 
 tial qualification. True divine love, is an 
 humble love ; and that love which is not hum- 
 ble, is not truly divine. And this appears 
 plain from two considerations : because a 
 sense of the loveliness of God is peculiarly 
 that discovery of God that works humility, 
 and because when God is truly loved, he is 
 loved as an infinite superior. In the first 
 place, 
 
 Because a sense of the loveliness of God, is 
 peculiarly that discovery of God that works 
 humility. A sense or discovery of God's 
 greatness, without the sight of his loveliness, 
 will not do it, but it is the discovery of his 
 loveliness that effects it, and that makes the 
 14 
 
210 THE SPIRIT OF CHARITY 
 
 soul truly humble. All grace is wrought in 
 the heart through the knowledge of God, or 
 by the clear discovery of his perfections ; and 
 the knowledge of these perfections is the foun- 
 dation of all grace. And it is the discovery 
 or sense of God as lovely, and not only as 
 lovely, but as infinitely above us in loveliness, 
 that works humility in the heart. Merely 
 having a sense of the fact that God is infinitely 
 above us, and that there is an infinite distance 
 between him and us in greatness, will not 
 work humility. It will effect nothing toward 
 making the heart humble, unless we are also 
 sensible that there is an infinite distance be- 
 tween him and us in his loveliness. And this 
 is evident from the work of the law on the 
 heart of the sinner, and from the experience 
 of devils and damned spirits. Under the 
 work of the law on the heart, persons may 
 have a sense of the awful greatness of God, 
 and yet have no humility because they have 
 no sense of his loveliness. All the work of 
 the spirit, and of the law and gospel in the 
 heart, is wrought by conviction ; and there is 
 a kind of conviction that natural men have as 
 to God, that awakens them, and makes them 
 feel their danger ; and this is a conviction of 
 
IS AN HUMBLE SPIRIT. 211 
 
 the terrible greatness of God, revealing him- 
 self in the requirements and denunciations of 
 his law. But this they may and often do 
 have, and yet have no humility ; and the rea- 
 son is, that they have no sense of how much 
 God is above them in loveliness. This is the 
 only thing wanting ; and without this, they 
 will not be humble. 
 
 And the same is manifest from the expe- 
 rience of devils and damned spirits. They 
 have a clear sense of God's being infinitely 
 above them in greatness, but they have no 
 humility, because they do not feel how much 
 he is above them in loveliness. As was ob- 
 served, God makes the devils and lost spirits 
 know and feel that he is above them in great- 
 ness and power, and that they are as nothing 
 in his hands ; and yet they are proud, and 
 have no humility. And at and after the day 
 of judgment, they will see still more of his 
 greatness. When Christ shall come in the 
 clouds of heaven, surrounded by his angels, 
 and with the glory of his Father, then shall 
 the wicked, even the kings, and great rulers, 
 and the rich captains, and the mighty men of 
 the world, see that he is infinitely above them 
 in greatness ; and as they see his terrible ma- 
 
212 THE SPIRIT OF CHAJRCTY 
 
 jesty, they shall hide themselves from his 
 face. And the devils, too, will see it, and will 
 tremble at that time, a great deal more than 
 they tremble now at the thoughts of it. And 
 the devils and wicked men shall be made 
 to know that he is the Lord. They shall know 
 it with a witness. They shall know by what 
 they see, and by what they feel when the sen- 
 tence comes to be executed on them, that God 
 is indeed above them, and they are as nothing 
 before him, as is said by the prophet (Ezekiel 
 vii. 27): "According to their deserts will I 
 judge them, and they shall know that I am 
 the Lord." But though they shall so clearly, 
 and so terribly see that God is infinitely above 
 them in greatness, yet they will have no hu- 
 mility. They will see themselves at an infi- 
 nite distance from God, but their hearts will 
 not comply with that distance and feel as is an- 
 swerable to it. Because they will not see God's 
 loveliness, they will not know their infinite dis- 
 tance from him in this respect, and therefore 
 will not be led to humility. And this their 
 experience shows, that it is a sense of the infi- 
 nite distance of the creature from the Creator 
 in loveliness, that causes true humility. This 
 it is that causes humility in the angels in 
 
IS AN HUMBLE SPIRIT. 
 
 213 
 
 heaven, and in the saints on earth. And since 
 it is a sense of God's loveliness that works 
 humility, we may hence learn that divine love 
 implies humility, for love is but the disposition 
 of the heart toward God as lovely. If the knowl- 
 edge of God as lovely, causes humility, then 
 a respect to God as lovely, implies humility. 
 And from this love to God, arises a Christian 
 love to man ; and therefore it follows, that 
 both love to God, and love to man, the union 
 of which is the very thing the Apostle calls 
 charity, alike imply humility. 
 
 And it further appears that divine love im- 
 plies humility, because when God is truly 
 loved, he is loved as an infinite superior. True 
 love to God, is not love to him as an equal ; 
 for every one that truly loves God, honors him 
 as God, that is, as a being infinitely superior 
 to all others in greatness and excellence. It 
 is love to a being who is infinitely perfect in 
 all his attributes, the supreme Lord, and ab- 
 solute sovereign of the universe. But if Ave 
 love God as infinitely superior to ourselves, 
 then love is exercised in us as infinite infe- 
 riors, and therefore it is an humble love. In 
 exercising it, we look upon ourselves as infi- 
 nitely mean and low before God, and love 
 
214 THE SPIRIT OF CHARITY 
 
 proceeds from us as such. But to love God 
 in this manner, is to love him in humility, 
 and with an humble love. Thus divine love 
 implies humility. But, 
 
 /Secondly, It also tends to humility. Hu- 
 mility is not only a quality in divine love, 
 but it is also an effect of it. Divine love does 
 not only imply humility in its nature, but also 
 tends to cherish and produce it, and to call 
 forth its exercises as consequences and fruits 
 of love. And humility is not only implied in, 
 and is as it were a part of love, but it is a fruit 
 and uniform production of love. And that, 
 especially, in two ways. In the first place, 
 love inclines the heart to that spirit and be- 
 havior that are becoming the distance from 
 the beloved. It is enmity against God that 
 makes men's hearts so opposed to love to him, 
 and to such a behavior as carries in it a full 
 and proper acknowledgment of the distance 
 between themselves and him. Those that 
 men have a great love to, they are willing to 
 honor, and willing to acknowledge their supe- 
 riority to themselves, and that they themselves 
 are far below them ; and they are willing to 
 give them the honor of such an acknowledg- 
 ment, especially if they are very much their 
 
IS AN HUMBLE SPIRIT. 215 
 
 superiors. The devils know their distance 
 from God, but they are not reconciled to it; 
 and the chief of devils affected to be equal 
 with God, and even above him, because he 
 had no love to him. And so in a measure 
 it is with men, while they are without divine 
 love. But when love enters the heart, then 
 the inclination of the soul is to all that hum- 
 ble respect that becomes the distance between 
 God and us. And so love to man, arising 
 from love to God, disposes to a humble beha- 
 vior toward them, inclining us to give them 
 all the honor and respect that are their due. 
 And so in the next place, love to God tends to 
 an abhorrence of sin against God, and so to 
 our being humbled before him for it. So 
 much as anything is loved, so much will its 
 contrary be hated. And therefore just in pro- 
 portion as we love God, in the same propor- 
 tion shall we have an abhorrence of sin 
 against him. And having an abhorrence of 
 sin against God, this will lead us to abhor 
 ourselves for it, and so to humble ourselves 
 for it before God. Having thus shown how 
 divine love, which is the sum of the Christian 
 temper, implies and tends to humility, I come 
 now to show, 
 
216 THE SPIRIT OF CHARITY 
 
 2. How the gospel tends to draw forth sue) 
 exercises of love as do especially imply and 
 tend to it. — A Christian spirit and a gospel 
 spirit are the same. That is a Christian spirit, 
 which the Christian revelation tends to lead 
 to ; bnt the Christian revelation is the same 
 as the gospel. ISTow such a kind of exercises 
 of love as the gospel tends to draw forth, do, in 
 a special manner, tend to, and imply humility ; 
 and that on several accounts. And, 
 
 First, Because the gospel leads us to love 
 God as an infinitely condescending God. The 
 gospel above all things in the world, holds 
 forth the exceeding condescension of God. 
 !N"o other manifestation that ever God made 
 of himself, exhibits such wonderful conde- 
 scension as the Christian revelation does. 
 The gospel teaches how God, who humbles 
 himself to behold things that are in heaven 
 and earth, stooped so low as to take an infi- 
 nitely gracious notice of poor vile worms of 
 the dust, and to concern himself for their sal- 
 vation, and so as to send his only-begotten 
 Son to die for them, that they might be for- 
 given, and elevated, and honored, and brought 
 into eternal fellowship with him, and to the 
 perfect enjoyment of himself in heaven for- 
 
IS AN HUMBLE SPIKIT. 217 
 
 ever. So that the love the Christian revela- 
 tion leads us to, is love to God as such a con- 
 descending God, and to such exercises of love 
 as it becomes us to have toward a God of such 
 infinite condescension ; and such acts of love 
 are, of necessity, humble acts of love, for there 
 is no disposition in the creature, that is more 
 adapted to condescension in the creator, than 
 humility is. The condescension of God, is 
 not properly humility, because, for the rea- 
 sons already given, humility is a virtue only 
 of those beings that have comparative mean- 
 ness. And yet God, by his infinite conde- 
 scension, shows his nature to be infinitely far 
 from, and hostile to pride, and therefore his 
 condescension is sometimes spoken of as hu- 
 mility ; and humility on our part is the most 
 proper conformity to God's condescension 
 that there can be in a creature. His conde- 
 scension tends to draws forth humility on our 
 part. 
 
 Secondly ', The gospel leads us to love Christ 
 as an humble person. Christ is the God-man, 
 including both the divine and the human na- 
 ture ; and so has not only condescension which 
 is a divine perfection, but also humility which 
 is a creature excellency. Now the gospel 
 
218 THE SPIRIT OF CHARITY 
 
 holds forth Christ to us as one that is meek 
 and lowly of heart ; as the most perfect and 
 excellent instance of humility that ever exist- 
 ed ; as one in whom the greatest performances 
 and expressions of humility were manifest in 
 his abasement of himself. Though he was 
 "in the form of God," he "made himself of 
 no reputation, and took upon him the form of 
 a servant, and humbled himself, and became 
 obedient unto death, even the death of the 
 cross" (Philippians ii. 6, 7, 8). Now the gos- 
 pel leads us to love Christ as such an humble 
 person ; and therefore to love him with such 
 a love as is proper to be exercised toward 
 such an one, is to exercise an humble love. 
 And this is the more true, because the gospel 
 leads us to love Christ not only as an humble 
 person, but as an humble Saviour and Lord, 
 and head. If our Lord and master is humble, 
 and we love him as such, certainly it becomes 
 us who are his disciples, and servants, to be so 
 too ; for surely it does not become the servant 
 to be prouder, or less abased than his master. 
 As Christ himself tells us (Matthew x. 24, 
 25), "The disciple is not above his master, 
 nor the servant above his Lord. It is enough 
 for the disciple that he be as his master, and 
 
IS AN HUMBLE SPIRIT. 219 
 
 the servant as his Lord." And again, he 
 tells us (John xiii. 13-16), that his own exam- 
 ple of humility was intended for our imita- 
 tion ; and still again declares to his disciples 
 (Matthew xx. 25-28), "Ye know that the 
 princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over 
 them, and they that are great, exercise author- 
 ity upon them ; but it shall not be so among 
 you. But whosoever will be great among 
 you, let him be your minister ; and whosoever 
 will be chief among you, let him be your ser- 
 vant : even as the Son of Man came not to be 
 ministered unto, but to minister, and to give 
 his life a ransom for many." 
 
 Thirdly, The gospel leads us to love Christ 
 as a crucified Saviour. As our Saviour and 
 Lord, he suffered the greatest ignominy, and 
 was put to the most ignominious death, though 
 he was the Lord of glory. This may well kin- 
 dle the humility of his followers, and lead 
 them to an humble love to him. For by God 
 sending his Son into the world to suffer such 
 an ignominious death, he did, as it were, pour 
 contempt on all the earthly glory that men 
 are wont to be proud of, in that he gave him, 
 as the Saviour and head of all his elect peo- 
 ple, to appear in circumstances so far from 
 
 I 
 
220 THE SPIRIT OF CHARITY 
 
 earthly glory, and in circumstances of the 
 greatest earthly ignominy and shame. And 
 Christ, by being willing thus to be abased, 
 and thus to suffer, not only cast contempt on 
 all worldly glory and greatness, but he showed 
 his humility in the clearest manner. If we, 
 then, consider ourselves as the followers of the 
 meek, and lowly, and crucified Jesus, we 
 shall walk humbly before God and man, all 
 the days of our life on earth. 
 
 Foicrthly, The gospel still further tends to 
 lead us to humble exercises of love, because 
 it leads us to love Christ as one that was cru- 
 cified far our sokes. The mere fact that Christ 
 was crucified, is a great argument for the hu- 
 mility of us who are his followers. But his 
 being crucified/br our sokes, is a much great- 
 er argument for it. For Christ's being cruci- 
 fied for our sakes, is the greatest testimony of 
 God against our sins that ever was given. It 
 shows more of God's abhorrence of our sins, 
 than any other act or event that God has ever 
 directed or permitted. The measure of God's 
 abhorrence of our sins, is shown by his having 
 them so terribly punished, and his wrath so 
 executed against them, even when imputed to 
 his own Son. So that this is the greatest induce- 
 
IS AIT HUMBLE SPIIttT. 221 
 
 ment to our humility that can be presented, and 
 this on two accounts ; because it is the great- 
 est manifestation of the vileness of that for 
 which we should be humble, and also the 
 greatest argument for our loving the humble 
 spirit, which the gospel holds forth. The ex- 
 cellency of Christ, and the love of Christ, more 
 appear in his yielding himself to be crucified 
 for us, than in any other of his acts, so that 
 these things, considered together, above all 
 things tend to draw forth on our part, the 
 exercises of humble love. In the application 
 of this subject we may see, 
 
 1. The excellency of a Christian spirit. — 
 " The righteous," it is said (Proverbs xii. 26), 
 " is more excellent than his neighbor." And 
 much of this excellence in the true Christian, 
 consists in his meek and lowly spirit which 
 makes him so like his Saviour. This spirit 
 the Apostle speaks of (1 Peter iii. 4) as the 
 richest of all ornaments, " even the ornament 
 of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the 
 sight of God of great price." The subject 
 should lead us, 
 
 2. To examine ourselves, and see if we are 
 indeed of an humble spirit. — " His soul," says 
 the prophet (Habakkuk ii. 4), " which is lifted 
 
THE SPIRIT OF CHARITY 
 
 up, is not upright in him ;" and the fact that 
 u God resisteth the proud" (James iv. 6), or, 
 as in the original, " sets himself in battle array 
 against him," shows how he abhors a proud 
 spirit. And it is not eveiy show and appear- 
 ance of humility that will stand the test of 
 the gospel. There are various imitations of it 
 that fall short of the reality. Some put on an 
 affected humility ; others have a natural low- 
 spiritedness, and are wanting in manliness of 
 character ; others are melancholy or despond- 
 ent; others under the convictions of con- 
 science by which, for the time, they are de- 
 pressed, seem broken in spirit ; others seem 
 greatly abased while in adversity and afflic- 
 tion, or have a natural melting of the heart 
 under the common illuminations of the truth ; 
 to others there is a counterfeit kind of humil- 
 ity, wrought by the delusions of Satan : and 
 all of these may be mistaken for true humil- 
 ity. Examine yourself, then, and see what is 
 the nature of your humility, whether it be of 
 these superficial kinds, or whether it be indeed 
 wrought by the Holy Spirit in your hearts ; 
 and do not rest satisfied, till you find that the 
 spirit and behavior of those whom the gospel 
 accounts humble, are yours. 
 
IS AN HUMBLE SPIRIT. 223 
 
 3. The subject exhorts those who are stran- 
 gers to the grace of God, to seek that grace, that 
 they may thus attain to this spirit of humility. 
 — If such be your character, you are now 
 destitute of a Christian spirit, which is a spirit 
 of grace ; and so, wholly destitute of humility. 
 Your spirit is a proud spirit ; and though you 
 may not seem to carry yourself very proudly 
 amongst men, yet you are lifting yourself up 
 against God, in refusing to submit your heart 
 and life to him. And in doing this, you are 
 disregarding or defying God's sovereignty, and 
 daring to contend with your maker, though 
 he dreadfully threatens those who do this. 
 You are proudly casting contempt on God's 
 authority, in refusing to obey it, and continu- 
 ing to live in disobedience ; in refusing to be 
 conformed to his will, and to comply with the 
 humbling conditions and way of salvation by 
 Christ, and in trusting to your own strength 
 and righteousness, instead of that which 
 Christ so freely offers. Now as to such a 
 spirit, consider that this is, in an especial 
 sense, the sin of devils. "Not a novice," 
 says the Apostle (1 Timothy iii. 6), "lest 
 being lifted up with pri de, he fall into con- 
 demnation of the devil." And consider, too, 
 
224 THE SPERIT OF CHAEITY 
 
 how odious and abominable such a spirit is to 
 God, and how terribly he has threatened it ; 
 declaring (Proverbs xvi. 5) that " every one 
 that is proud in heart is an abomination to the 
 Lord ; though hand join in hand, he shall not 
 go unpunished ;" and again (Proverbs vi. 16), 
 "These things doth the Lord hate, a proud 
 look, &c. :" and again (Proverbs xxix. 23), 
 that "a man's pride shall bring him low," 
 and (2 Samuel xxii. 28) that the eyes of the 
 Lord are upon the haughty that he may bring 
 them down ; and still again (Isaiah xxiii. 9), 
 that "the Lord of hosts hath purposed it, to 
 stain the pride of all glory, and to bring into 
 contempt all the honorable of the earth." 
 Consider, too, how Pharaoh and Korah, and 
 Hainan, and Belshazzar, and Herod, were 
 awfully punished for their pride of heart and 
 conduct ; and be admonished, by their exam- 
 ple, to cherish an humble spirit, and to walk 
 humbly with God, and toward men. Fi- 
 nally, 
 
 4. Let all be exhorted earnestly to seek muck 
 of an humble spirit, and to endeavor to be hum- 
 ble in all their behavior toward God and meri. 
 — Seek for a deep and abiding sense of your 
 comparative meanness before God and man. 
 
IS AN HUMBLE SPIRIT. 225 
 
 Know God. Confess your nothingness and 
 ill-desert before him. Distrust yourself. Rely 
 only on God. Renounce all glory except from 
 him. Yield yourself heartily to his will and 
 service. Avoid an aspiring, ambitious, osten- 
 tatious, assuming, arrogant, scornful, stub- 
 born, wilful, levelling, self-justifying beha- 
 vior; and strive for more and more of the 
 humble spirit that Christ manifested while he 
 was on earth. Consider the many motives to 
 such a spirit. Humility is a most essential 
 and distinguishing trait in all true piety. It 
 is the attendant of every grace, and in a pecu- 
 liar manner tends to the purity of Christian 
 feeling. It is the ornament of the spirit ; the 
 source of some of the sweetest exercises of 
 Christian experience ; the most acceptable 
 sacrifice we can offer to God ; the subject of 
 the richest of his promises ; the spirit with 
 which he will dwell on earth, and which he 
 will crown with glory in heaven hereafter. 
 Earnestly seek then, and diligently, and 
 prayerfully cherish an humble spirit, and God 
 shall walk with you here below, and when a 
 few more days shall have passed, he will re- 
 ceive you to the honors bestowed on his people 
 at Christ's right hand. 
 15 
 
LECTURE VIII. 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHARITY THE OPPOSITE OF A 
 SELFISH SPIRIT. 
 
 " Seeketh not her own." — 1 Cor. xiii. 5. 
 
 Having- shown the nature of charity in 
 respect to the good of others, in the two par- 
 ticulars that it is kind to them, and envies not 
 their enjoyments and blessings ; and also in 
 respect to our own good, that it is not proud, 
 either in spirit or behavior, I pass to the next 
 point presented by the Apostle, viz. : that 
 charity " seeketh not her ownP The doctrine 
 of these words plainly is, 
 
 That the spirit of charity, or Christian 
 
 love, is the opposite of a selfish spirit. the 
 
 ruin that the fall brought upon the soul of 
 man, consists very much in his losing the 
 nobler and more benevolent principles of his 
 nature, and falling wholly under the power 
 
THE SPIRIT OF CHARITY. 227 
 
 and government of self-love. Before, and as 
 God created him, lie was exalted and noble, 
 and generous ; but now he is debased, and 
 ignoble, and selfish. Immediately upon the 
 fall, the mind of man shrank from its primi- 
 tive greatness and expandedness, to an ex- 
 ceeding smallness and contractedness ; and 
 as in other respects, so especially in this. Be- 
 fore his soul was under the government of that 
 noble principle of divine love, whereby it was 
 enlarged to the comprehension of all his fel- 
 low-creatures and their welfare. And not 
 only so, but it was not confined within such 
 narrow limits as the bounds of the creation, but 
 went forth in the exercise of holy love to the 
 Creator, and abroad upon the infinite ocean 
 of good, and was, as it were, swallowed up by 
 it, and became one with it. But so soon as he 
 had transgressed against God, these noble 
 principles were immediately lost, and all this 
 excellent enlargedness of man's soul was 
 gone ; and thenceforward, he himself shrank, 
 as it were, into a little space, circumscribed and 
 closely shut up within itself to the exclusion 
 of all things else. Sin, like some powerful 
 astringent, contracted his soul to the very 
 small dimensions of selfishness ; and God was 
 
228 THE SPLRIT OF CHAKITY 
 
 forsaken, and fellow-creatures forsaken, and 
 man retired within himself, and became to- 
 tally governed by narrow and selfish, princi- 
 ples and feelings. Self-love became absolute 
 master of his soul, and the more noble and spir- 
 itual principles of his being, took wings and flew 
 away. But God, in mercy to miserable man, 
 entered on the work of redemption, and by 
 the glorious gospel of his Son, began the work 
 of bringing the soul of man out of its confine- 
 ment and contractedness, and back again to 
 those noble and divine principles, by which it 
 was animated and governed at first. And it 
 is through the cross of Christ that he is doing 
 this ; for our union with Christ gives us par- 
 ticipation in his nature. And so Christianity 
 restores an excellent enlargement, and exten- 
 siveness, and liberality to the soul, and again 
 possesses it with that divine love or charity 
 that we read of in the text, whereby it again 
 embraces its fellow-creatures, and is devoted 
 to and swallowed up in the Creator. And 
 thus charity, which is the sum of the Chris^ 
 tian spirit, so partakes of the glorious fulness 
 of the divine nature, that she " seeketh not her 
 own , " or is contrary to a selfish spirit. In dwell- 
 ing on this thought, I would first, show the 
 
THE OPPOSITE OF A SELFISH SPIRIT. 229 
 
 nature of that selfishness o^which charity is 
 the opposite ; then how charity is opposed to 
 it ; and then some of the evidence in support 
 of the doctrine stated. 
 
 I. I would show the nature of that selfish- 
 ness of which charity is the opposite. — And 
 here I would observe, 
 
 1. Negatively : That charity, or the spirit of 
 Christian love, is not contrary to all self love. — 
 It is not a thing contrary to Christianity that 
 a man should love himself, or which is the 
 same thing, should love his own happiness. 
 If Christianity did indeed tend to destroy a 
 man's love to himself, and to his own happi- 
 ness, it would therein tend to destroy the very 
 spirit of humanity ; but the very announce- 
 ment of the gospel, as a system of " peace on 
 earth and good-will toward men" (Luke ii. 14), 
 shows that it is not only not destructive of hu- 
 manity, but in the highest degree promotive 
 of its spirit. That a man should love his own 
 happiness, is as necessary to his nature as the 
 faculty of the will is ; and it is impossible that 
 such a love should be destroyed in any other 
 way than by destroying his being. The saints 
 love their own happiness. Yea, those that 
 are perfect in happiness, the saints and an- 
 
230 THE SPIEIT OF CHAEITY 
 
 gels in heaven,#love their own happiness; 
 otherwise that happiness which God hath 
 given them, wonld be no happiness to them ; 
 for that which any one does not love, he can- 
 not enjoy any happiness in. 
 
 That to love ourselves is not unlawful, is 
 evident, also, from the fact, that the law of 
 God makes self-love a rule and measure by 
 which our love to others should be regulated. 
 Thus Christ commands (Matthew xix. 19), 
 "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself," 
 which certainly supposes that we may, and 
 must love ourselves. It is not said more than 
 thyself, but as thyself. But we are com- 
 manded to love our neighbor next to God ; 
 and therefore we are to love ourselves with a 
 love, next to that which we should exercise 
 toward God himself. And the same appears, 
 also, from the fact that the Scriptures, from 
 one end of the Bible to the other, are full of 
 motives that are set forth for the very pur- 
 pose of working on the principle of self-love. 
 Such are all the promises and threatenings of 
 the word of God, its calls and invitations, its 
 counsels to seek our own good, and its warn- 
 ings to beware of misery. These things can 
 have no influence on us in any other way, 
 
THE OPPOSITE OF A SELFISH SPIRIT. 231 
 
 than as they tend to work upon our hopes or 
 fears. For to what purpose would it be to 
 make any promise of happiness, or hold forth 
 any threatening of misery, to him that has no 
 love for the former or dread of the latter % Or 
 what reason can there be in counselling him 
 to seek the one, or warning him to avoid the 
 other ? Thus it is plain, negatively,, that 
 charity, or the spirit of Christian love, is not 
 contrary to all self-love. But I remark still 
 further, 
 
 2. Affirmatively : That the selfishness which 
 charity, or a Christian spirit, is contrary to, 
 is only an inordinate self-love. — Here, how- 
 ever, the question arises, in what does this in- 
 ordinateness consist ? This is a point that 
 needs to be well stated, and clearly settled ; 
 for the refutation of many scruples and 
 doubts that persons often have, depends upon 
 it. And therefore, I answer, 
 
 First, That the inordinateness of self-love, 
 does not consist in our love of out own happi- 
 ness being, absolutely considered, too great in 
 degree. I do not suppose it can be said of 
 any, that their love to their own happiness, 
 if we consider that love absolutely and not 
 comparatively, can be in too high a degree, 
 
232 THE SPIRIT OF CHARITY 
 
 or that it is a thing that is liable either to in- 
 crease or diminution. For I apprehend that 
 self-love, in this sense, is not a result of the 
 fall, but is necessary, and what belongs to the 
 nature of all intelligent beings, and that G-od 
 has made it alike in all ; and that saints, and 
 sinners, and all alike, love happiness, and 
 have the same unalterable and instinctive in- 
 clination to desire and seek it. The change 
 that takes place in a man when he is converted 
 and sanctified, is not that his love for happi- 
 ness is diminished, but only that it is regu- 
 lated with respect to its exercises and influ- 
 ence, and the courses and objects it leads to. 
 Who will say that the happy souls in heaven 
 do not love happiness, as truly as the misera- 
 ble spirits in hell ? If their love of happiness 
 is diminished by their being made holy, then 
 that will diminish their happiness itself, for 
 the less any one loves happiness, the less he 
 relishes it, and consequently is the less happy. 
 When God brings a soul out of a miserable 
 state and condition, into a happy state, by 
 conversion, he gives him happiness that be- 
 fore he had not, but he does not at the same 
 time take away some of his love of happiness. 
 And so when a saint increases in grace, he is 
 
THE OPPOSITE OF A SELFISH SPIRIT. 233 
 
 made still more happy than he was before ; 
 but his love of happiness, and his relish of it, 
 do not grow less, as his happiness itself in- 
 creases, for that would be to increase his hap- 
 piness one way, and to diminish it another. 
 But in every case in which God makes a mis- 
 erable soul happy, or a happy soul still more 
 happy, he continues the same love of happi- 
 ness that existed before. And so, doubtless, 
 the saints ought to have as much of a princi- 
 ple of love to their own happiness, or love to 
 themselves, which is the same thing, as the 
 wicked have. So that if we consider men's 
 love of themselves, or of their own happiness 
 absolutely, it is plain that the inordinateness 
 of self-love does not consist in its being in too 
 great a degree, because it is alike in all. But 
 I remark, 
 
 Secondly, That the inordinateness of self- 
 love wherein a corrupt selfishness does con- 
 sist, lies in two things ; in its heing too great 
 comparatively, and in placing our happiness 
 in that which is confined to self. In the first 
 place, the degree of self-love may be too great 
 comparatively, and so the degree of its influ- 
 ence be inordinate. Though the degree of 
 men's love of their own happiness, taken ab- 
 
234 THE SPIEIT OF CHARITY 
 
 solutely, may in all be the same, yet the pro- 
 portion that their love of self bears to their 
 love for others, may not be the same. If we 
 compare a man's love of himself with his love 
 for others, it may be said that he loves him- 
 self too much ; that is, in proportion too much. 
 And though this may be owing to a defect of 
 love to others, rather than to an excess of love 
 to himself, yet self-love, by this excess in its 
 proportion, itself becomes inordinate in this 
 respect, viz. : that it becomes inordinate in its 
 influence and government of the man. For 
 though the principle of self-love, in itself con- 
 sidered, is not at all greater than if there was 
 a due proportion of love to God and to fellow- 
 creatures with it, yet the proportion being 
 greater, its influence and government of the 
 man becomes greater; and so its influence 
 becomes inordinate by reason of the weakness 
 or absence of other love that should restrain 
 or regulate that influence. 
 
 To illustrate this, we may suppose the case 
 of a servant in a family, who was formerly 
 kept in the place of a servant, and whose in- 
 fluence in family affairs was not inordinate 
 while his master's strength was greater than 
 his ; and yet if afterward the master grows 
 
THE OPPOSITE OF A SELFISH SPIRIT. 235 
 
 weaker and loses his strength, and the rest 
 of the family lose their former power, though 
 the servant's strength be not at all increased, 
 yet the proportion of his strength being in- 
 creased, his influence may become inordinate ; 
 and from being in subjection and a servant, 
 he may become master in that house. And so 
 self-love becomes inordinate. Before the fall, 
 man loved himself, or his own happiness, as 
 much as after the fall ; but then a superior 
 principle of divine love had the throne, and 
 was of such strength that it wholly regulated 
 and directed self-love. But since the fall, the 
 principle of divine love has lost its strength, 
 or rather is dead, so that self-love continuing 
 in its former strength, and having no superior 
 principle to regulate it, becomes inordinate in 
 its influence, and governs where it should be 
 subject, and only a servant. Self-love, then, 
 may become inordinate in its influence by 
 being comparatively too great ; either by love 
 to God and to fellow-creatures being too 
 small, as it is in the saints, who in this world 
 have great remaining corruption ; or by its 
 being none at all, as is the case with those 
 who have no divine love in their hearts. Thus 
 the inordinateness of self-love, with respect to 
 
236 THE SPIRIT OF CHARITY 
 
 the degree of it, is not as it is considered ab- 
 solutely, but comparatively or with respect to 
 the degree of its influence. In some respects 
 wicked men do not love themselves enough — 
 not so much as the godly do ; for they do not 
 love the way of their own welfare and happi- 
 ness, and in this sense it is sometimes said 
 of the wicked, that they hate themselves, 
 though in another sense, they love self too 
 much. 
 
 It is further true, in the second place, that 
 self-love, or a man's love to his own happi- 
 ness may be inordinate, in placing that happi- 
 ness in things that are confined to himself. 
 In this case, the error is not so much in the 
 degree of his love to himself, as it is in the 
 channel in which it flows. It is not in the 
 degree in which he loves his own happiness, 
 but in his placing his happiness where he 
 ought not, and in limiting and confining his 
 love. Some, although they love their own 
 happiness, do not place that happiness in 
 their own confined good, or in that good which 
 is limited to themselves, but more in the com- 
 mon good ; in that which is the good of others, 
 or in the good to be enjoyed in and by others. 
 A man's love of his own happiness, when it 
 
THE OPPOSITE OF A SELFISH SPIRIT. N 237 
 
 runs in this last channel, is not what is called 
 selfishness, but is the very opposite of it. But 
 there are others, who in their love to their 
 own happiness, place that happiness in good 
 things that are confined or limited to them- 
 selves to the exclusion of others. And this is 
 selfishness. This is the thing most clearly 
 and directly intended by that self-love which 
 the Scripture condemns. And when it is said, 
 that charity seeketh not her own, we are to 
 understand it of her own private good — good 
 limited to herself. The expression "her 
 own," is a phrase of appropriation, and prop- 
 erly carries in its signification the idea of 
 limitation to self. And so the like phrase 
 in Philippians ii. 21, that "all seek their 
 own," carries the idea of confined and self- 
 appropriated good, or the good that a man 
 has singly and to himself, and in which he 
 has no communion or partnership with an- 
 other, but which he has so circumscribed and 
 limited to himself as to exclude others. And 
 so the expression is to be understood, in 2 Timo- 
 thy iii. 2, '' For men shall be lovers of their 
 own selves ;" for the phrase is of the most 
 confined signification, limited to self alone, 
 and excluding all others. 
 
238 THE SPIRIT OF CHARITY 
 
 A man may love himself as much as one 
 can, and may be in the exercise of a high 
 degree. of love to his own happiness, cease- 
 lessly longing for it, and yet he may so place 
 that happiness, that in the very act of seeking 
 it he may be in the high exercise of love to 
 God ; as for example, when the happiness 
 that he longs for, is, to enjoy God, or to be- 
 hold his glory, or to hold communion with 
 him. Or a man may place his happiness in 
 glorifying God. It may seem to him the 
 greatest happiness that he can conceive of, to 
 give God glory as he may do, and he may long 
 for this happiness. And in longing for it, he 
 loves that which he looks on as his happiness ; 
 for if he did not love what in this case he es- 
 teemed his happiness, he would not long for 
 it, and to love his happiness, is to love him- 
 self. And yet, in the same act, he loves God, 
 because he places his happiness in God ; for 
 nothing can more properly be called love to 
 any being or thing, than to place our happi- 
 ness in it. And so persons may place their 
 happiness considerably in the good of others, 
 their neighbors for instance, and desiring the 
 happiness that consists in seeking their good, 
 they may, in seeking it, love themselves, and 
 
 
THE OPPOSITE OF A SELFISH SPIRIT. 239 
 
 their own happiness. And yet this is not sel- 
 fishness, because it is not a confined self-love, 
 but the individual's self-love flows out in such 
 a channel as to take in others with himself. 
 The self that he loves, is, as it were, enlarged 
 and multiplied, so that in the very acts in 
 which he loves himself, he loves others also. 
 And this is the Christian spirit, the excellent 
 and noble spirit of the gospel of Jesus Christ. 
 This is the nature of that divine love, or Chris- 
 tian charity, that is spoken of in the text. 
 And a Christian spirit is contrary to that self- 
 ish spirit which consists in the self-love that 
 goes out after such objects as are confined and 
 limited — such as a man's worldly wealth, or 
 the honor that consists in a man's being set 
 up higher in the world than his neighbors, or 
 his own worldly ease and convenience, or his 
 pleasing and gratifying his own bodily appe- 
 tites and lusts. Having thus stated what 
 that selfishness is, that a Christian spirit is 
 contrary to, I pass, as proposed, to show, 
 
 II. How the spirit of charity, or Christian 
 love, is contrary to such a spirit. — And this 
 may be shown in these two particulars, that 
 the spirit of charity, or Christian love, leads us 
 to seek not only our own things, but those of 
 
24:0 THE SPIRIT OF CHARITY 
 
 others ; and that it disposes us, in many cases, 
 to forego, or part with our own things for the 
 sake of others. And, 
 
 1. The spirit of charity or love leads those 
 who possess it, to seek not only their own things, 
 hut the things of others. 
 
 First, Such a spirit seeks to please and glo- 
 rify God. The things that are well pleasing 
 to God and Christ, and that tend to the divine 
 glory, are called the things of Christ, in oppo- 
 sition to our own things, as, where it is said 
 (Philippians ii. 21), " All seek their own, not 
 the things which are Jesus Christ's." Chris- 
 tianity requires that we should make God and 
 Christ our main end ; and all Christians, so 
 far as they live like Christians, live so, .that 
 "for them to live is Christ." Christians are 
 required to live so as to please God, and so as 
 to " prove what is that good and acceptable 
 and perfect will of God" (Romans xii. 2). We 
 should be such servants of Christ as do, in all 
 things, seek to please our master, as says the 
 Apostle (Ephesians vi. 6), "JSot with eye- 
 service, as men-pleasers ; but as the servants 
 of Christ, doing the will of God from the 
 heart." And so we are required in all 
 things (1 Corinthians x. 31), "Whether we 
 
THE OPPOSITE OF A SELFISH SPIRIT. 241 
 
 eat, or drink, or whatsoever we do, to do all to 
 the glory of God." And this, surely, is a 
 spirit, which is the opposite of self-seeking. 
 
 Secondly, They that have the spirit of char- 
 ity, or Christian love, have a spirit to seek the 
 good of their fellow-creatures. Thns the Apos- 
 tle commands (Philippians ii. 4), " Look not 
 every man on his own things, but every man, 
 also, on the things of others." We ought to 
 seek the spiritual good of others, and if we 
 have a Christian spirit, we shall desire and 
 seek their spiritual welfare and happiness, 
 their salvation from hell, and that they may 
 glorify and enjoy God forever. And the same 
 spirit will dispose us to desire and seek the 
 temporal prosperity of others, as says the 
 Apostle (1 Corinthians x. 24), " Let no man 
 seek his own, but every man another's 
 wealth." And we should so seek their plea- 
 sure, that therein we can, at the same time, 
 seek their profit, as again it is said by the 
 Apostle (1 Corinthians x. 33), " Even as I 
 please all men in all things, not seeking mine 
 own profit, but the profit of many, that they 
 may be saved ;" and again (Romans xv. 2), 
 " Let every one of us please his neighbor, for 
 his good, to edification." But more particu- 
 16 
 
242 THE SPIRIT OF CHARITY 
 
 larly under this head, I would remark, that a 
 spirit of charity, or Christian love, as exer- 
 cised toward our fellow-creatures, is opposite 
 to a selfish spirit, as it is a sympathizing and 
 merciful spirit. It disposes persons to con- 
 sider not only their own difficulties, but also 
 the burdens and afflictions of others, and the 
 difficulties of their circumstances, and to es- 
 teem the case of those who are in straits and 
 necessities, as their own. A person of selfish 
 spirit, is ready to make much of the afflic- 
 tions that he himself is under, as if his priva- 
 tions or sufferings were greater than those of 
 anybody else ; and if he is not in suffering, 
 he is ready to think he is not called to 
 spare what he has in possession, for the sake 
 of helping others. A selfish man is not apt 
 to discern the wants of others, but rather to 
 overlook them, and can hardly be persuaded 
 to see or feel them. But a man of charitable 
 spirit, is apt to see the afflictions of others, 
 and to take notice of their aggravation, and 
 to be filled with concern for them, as he would 
 be for himself if under difficulties. And he is 
 ready, also, to help them, and take delight in 
 supplying their necessities, and relieving 
 their difficulties. He rejoices to obey that 
 
THE OPPOSITE OF A SELFISH SPIRIT. 243 
 
 injunction of the Apostle (Colossians iii. 2), 
 " Put on, therefore, as the elect of God, holy 
 and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness ;" 
 and to cherish the spirit of "wisdom (James 
 iii. 17) that is from above," which is "full 
 of mercy;" and like the good man spoken of 
 by the Psalmist (Psalm xxxvii. 26), to be 
 " merciful," that is, full of mercy. 
 
 And as it is a sympathizing and merciful 
 spirit, so the spirit of charity as exercised to- 
 ward our fellow-creatures, is the opposite of a 
 selfish, inasmuch as it is a liberal spirit. It 
 not only seeks the good of others that are in 
 affliction, but it is ready to communicate to 
 all, and forward to promote their good, as 
 there may be opportunity. u To do good, and 
 to communicate, it forgets not" (Hebrews xiii. 
 16) ; but obeys the exhortation (Galatians vi. 
 10), " As we have opportunity, let us do good 
 unto all men." But on this point, I need not 
 enlarge, having already dwelt upon it at 
 length, in the Lecture on u Charity is Kind." 
 
 And as the spirit of charity, or Christian 
 love, is opposed to a selfish spirit, in that it 
 is merciful and liberal, so it is in this, also, 
 that it disposes a person to be public-spirited. 
 A man of a right spirit, is not a man of nar- 
 
244 THE SPIRIT OF CHARITY 
 
 row and private views, but is greatly interest- 
 ed and concerned for the good of the commu- 
 nity to which he belongs, and parti eularly of 
 the city or village in which he resides, and 
 for the true welfare of the society of which he 
 is a member. God commanded the Jews that 
 were carried away captive to Babylon, to seek 
 the good of that city, though it was not their 
 native place, but only the city of their captiv- 
 ity. His injunction was (Jeremiah xxix. 7), 
 "Seek the peace of the city whither I have 
 caused you to be carried away captives, and 
 pray unto the Lord for it." And a man of 
 truly Christian spirit, will be earnest for the 
 good of his country, and of the place of his 
 residence, and will be disposed to lay him- 
 self out for its improvement. A man was rec- 
 ommended to Christ by the Jews (Luke vii. 
 5), as one that loved their nation and had 
 built them a synagogue ; and it is spoken of 
 as a very provoking thing to God, with respect 
 to some in Israel (Amos vi. 6), that they " were 
 not grieved for the affliction of Joseph." And 
 it is recorded, to the everlasting honor of Es- 
 ther (Esther xiv. 16), that she herself fasted 
 and prayed, and stirred up others to fast and 
 pray for the welfare of her people. And the 
 
THE OPPOSITE OF A SELFISH SPIRIT. 245 
 
 Apostle Paul (Romans ix. 1, 2, 3), expresses 
 the deepest concern for the welfare of his 
 countrymen. And those that are possessed 
 of the spirit of Christian charity, are of a 
 more enlarged spirit still, for they are con- 
 cerned, not only for the thrift of the commu- 
 nity, but for the welfare of the church of 
 God, and of all the people of God individu- 
 ally. Of such a spirit was Moses, the man 
 of God, and therefore he earnestly interceded 
 for God's visible people, and declared himself 
 ready to die that they might be spared (Exo- 
 dus xxxii. 11, and 32). And of such a spirit 
 was Paul, who was so concerned for the wel- 
 fare of all, both Jews and Gentiles, that he 
 was willing to become as they were (1 Corin- 
 thians ix. 19-23) if possibly he might save 
 some of them. 
 
 Especially will the spirit of Christian love 
 dispose those that stand in a public capacity, 
 such as that of ministers, and magistrates, and 
 all public officers, to seek the public good. It 
 will dispose magistrates to act as the fathers 
 of the commonwealth, with that care and con- 
 cern for the public good, which the father of a 
 family has for his household. It will make 
 them watchful against public dangers, and 
 
246 THE SPIRIT OF CHAEITY 
 
 forward to use their powers for the promotion 
 of the public benefit ; not being governed by 
 selfish motives in their administration; not 
 seeking only, or mainly, to enrich themselves, 
 or to become great, and to advance them- 
 selves on the spoils of others, as wicked rulers 
 very often do, but striving to act for the true 
 welfare of all to whom their authority extends. 
 And the same spirit will dispose ministers not 
 to seek their own, and endeavor to get all they 
 can out of their people to enrich themselves 
 and their families, but to seek the good of the 
 flock over which the great Shepherd has placed 
 them ; to feed, and watch over them, and lead 
 them to good pastures, and defend them from 
 wolves and wild beasts that would devour 
 them. And so whatever the post of honor 
 or influence, we may be placed in, we should 
 show that, in it, we are solicitous for the good 
 of the public, so that the world may be better 
 for our living in it, and that when we are 
 gone, it may be said of us, as it was so 
 nobly said of David (Acts xiii. 36), that we 
 "served our generation by the will of God." 
 But, 
 
 2. The spirit of charity or love, also dis- 
 poses v&) in many cases, to forego, and part 
 
THE OPPOSITE OF A SELFISH SPIEIT. 247 
 
 with our own things, for the sake of others. — 
 It disposes us to part with our own private 
 temporal interest, and totally and freely to 
 renounce it, for the sake of the honor of God, 
 and the advancement of the kingdom of 
 Christ. Such was the spirit of the Apostle 
 Paul, when he exclaimed (Acts xxi. 13), " I 
 am ready not to be bound only, but also to 
 die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord 
 Jesus." And the same spirit will dispose us 
 often to forego or part with our own private 
 interest for the good of our neighbors. It 
 will make us ready on every occasion to aid 
 or help them, leading us willingly to part 
 with a lesser good of our own, for the sake of 
 a greater good to them. And the case may 
 even be such (1 John iii. 16), that " we ought 
 to lay down our lives for the brethren." But 
 I will not dwell longer on this point now, as I 
 shall probably have occasion to speak more to 
 it under some other part of the context. I 
 pass then, as proposed, 
 
 III. To notice some of the evidence sustain- 
 ing the doctrine which has heen stated. — And 
 the truth of the doctrine, that the spirit of 
 charity of Christian love is the opposite of a 
 selfish spirit, will appear, if we consider, the 
 
248 THE SPIRIT OF CHARITY 
 
 nature of love in general, the peculiar nature 
 of Christian or divine love, and the nature of 
 Christian love to God and to man in particu- 
 lar. And, 
 
 1. The nature of love in general. — This, so 
 far as it is real and truly sincere, is of a diffu- 
 sive nature, and espouses the interest of others. 
 It is so with the love of natural affection, and 
 earthly friendship. So far as there is any 
 real affection or friendship, the parties be- 
 tween which it subsists do not seek only their 
 own particular interests, but do espouse and 
 seek the interests of each other. They seek 
 not only their own things, but the things of 
 their friends. Selfishness is a principle that 
 contracts the heart, and confines it to self, 
 while love enlarges it and extends it to others. 
 By love, a man's self is so extended and en- 
 larged, that others, so far as they are beloved, 
 do, as it were, become parts of himself, so 
 that wherein their interest is promoted, he be- 
 lieves his own is promoted, and wherein theirs 
 is injured, his also is injured. And still fur- 
 ther will this appear, if we consider, 
 
 2. The peculiar nature of Christian or di- 
 vine love. — Of charity, or Christian love, it is 
 peculiarly true, that it is above the selfish 
 
THE OPPOSITE OF A SELFISH SPIEIT. 249 
 
 principle. Though all real love to others 
 seeks the good, and espouses the interests of 
 those who are beloved, yet all other love, ex- 
 cepting this, has its foundation, in one sense, 
 in the selfish principle. So it is with the natu- 
 ral affection which parents feel for their chil- 
 dren, and with the love which relatives have 
 one to another. If we except the impulses of 
 instinct, self-love is the main spring of it. It 
 is because men love themselves, that they love 
 those persons and things that are their own, or 
 that they are nearly related to, and which they 
 look upon as belonging to themselves, and 
 which, by the constitution of society, have 
 their interest and honor linked with their own. 
 And so it is in the closest friendships that 
 exist among men. Self-love is the spring 
 whence they proceed. Sometimes natural 
 gratitude, for good turns that have been done 
 them by others, or for benefits received from 
 them, disposes men, through self-love, to a 
 similar respect to those that have shown them 
 kindness, or by whom their self-interest has 
 been promoted. And sometimes natural men 
 are led into a friendship to others, from quali- 
 fications that they see or find in them, whence 
 they hope for the promotion of their own tern- 
 
250 THE SPIRIT OF CHARITY 
 
 poral good. If they see that others are dis- 
 posed • to be respectful to them, and to give 
 them honor, then love to their own honor will 
 lead them to friendship with such ; or if they 
 see them generously disposed to them, then 
 love to their own profit will dispose them to 
 friendship to them on this account ; or if they 
 find in them a great agreement with them- 
 selves in disposition and manners, self-love 
 may dispose them to amity with them on ac- 
 count of the enjoyment they hope in their 
 society, or because this agreement with them 
 in their temper and ways, carries with it the 
 approbation of their own temper and ways. 
 And so there are many other ways, in which 
 self-love is the source of that love and friend- 
 ship that often arises between natural men. 
 Most of the love that there is in the world, 
 arises from this principle, and therefore it does 
 not go beyond nature. And nature cannot go 
 beyond self-love, but all that men do, is, some 
 way or other, from this root. 
 
 But divine love, or the charity that is 
 spoken of in the text, is something above self- 
 love, as it is something supernatural, or above 
 and beyond all that is natural. It is not a 
 branch that springs out of the root of self-love, 
 
THE OPPOSITE OF A SELFISH SPIRIT. 251 
 
 as natural affection, and worldly friendships, 
 and the love that men may have to one an- 
 other, as such, do. But as self-love is the off- 
 spring of natural principles, so divine love is 
 the offspring of supernatural principles. The 
 latter is something of a higher and nobler 
 kind, than any plant that grows naturally in 
 such a soil as the heart of man. It is a plant 
 transplanted into the soul out of the garden of 
 heaven, by the holy and blessed spirit of God ; 
 and so has its life in God, and not in self. And 
 therefore there is no other love so much above 
 the selfish principle, as Christian love is ; no 
 love that is so free and disinterested, and in 
 the exercise of which God is so loved for him- 
 self and his own sake, and men are loved not 
 because of their relation to self, but because 
 of their relation to God as his children, and as 
 those who are the creatures of his power, or 
 under the influence of his spirit. And there- 
 fore divine love, or charity, above all love in 
 the world, is contrary to a selfish spirit. 
 Other, or natural love may, in some respects, 
 be contrary to selfishness, inasmuch as it may, 
 and often does, move men to much liberality 
 and generosity to those they love ; and yet, in 
 other respects, it agrees with a selfish spirit, 
 
252 THE SPIRIT OF CHARITY 
 
 because if we follow it up to its original, it 
 arises from the same root, viz. : a principle of 
 self-love. But divine love has its spring, 
 where its root is, in Jesus Christ ; and so it is 
 not of this world, but of a higher ; and it tends 
 thither whence it came. And as it does not 
 spring out of self, so neither does it tend to 
 self. It delights in the honor and glory of 
 God, for his own sake, and not merely for the 
 sake of self ; and it seeks and delights in the 
 good of men, for their sake, and for God's 
 sake. And that divine love is, indeed, a princi- 
 ple far above and contrary to a selfish spirit, ap- 
 pears further from this, viz. : that it goes out 
 even to enemies ; and that it is its nature and 
 tendency, to go out to the unthankful and 
 evil, and to those that injure and hate us, 
 which is directly contrary to the tendency of 
 a selfish principle, and entirely above nature 
 - — less man-like than God-like. That Chris- 
 tian love, or charity, is contrary to a selfish 
 spirit, is further plain, 
 
 3. From the nature of this love to God and 
 to man in particidar. And, 
 
 First, From the nature of this love to God. 
 If we consider what the Scriptures tell us of 
 the nature of love to God, we find that they 
 
THE OPPOSITE OF A SELFISH SPIRIT. 253 
 
 teach that those who truly love God, love him 
 so as wholly to devote themselves to him and 
 his service. This we are taught in the sum of 
 the ten commandments, " Thou shalt love 
 the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with 
 all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and w T ith 
 all thy strength" (Mark xii. 30). In these 
 words is contained a description of a right 
 love to God ; and they teach us, that those 
 who love him aright, do devote themselves 
 wholly to him. They devote all to him : all 
 their heart, and all their soul, and all their 
 mind, and all their strength, or all their 
 powers and faculties. Surely a man who 
 gives all this wholly to God, keeps nothing 
 back, but devotes himself wholly and entirely 
 to him, making no reserve ; and all who have 
 true love to God, have a spirit to do this. 
 This shows how much a principle of true 
 love to God, is above the selfish principle. 
 For if self be devoted wholly to God, then 
 there is something, above self, that overcomes 
 it ; something superior to self, that takes self, 
 and makes an offering of it to God. A selfish 
 principle never devotes itself to another. The 
 nature of it is, to devote all others to self. 
 They that have true love to God, love him as 
 
254 THE SPIRIT OF CHARITY 
 
 God, and as the Supreme Good, whereas it is 
 the nature of selfishness to set up self in the 
 place of God, and to make an idol of self. 
 That being whom men regard supremely, they 
 devote all to. They that idolize self, devote 
 all to self; but they that love God as God, 
 devote all to him. 
 
 That Christian love, or charity, is contrary 
 to a selfish, spirit, will further appear, if we 
 consider what the Scriptures teach, 
 
 Secondly, Of the nature of this love to man. 
 And there are two chief and most remarkable 
 descriptions that the Bible gives us of a truly 
 gracious love to our neighbors, each of which 
 should be noticed. 
 
 The first of these, is the requirement that 
 we love our neighbor as ourselves. This we 
 have in the Old Testament (Leviticus xix. 18) ; 
 "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself;" 
 and this Christ cites (Matthew xxii.39), as the 
 sum of all the duties of the second table of the 
 law. JN"ow this is contrary to selfishness, for 
 love is not of such a nature as confines the 
 heart to self, but leads it forth to others as well 
 as self, and in like manner as to self. It dis- 
 poses us to look upon our neighbors, as 
 being, as it were, one with ourselves ; and 
 
THE OFPOSITE OF A SELFISH SPIRIT. 255 
 
 not only to consider our own circumstances 
 and interests, but to consider the wants of 
 our neighbors, as we do our own ; not only to 
 have regard to our own desires, but to the de- 
 sires of others, and to do to them as we would 
 have them do to us. 
 
 And the second remarkable description 
 which the Scriptures give us of Christian char- 
 ity, which shows how contrary it is to selfish- 
 ness, is, that of loving others, as Christ hath 
 loved us. " A new commandment," says 
 Christ (John xiii. 34), " I give unto you, that 
 ye love one another : as I have loved you, 
 that ye also love one another." It is called a 
 new commandment, as contradistinguished 
 from that old one (Leviticus xix. 18), "Thou 
 shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." ISTot 
 that the duty of love to others, which is the 
 matter of the commandment, was new, for the 
 same kind of love was required of old, under 
 the Old Testament, which is required now. 
 But it is called a new commandment, in this re. 
 spect, that the rule and motive annexed which 
 we are now more especially to have an eye to, 
 in these days of the gospel, are new. The 
 rule and motive more especially set in view 
 of old, was, our love to ourselves, that we 
 
25 6 THE SPIRIT OF CHARITY 
 
 should love our neighbor as ourselves. But the 
 motive and rule more especially set in view 
 now, in these days of the gospel, and since 
 the love of Christ has been so wonderfully 
 manifested, is, the love of Christ to us, that 
 we should love our neighbor as Christ hath 
 loved us. It is here called a new command- 
 ment ; and so, in John xv. 12, Christ calls 
 it his commandment, saying emphatically, 
 "This is my commandment, that ye love one 
 another as I have loved you." That we 
 should love one another as we love ourselves, 
 is Moses' commandment ; but that we should 
 love one another as Christ hath loved us, is 
 the commandment of God our Saviour. It 
 is the same commandment, as to the sub- 
 stance of it, that was given of old, but with 
 new light shining upon it from the love of 
 Jesus Christ, and a new enforcement annexed 
 to it, by him, beyond what Moses annexed. 
 So that this rule of loving others as Christ has 
 loved us, does more clearly, and in a further 
 degree, show us our duty and obligation with 
 respect to loving our neighbors, than as Moses 
 stated it. 
 
 But to return from this digression, let us 
 consider how this description that Christ gives 
 
THE OPPOSITE OF A SELFISH SPIEIT. 257 
 
 of Christian love to others, shows it to be the 
 contrary of selfishness, by considering in what 
 manner Christ has expressed love to us, and 
 how much there is in the example of his love, 
 to enforce the contrary of a selfish spirit. 
 And this we may see in four things : — 
 
 First, Christ has set his love on those that 
 were his enemies. There was not only no 
 love to himself in those on whom he set his 
 love, but they were full of enmity, and of a 
 principle of actual hatred to him. " God 
 commendeth his love toward us, in that, while 
 we were yet sinners," or as in the next verse 
 but one, "enemies," "Christ died for us" 
 (Eomans v. 8, 10). 
 
 Second, Such was Christ's love to us, that 
 he was pleased, in some respects, to look on us 
 as himself. By his love to us, if we will but 
 accept his love, he has so espoused us, and 
 united his heart to us, that he is pleased to 
 speak of us, and regard us as himself. His 
 elect were, from all eternity, dear to him as 
 the apple of his eye. He looked upon them 
 so much as himself, that he regarded their 
 concerns as his, and their interests as his 
 own ; and he has even made their guilt as his, 
 by a gracious assumption of it to himself, that 
 17 
 
258 THE SPIRIT OF CHARITY 
 
 it might be looked upon as his own, through 
 that divine imputation, in virtue of which they 
 are treated as innocent, while he suffers for 
 them. And his love has sought to unite them 
 to himself, so as to make them, as it were, 
 members of his body, so that they are his 
 flesh and his bones, as he himself seems to 
 say in Matt. xxv. 40, when he declares, " In- 
 asmuch as ye have done it unto one of the 
 least of these my brethren, ye have done it 
 unto me." 
 
 Third, Such was the love of Christ to us, 
 that he did, as it were, spend himself for our 
 sokes. His love did not rest in mere feeling, 
 or in light efforts and small sacrifices, but 
 though we were enemies, yet he so loved us, 
 that he had a heart to deny himself, and un- 
 dertake the greatest efforts, and undergo the 
 greatest sufferings for our sakes. He gave up 
 his own ease, and comfort, and interest, and 
 honor, and wealth, and became poor, and out- 
 cast, and despised, and had not where to lay 
 his head, and all for us! And not only so, 
 but he shed his own blood for us, and offered 
 himself a sacrifice to God's justice, that we 
 might be forgiven, and accepted, and saved ! 
 And, 
 
THE OPPOSITE OF A SELFISH SPIRIT. 259 
 
 Fourth, Christ thus loved hs, without any ex- 
 pectation of ever being requited by us for his love. 
 He did not stand in need of anything we could 
 do for him, and well knew that we should 
 never be able to requite him for his kindness 
 to us, or even to do anything toward it. He 
 knew that we were poor, miserable, and emp- 
 ty-handed outcasts, who might receive from 
 him, but could render nothing to him in re- 
 turn. He knew that we had no money or 
 price with which to purchase anything, and 
 that he must freely give us all things that we 
 needed, or else we should be eternally with- 
 out them. And shall not we be far from a 
 selfish spirit and utterly contrary to it, if we 
 love one another after such a manner as this, 
 or if we have the same spirit of love toward 
 others that was in Christ toward ourselves? 
 If this is our spirit, our love to others will not 
 depend on their love to us, but we shall do as 
 Christ did to us, love them even though they 
 are enemies. We shall not only seek our own 
 things, but we shall in our hearts be so united 
 to others, that we shall look on their things as 
 our own. We shall endeavor to be interested 
 in their good, as Christ was in ours ; and shall 
 be ready to forego and part with our own 
 
260 THE SPIRIT OF CHAEITY 
 
 things, in many cases, for the things of others, 
 as Christ did toward us. And these things 
 we shall be willing and ready to do for others, 
 without any expectation of being repaid by 
 them, as Christ did such great things for us 
 without any expectation of requital or return. 
 If such be our spirit, we shall not be under 
 the influence of a selfish spirit, but shall be 
 unselfish in principle, and heart, and life. 
 
 In the application of this subject, the great 
 use I would make of it, is, to dissuade all from 
 a selfish spirit and practice, and to exhort all 
 to seek that spirit, and live that life, which 
 shall he contrary to it. Seek, that by divine 
 love, your heart may be devoted to God and 
 to his glory, and to loving your neighbor as 
 yourself, or rather as Christ has loved you. 
 Do not seek, every one your own things, but 
 every one, also, the things of others. And 
 that you may be stirred up to this, in addition 
 to the motives already presented, consider 
 three things, 
 
 First, That you are not your own. — As you 
 have not made yourself, so you were not made 
 for yourself. You are neither the author, nor 
 the end of your own being. JSTor is it you 
 that uphold yourself in being ; or that provide 
 
THE OPPOSITE OF A SELFISH SPIRIT. 261 
 
 for yourself ; or that are dependent on your- 
 self. There is another that hath made you, 
 and preserves you, and provides for you, and 
 on whom you are dependent : and He hath 
 made you for himself, and for the good of 
 your fellow-creatures, and not only for your- 
 self. He has placed before you higher and 
 nobler ends than self, even the welfare of 
 your fellow-men, and of society, and the in- 
 terests of his kingdom ; and for these you 
 ought to labor and live, not only in time, but 
 for eternity. 
 
 And if you are Christians, as many of you 
 profess to be, then, in a peculiar sense, " ye 
 are not your own, for ye are bought with a 
 price," even " with the precious blood of 
 Christ," 1 Cor. vi. 19, 20 ; and 1 Peter i. 19. 
 And this is urged as an argument why Chris- 
 tians should not seek themselves, but the glory 
 of God ; for the apostle adds, " Therefore 
 glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, 
 which are God's." By nature you were in a 
 miserable, lost condition, a captive in the 
 hands of divine justice, and a miserable slave 
 in the bondage of sin and Satan. And Christ 
 has redeemed you, and so you are his by pur- 
 chase. By a most just title you belong to 
 
262 THE SPIEIT OF CHARITY 
 
 him, and not to yourself. And, therefore, you 
 must not, henceforth, treat yourself as your 
 own, by seeking your own interests or pleasure, 
 only, or even chiefly ; for if you do so, you 
 will be guilty of robbing Christ. And as you 
 are not your own, so nothing that you have is 
 your own. Your abilities of body and mind, 
 your outward possessions, your time, talents, 
 influence, comforts, none of them are your 
 own ; nor have you any right to use them as 
 if you had an absolute property in them, as 
 you will be likely to do if you imagine them 
 only for your own private benefit, and not for 
 the honor of Christ, and for the good of your 
 fellow-men. Consider, 
 
 Second, Hovj you, by your very profession as 
 a Christian, are united to Christ, and to your 
 fellow- Christians. — Christ, and all Christians, 
 are so united together, that they all make but 
 one body ; and of this body, Christ is the 
 head, and Christians are the members. " We 
 being many," says the apostle, " are one body 
 in Christ, and every one members, one of 
 another," Rom. xii. 5; and again, "By one 
 spirit, are we ail baptized into one body, 
 whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we 
 be bond or free," 1 Cor. xii. 13. How un- 
 
THE OPPOSITE OF A SELFISH SPIRIT. 263 
 
 becoming, then, is it in Christians to be sel- 
 fish, and concerned only for their own private 
 interests. In the natural body, the hand is 
 ready to serve the head, and all the members 
 are ready to serve one another. Is what the 
 hands do, done only for their own advantage ? 
 Are they not continually employed as much 
 for the other parts of the body, as for them- 
 selves ? Is not the work they are doing from 
 day to day, for the common good of the whole 
 body? And so it may be said as to the eye, 
 the teeth, the feet, that they are all employed, 
 not for themselves, or for their own limited 
 and partial welfare, but for the common com- 
 fort and good of the whole body. And if the 
 head be dishonored, are not all the members 
 of the body at once employed and active to 
 remove the dishonor, and to put honor upon 
 the head ? And if any members of the body 
 are wounded, and languishing, and in pain, 
 are not all the members of the body at once 
 engaged to screen that weak or suffering mem- 
 ber ? Are not the eyes employed in looking 
 about for it, and the ears in attending to the 
 directions of physicians, and the feet in going 
 where relief is to be sought, and the hands in 
 applying the remedies provided ? So it should 
 
264 THE SPIRIT OF CHARITY 
 
 be with the Christian body. All its members 
 should be helpers, and comforts to each other, 
 and thus promote their mutual welfare and 
 happiness, and the glory of Christ, the head. 
 Once more, consider, 
 
 Third, That in seeking the glory of God 
 and the good of your fellow-creatures, you 
 take the surest way to have God seek your in- 
 terests, and promote your welfare. — If you 
 will devote yourself to God, as making a 
 sacrifice of all your own interests to him, you 
 will not throw yourself away. Though you 
 seem to neglect yourself, and to deny yourself, 
 and to overlook self in imitating the divine 
 benevolence, God will take care of you ; and 
 he will see to it that your interest is provided 
 for, and your welfare made sure ! You shall 
 be no loser by all the sacrifices you have made 
 for him. To his glory be it said, he will not 
 be your debtor, but will requite you an hun- 
 dred-fold even in this life, beside the eternal 
 rewards that he will bestow upon you here- 
 after. His own declaration is, " Every one 
 that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sis- 
 ters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, 
 or lands for my name's sake, shall receive 
 an hundred-fold" (the other evangelist adds, 
 
THE OPPOSITE OF A SELFISH SPIRIT. 265 
 
 "in this present time"), "and shall inherit 
 everlasting life," Matt. xix. 29 ; and the spirit 
 of this declaration applies to all sacrifices 
 made for Christ, or for our fellow-men for his 
 sake. The greatness of the reward for this 
 life, Christ expresses by a definite number ; 
 but he does not make use of numbers, how- 
 ever great, to set forth the reward promised 
 them hereafter. He only says, they shall 
 receive everlasting life, because the reward is 
 so great, and so much exceeds all the expense 
 and self-denial persons can be at for Christ's 
 sake, that no numbers are sufficient to de- 
 scribe it. 
 
 If you are selfish, and make yourself and 
 your own private interests your idol, God will 
 leave you to yourself, and let you promote 
 your own interests as well as you can. But 
 if you do not selfishly seek your own, but do 
 seek the things that are Jesus Christ's, and 
 the things of your fellow-beings, then God will 
 make your interest and happiness his own 
 charge, and he is infinitely more able to pro- 
 vide for, and promote it, than you are. The 
 resources of the universe move at his bidding, 
 and he can easily command them all to sub- 
 serve your welfare. So that not to seek your 
 
266 THE SPIRIT OF CHARITY 
 
 own, in the selfish sense, is the best way of 
 seeking your own in a better sense. It is the 
 directest course you can take to secure your 
 highest happiness. When you are required 
 not to be selfish, you are not required, as has 
 been observed, not to love and seek your own 
 happiness, but only not to seek mainly your 
 own private and confined interests. But if 
 you place your happiness in God, in glorifying 
 him, and in serving him by doing good, in 
 this way, above all others, will you promote 
 your wealth, and honor, and pleasure here 
 below, and obtain hereafter a crown of un- 
 fading glory, and pleasures for evermore at 
 God's right hand. If you seek, in the spirit 
 of selfishness, to grasp all as your own, you 
 shall lose all, and be driven out of the world, 
 at last, naked and forlorn, to everlasting pov- 
 erty and contempt. But if you seek not your 
 own, but the things of Christ, and the good 
 of your fellow-men, God himself will be yours, 
 and Christ yours, and the Holy Spirit yours, 
 and all things yours. Yes, " all things" shall 
 be yours, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, 
 or the world, or life, or death, or things present, 
 or things to come ; all are yours ; and ye are 
 
 
THE OPPOSITE OF A SELFISH SPIRIT. 267 
 
 Christ's ; and Christ is God's, 1 Cor. iii. 
 21, 22. 
 
 Let these things, then, incline us all to be 
 less selfish than we are, and to seek more of 
 the contrary most excellent spirit. Selfishness 
 is a principle native to us, and, indeed, all the 
 corruption of our nature does radically consist 
 in it ; but considering the knowledge that we 
 have of Christianity, and how numerous and 
 powerful the motives it presents, we ought to 
 be far less selfish than we are, and less ready 
 to seek our own interests and these only. 
 How much is there of this evil spirit, and how 
 little of that excellent, noble, diffusive spirit 
 which has now been set before us. But what- 
 ever the cause of this, whether it arise from 
 our having too narrow notions of Christianity, 
 and from our not having learned Christ as we 
 ought to have done, or from the habits of 
 selfishness handed down to us from our fathers, 
 whatever the cause be, let us strive to over- 
 come it, that we may grow in the grace of an 
 unselfish spirit, and thus glorify God, and do 
 good to men. 
 
LECTURE IX. 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHARITY THE OPPOSITE OF AST 
 ANGRY OR "WRATHFUL SPIRIT. 
 
 " Is not easily provoked."— 1 Corinthians xiii. 5. 
 
 Having declared that charity is contrary to 
 the two great cardinal vices of pride and sel- 
 fishness, those deep and ever-flowing fountains 
 of sin and wickedness in the heart, the Apos- 
 tle next proceeds to show, that it is also con- 
 trary to two things that are commonly the 
 fruits of this pride and selfishness, viz. : an 
 angry spirit, and a censorious spirit. To the 
 first of these points, I would now turn your 
 attention, viz. : that charity " is not easily 
 provoked." The doctrine here set before 
 us, is, 
 
 That the spirit of charity, or Christian- 
 love, IS THE OPPOSITE OF AN ANGRY OR WRATH- 
 FUL spirit or disposition. — In speaking to this 
 
THE SPIRIT OF CHARITY. 269 
 
 doctrine, I would inquire, first, in what con- 
 sists that angry spirit or temper to which a 
 Christian spirit is contrary ; and next, give the 
 reason why a Christian spirit is contrary to it. 
 
 I. What is that angry or wrathful spirit, to 
 which charity, or a Christian spirit, is con- 
 trary. — It is not all manner of anger that 
 Christianity is opposite and contrary to. It 
 is said in Ephesians iv. 26, "Be ye angry, 
 and sin not," which seems to suppose that 
 there is such a thing as anger without sin, or 
 that it is possible to be angry in some cases, 
 and yet not offend God. And therefore it 
 may be answered, in a single word, that a 
 Christian spirit, or the spirit of charity, is op- 
 posite to all undue and unsuitable anger. 
 But anger may be undue or unsuitable in four 
 respects ; in its nature, its occasion, its end, 
 and its measure. And, 
 
 1. Anger may he undue and unsuitable in re- 
 spect to its nature. — Anger may be defined to 
 be, an earnest, and more or less violent opposi- 
 tion of spirit against any real or supposed evil, 
 or in view of any fault or offence of another. 
 All anger is opposition of the mind against' 
 real or supposed evil ; but it is not all Opposi- 
 tion of the nriiid against evil; that is properly ■■ 
 
270 THE SPIRIT OF CHARITY 
 
 called anger. There is an opposition of the 
 judgment, that is not anger ; for anger is the 
 opposition, not of the cool judgment, but of 
 the spirit of the man, that is, of his disposition 
 or heart. But here, again, it is not all oppo- 
 sition of the spirit against evil, that can be 
 called anger. There is an opposition of the 
 spirit against natural evil that we suffer, as in 
 grief and sorrow for instance, which is a ver y 
 different thing from anger ; and in distinction 
 from this, anger is opposition to moral evil, or 
 evil real or supposed in voluntary agents, or 
 at least in agents that are conceived to be 
 voluntary, or acting by their own will, and 
 against such evil as is supposed to be their 
 fault. But yet again, it is not all opposition 
 of spirit against evil or faultiness in voluntary 
 agents, that is anger ; for there may be a dis- 
 like, without the spirit being excited and an- 
 gry ; and such dislike is an opposition of the 
 will and judgment, and not always of the 
 feelings, and in order to anger, the latter 
 must be moved. In all anger there must be 
 earnestness and opposition of feeling, and the 
 spirit must be moved and stirred within us. 
 Anger is one of the passions or affections of 
 the soul, though when called an affection, it 
 
THE OPPOSITE OF AN ANGRY SPIRIT. 271 
 
 is, for the most part, to be regarded as an evil 
 affection. 
 
 Such being the nature of anger in general, 
 it may now be shown wherein anger is undue 
 or unsuitable in its nature. And this is the 
 case with all anger that contains ill-will, or a 
 desire of revenge. Some have denned anger 
 to be a desire of revenge. But this cannot be 
 considered a just definition of anger in gene- 
 ral ; for if so, there would be no anger that 
 would not imply ill-will, and the desire that 
 some other might be injured. But doubtless 
 there is such a thing as anger that is consist- 
 ent with good- will ; for a father may be angry 
 with his child, that is, he may find in himself 
 an earnestness and opposition of spirit to the 
 bad conduct of his child, and his spirit may 
 be engaged and stirred in opposition to that 
 conduct, and to his child while continuing in 
 it ; and yet, at the same time, he will not have 
 any proper ill-will to the child, but on the 
 contrary, a real good- will ; and so far from 
 desiring its injury, he may have the very 
 highest desire for its true welfare, and his 
 very anger be but his opposition to that 
 which he thinks will be of injury to it. And 
 this shows, that anger, in its general nature, 
 
272 THE SPIRIT OF CHARITY* 
 
 rather consists in the opposition of the spirit 
 to evil, than in a desire of revenge. 
 
 If the nature of anger in general consisted 
 in ill-will and a desire of revenge, no anger 
 would be lawful in any case whatever ; for we 
 are not allowed to entertain ill-will toward 
 others in any case, but are to have good- will 
 to all. We are required by Christ to wish 
 well to, and pray for the prosperity of all, 
 even our enemies, and those that despitefully 
 use us and persecute us, Matt. v. 44 ; and the 
 rule given by the Apostle is, " Bless them 
 which persecute you: bless and curse not," 
 Rom. xii. 14; that is, we are only to wish 
 good, and pray for good to others, and in no 
 case to wish evil. And so all revenge is for- 
 bidden, if we except the vengeance which 
 public justice takes on the transgressor, in in- 
 flicting which men act not for themselves, but 
 for God. The rule is, " Thou shalt not avenge, 
 nor bear any grudge against the children of 
 thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbor 
 as thyself. I am the Lord," Leviticus xix. 
 18; and says the Apostle, "Dearly beloved, 
 avenge not yourselves, but rather give place 
 unto- wrath; for it is written, Yengeance is 
 mine, I will repay, saith the Lord," Romans 
 
THE OPPOSITE OF AN ANGRY SPIRIT. 273 
 
 xii. 19. So that all the anger that contains 
 ill-will or a desire of revenge, is what Chris- 
 tianity is contrary to, and by the most fearful 
 sanctions forbids. Sometimes anger, as it is 
 spoken of in the Scripture, is meant only in 
 the worst sense, or in that sense of it which im- 
 plies ill-will, and the desire of revenge ; and 
 in this sense, all anger is forbidden, as in 
 Ephesians iv. 31, "Let all bitterness, and 
 wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil-speak- 
 ing, be put away from you, with all malice ;" 
 and again in Colossians iii. 8, " But now ye, 
 also, put off all these ; anger, wrath, malice, 
 blasphemy, filthy communication out of your 
 mouth." Thus anger may be irregular and 
 sinful with respect to its nature. And so, 
 
 2. Anger may be unsuitable and unchristian 
 in respect to its occasion. — And such unsuita- 
 bleness consists in its being without any just 
 cause. Of this Christ speaks when he says, 
 " Whosoever is angry with his brother, with- 
 out a cause, shall be in danger of the judg- 
 ment," Matt. v. 22. And this may be the 
 case in three ways : — 
 
 Fvrst, When the occasion of anger is that, 
 which is no fault at all in the person that is its 
 object. This is not unfrequently the case. 
 18 
 
274: THE SPIRIT OF CHARITY 
 
 Many persons are of such a proud and peevish 
 disposition, that they will be angry at any- 
 thing that is in any respect against them, or 
 troublesome to them, or contrary to their 
 wishes, whether anybody be to blame for it 
 or not. And so, sometimes, men are angry 
 with others for those things that are not from 
 their fault, but which happen merely through 
 their involuntary ignorance, or through their 
 impotence. They are angry that they have 
 not done better, when the only cause was, 
 that the circumstances were such that they 
 could not do otherwise than they did. And 
 oftentimes persons are angry with others, not 
 only for that which is no fault in them, but 
 for that which is really good, and for which 
 they ought to be praised. So, it always is 
 when men are angry at God, and fret at his 
 providence and its dispensations toward them. 
 Thus to be fretful, and impatient, and to mur- 
 mur against God's dealings, is a most horri- 
 bly wicked kind of anger. And vet this very 
 often is the case in this wicked world. This 
 is what the wicked Israelites were so often 
 guilty of, and for which so many of them 
 were overthrown in the wilderness ; and this 
 was what Jonah, though a good man, was 
 
THE OPPOSITE OF AN ANGRY SPIRIT. 275 
 
 guilty of when he was angry with God with- 
 out a cause — angry for that for which he 
 should have praised God, viz. : his great mercy 
 to the I\inevites. Oftentimes, also, persons' 
 spirits are kept very much in a fret, by reason 
 of things going contrary to them, and their 
 meeting with crosses, and disappointments, 
 and entanglements in their business, when 
 they will not own that it is God they fret at 
 and are angry with, and do not even seem to 
 be convinced of it themselves. But, indeed, 
 such fretfulness can be interpreted no other 
 way ; and whatever they may pretend, it is 
 ultimately aimed against the author of provi- 
 dence — against the God who orders these 
 cross events, so that it is a murmuring and 
 fretting against Him. 
 
 And it is a common thing, again, for per- 
 sons to be angry with others, for their doing 
 well, and that which is only their duty. There 
 never was so much bitterness and fierceness 
 of anger among men, one to another, and so 
 much hostility and malice, for any one thing, 
 as there has been for well-doing. History 
 gives no accounts of any such cruelties as 
 those practised toward God's people on ac- 
 count of their profession and practice of re- 
 
276 THE SPIRIT OF CHAEITT 
 
 ligion. And how annoyed were the scribes 
 and Pharisees with Christ, for doing the will 
 of his Father in what he did and said while 
 on earth ! When men are angry with others, 
 or with civil or ecclesiastical authorities, for 
 proceeding regularly against them for then- 
 errors or sins, they are angry with them for 
 well-doing. And this is the case when they 
 are angry with their neighbors or brethren in 
 the church for bearing a due testimony 
 against them, and endeavoring to bring them 
 to justice when the case requires it. Often 
 men are angry with others not only for well- 
 doing, but for doing those things that are 
 acts of friendship to them, as when we are 
 angry with others for administering Christian 
 reproof for anything they observe in us that 
 is wrong. This the Psalmist said he should 
 accept as a kindness, " Let the righteous smite 
 me, it shall be a kindness ;" but such as are 
 angry with it, foolishly and sinfully take it 
 as an injury. In all these things, our anger 
 is undue and unreasonable with regard to its 
 occasion, when that occasion is no fault of the 
 one with whom we are angry. And so, 
 
 Second, Anger is unsuitable and unchris- 
 tian as to its occasion, when persons are angry 
 
THE OPPOSITE OF AN ANGRY SPIRIT. 277 
 
 ujpon small and trivial occasions, and when 
 though there be something of blame, yet the 
 fault is very small, and such as is not worth 
 our being stirred and engaged about. God 
 does not call us to have our spirits ceaselessly 
 engaged in opposition, and stirred up in an- 
 ger, unless it be on some important occasions. 
 He that is angry at every little fault he may 
 see in others, is certainly one with whom it is 
 otherwise than is expressed in the text. Of 
 him that is provoked at every little, trifling 
 thing, it surely cannot be said, that he is "not 
 easily provoked." Some are of such an an- 
 gry, fretful spirit, that they are put out of 
 humor by every little thing, and by things in 
 others, in the family, or in society, or in busi- 
 ness, that are no greater faults than they 
 themselves are guilty of every day. Those 
 that will thus be angry at every fault they see 
 in others, will be sure to be always kept in a 
 fret, and their minds will never be composed ; 
 for it cannot be expected in this world but 
 that we shall continually be seeing faults in 
 others, as there are continually faults in our- 
 selves. And therefore it is, that Christians 
 are directed to be " slow to speak and slow 
 to wrath," James i. 19 ; and that it is said, 
 
278 THE SPIRIT OF CHAMTY 
 
 that "He that is soon angry, dealeth foolish- 
 ly.' 5 He that diligently guards his own spirit, 
 will not be very frequently or easily angry. 
 He wisely keeps his mind in a calm, clear 
 frame, and does not suffer it to be stirred 
 with anger, except on extraordinary occasions, 
 and those that do especially call for it. And 
 again, 
 
 Third, Anger may be unsuitable and un- 
 christian in its occasion, when our spirits are 
 stirred at the faults of others chiefly as they 
 affect ourselves, and not as they are against 
 God. We should never be angry but at sin, 
 and this should always be that which we op- 
 pose in our anger. And when our spirits are 
 stirred to oppose this evil, it should be as sin, 
 or chiefly as it is against God. If there be no 
 sin and no fault, then we have no cause to be 
 angry ; and if there be a fault or sin, then it 
 is infinitely worse as against God, than it is as 
 against us, and therefore it requires the most 
 opposition on that account. Persons sin in 
 their anger, when they are selfish in it, for we 
 are not to act as if we were our own, or for our- 
 selves simply, since we belong to God, and 
 not to ourselves. When a fault is commit- 
 ted wherein God is sinned against, and per- 
 
THE OPPOSITE OF AN ANGRY SPIRIT. 279 
 
 sons are injured by it, they should be chiefly 
 concerned, and their spirits chiefly moved 
 against it because it is against God ; for 
 they should be more solicitous for God's 
 honor, than for their own temporal inter- 
 ests. All anger, as to occasion, is either a 
 virtue or a vice, for there is no middle sort 
 that is neither good nor bad ; but there is no 
 virtue or goodness in opposing sin, unless it 
 be opposed as sin. The anger that is virtuous, 
 is the same thing which, in one form, is called 
 zeal. Our anger should be like Christ's an- 
 ger. He was like a lamb under the greatest 
 personal injuries, and we never read of his 
 being angry but in the cause of God against 
 sin as sin. And this should be the case with 
 us. And as anger may, in these three ways, 
 be unsuitable and unchristian with respect to 
 the occasion or cause of it, so, 
 
 3. It may he undue and sinfid with respect 
 to its end. — And this in two particulars : — 
 
 First, When we are angry without con- 
 siderately proposing any end to be gained by 
 it. In this way it is, that anger is rash and 
 inconsiderate, and that it is suffered to rise, 
 and be continued, without any consideration 
 or motive. Reason has no hand in the matter ; 
 
280 THE SPIRIT OF CHAJRITT 
 
 md 
 
 but the passions go before the reason, and 
 anger is suffered to rise before even a thought 
 has been given to the question, " of what ad- 
 vantage or benefit will it be, either to me or 
 others ?" Such anger is not the anger of men, 
 but the blind passion of beasts : it is a kind 
 of beastly fury, rather than the affection of a 
 rational creature. All things in the soul of 
 man should be under the government of reason, 
 which is the highest faculty of our being ; and 
 every other faculty and principle in the soul 
 should be governed and directed by that to 
 its proper end. And, therefore, when our 
 anger is of this kind, it is unchristian and sin- 
 ful. And so it is, 
 
 Second, When we allow ourselves to be 
 angry for any wrong end. Though reason 
 would tell us with regard to our anger, that it 
 cannot be for the glory of God, or of any real 
 benefit to ourselves, but on the other hand, 
 much to the mischief of ourselves or others, 
 yet because we have in view the gratification 
 of our own pride, or the extension of our in- 
 fluence, or getting in some way superiority to 
 others, we allow anger as aiding to gain these 
 or other ends, and thus indulge a sinful spirit. 
 And lastly, 
 
THE OPPOSITE OF AN ANGRY SPIRIT. 281. 
 
 4. Anger may be unsuitable and unchristian 
 with respect to its measure. — And this, again, 
 in two particulars, as to the measure of its 
 degree, and the measure of its continuance. 
 And, 
 
 First, "When it is immoderate in degree. 
 Anger may be far beyond what the case re- 
 quires. And often it is so great as to put 
 persons beyond the control of themselves, their 
 passions being so violent that, for the time, 
 they know not what they do, and seem to be 
 unable to direct and regulate either their feel- 
 ings or conduct. Sometimes men's passions 
 rise so high that they are, as it were, drunk 
 with them, so that their reason is gone, and 
 they act as if beside themselves. But the 
 degree of anger ought always to be regulated 
 by the end of it, and it should never be suffered 
 to rise any higher than so far as tends to the 
 obtaining of the good ends which reason has 
 proposed. And anger is, also, beyond meas- 
 ure, and thus sinful, 
 
 Second, "When it is immoderate in its con- 
 tinuance. It is a very sinful thing for persons 
 to be long angry. The wise man not only 
 gives us the injunction, "Be not hasty in thy 
 spirit to be angry," but he adds, that " Anger 
 
282 THE SPIRIT OF CHAUITY 
 
 resteth in the bosom of fools," Ecc. vii. 9 ; 
 and says the Apostle, "Be ye angry, and sin' 
 not ; let not the sun go down upon your 
 wrath," Eph. iv. 26. If anger be long con- 
 tinued, it soon degenerates into malice, for 
 the leaven of evil spreads faster than the 
 leaven of good. If a person allows himself 
 long to hold anger towards another, he will 
 quickly come to hate him. And so we find 
 that it actually is among those that retain a 
 grudge in their hearts against others for week 
 after week, and month after month, and year 
 after year. They do, in the end, truly hate 
 the persons against whom they thus lay up 
 anger, whether they own it or not. And this 
 is a most dreadful sin in the sight of God. 
 All, therefore, should be exceedingly careful 
 how they suffer anger long to continue in their 
 hearts. 
 
 Having thus shown. what is that angry or 
 wrathful spirit, to which charity or a Christian 
 spirit is contrary, I pass, as proposed, to show, 
 
 II. How charity, or a Christian spirit, is 
 contrary to it. And this I would do by show- 
 ing, first, that charity or love, which is the 
 sum of the Christian spirit, is directly, and in 
 itself, contrary to the anger that is sinful \ 
 
 
THE OPPOSITE OF AN ANGRY SPIRIT. 283 
 
 and secondly, that the fruits of charity which 
 are mentioned in the context, are all contrary 
 to it. And, 
 
 1. Christian charity or love, is directly, and 
 in itself, contrary to all undue anger. — Chris- 
 tian love is contrary to anger which is undue 
 in its nature, and that tends to revenge, and 
 so implies ill-will, for the nature of love is 
 good-will. It tends to prevent persons from 
 being angry without just cause, and will be 
 far from disposing any one to be angry for but 
 little faults. Love is backward to anger, and 
 will not yield to it on trivial occasions, much 
 less where there is no cause for being angry. 
 It is a malignant and evil, and not a loving 
 spirit, that disposes persons to be angry with- 
 out cause. Love to God is opposite to a dis- 
 position in men to be angry at other's faults, 
 chiefly as they themselves are offended and 
 injured by them : it rather disposes them to 
 look at them chiefly as committed against 
 God. If love be in exercise, it will tend to 
 keep down the irascible passions, and hold 
 them in subjection, so that reason and the 
 spirit of love may regulate them and keep 
 them from being immoderate in degree or of 
 long continuance. And not only is charity, 
 
284 THE SPIEIT OF CHARITY 
 
 or Christian love, directly, and in itself, con- 
 trary to all undue anger, but, 
 
 2. All the fruits of this charity which are 
 mentioned in the context, are also contrary to 
 it. — And I shall mention only two of these 
 fruits, as they may stand for all, viz. : those 
 virtues that are contrary to pride and selfish- 
 ness. And, 
 
 First, Love or charity is contrary to all 
 undue and sinful anger, as, in its fruits, it is 
 contrary to pride. Pride is one chief cause 
 of undue anger. It is because men are proud, 
 and exalt themselves in their own hearts, that 
 they are revengeful, and are apt to be excited, 
 and to make great things out of little ones 
 that may be against themselves. Yea, they 
 even treat as vices things that are in them- 
 selves virtues, when they think their honor is 
 touched, or when their will is crossed. And 
 it is pride that makes men so unreasonable 
 and rash in their anger, and raises it to such 
 a high degree, and continues it so long, and 
 often keeps it up in the form of habitual 
 malice. But, as we have already seen, love 
 or Christian charity is utterly opposed to 
 pride. And so, 
 
 Secondly, Love or charity is contrary to all 
 
THE OPPOSITE OF AN ANGRY SPIRIT. 285 
 
 sinful anger, as, in its fruits, it is contrary to 
 selfishness. It is because men are selfish and 
 seek their own, that they are malicious and 
 revengeful against all that oppose or interfere 
 with their own interests. If men sought not 
 chiefly their own private and selfish interests, 
 but the glory of God and the common good, 
 then their spirit would be a great deal more 
 stirred up in God's cause, than in their own ; 
 and they would not be prone to hasty, rash, 
 inconsiderate, immoderate, and long- continued 
 wrath, with any who might have injured or 
 provoked them, but they would, in a great 
 measure, forget themselves for God's sake, 
 and from their zeal for the honor of Christ. 
 The end they would aim at, would be, not 
 making themselves great, or getting their own 
 will, but the glory of God, and the good of 
 their fellow-beings. But love, as we have 
 seen, is opposed to all selfishness. 
 
 In the application of this subject, let us use 
 
 it, 
 
 1. In the way of self-examination. — Our 
 own consciences, if faithfully searched and im- 
 peratively inquired of, can best tell us whether 
 we are, or have been persons of such an angry 
 spirit and wrathful disposition as has been 
 
286 THE SPIRIT OF CHAEITY 
 
 described ; whether we are frequently angry, 
 or indulge in ill-will, or allow the continuance 
 of anger. Have we not often been angry ? 
 And if so, is there not reason to think that that 
 anger has been undue, and without just cause, 
 and thus sinful? God does not call Chris- 
 tians into his kingdom, that they may indulge 
 greatly in fretfulness, and to have their minds 
 commonly stirred up and ruffled with anger. 
 And has not most of the anger you have 
 cherished been chiefly, if not entirely on your 
 own account ? Men are often wont to plead 
 zeal for religion, and for duty, and for the 
 honor of God, as the cause of their indignation, 
 when it is only their own private interest that is 
 concerned and affected. It is remarkable how 
 forward men are to appear as if they were 
 zealous for God and righteousness, in cases 
 wherein their honor, or will, or interest has 
 been touched, and to make pretence of this in 
 mjuring others or complaining of them ; and 
 what a great difference there is in their con- 
 duct in other cases, wherein God's honor is as 
 much, or a great deal more hurt, and their 
 own interest is not specially concerned. In 
 the latter case, there is no such appearance 
 of zeal and engagedness of spirit, and no 
 
 
THE OPPOSITE OF AN ANGRY SPIRIT. 287 
 
 forwardness to reprove, and complain, and be 
 angry, but often a readiness to excuse, and 
 leave reproof to others, and to be cold and 
 backward in anything like opposition to the 
 sin. 
 
 And ask, still further, what good has been 
 obtained by your anger, and what have you 
 aimed at in it ; or have you even thought of 
 these things ? There has been a great deal 
 of anger and bitterness in things passing in 
 this town on public occasions, and many of 
 you have been present on such occasions ; 
 and such anger has been manifest in your 
 conduct; and I fear rested in your bosoms. 
 Examine yourselves as to this matter, and ask 
 what has been the nature of your anger. Has 
 not most, if not all of it, been of that undue 
 and unchristian kind that has been spoken 
 of ? Has it not been of the nature of ill-will, 
 and malice, and bitterness of heart ; an anger 
 arising from proud and selfish principles, 
 because your interest, or your opinion, or 
 your party was touched ? Has not your anger 
 been far from that Christian zeal that does not 
 disturb charity, or embitter the feelings, or 
 lead to unkindness or revenge in the con- 
 duct? And how has it been with respect to 
 
288 THE SPIRIT OF CHARITY 
 
 your holding anger ? Has not the sun more 
 than once gone down upon your wrath, while 
 God and your neighbor knew it ? "Naj more, 
 has it not gone down again and again, through 
 month after month, and year after year, while 
 winter's cold hath not chilled the heat of your 
 wrath, and the summer's sun hath not melted 
 you to kindness ? And are there not some 
 here present, that are sitting before God with 
 anger laid up in their hearts, and burning 
 there? Or if their anger is for a time con- 
 cealed from human eyes, is it not like an old 
 sore not thoroughly healed, but so that the least 
 touch renews the smart ; or like a smothered 
 fire in the heaps of autumn leaves, which the 
 least breeze will kindle into a name ? And 
 how is it in your families ? Families are so- 
 cieties the most closely united of all ; and 
 their members are in the nearest relation, and 
 under the greatest obligations to peace and 
 harmony and love. And* yet what has been 
 your spirit in the family ? Many a time have 
 you not been fretful, and angry, and impa- 
 tient, and peevish, and unkind to those whom 
 God has made in so great a measure depen- 
 dent on you, and who are so easily made 
 happy or unhappy by what you do or say — 
 
THE OPPOSITE OF AN ANGRY SPIRIT. 289 
 
 by your kindness or unkindness ? And what 
 kind of anger have yon indulged in the 
 family ? Has it not often been unreasonable 
 and sinful, not only in its nature, but in its 
 occasions, where those with whom you were 
 angry were not in fault, or when the fault was 
 trifling or unintended, or where, perhaps, you 
 were yourself in part to blame for it ; and 
 even where there might have been just cause, 
 has not your wrath been continued, and led 
 you to be sullen, or severe, to an extent that 
 your own conscience disapproved ? And have 
 you not been angry with your neighbors who 
 live by you, and with whom you have to do 
 daily ; and on trifling occasions, and for little 
 things, have you not allowed yourself in anger 
 toward them ? In all these points it becomes 
 us to examine ourselves, and know what 
 manner of spirit we are of, and wherein we 
 come short of the spirit of Christ. 
 
 2. The subject dissuades from, and warns 
 against, all undue and sinful anger. — The 
 heart of man is exceeding prone to undue and 
 sinful anger, being naturally full of pride and 
 selfishness ; and we live in a world that is full 
 of occasions that tend to stir up this corrup- 
 tion that is within us, so that we cannot 
 19 
 
290 THE SPIRIT OF CHARITY 
 
 expect to live in any tolerable measure as 
 Christians would do, in this respect, without 
 constant watchfulness and prayer. And we 
 should not only watch against the exercises, 
 but fight against the principle of anger, and 
 seek earnestly to have that mortified in our 
 hearts, by the establishment and increase of 
 the spirit of divine love and humility in our 
 souls. And to this end, several things may 
 be considered. And, 
 
 First, Consider frequently your own fail- 
 ings, by which you have given both God and 
 man occasion to be displeased with you. All 
 your life-time you have come short of God's 
 requirements, and thus justly incurred his 
 dreadful wrath ; and constantly you have 
 occasion to pray God that he will not be angry 
 with you, but will show you mercy. And 
 your failings have also been numerous toward 
 your fellow-men, and have often given them 
 occasion to be angry with you. Your faults 
 are as great perhaps as theirs ; and this thought 
 should lead you not to spend so much of your 
 time in fretting at the motes in their eyes, but 
 rather to occupy it in pulling the beams out 
 of your own. Very often those that are most 
 ready to be angry with others, and to carry 
 
THE OPPOSITE OF AN ANGRY SPIRIT. 291 
 
 their resentments highest for their faults, are 
 equally, or still more guilty of the same faults. 
 And so those that are most apt to be angry 
 with others for speaking evil of them, are 
 often most frequent in speaking evil of others, 
 and even in their anger to vilify and abuse 
 them. If others then provoke us, instead of 
 being angry with them, let our first thoughts 
 be turned to ourselves, and let it put us on 
 self-reflection, and lead us to inquire whether 
 we have not been guilty of the very same 
 things that excite our anger, or even of worse. 
 Thus thinking of our own failings and errors, 
 would tend to keep us from undue anger with 
 others. And consider, also, 
 
 Second, How such undue anger destroys the 
 comfort of him that indulges it. It troubles 
 the soul in which it is, as a storm troubles the 
 ocean. Such anger is inconsistent with a 
 man's enjoying himself, or having any true 
 peace, or self-respect in his own spirit. Men 
 of an angry and wrathful temper, whose minds 
 are alwa} 7 s in a fret, are the most miserable 
 sort of men, and live a most miserable life ; 
 so that a regard to our own happiness should 
 lead us to shun all undue and sinful anger. 
 Consider, again, 
 
292 THE SPIRIT OF CHAMTY 
 
 Third, How much such a spirit unfits per- 
 sons for the duties of religion. All undue 
 anger indisposes us for the pious exercises, 
 and the active duties of religion. It puts the 
 soul far from that sweet and excellent frame 
 of spirit, in which we most enjoy communion 
 with God, and which makes truth and ordi- 
 nances most profitable to us. And hence it 
 is, that God commands us not to approach 
 his altars while we are at enmity with others, 
 but " first to be reconciled to Our brother, and 
 then come and offer our gift," Matt. v. 24; 
 and that by the Apostle it is said, "I will, 
 therefore, that men pray everywhere, lifting 
 up holy hands, without wrath and doubting;" 
 1 Timothy ii. 8. And, once more, consider, 
 
 Fourth, That angry men are spoken of in 
 the Bible, as unfit for human society. The 
 express direction of God is, " Make no friend- 
 ship with an angry man, and with a furious 
 man thou shalt not go, lest thou learn his 
 ways, and get a snare to thy soul," Proverbs 
 xxii. 24, 25. Such a man is accursed as a pest 
 of society, who disturbs and disquiets it, and 
 puts everything into confusion. "An angry 
 man stirreth up strife, and a furious man 
 aboundeth in transgression," Proverbs xxix. 
 
THE OPPOSITE OF AN ANGRY SPIRIT. 293 
 
 22. Every one is uncomfortable about him ; 
 his example is evil ; and his conduct dis- 
 approved alike by God and men. Let these 
 considerations, then, prevail with all, and lead 
 them to avoid an angry spirit and temper, and 
 to cultivate the spirit of gentleness, and kind- 
 ness, and love, .which is the spirit of heaven. 
 
LECTUKE X. 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHARITY THE OPPOSITE OF A 
 CENSORIOUS SPIRIT. 
 
 " Thinketh no evil."— 1 Cor. xiii. 5. 
 
 Having remarked how charit y, or Christian 
 love, is opposed not only to pride and selfish- 
 ness, but to the ordinary fruits of these evil 
 dispositions, viz. : an angry spirit, and a cen- 
 sorious spirit, and having already spoken as 
 to the former, I come now to the latter. And 
 in respect to this, the Apostle declares, that 
 charity " thinketh no evil." The doctrine set 
 forth in these words, is clearly this : — 
 
 That the spirit of charity, or Christian 
 
 love, is the opposite of a censorious spirit. 
 
 Or in other words, it is contrary to a disposi- 
 tion to think or judge uncharitably of others. 
 Charity, in one of the common uses of the ex- 
 pression, signifies a disposition to think the 
 best of others that the case will allow. This, 
 
THE SPIRIT OF CHARITY. 295 
 
 however, as I have shown before, is not the 
 scriptural meaning of the word charity, but 
 only one way of its exercise, or one of its 
 many and rich fruits. Charity is of vastly 
 larger extent than this. It signifies, as we 
 have already seen, the same as Christian or 
 divine love, and so is the same as the Chris- 
 tian spirit. And in accordance with this 
 view, we here find the spirit of charitable 
 judging mentioned among many other good 
 fruits of charity, and here expressed, as the 
 other fruits of charity are in the context, 
 negatively, or by denying the contrary fruit, 
 viz. : censoriousness, or a disposition unchar- 
 itably to judge or censure others. And in 
 speaking to this point, I would, first, show the 
 nature of censoriousness, or wherein it con- 
 sists ; and then mention some things wherein 
 it appears to be contrary to a Christian spirit. 
 I would show, 
 
 I. The nature of censoriousness, or wherein 
 a censorious spirit, or a disposition unchari- 
 tably to judge others, consists. — It consists in a 
 disposition to think evil of others, or to judge 
 evil of them, with respect to three things : 
 their state ; their qualities ; their actions. 
 And, 
 
296 THE SPIRIT OF CHAEITY 
 
 1. A censorious spirit appears in a forward- 
 ness to judge evil of the state of others. It 
 often shows itself in a disposition to think the 
 worst of those about us, whether they are men 
 of the world, or professing Christians. In re- 
 spect to the latter class, it often leads persons 
 to pass censure on those who are professors 
 of religion, and to condemn them as being 
 hypocrites. Here, however, extremes are to 
 be avoided. Some persons are very apt to be 
 positive, from little things that they observe 
 in others, in determining that they are godly 
 men ; and others are forward, from just as lit- 
 tle things, to be positive in condemning others 
 as not having the least degree of grace in their 
 hearts, and as being strangers to vital and ex- 
 perimental religion. But all positiveness in 
 an affair of this nature, seems to be without 
 warrant from the word of God. God seems 
 there to have reserved the positive determi- 
 nation of men's state to himself, as a thing to 
 be kept in his own hands, as the great and 
 only searcher of the hearts of the children of 
 men. 
 
 Persons are guilty of censoriousness in con- 
 demning the state of others, when they will 
 do it from things that are no evidence of their 
 
THE OPPOSITE OF A CENSORIOUS SPIRIT. 297 
 
 being in a bad estate; or when they will con- 
 demn others as hypocrites because of God's 
 providential dealings with them, as Job's 
 three friends condemned him as a hypocrite 
 on account of his uncommon and severe afflic- 
 tions. And the same is true, when they con- 
 demn them for the failings they may see in 
 them, and which are no greater than are often 
 incident to God's children, and it may be no 
 greater, or not so great as their own, though 
 notwithstanding just such things they think 
 well of themselves as Christians. And so 
 persons are censorious, when they condemn 
 others as being unconverted and carnal men, 
 because they differ from them in opinion on 
 some points that are not fundamental ; or 
 when they judge ill of their state from what 
 they observe in them, for want of making due 
 allowances for their natural temperament, or 
 for their manner or want of education, or 
 other peculiar disadvantages under which 
 they labor, — or when they are ready to reject 
 all as irreligious and unconverted men, be- 
 cause their experiences do not, in everything, 
 quadrate with their own ; setting up them- 
 selves, and their own experience, as a stand- 
 ard and rule to all others ; not being sensible 
 
298 THE SPIEIT OF CHAEITY 
 
 of that vast variety and liberty which the 
 Spirit of God permits and nses in his saving- 
 work on the hearts of men, and how mysteri- 
 ous and inscrutable his w T ays often are, and 
 especially in this great work of making men 
 new creatures in Christ Jesus. In all these 
 ways, men often act, not only censoriously, 
 but as unreasonably, in not allowing any to 
 be Christians who have not their own experi- 
 ences, as if they would not allow any to be 
 men, who had not just their own stature, and 
 the same strength, or temperament of body, 
 and the very same features of countenance 
 with themselves. In the next place, 
 
 2. A censorious spirit appears in a for- 
 wardness to judge evil of the qualities of others. 
 It appears in a disposition to overlook their 
 good qualities, or to think them destitute of 
 such qualities when they are not, or to make 
 very little of them; or to magnify their ill 
 qualities, and make more of them than is 
 just ; or to charge them with those ill quali- 
 ties that they have not. Some are very apt to 
 charge others with ignorance and folly, and 
 other contemptible qualities, when they in no 
 sense deserve to be esteemed thus by them. 
 Some seem very apt to entertain a very low 
 
THE OPPOSITE OF A CENSORIOUS SPIRIT. 299 
 
 and despicable opinion of others, and so to 
 represent them to their associates and friends, 
 when a charitable disposition wonld discern 
 many good things in them, to balance or more 
 than balance the evil, and would frankly own 
 them to be persons not to be despised. And 
 some are ready to charge others with those 
 morally evil qualities that they are free from, 
 or to charge them with such qualities in a 
 much higher degree than they at all deserve. 
 Thus some have such a prejudice against 
 some of their neighbors, that they regard them 
 as a great deal more proud sort of persons, 
 more selfish, or spiteful, or malicious, than 
 they really are. Through some deep preju- 
 dice they have imbibed against them, they are 
 ready to conceive that they have all manner 
 of bad qualities, and no good ones. They 
 seem to them to be an exceeding proud, or 
 covetous, or selfish, or, in some way, bad sort 
 of men, when it may be that to others they 
 appear well. Others see their many good 
 qualities, and see perhaps many palliations of 
 the qualities that are not good ; but the cen- 
 sorious see only that which is evil, and speak 
 only that which is unjust and disparaging as 
 to the qualities of others. And, 
 
300 THE SPIRIT OF CHAEITY 
 
 3. A censorious spirit appears in a/forward- 
 ness to judge evil of the actions of others. By 
 actions, here, I would be understood to mean, 
 all the external voluntary acts of men, whether 
 consisting in words or deeds. And a censori- 
 ous spirit in judging evil of others' actions, 
 discovers itself in two things : — 
 
 First, In judging them to be guilty of -evil 
 actions, without any evidence that constrains 
 them to such a judgment. A suspicious spirit, 
 which leads persons to be jealous of others, 
 and ready to suspect them of being guilty of 
 evil things when they have no evidence of it 
 whatever, is an uncharitable spirit, and con- 
 trary to Christianity. Some persons are very 
 free in passing their censures on others with 
 respect to those things that they suppose they 
 do out of their sight. They are ready to be- 
 lieve that they commit this, and that, and the 
 other evil deed, in secret, and away from the 
 eyes of men, or that they have done or said 
 thus and so among their associates, and in the 
 circle of their friends, and that, from some de- 
 sign or motive, they keep these things hid 
 from others that are not in the same inter- 
 est with themselves. These are the persons 
 chargeable with the " evil surmisings," spoken 
 
THE OPPOSITE OF A CENSORIOUS SPIRIT. 301 
 
 of and condemned by the Apostle, 1 Timothy 
 vi. 4, and which are connected with " envy, 
 strife and railings." Very often, again, per- 
 sons show an uncharitable and censorious 
 spirit with respect to the actions of others, by 
 being forward to take up, and circulate evil 
 reports about them. Merely hearing a flying 
 and evil rumor about an individual, in such a 
 thoughtless and lying world as this is, is far 
 from being sufficient evidence against any 
 one, to make us believe he has been guilty of 
 that which is reported ; for the devil, who is 
 called "the god of this world," is said to be 
 " a liar, and the father of it," and too many, 
 alas! of his children are like him in their 
 speaking of falsehoods. And yet it is a very 
 common thing for persons to pass a judgment 
 on others, on no better ground or foundation, 
 than that they have heard that somebody has 
 said this, or that, or the other thing, though 
 they have no evidence that what is said is 
 true. "When they hear that another has done 
 or said so and so, they seem at once to con- 
 clude that it is so, without making any further 
 inquiry, though nothing is more uncertain, or 
 more likely to prove false, than the mutterings 
 or whispers of common fame. And some are 
 
304 THE SPIRIT OF CHABITY 
 
 And where are the lines to be drawn ?" To 
 this, I reply, 
 
 First, There are some persons that are ap- 
 pointed on purpose to he judges, in civil socie- 
 ties, and in churches, who are impartially to 
 judge of others that properly fall under their 
 cognizance, whether good or bad, and to pass 
 sentence according to what they are ; to ap- 
 prove the good, and condemn the bad, ac- 
 cording to the evidence, and the nature of the 
 act done, and its agreement or disagreement 
 with the law which is the judges' rule. 
 
 Second, Particular persons in their private 
 judgments of others, are not obliged to divest 
 themselves of reason, that they may thus judge 
 well of all. This would be plainly against 
 reason; for Christian charity is not a thing 
 founded on the ruins of reason, but there is 
 the most sweet harmony between reason and 
 charity. And therefore we are not forbidden 
 to judge all persons when there is plain and 
 clear evidence that they are justly chargeable 
 with evil. "We are not to blame, when we 
 judge those to be wicked men, and poor 
 Christless wretches, who give flagrant proof 
 that they are so by a course of wicked action. 
 " Some men's sins," says the Apostle, " are 
 
THE OPPOSITE OF A CENSOKIOUS SPIRIT. 305 
 
 open beforehand, going before to judgment, 
 and some men they follow after." That is, 
 some men's sins are such plain testimony 
 against them, that they are sufficient to con- 
 demn them as wicked men in full sight of the 
 world, even before the coming of that final 
 day of judgment that shall disclose the secrets 
 of the heart to all. And so some men's ac- 
 tions give such clear evidence of the evil of 
 their intentions, that it is no judging the se- 
 crets of the heart, to judge that their designs 
 and ends are wicked. And therefore it is 
 plain, that all judging as to others' state, or 
 qualifications, or actions, is not an unchari- 
 table censoriousness. But the evil of that 
 judging wherein censoriousness consists, lies 
 in two things : — 
 
 It lies, j^^, in judging evil of others when 
 evidence does not oblige to it, or in thinking 
 ill of them when the case very well allows of 
 thinking well of them; when those things 
 that seem to be in their favor are overlooked, 
 and only those that are against them are re- 
 garded, and when the latter are magnified, 
 and too great stress laid on them. And the 
 same is the case, when persons are hasty 
 and rash in judging and condemning others, 
 20 
 
306 THE SPIRIT OF CHARITY 
 
 though both prudence and charity oblige 
 them to suspend their judgment till they 
 know more of the matter, and all the cir- 
 cumstances are plain before them. Persons 
 may often show a great deal of uncharitable- 
 ness and rashness, in freely censuring others 
 before they have heard what they have to say 
 in their defence. And hence it is said, " He 
 that answer eth a matter before he heareth it, 
 it is folly and shame unto him," Proverbs 
 xviii. 13. 
 
 And the evil of that judging which is cen- 
 sorious, lies, in the second place, in a well- 
 pleasedness in judging ill of others. Persons 
 may judge ill of others, from clear and plain 
 evidence that compels them to it, and yet it 
 may be to their grief that they are obliged to 
 judge as they do ; just as when a tender parent 
 hears of some great crime of a child with such 
 evidence that he cannot but think it true. 
 But very often judgment is passed against 
 others, in such a manner as shows that the 
 individual is well pleased in passing it. He 
 is so forward in judging evil, and judges on 
 such slight evidence, and carries his judg- 
 ment to such extremes, as shows that his in- 
 clination is in it, and that he loves to think 
 
THE OPPOSITE OF A CENSORIOUS SPIRIT. 307 
 
 the worst of others. Such a well-pleasedness 
 in judging ill of others, is also manifested in 
 our being forward to declare our judgment, 
 and to speak, as well as think evil of others. 
 It may be in speaking of them with ridicule, 
 or an air of contempt, or in bitterness, or 
 maliciousness of spirit, or with manifest pleas- 
 ure in their deficiencies or errors. When to 
 judge ill of others, is against the inclination 
 of persons, they will be very cautious in doing 
 it, and will go no further in it than evidence 
 obliges them, and will think the best that the 
 nature of the case will admit, and will put the 
 best possible construction on the words and 
 actions of others. And when they are obliged, 
 against their inclination, to think evil of 
 another, it will be no pleasure to declare it, 
 but they will be backward to speak of it to 
 any, and will only do so when a sense of duty 
 leads them to it. Having thus shown the 
 nature of censoriousness, I pass, as proposed, 
 
 II. To show how a censorious spirit is con- 
 trary to the spirit of charity or Christian love. 
 And, 
 
 1. It is contrary to love to our neighbor. 
 And this appears by three things. 
 
 First, We see that persons are very back- 
 
308 THE SPIRIT OF CHAEITY 
 
 ward to judge evil of themselves. They are very 
 ready to think well of their own qualifications. 
 And so they are forward to think the best of 
 their own state. If there be anything in them 
 that resembles grace, they are exceeding apt 
 to think that their state is good. And so they 
 are ready to think well of their own words and 
 deeds, and very backward to think evil of 
 themselves in any of these respects. And the 
 reason is, that they have a great love to them- 
 selves. And, therefore, if they loved their 
 neighbor as themselves, love would have the 
 same tendency with respect to him. 
 
 Second, We see that persons are very 'back- 
 ward to judge evil of those they love. Thus 
 we see it is in men toward those that are their 
 personal friends, and thus it is in parents 
 toward their children. They are very ready 
 to think well of them, and to think the best 
 of their qualifications, whether natural or 
 moral. They are much more backward than 
 others, to take up evil reports of them, and 
 slow to believe what is said against them. 
 They are forward to put the most favorable 
 constructions on their actions. And the reason 
 is, because they love them. 
 
 Third, ¥e see, also, that it is universally 
 
THE OPPOSITE OF A CENSORIOUS SPIRIT. 309 
 
 the case, thai where hatred and ill-will toward 
 others most prevail, there a censorious spirit 
 does most prevail also. When persons fall 
 out, and there is a difficulty between them, 
 and anger and prejudice arise, and ill-will is 
 contracted, there is always a forwardness to 
 judge the~ worst of each other; an aptness to 
 think meanly of each other's qualifications, 
 and to imagine they discover in each other a 
 great many evil qualities, and some that are 
 very evil indeed. And each is apt to enter- 
 tain jealousies of what the other may do when 
 absent and out of sight; and is forward to listen 
 to evil reports respecting him, and to believe 
 every word of them, and apt to put the worst 
 construction on all that he may say or do. 
 And very commonly there is a forwardness to 
 think ill of the condition he is in, and to 
 censure him as a graceless person. And as it 
 is in cases like this, of difficulty between par- 
 ticular persons, so it is apt to be the like in 
 cases of difference between two parties. And 
 these things show plainly, that it is want of 
 Christian love to our neighbor, and the indul- 
 gence of a contrary spirit, from which cen- 
 soriousness arises. I will only add, 
 
 2. That a censorious spirit manifests a 
 
310 THE SPIRIT OF CHARITY 
 
 proud spirit. — And this, the context declares, 
 is contrary to the spirit of charity, or Chris- 
 tian love. A forwardness to judge and cen- 
 sure others, shows a proud disposition, as 
 though the censorious person thought himself 
 free from such faults and blemishes, and there- 
 fore felt justified in being busy and bitter in 
 charging others with them, and censuring and 
 condemning them for them. This is implied 
 in the language of the Saviour, in the seventh 
 chapter of Matthew, " Judge not that ye be 
 not judged," and "why beholdest thou the 
 mote that is in thy brother's eye, but con- 
 siderest not the beam that is in thine own 
 eye ? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, 
 let me pull out the mote out of thine eye, and 
 behold a beam is in thine own eye? Thou 
 hypocrite!" And the same is implied in 
 the declaration of the apostle, "Therefore thou 
 art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art 
 that judgest : for wherein thou judgest another, 
 thou condemnest thyself ; for thou that judgest, 
 doest the same things," Rom. ii. 1. If men 
 were humbly sensible of their own failings, 
 they would not be very forward or pleased in 
 judging others, for the censure passed upon 
 others would but rest on themselves. There 
 
1 
 
 THE OPPOSITE OF A CENSORIOUS SPIRIT. 311 
 
 are the same kinds of corruption in one man's 
 heart, as in another's ; and if those persons 
 that are most busy in censuring others would 
 but look within, and seriously examine their 
 own hearts and lives, they might generally 
 see the same dispositions and behavior in 
 themselves, at one time or another, which they 
 see and judge in others, or at least something 
 as much deserving of censure. And a disposi- 
 tion to judge and condemn, shows a conceited 
 and arrogant disposition. It has the appear- 
 ance of a person's setting himself up above 
 others, as though he was fit to be the lord and 
 judge of his fellow-servants, and he supposed 
 they were to stand or fall according to his 
 sentence. This seems implied in the language 
 of the Apostle, " He that speaketh evil of his 
 brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh 
 evil of the law, and judgeth the law ; but if 
 thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the 
 law, but a judge," James iv. 11. That is, you 
 do not act as a fellow-servant to him that you 
 judge, or as one that is under the same law 
 with him, but as the giver of the law, and the 
 judge whose province it is to pass sentence 
 under it. And therefore it is added, in the 
 next verse, "There is one lawgiver, who is 
 
312 THE SPIRIT OF CHARITY 
 
 able to save and to destroy. Who art thou 
 that judgest another?" And so, in Romans 
 xiv. 4, " Who art thou that judgest another 
 man's servant % To his own master he standeth 
 or falleth." God is the only rightful judge, and 
 the thought of his sovereignty and dominion 
 should hold us back from daring to judge or 
 censure our fellow-beings. 
 
 In the application of this subject, I remark, 
 1. It sternly reproves those who commonly 
 take to themselves the liberty of speaking evil 
 of others. — If to think evil be so much to be 
 condemned, surely they are still more to be 
 condemned who not only allow themselves in 
 thinking, but also in speaking evil of others, 
 and backbiting them with their tongues. The 
 evil-speaking that is against neighbors behind 
 their backs, does very much consist in censur- 
 ing them, or in the expression of uncharitable 
 thoughts and judgments of their persons and 
 behavior. And, therefore, speaking evil of 
 others, and judging others, are sometimes put 
 for the same thing in the Bible, as in the 
 passage just quoted from the Apostle James. 
 How often does the Scripture condemn back- 
 biting and evil-speaking ! The Psalmist de- 
 clares of the wicked, "Thou givest thy mouth 
 
THE OPPOSITE OF A CENSORIOUS SPIRIT. 313 
 
 to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit. Thou 
 sittest and speakest against thy brother; thou 
 slanderest thine own mother's son," Psalm 
 1. 19, 20. And, says the Apostle, to Titus, " Put 
 them in mind to speak evil of no man, to be 
 no brawlers, but gentle, showing all meekness 
 unto all men," Titus iii. 1, 2 ; and again it is 
 written, " Wherefore laying aside all malice, 
 and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and 
 all evil-speakings," 1 Peter ii. 1. And it is 
 mentioned, as part of the character of every 
 one that is a citizen of Zion, and that shall 
 stand on God's holy hill, " that he backbiteth 
 not with his tongue," Psalm xv. 3. Inquire, 
 therefore, whether you have not been often 
 guilty of this ; whether you have not frequently 
 censured others, and expressed your hard 
 thoughts of them, especially of those with 
 whom you may have had some difficulty, or 
 that have been of a different party from your- 
 self ? And is it not a practice in which you 
 more or less allow yourself now, from day to 
 day ? And if so, consider how contrary it is 
 to the spirit of Christianity, and to the solemn 
 profession which, it may be, you have made 
 as Christians ; and be admonished entirely 
 and at once to forsake it. The subject. 
 
314: THE SPIRIT OF CHARITY 
 
 2. Warns all against censoriousness either 
 by thinking or speaking evil of others, as they 
 would be worthy of the name of Christians. — 
 And here in addition to the thoughts already 
 suggested, let two or three things be con- 
 sidered. And, 
 
 First, How often, when the truth comes 
 fully out, do things appear far better con- 
 cerning others, than at first we were ready to 
 judge. There are many instances in the Scrip- 
 tures to this point. When the children of 
 Reuben, and of Gad, and the half tribe of 
 Manasseh had built an altar by Jordan, the 
 rest of Israel heard of it, and presently con- 
 cluded that they had turned away from the 
 Lord, and rashly resolved to go to war against 
 them. But when the truth came to light, it 
 appeared, on the contrary, that they had 
 erected their altar for a good end, even for 
 the worship of God, as may be seen in the 
 twenty-second chapter of Joshua. Eli thought 
 Hannah was drunk, when she came up to the 
 temple ; but when the truth came to light, he 
 was satisfied that she was full of grief, and 
 was praying and pouring out her soul before 
 God, 1 Samuel i, 12-16. David concluded, 
 from what Ziba told him, that Mephibosheth 
 
THE OPPOSITE OF A CENSORIOUS SPIRIT. 315 
 
 had manifested a rebellious and treasonable 
 spirit against bis crown, and so acted on bis 
 censorious judgment, greatly to the injury of 
 the latter ; but when the truth came to appear, 
 he saw it was quite otherwise. Elijah judged 
 ill of the state of Israel, that none were true 
 worshippers of God but himself; but when 
 God told him the truth, it appeared that there 
 were seven thousand who had not bowed the 
 knee to Baal. And how commonly are things 
 very much the same now-a-days ! How often, 
 on thorough examination, have we found things 
 better of others than we have heard, and than 
 at first we were ready to judge ! There are 
 always two sides to every story, and it is 
 generally wise, and safe, and charitable to 
 take the best ; and yet there is probably no 
 one way in which persons are so liable to be 
 wrong, as in presuming the worst is true, and 
 in forming and expressing their judgment of 
 others, and of their actions, without waiting 
 till all the truth is known. 
 
 Second, How little occasion is therefor us to 
 pass our sentence on others with respect to 
 their state, qualifications, or actions that do 
 not concern us. Our great concern is with 
 ourselves. It is of infinite consequence to us, 
 
316 THE SPIRIT OF CHARITY 
 
 that we have a good estate before God ; that 
 we are possessed of good qualities and prin- 
 ciples ; and that we behave ourselves well, 
 and act with right aims, and for right ends. 
 But it is a minor matter to us how it is with 
 others. And there is little need of our cen- 
 sure being passed, even if it were deserved, 
 which we cannot be sure of ; for the business 
 is in the hands of God, who is infinitely more 
 tit to see to it than we can be. And there is 
 a day appointed for his decision. So that if 
 we assume to judge others, we shall not only 
 take upon ourselves a work that does not belong 
 to us, but we shall be doing it before the time. 
 "Therefore," says the Apostle, "judge nothing 
 before the time, until the Lord come, who 
 both will bring to light the hidden things of 
 darkness, and will make manifest the counsels 
 of the hearts ; and then shall every man have 
 praise of God," 1 Corinthians iv. 5. 
 
 Third, God has threatened, that if we are 
 found censoriously judging and condemn- 
 ing others, we shall he condemned ourselves. 
 " Judge not," he says, " that ye be not judged ; 
 for with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be 
 judged." And, again, the Apostle asks, " And 
 thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them 
 
THE OPPOSITE OF A CENSORIOUS SPIRIT. 
 
 which do such things, and doest the same that 
 thou shalt escape the just judgment of God?" 
 Eomans ii. 3. These are awful threatenings, 
 from the lips of that great being who is to be 
 our judge at the final day, by whom it in- 
 finitely concerns us to be acquitted, and from 
 whom a sentence of condemnation will be un- 
 speakably dreadful to us, if at last we sink 
 forever under it. Therefore as we would not 
 ourselves receive condemnation from him, let 
 us not mete out such measure to others. 
 

 LECTURE XI. 
 
 ALL TRUE GRACE IN THE HEART TENDS TO HOLY 
 PRACTICE IN THE LITE. 
 
 <( Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth." — 
 1 Corinthians xiii. 6. 
 
 Hating mentioned in the two preceding 
 verses, many of the good fruits of charity, 
 and shown how it tends to an excellent beha- 
 vior in many particulars, the Apostle now 
 sums up these, and all other good tendencies 
 of charity in respect to active conduct, by say- 
 ing, " It rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth 
 in the truth." As if he had said, " 1 have 
 mentioned many excellent things that charity 
 has a tendency to, and shown how it is con- 
 trary to many evil things. But I need not go 
 on to multiply particulars, for, in a word, 
 charity is contrary to everything in the life 
 and practice that is evil, and tends to every- 
 
TRUE GRACE LN THE HEART. 319 
 
 thing that is good. It rejoiceth not in in- 
 iquity, but rejoiceth in the truth." 
 
 By "iniquity," seems to be intended here, 
 everything that is sinful in the life and prac- 
 tice ; and by "the truth," everything that is 
 good in the life, or all that is included in 
 Christian and holy practice. The word truth 
 is, indeed, variously used in the Bible. Some- 
 times it means the true doctrines of religion ; 
 sometimes the knowledge of these doctrines ; 
 sometimes, veracity or faithfulness ; and some- 
 times, it signifies all virtue and holiness, in- 
 cluding both the knowledge and reception of 
 all the great truths of the Scriptures, and con- 
 formity to these in the life and conduct. In 
 this last sense the word is used by the Apos- 
 tle John, when he says, "I rejoiced greatly 
 when the brethren came and testified of the 
 truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in 
 the truth," 3 John 3. Taking the word in 
 this sense, and generalizing the proposition, 
 we have, as suggested by the text, the doc- 
 trine, 
 
 That all true Christian grace in the 
 
 heart, tends to holy practice in the life. 
 
 Negatively, the Apostle declares that charity 
 is opposed to all wickedness, or evil practice ; 
 
320 TRUE GRACE IN THE HEART 
 
 and positively, that it tends to all righteous- 
 ness, or holy practice. And as the principle 
 may be generalized, and also as charity has 
 been shown to be the sum of all true and sav- 
 ing grace, the doctrine that has been stated 
 seems clearly contained in the words of the 
 text, viz. : the doctrine, that all true Chris- 
 tian grace tends to holy practice. If any have 
 the notion of grace, that it is something put 
 into the heart, there to be confined and dor- 
 mant, and that its influence does not govern 
 the man, throughout, as an active being / or 
 if they suppose that the change made by 
 grace, though it indeed betters the heart 
 itself, yet has no tendency to a corresponding 
 improvement of the outward life, they have a 
 very wrong notion. And that this is so, I 
 would endeavor to make plain, first, by some 
 arguments in favor of the doctrine that has 
 been stated ; and, second, by showing its 
 truth with respect to particular graces. And, 
 
 I. I would state some arguments in support 
 of the doctrine, that all true grace in the heart, 
 tends to holy practice in the life. And, 
 
 1. Holy practice is the aim of that eternal 
 election, which is the first ground of the bestow- 
 ment of all true grace — Holy practice is not 
 
TENDS TO HOLY PRACTICE IN LIFE. 321 
 
 the ground and reason of election, as is sup- 
 posed by the Arminians, who imagine that 
 God elects men to everlasting life upon a fore- 
 sight of their good works ; but it is the aim 
 and end of election. God does not elect 
 men because he foresees they will be holy, 
 but that he may make them, and that they 
 may be holy. Thus, in election, God ordained 
 that men should walk in good works, as says 
 the Apostle, " For we are his workmanship, 
 created in Christ Jesus unto good works, 
 which God hath before ordained that we 
 should walk in them," Ephesians ii. 10. And 
 again it is said, that the elect are chosen to 
 this very end, "He hath chosen us, in him, 
 before the foundation of the world, that we 
 should be holy, and without blame before him 
 in love," Ephesians i. 4. And so Christ tells 
 his disciples, "I have chosen you, and or- 
 dained you, that ye should go, and bring forth 
 fruit, and that your fruit should remain," 
 John xv. 16. Now God's eternal election is 
 the first ground of the bestowment of saving- 
 grace. And some have such saving grace, 
 and others do not have it, because some are 
 from eternity chosen of God, and others are 
 not chosen. And seeing that holy practice is 
 21 
 
322 TRUE GRACE IX THE HEART 
 
 the scope and aim of that which is the first 
 ground of the bestowment of grace, this same 
 holy practice is doubtless the tendency of 
 grace itself. Otherwise it would follow, 
 that God makes use of a certain means to 
 attain an end which is not fitted to attain 
 that end, and has no tendency to it. It is 
 further true, 
 
 2. That redemption-, by lohich grace is pur- 
 chased, is to the same end. — The redemption 
 made by Christ is the next ground of the be- 
 stowment of grace on all who possess it. 
 Christ, by his merits, in the great things that 
 he did and suffered in the world, has purchased 
 grace and holiness for his own people. " For 
 their sakes,"he says, "I sanctify myself, that 
 they also might be sanctified through the 
 truth,"' John xvii. 19. And Christ thus re- 
 deemed the elect, and purchased grace for 
 them, to the end that they might walk in holy 
 practice. He has reconciled them to God by 
 his death, to save them from wicked works, 
 that they might be holy and unblamable in 
 their lives, says the Apostle, "And yon, that 
 were sometime alienated, and enemies in 
 your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he 
 reconciled, in the body of his flesh, through 
 
TENDS TO HOLY PEACTICE IN LIFE. 323 
 
 death, to present you holy, and unblamable, 
 and unreprovable in his sight," Colossians 
 i. 21, 22. When the angel appeared to Jo- 
 seph, he told him that the child that should 
 be born of Mary should be called Jesus, that 
 is, Saviour, because he should save his people 
 from their sins, Matt. i. 21. And holiness of 
 life is declared to be the end of redemption, 
 when it is said of Christ, that " he gave him- 
 self for us, that he might redeem us from all 
 iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar 
 people, zealous of good works," Titus ii. 14. 
 And so we are told that Christ "died for all, 
 that they which live should not henceforth 
 live unto themselves, but unto him which died 
 for them and rose again," 1 Corinthians v. 
 15. And for this end, he is said to have of- 
 fered himself, through the eternal Spirit, with- 
 out spot to God, that his blood might purge 
 our conscience from dead works to serve the 
 living God, Hebrews ix. 15. 
 
 The most remarkable type of the work of re- 
 demption by divine love in all the Old Testa- 
 ment history, was the redemption of the chil- 
 dren of Israel out of Egypt. But the holy 
 living of his people, was the end God had in 
 view in that redemption, as he often signified 
 
324 TETJE GRACE IN THE HEART 
 
 to Pharaoh, when from time to time he said 
 to him by Moses and Aaron, " Let my people 
 go that they may serve me." And we have 
 a like expression concerning Christ's redemp- 
 tion in the j^ew Testament, where it is said, 
 " Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he 
 hath visited and redeemed his people, to per- 
 form the mercy promised to our fathers, and 
 to remember his holy covenant, the oath 
 which he sware to our father Abraham, that 
 he would grant unto us, that we, being deliv- 
 ered out of the hand of our enemies, might 
 serve him without fear, in holiness and right- 
 eousness before him, all the days of our life," 
 Luke i. 68-75. All these things make it very 
 plain that the end of redemption is, that we 
 might be holy. Still further it is true, 
 
 3. That effectual calling, or that saving 
 conversion in which grace is commenced in the 
 soul, is to the same end. — God, by his Spirit, 
 and through his truth, calls, awakens, convicts, 
 converts and leads to the exercise of grace, all 
 those who are made willing in the day of his 
 power, to the end that they might exercise 
 themselves in holy practice. " We are his 
 workmanship," says the Apostle, " created in 
 Christ Jesus unto good works, which God 
 
TENDS TO HOLY PRACTICE IN LIFE. 325 
 
 hath before ordained that we should live in 
 them," Ephesians ii. 10. And the Apostle 
 tells the Christian Thessalonians, that God 
 had not called them unto uncleanness, but 
 unto holiness, 1 Thes. iv. 7; and again it is 
 written, "As he which hath called you is 
 holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conver- 
 sation," 1 Peter i. 15. It is also true, 
 
 4. That sjpiriUial 'knowledge and under- 
 standing, which we the inward attendants of 
 all true grace i/ii the heart, tend to holy prac- 
 tice. — A true knowledge of G-od and divine 
 things, is a practical knowledge. As .to a 
 mere speculative knowledge of the things of 
 religion, many wicked men have attained to 
 great measures of it. Men may possess vast 
 learning, and their learning may consist very 
 much of their knowledge in divinity, and of the 
 Bible, and of the things pertaining to religion, 
 and they may be able to reason very strongly 
 about the attributes of God, and the doctrines 
 of Christianity, and yet herein their knowledge 
 fails of being a saving knowledge, that it is 
 only speculative and not practical. He that 
 has a right and saving acquaintance with 
 divine things, sees the excellency of holiness, 
 and of all the ways of holiness, for he sees the 
 
324: TRUE GRACE IN THE HEART 
 
 to Pharaoh, when from time to time he said 
 to him by Moses and Aaron, " Let my people 
 go that they may serve me." And we have 
 a like expression concerning Christ's redemp- 
 tion in the New Testament, where it is said, 
 " Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he 
 hath visited and redeemed his people, to per- 
 form the mercy promised to our fathers, and 
 to remember his holy covenant, the oath 
 which he sware to our father Abraham, that 
 he would grant unto us, that we, being deliv- 
 ered out of the hand of our enemies, might 
 serve him without fear, in holiness and right- 
 eousness before him, all the days of our life," 
 Luke i. 68-75. All these things make it very 
 plain that the end of redemption is, that we 
 might be holy. Still further it is true, 
 
 3. That effectual calling, or that saving 
 conversion in which grace is commenced in the 
 soul, is to the same end. — God, by his Spirit, 
 and through his truth, calls, awakens, convicts, 
 converts and leads to the exercise of grace, all 
 those who are made willing in the day of his 
 power, to the end that they might exercise 
 themselves in holy practice. " "We are his 
 workmanship," says the Apostle, " created in 
 Christ Jesus unto good works, which God 
 
 
TENDS TO HOLY PRACTICE IN LIFE. 325 
 
 hath before ordained that we should live in 
 them," Ephesians ii. 10. And the Apostle 
 tells the Christian Thessalonians, that God 
 had not called them unto uncleanness, but 
 unto holiness, 1 Thes. iv. 7; and again it is 
 written, "As he which hath called you is 
 holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conver- 
 sation," 1 Peter i. 15. It is also true, 
 
 4. That spiritual knowledge and under- 
 standing, which are the inward attendants of 
 all true grace in the heart, tend to holy prac- 
 tice. — A true knowledge of God and divine 
 things, is a practical knowledge. As .to a 
 mere speculative knowledge of the things of 
 religion, many wicked men have attained to 
 great measures of it. Men may possess vast 
 learning, and their learning may consist very 
 much of their knowledge in divinity, and of the 
 Bible, and of the things pertaining to religion, 
 and they may be able to reason very strongly 
 about the attributes of God, and the doctrines 
 of Christianity, and yet herein their knowledge 
 fails of being a saving knowledge, that it is 
 only speculative and not practical. He that 
 has a right and saving acquaintance with 
 divine things, sees the excellency of holiness, 
 and of all the ways of holiness, for he sees the 
 
326 TRUE GRACE IN THE HEART 
 
 beauty and excellency of God, which consist 
 in his holiness ; and for the same reason he 
 sees the hatefulness of sin, and of all the ways 
 of sin. And if a man knows the hatefulness 
 of the ways of sin, certainly this tends to his 
 avoiding these ways ; and if he sees the love- 
 liness of the ways of holiness, this tends to 
 incline him to walk in them. 
 
 He that knows God, sees that he is worthy 
 to be obeyed. Pharaoh did not see why he 
 should obey God, because he did not know 
 who he was, and therefore he says, " Who is 
 the Lord, that I should obey his voice ? I know 
 not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go," Ex- 
 odus v. 2. This is signified to be the reason 
 why wicked men work or practise iniquity, 
 and carry themselves so wickedly, that they 
 have no spiritual knowledge, as says' the 
 Psalmist, " Have all the workers of iniquity 
 no knowledge? who eat up my people as they 
 eat bread, and call not upon the Lord," Psalm 
 xiv. 4. And when God would describe the 
 true knowledge of himself to the people of Is- 
 rael, he does it by this fruit of it, that it led 
 to holy practice, " He judged the cause of 
 the poor and needy ; then it was well with 
 him. Was not this to know me ? saith the 
 
TENDS TO HOLY PRACTICE IN LIFE. 327 
 
 Lord," Jeremiah xxii. 16. And so the Apos- 
 tle John informs us, that the keeping of 
 Christ's commands is an infallible fruit of onr 
 knowing him ; and he stigmatizes him as a 
 gross hypocrite and liar, who pretends that 
 he knows Christ, and does not keep his com- 
 mandments, 1 John ii. 3 and 4. If a man has 
 spiritual knowledge and understanding, it 
 tends to make him to be of an excellent spirit. 
 " A man of understanding is of an excellent 
 spirit," Prov. xvii. 27. And such an excel- 
 lent spirit, will lead to a corresponding beha- 
 vior. And the same appears, also, 
 
 5. From the more immediate consideration 
 of 'the principle of grace itself \ from which it 
 will he seen, that the tendency of all Christian 
 grace is to practice. And here, 
 
 First, It appears that all true Christian 
 grace tends to practice, because the faculty 
 which is the immediate seat of it, is thefacidty 
 of the will, which is thefacidty that commands 
 all amaii's actions and practice. The imme- 
 diate seat of grace, is in the will or disposition. 
 And this shows that all true grace tends to 
 practice ; for there is not one of man's acts 
 that can properly be said to belong to, or to 
 be any part of his practice, in any respect but 
 
328 TREE GRACE IN THE HEART 
 
 that it is at the command of the will. "When 
 we speak of a man's practice, we have respect 
 to those things that he does as a free and vol- 
 untary agent, or which is the same thing, to 
 those things that he does by an act of his 
 will ; so that the whole of a man's practice is 
 directed by the faculty of the will. All the 
 executive powers of the man, whether of body 
 or mind, are subject to the faculty of the will 
 by the constitution of him who hath made 
 man, and who is the great author of our being. 
 The will is the fountain of the practice, as 
 truly as the head of a spring is the fountain 
 of the stream that flows from it. And there- 
 fore if a principle of true grace be seated in 
 this faculty it must necessarily tend to prac- 
 tice ; as much as the flowing of water in the 
 fountain, tends to its flowing in the stream. 
 
 Second, It is the definition of grace, that it 
 is a principle of holy action. — What is grace 
 but a principle of holiness, or a holy principle 
 in the heart ? But the word "principle" is 
 relative to something, of which it is a princi- 
 ple. And if grace be a principle, what is it 
 a principle of, but of action ? Principles and 
 actions are correlates, that necessarily have 
 respect one to the other. Thus the very idea 
 
TENDS TO HOLY PRACTICE IN LIFE. 329 
 
 of a principle of life, is, a principle that acts 
 in the lffe. And so when we speak of a prin- 
 ciple of understanding, we mean a principle 
 whence flow acts of understanding. And so 
 by a principle of sin, is meant a principle 
 whence flow acts of sin. And in the same 
 manner when we speak of a principle of 
 grace, we mean a principle whence flow acts 
 of grace, or gracious actions. A principle of 
 grace has as much a relation to practice, as a 
 root has to the plant that it is the root of. If 
 there be a root, it is a root of something; 
 either the root of something that actually 
 grows from it, or that tends to bring forth 
 some plant. It is absurd to speak of a root, 
 that is the root of nothing ; and so it is absurd 
 to speak of a principle of grace, that does not 
 tend to grace in the practice. 
 
 Third, One more thing, by which that 
 which is real and substantial, is distinguished 
 from that which is only a shadow or appear- 
 ance, is, that it is effectual. A shadow or 
 picture of a man, though it be ever so distinct 
 or well drawn, or give ever so lively a repre- 
 sentation, and though it be the picture of a 
 very strong man, or even of a mighty giant, 
 can do nothing. There is nothing accom- 
 
330 TRUE GRACE IN THE HEART 
 
 plished and brought to pass by it, because it 
 is not real, but only a shadow or image. The 
 substance or reality, however, is something 
 that is effectual. And so it is with what is in 
 the heart of man. That which is only an ap- 
 pearance or image of grace, though it looks 
 like grace, is not effectual, because it wants 
 reality and substance. But that which is real 
 and substantial is effectual, and does indeed 
 bring something to pass in the life. In other 
 words, it acts itself out in practice. And so, 
 again, 
 
 Fourth, The nature of a principle of grace, 
 is to he a principle of life, or a vital principle. 
 This we are everywhere taught in the Scrip- 
 tures. There, natural men who have no prin- 
 ciple of grace in the heart, are represented as 
 $ead men, while those that have grace are 
 represented as being alive, or having the prin- 
 ciple of life in them. But it is the nature of 
 a principle of life, to be a principle of action 
 and operation. A dead man does not act, or 
 move, or bring anything to pass ; but in liv- 
 ing persons, the life appears by a continued 
 course of action from day to day. They move, 
 and walk, and work, and fill up their time 
 with actions that are the fruits of life. 
 
TENDS TO HOLY PRACTICE IN LIFE. 331 
 
 Fifth, True Christian grace, is not only a 
 principle of life, hut an exceedingly powerful 
 principle. Hence we read of "the power of 
 godliness," as in 2 Timothy iii. 5 ; and are 
 taught that there is in it a divine power, such 
 as wrought in Christ when he was raised from 
 the dead. But the more powerful any prin- 
 ciple is, the more effectual it is to produce 
 those operations, and that practice, to which 
 it tends. Having thus shown, in general, 
 that all true grace in the heart tends to holy 
 practice in the life, I proceed, as was pro- 
 posed, 
 
 II. To show the same with respect to the 
 particular Christian graces. — And here, I re- 
 mark that this is the case, 
 
 1. With respect to a true and saving faith 
 in the Lord Jesus Christ. — This is one thing 
 that very much distinguishes that faith which 
 is saving, from that which is only common. 
 A true faith, is a faith that works ; whereas 
 a false faith, is a barren and inoperative faith. 
 And therefore the Apostle describes a saving 
 faith, as a " faith that worketh by love," Ga- 
 latians v. 6. And the Apostle James tells us, 
 "A man may say, Thou hast faith, and I 
 have works : show me thy faith without thy 
 
332 TRUE GRACE IN THE HEART 
 
 works, and I will show thee my faith by my 
 works," James ii. 18. But more particu- 
 larly, 
 
 First, The conviction of the understanding 
 and judgment, which is implied in saving 
 faith, tends to holy practice. He that has true 
 faith, is convinced of the reality and certainty 
 of the great things of religion ; and he that is 
 convinced of the reality of these things, will 
 be influenced by them, and they will govern 
 his actions and behavior. If men are told of 
 great things, which if true, do most intimately 
 concern them, and do not believe what they 
 are told, they will not be much moved by 
 them, nor will they alter their conduct for 
 what they hear. But if they do really believe 
 what they are told, and regard it as certain, 
 they will be influenced by it in their actions, 
 and ill view of it will alter their conduct, and 
 will do very differently from what they would 
 if they had heard nothing. We see that this 
 is so in all things of great concern that appear 
 real to men. If a man hears important news 
 that concerns himself, and we do not see that 
 he alters at all for it in his practice, we at 
 once conclude that he does not give heed to 
 it as true ; for we know the nature of man is 
 
TENDS TO HOLY PRACTICE IN LIFE. 333 
 
 such, that he will govern his actions by what 
 he believes, and is convinced of. And so if 
 men are really convinced of the truth of the 
 things they are told in the gospel, about an 
 eternal world, and the everlasting salvation 
 that Christ has purchased for all that will ac- 
 cept it, it will influence their practice. They 
 will regulate their behavior according to such 
 a belief, and will act in such a manner as will 
 tend to their obtaining this eternal salvation. 
 If men are convinced of the certain truth of 
 the promises of the gospel, which promise 
 eternal riches, and honors, and pleasures, and 
 if they really believe that those are immense- 
 ly more valuable than all the riches, and 
 honors, and pleasures of the world, they will, 
 for these, forsake the things of the world, and 
 if need be, sell all and follow Christ. If they 
 are fully convinced of the truth of the prom- 
 ise, that Christ will indeed bestow all these 
 things upon his people, and if all this appears 
 real to them, it will have influence on their 
 practice, and it will induce them to live ac- 
 cordingly. Their practice will be according 
 to their convictions. The very nature of man 
 forbids that it should be otherwise. If a man 
 be promised by another, that if he will part 
 
334 TRUE GRACE IN THE HEART 
 
 with one pound, lie will give him a thousand, 
 and if he is fully convinced of the truth of 
 this promise, he will readily part with the for- 
 mer in the assurance of obtaining the latter. 
 And so he that is convinced of the sufficiency 
 of Christ to deliver him from all evil, and to 
 bring him to the possession of all good that 
 he needs, will be influenced in his practice by 
 the promise which offers him all this. Such 
 a man, while he actually has such a convic- 
 tion, will not be afraid to believe Christ in 
 things wherein he otherwise would seem 
 greatly to expose himself to calamity, for he 
 is convinced that Christ is able to deliver him. 
 And so he will not be afraid to forego other 
 ways of securing earthly happiness, because 
 he is convinced that Christ alone is sufficient 
 to bestow all needed happiness upon him. 
 And so, 
 
 Second, That act of the will, which there is in 
 saving faith, tends to holy practice. He that 
 by the act of his will, does truly accept of 
 Christ as a Saviour, accepts of him as a Sa- 
 viour from sin, and not merely as a Saviour 
 from the punishment of sin. But it is impos- 
 sible that any one should heartily receive 
 Cm\ist as a Saviour from sin, and from the 
 
TENDS TO HOLY PRACTICE IN LIFE. 335 
 
 ways of sin, if lie lias not willed and does not 
 aim, sincerely, in heart and life, to turn from 
 all the ways of sin ; for he that has not willed 
 that sin and he should part, cannot have 
 willed to receive Christ as his Saviour to part 
 them. And so he, again, that receives Christ 
 by a living faith, closes with him as a Lord 
 and King to rule over and reign in him, and 
 not merely as a priest to make atonement for 
 him. But to choose Christ, and close with 
 him as a King, is the same as to yield in sub- 
 mission to his law and in obedience to his 
 authority and commands ; and he that does 
 this, lives a life of holy practice. 
 
 Third, All the true trust in God, that is 
 implied in saving faith, tends to holy practice. 
 And herein a true trust differs from all false 
 trust. A trust in God in the way of negli- 
 gence, is what in Scripture is called tempting 
 God ; and a trust in him in the way of sin, is 
 what is called presumption, which is a thing 
 terribly threatened in his word. But he that 
 truly and rightly trusts in God, trusts in him 
 in the way of diligence and holiness ; or, 
 which is the same thing, in the way of holy 
 practice. The very idea of our trusting in 
 another, is, resting or living in acquiescence 
 
336 TRUE GRACE IN THE HEART 
 
 of mind and heart in the full persuasion of his 
 sufficiency and faithfulness, so as to be ready 
 fully to venture on him in our actions. But 
 they that do not practise and act upon the 
 persuasion of another's sufficiency and faith- 
 fulness, do not thus venture. They do not 
 enter on any action or course of action in such 
 a confidence, and so venture nothing, and 
 therefore cannot be said truly to trust. He 
 that really trusts in another, ventures on his 
 confidence. And so it is with those that truly 
 trust in God. They rest in the full persuasion 
 that God is sufficient and faithful, so as to 
 proceed in this confidence to follow God, and 
 if need be, to undergo difficulties and hard- 
 ships for him, because he has promised that 
 they shall be no losers by such a course ; and 
 they have such a confidence of this, that they 
 can, and do venture upon his promise, while 
 those who are not willing thus to venture, 
 show that they do not trust in him. They 
 that have the full trust in God which is im- 
 plied in a living faith, will not be afraid to 
 trust God with their estates. It is so with re- 
 spect to trust in men, that if those we have 
 full confidence in, desire to borrow anything 
 of us, and promise to pay us again, and to pay 
 
TENDS TO HOLY PRACTICE IN LIFE. 
 
 337 
 
 us an hundred fold, we are not afraid to ven- 
 ture, and do actually venture it. And so 
 those that feel full confidence in God, are not 
 afraid to lend to the Lord. And so if we 
 trust in God, we shall not be afraid to venture 
 labor, and fighting, and watching, and suffer- 
 ing, and all things for him, since he has so 
 abundantly promised to reward these things 
 with that which will infinitely more than make 
 up for all the losses or difficulties or sorrows 
 we may experience in the way of duty. If 
 our faith be saving, it will lead us thus ac- 
 tually to venture on God, in the fullest trust 
 in his character and promises. And as faith 
 in itself, and in all that is implied in it, tends 
 to holy practice, so the same is the case, 
 
 2. With respect to all true love to God. — 
 Love is an active principle ; a principle that 
 we always find is active in things of this world. 
 Love to our fellow-creatures, always influ- 
 ences us in our actions and practice. The 
 whole world of mankind are chiefly kept in 
 action from day to day, and from year to 
 year, by love of some kind or another. He 
 that loves money, is influenced in his practice 
 by that love, and kept by it in the continual 
 pursuit of wealth. He that loves honor, is 
 
338 TRUE GRACE IN THE HEART 
 
 governed in his practice by that love, and his 
 actions through the whole of life are regulated 
 by his desire for it. And how diligently do 
 they that love carnal pleasures, pursue after 
 them in their practice ! And so he that truly 
 loves God, is also influenced by that love in 
 his practice. He constantly seeks after God, 
 in the course of his life : seeks his grace, and 
 acceptance, and glory. 
 
 Reason teaches, that a man's actions are the 
 most proper test and evidence of his love. 
 Thus if a man professes a great deal of love 
 and friendship to another, reason, in such a 
 case, teaches all mankind that the most proper 
 evidence of his being a real and hearty friend, 
 as he professes to be, is his appearing a friend 
 in his deeds, and not only in his words ; and 
 that he shall be willing, if need be, to deny 
 himself for his friend, and to suffer in his own 
 private interest for the sake of doing him a 
 kindness. If a man professes ever so much 
 kindness, or friendship, a wise man will not 
 trust the profession, except as he sees the trial 
 and proof of it in the behavior ; unless in his 
 actions he has found him a faithful and con- 
 stant friend, ready to do and suffer for him. 
 He will trust to such evidence of his love, 
 
 
TENDS TO HOLY PRACTICE IN LIFE. 
 
 339 
 
 more than he will to the greatest professions, 
 or even the most solemn oaths without it. 
 And so if we see a man, who by his constant 
 behavior, shows himself ready to take pains 
 and lay himself out for God, reason teaches, 
 that in this he gives an evidence of love to 
 God, more to be depended on, than if he only 
 professes that he feels great love to God in 
 his heart. And so if we see a man, who by 
 what we behold of the course of his life, 
 seems to follow and imitate Christ, and 
 greatly lay himself out for Christ's honor, 
 and the advancement of his kingdom in the 
 world, reason teaches that he gives greater 
 evidence of the sincerity and strength of his 
 love to the Saviour, than if he only declares 
 that he loves him, and tells how his heart at 
 such and such a time was drawn out in love 
 to him, while at the same time he is back- 
 ward to do any great matter for Christ, or to 
 put himself out of the way for the promotion 
 of his kingdom, and is ready to excuse him- 
 self when called to active effort or self-denial 
 for his Saviour's sake. 
 
 There are various ways for the exercise of 
 sincere love to God, and they all tend to holy 
 practice. One is in having a high esteem for 
 
34:0 TRUE GRACE IN THE HEART 
 
 God, for that which we love we have the high- 
 est esteem for, and naturally show this esteem 
 in onr behavior. Another way of showing our 
 love to God, is, in making choice of him above 
 all other things ; and if we do sincerely choose 
 him above all other things, then we shall ac- 
 tually leave other things for him when it 
 comes to the trial in our practice : and when 
 in the course of our life it comes to pass, that 
 God and our honor, or God and our money, or 
 God and our ease, are at the same time set 
 before us, so that we must cleave to the one 
 and forsake the other, then if we really choose 
 God above these other things, we shall in our 
 practice cleave to God and let these things go. 
 Another way of the exercise of love to God 
 is, in our desires after him ; and these, also, 
 tend to practice. He that really has earnest 
 desires after God, with be stirred up actively 
 to seek after him. He will apply himself to 
 it as a business, just as men do for this world, 
 when they have earnest desires for a good 
 which they believe is attainable. And still 
 another way of the exercise of love to God, 
 is, in delighting in him, and finding satisfac- 
 tion and happiness in him ; and this also tends 
 to practice. He that really and sincerelv de- 
 
TENDS TO HOLY PRACTICE IN LIFE. 341 
 
 lights more in God than in other things, and 
 finds his satisfaction in God, will not forsake 
 God for other things ; and thus, by his con- 
 duct, he shows that he indeed is satisfied in 
 him as his portion. And so it is in all cases. 
 If we have had enjoyment in any possession 
 whatever, and then afterward forsake it for 
 something else, this is an evidence that we 
 were not fully satisfied with it, and that we 
 did not delight in it above all other things. 
 In all these cases, the feelings and choices will 
 be seen in the practice. 
 
 3. All true and saving repentance tends to 
 holy practice. — In the original of the New 
 Testament, the word commonly rendered " re- 
 pentance," signifies a change of the mind; 
 and men are said to repent of sin, when 
 they change their minds with respect to it, so 
 that though formerly they esteemed and ap- 
 proved of it, they now utterly disapprove and 
 dislike it. But such a change of the mind, 
 must and does tend to a corresponding change 
 of the practice. We see it to be so universally 
 in other things. If a man has heretofore been 
 engaged in any pursuit or business whatever, 
 and then changes his mind upon it, he will 
 change his practice also, and will cease from 
 
342 TRUE GRACE IN THE HEART 
 
 that business, or pursuit, or way of life, and 
 turn his hand to some other. Sorrow for sin 
 is one thing belonging to saving repentance. 
 But sorrow for sin, if it be thorough and sin- 
 cere, will tend, in practice, to the forsaking 
 of sin. And so it is in everything. If a man 
 has long gone on in any one way or manner 
 of behavior, and afterwards is convinced of 
 the foolishness and sinfulness of it, and is 
 heartily sorry and grieved for it, the natural 
 and necessary effect of this will be, that he 
 will avoid it for the future. And if he goes 
 on in it just as he did before, no one will be- 
 lieve that he is heartily sorry for having gone 
 on in time past. Again, 
 
 4. All true humility tends to holy practice.— 
 This is a grace abundantly recommended and 
 insisted on in the Bible, and which is often 
 spoken of as distinguishing a true Christian 
 experience from that which is counterfeit. 
 But this grace in the heart, has a direct ten- 
 dency to holy practice in the life. A humble 
 heart tends to a humble behavior. He that is 
 sensible of his own littleness, and nothingness, 
 and exceeding unworthiness, will be disposed, 
 by a sense of it, to carry himself accordingly 
 both before God and man. He that once was 
 
TENDS TO HOLY PRACTICE IN LIFE. 343 
 
 of a proud heart, and under the dominion of 
 pride in his conduct, if afterward he has his 
 heart changed to a humble heart, will neces- 
 sarily have a corresponding change in his 
 behavior. He will no longer appear in his 
 demeanor as proud, and scornful, and ambi- 
 tious as once he was, affecting, as much as 
 ever, to appear above others, and striving as 
 much after it, and as apt to condemn others, 
 and to be dissatisfied or even enraged with 
 those that seem to stand in the way of his 
 earthly glory. For that which such a beha- 
 vior in him rose from, before he was changed, 
 was pride of heart ; and therefore if now there * 
 be a great alteration with respect to this pride 
 of heart, and it be mortified and banished 
 from the soul, and humility implanted in its 
 place, surely there will be an alteration, also, 
 in the demeanor and practice ; for humility 
 of heart is a principle that has as strong a 
 tendency to practice as pride of heart has, and 
 therefore if the latter be mortified, and the 
 former take its place, then the proud practice 
 that proceeded from the former will propor- 
 tionably cease, and the humble practice whicb. 
 is the natural fruit of the latter, will be mani- 
 fest. 
 
344 TRUE GRACE IN" THE HEART 
 
 True Christian humility of heart tends, also, 
 to make persons resigned to the will of God, 
 and to lead them to be patient and submissive 
 to his holy hand under the afflictions he may 
 send, and to be filled with deep reverence 
 toward the Deity, and to treat divine things 
 with the highest respect. It leads, also, to a 
 meek behavior toward men, making us con- 
 descending to inferiors, respectful to superiors, 
 and toward all gentle, peaceful, easy to be 
 entreated, not self-willed, not envious of others 
 but contented with our own condition, of a 
 calm and quiet spirit, not disposed to resent 
 injuries, but apt to forgive. And surely these 
 are traits that belong to holy practice. And 
 so again, 
 
 o. All true fear of God tends to holy prac- 
 tice. — The principal thing meant in the Scrip- 
 tures by the fear of God, is a holy solicitude 
 or dread lest we should offend God by sinning 
 against him. ISTow if a man do truly fear to 
 offend God, and if he habitually dreads the 
 thought of sinning against him, this will surely 
 tend to his avoiding sin against him. That 
 which men are afraid of they will shun. If a 
 man professes that he is afraid and has a 
 dread of a poisonous serpent, for example, but 
 
TENDS TO HOLY PRACTICE IN LIFE. 345 
 
 at the same time is seen to take no care to 
 shun him, but is very bold to keep near to 
 him, who will believe his profession ? Fear- 
 ing God and observing to do all his command- 
 ments, are joined together as necessarily aris- 
 ing the one from the other, as in Deuteronomy 
 xxviii. 58. " If thou wilt not observe to do 
 all the words of this law, that are written in 
 this book, that thou mayest fear this glorious 
 and fearful name, the Lord, thy God." And 
 Joseph gives as a reason of his righteous and 
 merciful conduct towards his brethren, that 
 he feared God, as may be seen in Genesis 
 xlii. 18. And in Proverbs viii. 13, it is said, 
 that " the fear of the Lord is to hate evil." 
 Job gives it as a reason why he avoided sin, 
 that " destruction from God was a terror to 
 him," Job xxxi. 23. And God himself, when 
 he speaks of Job as " eschewing evil," men- 
 tions his fear of God as the ground and reason 
 of it, Job i. 8. And in any person whatever, 
 just so far as the fear of God reigns, just so 
 far will it lead its possessor to avoid sin, and 
 to aim to be holy. Again, 
 
 6. The spirit of thankfulness and praise 
 tends to holy practice. — Sincere thankfulness 
 to God leads us to render again according to 
 

 
 346 
 
 TRUE GRACE IN THE HEART 
 
 
 the benefits received. This we look upon as 
 a sure evidence of true gratitude or thankful- 
 ness toward our fellow-men. If any one does 
 his neighbor any remarkable kindness, and he 
 is really thankful for it, he will be ready, when 
 an occasion offers, to do him a good in return. 
 And though we cannot requite God's kindness 
 to us by doing anything that shall be profita- 
 ble to him, yet a spirit of thankfulness will 
 dispose us to do what we can which is well- 
 pleasing or acceptable to him, or which may 
 tend to his declarative glory. If one man 
 should take pity on another who was in some 
 great distress, or in danger of some terrible 
 death, and moved by this pity should greatly 
 lay himself out for his defence and deliver- 
 ance, and should undergo great hardships and 
 sufferings in order to it, and by these means 
 should actually deliver him, and if the latter 
 should express great thankfulness toward his 
 deliverer, and yet in his actions and course 
 of conduct should oppose and dishonor and 
 cast contempt upon him, and do him great 
 injury, no one would give much heed to all 
 his professions of thankfulness. If he is truly 
 thankful, he will never act thus wickedly 
 toward his benefactor. And so no man can 
 
TENDS TO' HOLY PRACTICE IN LIFE. 347 
 
 be truly thankful to Gocl for the dying love 
 of Christ, and for the infinite mercy and love 
 of God toward himself, and yet lead a wicked 
 life. His gratitude, if sincere, will lead him 
 to be holy. The same is true, again, 
 
 7. Of a Christian weanedness from the 
 world, and: of heavenly-mindedness, that they 
 tend to holy practice. — And I speak of the two 
 together, for they are very much the same 
 thing expressed negatively and positively. 
 Not to be weaned from the world, is the same 
 thing as to be worldly-minded ; and on the 
 other hand, to have a truly Christian weaned- 
 ness from the world, is to be not worldly, but 
 heavenly-minded. And this grace, like all 
 the others mentioned, tends to holy practice. 
 If the heart be taken ofY from the world, it 
 will tend to take off the pursuits from the 
 world ; and if the heart be set on heavenly 
 things, which are things not of the world, it 
 will tend to lead us to pursue the things that 
 are heavenly. He that has his heart loose 
 from the world, will not practically keep the 
 world close in his grasp, as being exceeding 
 loth to part with any of it. If a man speak- 
 ing of his experience, tells how at some given 
 time he felt his heart weaned from the world, 
 
348 TRUE GRACE m THE 'HEART 
 
 so that the world seemed as nothing and 
 vanity to him, and yet if in practice he seems 
 as violent after the world as ever, and a great 
 deal more earnest after it than he is after 
 heavenly things, snch as growth in grace, and 
 in the knowledge of God, and in duty, then 
 his profession will have but little weight in 
 comparison with his practice. And so if his 
 conduct shows that he thinks more of treasure 
 on earth than of treasure in heaven, and if 
 when he has got the world, or some part of it, 
 he hugs it close, and appears exceedingly re- 
 luctant to let even a little of it go for pious 
 and charitable uses, though God promises him 
 a thousand-fold more in heaven for it, he 
 gives not the least evidence of his being 
 weaned from the world, or that he prefers 
 heavenly things to the things of the world. 
 Judging by his practice, there is sad reason 
 to believe that his profession is in vain. The 
 same is true, also, 
 
 8. Of the spirit of Christian love to men, 
 that this also tends to fwly practice. — If the 
 spirit of love to man be sincere, it will tend 
 to the practice and deeds of love. That is a 
 hypocritical, and not a sincere love, that ap- 
 pears only in word and tongue, and not in 
 
 
TENDS TO HOLY PRACTICE IN LIFE. 349 
 
 deed; but that love which is sincere, and 
 really a true love, will be manifest in the 
 deeds, as says the Apostle, "My little chil- 
 dren, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, 
 but in deed and in truth. And hereby we 
 know that we are of the truth, and shall assure 
 our hearts before him," 1 John iii. 18, 19. 
 No other love to brethren, except that which 
 shows itself in deeds of love, will profit any 
 man. " If a brother or sister be naked, and 
 destitute of daily food, and one of you say 
 unto them, Depart in peace, be you warmed 
 and filled, notwithstanding ye give them not 
 those things which are needful to the body, 
 what doth it profit?" James ii. 15, 16. 
 
 Experience shows, that those who cherish a 
 sincere love toward others, are ready both to 
 do and suffer for them. We are very ready 
 to believe that parents love their own children, 
 because this is natural ; and such a love 
 generally prevails throughout the world. But 
 incredible as it is that a man should not love 
 his own children, yet if there was a father that 
 beheld his child in suffering circumstances, 
 and would not put himself out of the way to 
 relieve him, or that did not ordinarily treat 
 his children with consideration and kindness, 
 
350 TRUE GRACE IN THE HEART 
 
 but acted from day to day as though he were 
 utterly careless of their comfort, or as to what 
 became of them, we should scarcely believe 
 that he had anything of a father's love in his 
 heart. Love to our children, will dispose us 
 to loving deeds to our children. And so love 
 to our neighbor, will dispose us to all manner 
 of good practice toward our neighbor. So the 
 Apostle declares, when after summing up the 
 several commandments of the second table of 
 the law, he says, "And if there be any other 
 commandment, it is briefly comprehended in 
 this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neigh- 
 bor as thyself," and then adds, " Love worketh 
 no ill to his neighbor : therefore love is the 
 fulfilling of the law," Romans xiii. 9, 10. 
 Once more, and lastly, the same remark ap- 
 plies, 
 
 9. To a true and gracious hope, that this 
 also tends to holy practice. — A false hope has 
 a tendency just the reverse of this. It tends 
 to licentiousness ; to encourage men in their 
 sinful desires and lusts, and to flatter and em- 
 bolden them even when they are in the way of 
 evil. But a true Jiope, so far from hardening 
 men in sin, and making them careless of their 
 duty, tends to stir them up to holiness of life, 
 
TENDS TO HOLY PRACTICE IN LIEE. 351 
 
 to awaken them to duty, and to make them 
 more careful to avoid sin, and more diligent 
 in serving God. " Every man that hath this 
 hope in him, pnrineth himself even as he is 
 pure," 1 John iii. 3. A gracious hope has 
 this tendency from the nature of the happi- 
 ness hoped for, which is a holy happiness ; a 
 happiness that the more a man seeks and 
 hopes for, the more he is quickened and en- 
 livened in the disposition to be holy. And it 
 also has this tendency from the respect it has 
 to the author of the happiness hoped for ; for 
 it hopes for it from God, as the fruit of his 
 undeserved and infinite mercy, and therefore 
 by every motive of gratitude the heart is en- 
 gaged and stirred up to seek that which is 
 well-pleasing to him. And it has the same 
 tendency from a regard to the means by 
 which it hopes to obtain this happiness ; for 
 a true hope looks forward to the obtaining of 
 happiness in no other way but the way of the 
 gospel, which is by a ho]y Saviour, and in a 
 way of cleaving to and following him. And 
 it has, lastly, the same tendency by the influ- 
 ence of that which is the immediate source of 
 all gracious hope, which is faith in Christ, and 
 such faith always works, and works by love, 
 
352 TRUE GRACE IN THE HEART 
 
 and purifies the heart, and brings forth holy 
 fruits in the life. 
 
 Thus it has been shown, first by general 
 arguments, and then by an induction of par- 
 ticulars wherein all the principal Christian 
 graces have been mentioned, that all true 
 grace in the heart tends to holy practice in 
 the life, just as truly as the root of the plant 
 tends to growth in the plant itself, or as light 
 has a tendency to shine, or the principle of 
 life to manifest itself in the actions of the 
 living person. In the application of the sub- 
 ject, 
 
 1. We may see one main reason why Chris- 
 tian practice and good works, are so abun- 
 dantly insisted on in the Scriptures as an 
 evidence of sincerity in grace. Christ has 
 given it as a rule to us, that we are to judge 
 men by their fruits, Matthew vii. 16-20 ; and 
 he insists on it, in a very emphatic manner, 
 that the one that keeps his commandments, is 
 the one that truly loves him, John xiv. 21 ; 
 and declares that the man that loves him, will 
 keep them, and the man that does not love 
 him, will not keep them, John xiv. 23, 24. 
 Hence we may see the reason why the Apos- 
 tle Paul so much insisted on this point, declar- 
 
TENDS TO HOLY PRACTICE IN LIFE. 353 
 
 ing to those to whom he wrote, that if any 
 pretended to belong to the kingdom of God, 
 and yet did not keep God's commandments, 
 they were either hypocrites or self-deceivers. 
 His language is, " For this ye know, that no 
 whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous 
 man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance 
 in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no 
 man deceive you with vain words ; for because 
 of these things cometh the wrath of God upon 
 the children of disobedience," Ephesians v. 
 5, 6. "Know ye not that the unrighteous 
 shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be 
 not deceived ; neither fornicators, nor idola- 
 ters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers 
 of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor 
 covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor ex- 
 tortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God," 
 1 Corinthians vi. 9, 10. "They that are 
 Christ's, have crucified the flesh, with the affec- 
 tions and lusts," Galatians v. 24. " If ye live 
 after the flesh, ye shall die," Komans viii. 13. 
 And all this teaches us the reason, why the 
 same thing is so much insisted on by the 
 Apostle James, in various places with which 
 you are familiar, and by the Apostle John, 
 more than almost any other subject. It is 
 23 
 
354 TRUE GRACE IN THE HEART 
 
 because God would have it deeply impressed 
 on all, that good works are the only satisfying . 
 evidence that we are truly possessed of grace 
 in the soul. It is by our practice that God 
 judges us here on earth, and it is by our prac- 
 tice that he will judge us all at the great and 
 final day. 
 
 2. In mew of this subject let all examine 
 themselves, whether their grace is real and sin- 
 cere. — Let every one diligently and prayer- 
 fully ask, whether their graces all tend to 
 practice, and are seen from day to day in the 
 life and conduct. But here even some truly 
 godly persons may be ready to say, that if 
 they judge themselves by their practice, they 
 must condemn themselves, for they fail so 
 much and so frequently, and are so often 
 wandering out of the way, that at times it 
 scarcely seems that they can be the children 
 of God. But to such I answer, that persons 
 who try themselves by their practice, may find 
 that they greatly fail every day, and are often 
 wandering out of the way, and yet they may 
 really see no just cause in their practice to 
 condemn themselves. For when we speak 
 of a life of Christian practice, and when 
 the Scriptures speak of the course of life as 
 
TENDS TO HOLY PRACTICE IN LIFE. 355 
 
 Christian, the meaning is not, that the life is 
 a perfect and sinless life. On the contrary, a 
 Christian's life may be attended with many 
 and exceeding great imperfections, and yet 
 be a holy life, or a truly Christian life. It 
 may be such a life as to clearly, and even 
 necessarily show, that the grace which the 
 individual has, is of the kind which has a 
 tendency to holy practice. His fruits may 
 be such as to be good evidence of the good 
 nature of the tree, and his works such as to 
 show his faith. And if you ask for still fur- 
 ther light, then I would say, whatever your 
 imperfections and failings may be, examine 
 yourself whether you find the following evi- 
 dences of your grace being of that kind which 
 tends to holy practice. 
 
 First, Has your supposed grace such influ- 
 ence, as to render those things in which you 
 have failed of holy practice, loathsome, griev- 
 ous and humbling to you f Has it such influ- 
 ence in your mind as to render your past 
 sinful practices hateful in your eyes, and has 
 it led you to mourn before God for them? 
 And does it render those things in your con- 
 duct that since your supposed conversion have 
 been contrary to Christian practice, odious in 
 
356 TRUE GRACE IN THE HEART 
 
 your eyes ? And is -it the great burden of 
 your life, that your practice is no better ? Is 
 it really grievous to you, that you have fallen, 
 or do fall into sin ; and are you ready, after 
 the example of holy Job, to abhor yourself for 
 it, and repent in dust and ashes, and like 
 Paul to lament your wretchedness, and pray 
 to be delivered from sin, as you would from 
 a body of death ? 
 
 Second, Do you carry about with you, ha- 
 bitually, a dread of sin f Do you not only 
 mourn, and humble yourself for sins that are 
 past, but have you a dread of sin for the 
 future ? And do you dread it because in it- 
 self it is evil, and so hurtful to your own soul, 
 and offensive to God ? Do you dread it as a 
 terrible enemy that you have often suffered 
 by, and feel that it has been a grievous thing 
 to you heretofore % And do you dread it as 
 something that has hurt, and wounded, and 
 stung you, so that you would see it no more ? 
 Do you stand on your watch against it, as a 
 man would keep watch against something that 
 he dreads, with such a dread as led Joseph to 
 say, " How can I do this great wickedness, 
 and sin against God?" Genesis xxxix. 9. 
 
 Third, Are you sensible of the beauty and 
 
TENDS TO HOLT PRACTICE IN LIFE. 357 
 
 pleasantness of the ways of holy practice? 
 Do you see the beauty of holiness, and the 
 loveliness of the ways of God and Christ ? It 
 is said in the text that " charity rejoiceth in 
 the truth ;" and it is given as the character 
 of the truly godly, that " he rejoiceth and 
 worketh righteousness," which is the same as 
 saying that "he rejoices to work righteous- 
 ness." And how often does the Psalmist 
 speak of the law of God as being his delight, 
 and of his love to the divine commandments ! 
 jpburth, Do you find that you do particularly 
 esteem and delight in those practices that may, 
 by way of eminence, be called Christian prac- 
 tices, in distinction from mere worldly moral- 
 ity f And by Christian practices are meant 
 such as are implied in a meek, humble, pray- 
 erful, self-denying, self-renouncing, heavenly 
 walk and behavior. Some of the heathen 
 have been eminent for many of the moral 
 virtues, and wrote excellently about them, as 
 for example, of justice, and generosity, and 
 fortitude, &c. ; but they were far from a 
 Christian poverty of spirit and lowliness of 
 mind. They sought their own glory, and 
 gloried exceedingly in their outward virtues, 
 and seemed to know nothing of such a walk 
 
358 TRUE GRACE IN THE HEART 
 
 as the gospel commands, a walk of self-empti- 
 ness, and poverty of spirit, and self-distrust, 
 and self-renunciation, and prayerful reliance 
 on God. They were strangers to meekness, 
 and did not allow, or even dream that the for- 
 giveness and love of enemies was a virtue. 
 Such virtues as these, are peculiarly Christian 
 virtues, and Christian by way of distinction 
 and eminence, and of these it is, that I ask, 
 if you hold them in special esteem, for your 
 Saviour's sake, and because they are fraught 
 with*his spirit? If you are essentially dis- 
 tinguished and different in your spirit from 
 the mere moralist, or the heathen sage or 
 philosopher, you will have a spirit of special 
 esteem for and delight in these virtues that 
 do especially belong to the gospel. 
 
 Fifth, Do you hunger and thirst after a 
 holy practice f Do you long to live a holy 
 life, to be conformed to God, to have your 
 conduct, day by day, better regulated, and 
 more spiritual, more to God's glory, and more 
 such as becometh a Christian ? Is this what 
 you love, and pray for, and long for, and live 
 for ? This is mentioned by Christ, as belong- 
 ing to the character of true Christians, that 
 
TENDS TO HOLY PRACTICE IN LIFE. 359 
 
 they "hunger and thirst after righteousness." 
 Does this trait belong to you ? 
 
 Sixth, Do you make a business of endeavor- 
 ing to live holily, and as God would have you, 
 in all respects f ISTot only can you be said to 
 endeavor after holiness, but do you make a 
 business of endeavoring after it ? Is it a mat- 
 ter that lies with weight upon your mind. A 
 true and faithful Christian does not make holy 
 living a mere incidental thing, but it is his 
 great concern. As the buisness of the soldier 
 is to fight, so the business of the Christian is 
 to be like Christ, to be holy as he is holy. 
 Christian practice is the great work that he is 
 engaged in, just as the race was the great 
 work of the racers. Is this so with you ? And 
 is it your great aim and love to keep all God's 
 commandments, and so far as known to neglect 
 none ? " Then," says the Psalmist, " I shall 
 not be ashamed when I have respect unto all 
 thy commandments." Is this your serious, 
 constant, and prayerful aim, that you may be 
 faithful in every known duty? And once 
 more, 
 
 Seventh, Do you greatly desire that you may 
 hnow all that is your duty? And do you 
 desire to know it that you may do it ? With 
 
360 TRUE GRACE IN THE HEART. 
 
 the patriarch Job, can you, and do you pray 
 to the Almighty, " That which I see not, teach 
 thou me," adding, as he added, to the great 
 searcher of hearts, " If I have done iniquity, I 
 will do no more ?" 
 
 If you can honestly meet these tests, then 
 you have the evidence that your grace is of 
 the kind that tends to holy practice, and to 
 growth in it. And though you may fall, 
 through God's mercy you shall rise again. 
 He that hath begun a good work in you, will 
 carry it on until the day of Jesus Christ. 
 Though you may be, at times, faint, yet if 
 pursuing, you shall be borne on from strength 
 to strength, and kept by the power of God, 
 through faith, unto salvation. 
 
LECTURE XII. 
 
 CHARITY OR A CHRISTIAN SPIRIT WILLING- TO 
 UNDERGO ALL SUFFERINGS IN THE WAY OF 
 DUTY. 
 
 " Beareth all tilings." — 1 Cor. xiii. 7. 
 
 Havtng in the previous verses declared 
 those fruits of charity that consist in doing, 
 the Apostle now proceeds to speak of those 
 that have reference to suffering. / and here he 
 declares that charity, or the spirit of Chris- 
 tian love, tends to dispose men, and make 
 them willing to undergo all sufferings for 
 Christ's sake, and in the way of duty. This 
 I suppose to be the meaning of the expression, 
 " Beareth all things" Some, I know, would 
 understand these words as referring only to 
 the meek bearing of injuries from our fellow- 
 men. But it seems to me that they are rather 
 to be understood in the sense here given, of 
 
362 CHARITY WILLING TO UNDERGO 
 
 suffering in the cause of Christ and religion ; 
 and that, for the following reasons : — 
 
 First, As to bearing injuries from men, 
 that the Apostle had mentioned before, in 
 saying that " charity suffereth long," and 
 again, in declaring that it "is not easily pro- 
 voked," or that it tends to the resisting of the 
 passion of anger ; and therefore there is no 
 need to suppose that he would use such tau- 
 tology as again to mention the same thing a 
 third time. 
 
 Second, The Apostle seems evidently to 
 have done with the fruits of charity of a more 
 active nature, and to have summed them all 
 up in the expression of the previous verse, 
 "rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in 
 the truth." He had been rehearsing over the 
 various points of good conduct toward our 
 neighbor which charity tends to, and having 
 summed up these in the above expression, he 
 now seems to proceed to traits of another na- 
 ture, and not to be repeating the same things 
 over in other words. 
 
 Third, It is a frequent thing for the Apos- 
 tle Paul, to mention suffering in the cause of 
 Christ as a fruit of Christian love ; and there- 
 fore it is not probable that he would omit so 
 
ALL SUFFERINGS IN THE WAT OF DUTY. 363 
 
 great a fruit of love in this place, where he is 
 professedly reckoning up all the important 
 fruits of love or charity. It is common for 
 the Apostle elsewhere to mention suffering in 
 the cause of religion as a fruit of love or 
 charity. So he does in 2 Cor. v, 14, where, 
 after speaking of what he had undergone in 
 the cause of Christ, on account of which others 
 were ready to say he was beside himself, he 
 gives as the reason of it, that the love of 
 Christ constrained him. And so, again, in 
 Rom. v. 3, 5, he gives it as a reason why he was 
 willing to glory in tribulations, that " the love 
 of God was shed abroad in his heart by the 
 Holy Ghost." And still again, he declares, 
 that neither tribulation, nor distress, nor per- 
 secution, nor famine, nor nakedness, nor peril, 
 nor sword, should be able to separate him 
 from the love of Christ, Rom. viii. 35. Now 
 since suffering in the cause of Christ is so 
 great a fruit of charity, and so often spoken 
 of elsewhere by the Apostle, it is not likely 
 that he would omit it here, where he is pro- 
 fessedly speaking of the various fruits of 
 charity. 
 
 Fourth, The following words, "believeth 
 all things, hopeth all things, endureth all 
 
364 CHARITY WILLING TO UNDERGO 
 
 things," all show that the Apostle has done 
 with those fruits of charity that have chief 
 reference to our fellow-men, as may be mani- 
 fest hereafter when these expressions may be 
 more fully considered. The doctrine, then, 
 that I would draw from the text, is, 
 
 That charity, or a truly Christian spirit, 
 
 WILL MAKE US WILLING, FOR Christ's SAKE, TO 
 UNDERGO ALL SUFFERINGS TO WHICH WE MAY BE 
 
 exposed in the way of duty. — And in clearing 
 this doctrine, I would first, briefly explain it, 
 and then give some reason or proof of its 
 truth. 
 
 I. I would explain the doctrine. — And in so 
 doing, I remark, 
 
 1. That it implies that those that have the true 
 spirit of charity, or Christian love, are willing 
 not only to do, hut also to suffer for Christ. — ■ 
 Hypocrites may, and oftentimes do make a 
 great show of religion in profession, and in 
 words that cost nothing, and in actions that 
 involve no great difficulty or suffering. But 
 they have not a suffering spirit, or a spirit 
 that inclines them willingly to suffer for 
 Christ's sake. "When they undertook in re- 
 ligion, it was not with any view to suffering, 
 or with any design or expectation of being in- 
 
ALL SUFFERINGS IN THE WAY OF DUTY. 365 
 
 jured by it in their temporal interests. They 
 closed with Christ, so far as they did, only to 
 serve a turn for themselves. All that they do 
 in religious things, is from a selfish spirit, and 
 commonly very much for their interest, as it 
 was with the Pharisees of old ; and therefore 
 they are far from the spirit that is willing to 
 meet suffering, either in their persons or their 
 interests. But those that are truly Christians, 
 have a spirit to suffer for Christ ; and they are 
 willing to follow him on that condition which 
 he himself has given : " Whosoever cloth not 
 bear his cross and come after me, cannot be 
 my disciple," Luke xiv. 27. And not only 
 are they willing to suffer for Christ, but, 
 
 2. It is also implied in our doctrine, that 
 they have the spirit to undergo all the suffer- 
 ings to which their duty to Christ may expose 
 them. And here, 
 
 First, They are willing to undergo all suf- 
 ferings, of all Jcinds, that are in the way of 
 duty. They have the spirit of willingness to 
 suffer in their good name: for Christ's sake 
 to suffer reproach and contempt, and to pre- 
 fer the honor of Christ before their own. 
 "With the Apostle they can say, "Therefore I 
 take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in 
 
366 CHARITY WILLING TO UNDERGO 
 
 necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for 
 Christ's sake," 2 Cor. xii. 10. They have a 
 spirit to suffer the hatred and ill-will of men, 
 as was foretold by Christ when he said, " Ye 
 shall be hated of all men for my name's sake," 
 Matthew x. 22. They have a spirit to suffer 
 losses in their outward possessions ; as says 
 the Apostle, " Yea, doubtless, and I count all 
 things but loss for the excellency of the knowl- 
 edge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I 
 have suffered the loss of all things," Philip- 
 pians iii. 8. They have the spirit to suffer in 
 their ease and comfort, and to endure hard- 
 ships and fatigues ; like Paul, to approve 
 themselves faithful, " in much patience, in 
 afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in 
 stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in la- 
 bors, in watchings, in fastings," 2 Cor. vi. 4, 5. 
 They have the spirit to suffer pain of body, 
 like those "who were tortured, not accepting 
 deliverance, and those who had trial of cruel 
 mockings and scourgings, and of bonds and 
 imprisonment," Hebrews xi. 35, 36. They 
 have a spirit to suffer even death itself. " He 
 that findeth his life shall lose it, and he that 
 loseth his life for my sake shall find it," Matt, 
 x. 39. These, and all other conceivable suf- 
 
ALL SUFFERINGS IN THE WAY OF DUTY. 367 
 
 ferings in hind they are willing to undergo 
 for Christ's sake, and in the way of duty. 
 And so, 
 
 Second, They are willing to undergo all suf- 
 ferings, of all degrees, that are in the way of 
 duty. They are like pure gold, that will bear 
 the trial of the hottest furnace. They have 
 the heart to forsake all and follow Christ, and 
 comparatively to "hate" even "father, and 
 mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, 
 and sisters, yea, and their own life, also," for 
 Christ's sake, Luke xiv. 26. They have the 
 spirit to suffer the greatest degrees of reproach 
 and contempt ; and to have trial not only of 
 mockings, but of cruel mockings ; an<J to bear 
 not only loss, but the loss of all things. They 
 have the spirit to suffer death, and not only 
 so, but the most cruel and tormenting forms 
 of death, such as " to be stoned, to be sawn 
 asunder, and to be slain with the sword, and 
 to wander about in sheep-skins and goat-skins, 
 being destitute, afflicted, tormented," He- 
 brews xi. 37. The fiercest and most cruel 
 sufferings in degree, they are willing to un- 
 dergo for Christ. I proceed, 
 
 II. To give some reason or proof of the doc- 
 twine. — And that it is so, that they who have 
 
CHAEITT WILLING- TO UKDEEGO 
 
 a truly gracious spirit are willing to undergo 
 all sufferings that they may be exposed to in 
 the way of their duty, will appear from the 
 following considerations : — 
 
 1. If we have not such a spirit, it is an evi- 
 dence that we have never given ourselves unre- 
 servedly to Christ; — It is necessary to our being 
 Christians, or followers of Christ, that we 
 should give ourselves to him unreservedly, to 
 be his wholly, and his only, and his forever. 
 And therefore the believer's closing with 
 Christ, is, often, in the Scriptures, compared 
 to the act of a bride in giving herself in mar- 
 riage to her husband ; as when God says to 
 his people, " I will betroth thee unto me for- 
 ever ; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in 
 righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving- 
 kindness, and in mercies," Hosea ii. 19. But 
 a woman, in marriage, gives herself to her 
 husband to be his, and his only. True be- 
 lievers are not their own, for they are bought 
 with a price ; and they consent to the full right 
 that Christ has in them, and recognize it by 
 their own act, giving themselves to him as a 
 voluntary and living sacrifice, wholly devoted 
 to him. But they that have not a spirit to 
 suffer all things for Christ, show that they do 
 
ALL SUFFERINGS IN THE WAY OF DUTY. 369 
 
 not give themselves wholly to him, because 
 they make a reserve of such cases of suffering 
 as they are not willing to bear for his sake. 
 In those cases they desire to be excused from 
 being for Christ and his glory, and choose 
 rather that his cause should be set aside for 
 their own ease or interest, and indeed should 
 entirely give way for it. But making such 
 reserves of cases of suffering, is certainly in- 
 consistent with truly devoting themselves to 
 God. It is rather being like Ananias and 
 Sapphira, who gave but part, and kept back 
 part of that which they professed to give to the 
 Lord. To give ourselves wholly to Christ, im- 
 plies the sacrificing of our own temporal in- 
 terest wholly to him. But he that wholly 
 sacrifices his temporal interest to Christ, is 
 ready to suffer all things in his worldly inter- 
 ests for him. If God be truly loved, he is 
 loved as God ; and to love him as God, is to 
 love him as the supreme good. But he that 
 loves God as the supreme good, is ready to 
 make all other good give place to that ; or, 
 which is the same thing, he is willing to suffer 
 all for the sake of this good. 
 
 2. They that are truly Christians, so fear 
 God, that his displeasure is far more terrible 
 24 
 
370 CHARITY WILLING TO UNDERGO 
 
 than all earthly afflictions and su[ 
 When Christ is telling his disciples what suf- 
 ferings they should be exposed to for his sake, 
 he says to them, " Be not afraid of them, that 
 kill the body, and after that have no more 
 that they can do; but I will forewarn you 
 whom ye shall fear ; fear him, which after he 
 hath killed, hath power to cast into hell ; yea, 
 I say unto you, fear him," Luke xii. 4, 5. And 
 so, again, it is said by the prophet, " Sanctify 
 the Lord of hosts himself, and let him be your 
 fear, and let him be your dread," Isaiah viii. 
 13. Kow they that are truly Christians, see 
 and know him who is so great and dreadful a 
 God, and they know that his displeasure and 
 wrath are far more dreadful than all the tem- 
 poral sufferings that can be in the way of their 
 duty, and more dreadful than the wrath and 
 cruelty of men, or the worst torments that 
 they can inflict. And therefore they have a 
 spirit to suffer all that can be inflicted, rather 
 than forsake God, and sin against him who 
 can inflict upon them eternal wrath. 
 
 3. They that are truly Christians, have that 
 faith whereby they see that which is more 
 than sufficient to makeup for the greatest suf- 
 ferings they can endure in the cause of Christ. 
 
ALL SUFFERINGS IN THE WAY OF DUTY. 371 
 
 — They see that excellency in God and Christ, 
 whom they have chosen for their portion, 
 which far outweighs all possible sufferings. 
 And they see, too, that glory which God has 
 promised to them that suffer for his sake — that 
 far more exceeding and eternal weight of 
 glory, which their sufferings for Christ's sake 
 work out for them, and in comparison with 
 which, the heaviest sorrows and most endur- 
 ing trials, are but " light afflictions, enduring 
 but for a moment," 2 Cor. iv. 17. Moses' 
 faith is given as a reason why he was willing 
 to suffer affliction with the people of God, and 
 to endure reproach for Christ's sake, because, 
 in the exercise of that faith, he saw something 
 better than the throne and riches of Egypt 
 laid up for him in heaven, Heb. xi. 24-26. 
 
 4. If we are not willing to close with reli- 
 gion, notwithstanding all the difficulties at- 
 tending it, we shall he overwhelmed with shame 
 at last. — So Christ expressly teaches us. His 
 language is, " For which of you intending to 
 build a tower, sitteth not down first and 
 counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient 
 to finish it ; lest, haply, after he hath laid the 
 foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that 
 behold it begin to mock him, saying, this man 
 
372 - CHAEITY WILLING- TO UJSDERGO 
 
 began to build and was not able to finish ; or 
 what king, going to make war against another 
 king, sitteth not down first, and consnlteth 
 whether he be able, with ten thousand, to 
 meet him that cometh against him with twen- 
 ty thousand ? Or else, while the other is yet 
 a great way off, he sendeth an embassage, 
 and desireth conditions of peace. So likewise 
 whosoever he be of you, that forsaketh not all 
 that he hath, he cannot be my disciple," 
 Luke xiv. 28-33. The sufferings that are in 
 the way of our duty, are among the difficul- 
 ties that attend religion. They are part of 
 the cost of being religious. He, therefore, 
 that is not willing to meet this cost, never 
 complies with the terms of religion. He is 
 like the man that wishes his house was built, 
 but is not willing to meet the cost of building 
 it ; and so, in effect, refuses to build it. He 
 that does not receive the gospel with all its 
 difficulties ; does not receive it as it is proposed 
 to him. He that does not receive Christ with 
 his cross as well as his crown, does not truly 
 receive him at all. It is true that Christ in- 
 vites us to come to him to find rest, and to buy 
 wine and milk, but then he also invites us to 
 come and take up the cross, and that daily, 
 
ALL SUFFERINGS IN THE WAY OF DUTY. 373 
 
 that we may follow him ; and if we come only 
 to accept the former, we do not in truth ac- 
 cept the offer of the gospel, for both go to- 
 gether, the rest and the yoke, the cross and 
 the crown : and it will signify nothing that in 
 accepting only the one, we accept what God 
 never offered to us. They that receive only 
 the easy part of Christianity, and not the dif- 
 ficult, at best are but almost Christians; 
 while they that are wholly Christians, receive 
 the whole of Christianity, and thus shall be 
 accepted and honored, and not cast out with 
 shame at the last day. 
 
 5. Without this spirit which the text im- 
 plies, we cannot he said to forsake all for 
 Christ. — If there be any one kind or degree 
 of temporal suffering that we have not a spirit 
 to undergo for Christ, then there is something 
 that we do not forsake for him. For example, 
 if we are not willing to suffer reproach for 
 Christ, then we are not willing to forsake 
 honor for him. And so if we are not willing 
 to suffer poverty, pain, and death for his sake, 
 then we are not willing to forsake wealth, 
 ease, and life for him. But Christ is abun- 
 dant in teaching us, that we must be willing 
 to forsake all that we have for him, if duty 
 
374 CHARITY WILLING TO UNDERGO 
 
 requires it, or we cannot be his disciples, 
 Luke xiv. 26, &c. 
 
 6. Without this spirit, we cannot he said to 
 deny ourselves in the sense in 'which the Scrip- 
 tures require us to do it. — The Scriptures teach 
 us, that it is absolutely necessary to deny 
 ourselves in order to our being the disciples 
 of Christ. u Then said Jesus unto his disci- 
 ples, If any man will come after me, let him 
 deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow 
 me ; for whosoever will save his life shall 
 lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for my 
 sake, shall find it," Matt. xvi. 24, 25. These 
 expressions, as here used, signify as much as 
 a man's renouncing himself. And the one 
 who acts according to them in his practice, 
 lives as though he disowned himself for Christ. 
 He puts himself to difficulty or suffering, as 
 though he did not own himself. As the chil- 
 dren of Levi were said not to know or acknowl- 
 edge their own relatives and friends, when 
 they put them to the sword for their sin in 
 making the golden calf, so Christians are said 
 not to acknowledge, but to deny themselves, 
 when they crucify the flesh, and undergo 
 great sufferings for Christ as though they had 
 no mercy on themselves. Those that will do 
 
ALL SUFFERINGS IN THE WAY OF DUTY. 375 
 
 contrary to the will of Christ and his glory, 
 for the sake of avoiding suffering, deny Christ 
 instead of denying themselves. Those that 
 dare not confess Christ before persecutors, do 
 in fact deny him before men, and are of the 
 number of whom Christ says, that "he will 
 deny them before his father in heaven," Matt. 
 x. 33 ; and as to whom the Apostle says, " If 
 we suffer, we shall also reign with him ; if 
 we deny him, he also will deny us," 2 Timothy 
 ii. 12. 
 
 7. It is the character of all the true followers 
 of Christ, that they follow him in all things. 
 "These are they," says the beloved disciple, 
 alluding to those about the throne of God, 
 " these are they which follow the Lamb whither- 
 soever he goeth," Eev. xiv. 4. Those that 
 are willing to follow Christ only in prosperity 
 and not in adversity, or only in some suffer- 
 ings and not in all, cannot be said to follow 
 him whithersoever he goeth. "We read of one 
 who said to Christ, while he was on earth, 
 " Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou 
 goest;" and that Christ said to him, "The 
 foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have 
 nests, but the Son of man hath not where to 
 lay his head," Matt. viii. 19, 20. And by this 
 
376 CHARITY WILLING TO UNDERGO 
 
 he signified to him, that if he would follow 
 him wherever he went, he must follow him 
 through great difficulties and sufferings. They 
 that are true followers of Christ, are of the 
 same spirit toward Christ, that Ittai the Gittite 
 manifested toward David, in not only clinging 
 to him in prosperity, but also in his adversity, 
 even when David would have excused him 
 from going with him. He said, " As the 
 Lord liveth, and as my lord the king liveth, 
 surely in what place my lord the king shall 
 be, whether in death or life, even there also 
 will thy servant be," 2 Samuel xv. 21. Of 
 such a spirit are true Christians toward Christ, 
 the spiritual David. 
 
 8. It is the charade?' of true Christians, 
 that they overcome the world. — "Whatsoever 
 is born of God, overcometh the world," 1 John 
 v. 4. But to overcome the world, implies that 
 we overcome alike its flatteries and frowns, 
 its sufferings and difficulties. These are the 
 weapons of the world, by which it seeks to 
 conquer us ; and if there be any of these that 
 we have not a spirit to encounter for Christ's 
 sake, then by such weapons the world will 
 have us in subjection, and gain the victory 
 over us. But Christ gives his servants the 
 
ALL SUFFERINGS IN" THE WAY OF DUTY. 377 
 
 victory over the world in all its forms. They 
 are conquerors, and more than conquerors, 
 through him that hath loved them. Once 
 more, 
 
 9. The sufferings in the way of duty, are 
 often, in the Bible, called temptations or trrials-i 
 because by them God tries the sincerity of our 
 character as Christians. — By placing such 
 sufferings in our way, God tries whether we 
 have a spirit to undergo suffering, and so tries 
 our sincerity by suffering, as gold is tried by 
 the fire, to know whether it is pure gold or 
 not. And as by the fire the pure gold maybe 
 known from all baser metals, and from all 
 imitations of it ; so by observing whether we 
 are willing to undergo trials and sufferings 
 for Christ's sake, God sees whether we are 
 indeed his people, or whether we are ready to 
 forsake him and his service when any diffi- 
 culty or danger is in the way. It seems to be 
 with this view that the Apostle Peter says to 
 those to whom he wrote, " Though now for a 
 season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through 
 manifold temptations, that the trial of your 
 faith, being much more precious than of gold 
 that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, 
 might be found unto praise, and honor, and 
 
378 CHAEITY WILLING TO UNDERGO 
 
 glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ," 1 
 Peter i. 6, 7. And again, " Beloved, think it 
 not strange concerning the fiery trial which 
 is to try yon, as thongh some strange thing 
 happened nnto yon ; but rejoice, inasmuch as 
 ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings, that 
 when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be 
 glad also with exceeding joy," 1 Pet. iv. 12, 13. 
 And so God by his prophet declares, " I will 
 bring the third part through the fire, and will 
 refine them as silver is refined, and will try 
 them as gold is tried : they shall call on my 
 name, and I will hear them ; I will say, It is 
 my people ; and they shall say, the Lord is 
 my God," Zechariah xiii. 9. 
 
 In the application of this subject, let it 
 1. Lead those who think themselves Chris- 
 tians, to examine themselves, whether or no 
 they have the spirit to undergo all sufferings for 
 Christ. — It becomes all persons very strictly 
 to examine themselves, whether they are of a 
 suffering spirit or not, seeing such great im- 
 portance is attached to such a spirit in the 
 Scriptures. Though you never have had the 
 trial of having such great and extreme suffer- 
 ings laid in the way of your duty as many 
 others have had, yet you have had enough, in 
 
ALL SUFFERINGS IN THE WAY OF DUTY. 379 
 
 the course of God's providence, to show what 
 your spirit is, and whether you are of a dis- 
 position to suffer, and to renounce your own 
 comfort, and ease, and interest, rather than 
 forsake Christ. It is God's manner in his 
 providence, commonly, to exercise all pro- 
 fessors of religion, and especially those that 
 may live in times of trial, with trials of this 
 sort, by laying such difficulties in their way 
 as shall make manifest what their spirit is, 
 and whether it be a spirit of self-renunciation 
 or not. It is often the case with Christians 
 who are exposed to persecutions, that if they 
 will cleave to Christ, and be faithful to him, 
 they must suffer in their good name, and in 
 losing the good-will of others, or in their out- 
 ward ease and convenience, being exposed to 
 many troubles ; or in their estates, being 
 brought into difficulty as to their business ; or 
 must do many things that they are exceeding 
 averse to, and that are even dreadful to them. 
 Have you, when you have had such trials, 
 found in yourself a spirit to bear all things 
 that come upon you, rather than in anything 
 be unfaithful to your great Lord and Re- 
 deemer? And you have the more need to 
 examine yourselves with respect to this point, 
 
380 CHARITY WILLING- TO UNDERGO 
 
 for you know not but that before you die you 
 may have such trial of persecutions as other 
 Christians have had. Every true Christian 
 has the spirit of a martyr. And if you have 
 not the suffering spirit in the lesser trials or 
 sufferings that God may have sent upon you, 
 how will it be if he should expose you to bitter 
 persecutions, such as the saints of old some- 
 times were called to endure ? If you cannot 
 bear trials in little things, how can you possess 
 that charity which beareth all things? As 
 the prophet says in another case, "If thou hast 
 run with the footmen and they have wearied 
 thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? 
 And if in the land of peace, wherein thou 
 trustedst, they wearied thee, then how wilt 
 thou do in the swelling of Jordan?" Jeremiah 
 xii. 5. Our subject, 
 
 2. Exhorts all professors of religion, to 
 cherish a ready spirit, for Chrisfs saJce, to 
 undergo all sufferings that may oe i/n the way 
 of duty. And here consider, 
 
 First, How happy those persons are repre- 
 sented in the Scriptures to he, who have a spirit 
 to suffer, and do actually suffer for Christ. — 
 " Blessed," says Christ, " are they which are 
 persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is 
 
ALL SUFFERINGS IN THE WAY OF DUTY. 381 
 
 the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye when 
 men shall revile yon, and persecute yon, and 
 shall say all manner of evil against you, 
 falsely, for my sake. Rejoice and be exceed- 
 ing glad, for great is your reward in heaven," 
 Matt. v. 10, 12. And again, "Blessed are 
 ye that hunger now, for ye shall be filled. 
 Blessed are ye that weep now, for ye shall 
 laugh. Blessed are ye when men shall hate 
 you, and shall separate you from their com- 
 pany, and shall reproach you, and cast out 
 your name as evil for the Son of man's sake. 
 Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy, for 
 great is your reward in heaven," Luke vi. 
 21-23. And again, " Unto you it is given, in 
 the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on 
 him, but also to suffer for his sake," Philippians 
 i. 29. And again, " Blessed is the man that 
 endureth temptation, for when he is tried, he 
 shall receive the crown of life, which the 
 Lord hath promised to them that love him," 
 James i. 12. And again, " But and if ye 
 suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye," 
 1 Pet. iii. 14. And the New Testament is 
 full of similar expressions, all of which may 
 encourage us in the way of suffering for 
 Christ. And consider, also, 
 
382 CHARITY WILLING- TO UNDERGO 
 
 Second, What glorious rewards God has 
 promised hereafter to bestow on those that do 
 willingly suffer for Christ. — It is said that 
 they shall receive a " crown of life ;" and 
 Christ promises, that those that forsake houses, 
 or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or 
 wife, or children, or lands, for his name's sake, 
 shall receive an hundred-fold, and shall in- 
 herit everlasting life, Matt. xix. 29. And 
 again we are told, of those who suffer for 
 Christ's sake, that they shall be counted wor- 
 thy of the kingdom of God, 2 Thes. i. 5 ; and 
 again, that it is a faithful saying, that if we 
 suffer with Christ, we shall also reign with 
 him, 2 Timothy ii. 11, 12; and still again, 
 that if we suffer with him, we shall also be 
 glorified together with him, Romans viii. 17. 
 And we have, also, the most glorious promises 
 made to those that overcome, and gain the 
 victory over the world. " To him that over- 
 cometh," says Christ, "will I give to eat of 
 the tree of life, which is in the midst of the 
 paradise of God," and " he shall not be hurt 
 of the second death;" and "to him will I 
 give to eat of the hidden manna ;" and " to 
 him will I give power over the nations;" and 
 " I will give him the morning star ;" and "he 
 
ALL SUFFERINGS IN THE WAY OF DUTY. 383 
 
 shall.be clothed in white raiment, and I will 
 not blot ont his name out of the book of life, 
 but I will confess his name before my Father, 
 and before his angels ;" and " him will I make 
 a pillar in the temjne of my God, and he shall 
 go no more out, and I will write upon him my 
 new name;" and "to him that overcometh 
 will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even 
 as I also overcame, and am set down with my 
 Father in his throne," Eev. ii. 7, 11, IT, 26, 27, 
 28, and iii. 5, 12, 21. Surely promises so rich 
 and abundant as these, should make us will- 
 ing to undergo all sufferings for the sake of 
 Christ, who will so gloriously reward us for 
 them all. Once more, consider, 
 
 Third, How the Scriptures abound with 
 blessed examples of those that have suffered for 
 Christ's sake. — The Psalmist, speaking of the 
 reproach and blasphemy he had suffered from 
 the enemy and avenger, says, " All this is 
 come upon us, yet have we not forgotten thee, 
 neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant," 
 Psalm xliv. 17, 18; and again, "The proud 
 have had me greatly in derision, yet have 1 
 not declined from thy law ; many are my 
 persecutors and mine enemies, yet do I not 
 decline from thy testimonies ; princes have 
 
384 CHARITY WILLING TO UNDERGO 
 
 persecuted me without a cause, but my heart 
 standeth in awe of thy word," Psalm cxix. 51, 
 157, 161. And the prophet Jeremiah spake 
 boldly for God, though he was threatened 
 with death for so doing, Jer. xxvi. 11, 15. 
 And Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego re- 
 fused to bow down and worship the golden 
 image that the king of Babylon had set up, 
 though they knew they would be cast into 
 the fiery furnace, Daniel iii. ; and Daniel him- 
 self would still faithfully pray to his God, 
 though he expected for it to be shut up in the 
 den of lions, Daniel vi. But the time would 
 fail me to tell of Apostles, and prophets, and 
 martyrs, and saints, and of Christ himself, 
 who were faithful alike through good report 
 and evil report, and in sufferings and trials, 
 and who counted not their lives dear, so that 
 they might be faithful to the end. " Where- 
 fore seeing we, also, are compassed about 
 with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay 
 aside every weight, and the sin which doth 
 so easily beset us, and let us run with patience 
 the race that is set before us, looking unto 
 Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who 
 for the joy that was set before him, endured 
 the cross, despising the shame, and is set down 
 
ALL SUFFERINGS IN THE WAY OF DUTY. 385 
 
 at the right hand of the throne of God," Heb. 
 xii. 1, 2. "Fear none of those things which 
 thou shalt suffer. Be thou faithful unto death, 
 and I will give thee a crown of life." 
 
 25 
 
LECTURE XIII. 
 
 ALL THE GRACES OF CHRISTIANITY CONNECTED. 
 
 " Believeth all things, hopeth all things." — 1 Cor. xiii. 7. 
 
 In these words, the Apostle is commonly 
 understood to mean, that charity disposes us 
 to believe the best, and hope the best con- 
 cerning our neighbors, in all cases. But it 
 appears to me that this is not his meaning in 
 this place ; but rather that he intends to say, 
 that charity is a grace which cherishes and 
 promotes the exercise of all other graces, as 
 particularly of the graces of faith and hope. 
 Mentioning the graces of believing and hop- 
 ing, or of faith and hope, the Apostle here 
 shows how the exercise of these is promoted 
 by charity. My reasons for understanding 
 the Apostle in this sense, are the follow- 
 ing :-- 
 
 First, He had just before mentioned that 
 fruit of charity whereby it leads us to think 
 
G-RACES OF CHRISTIANITY CONNECTED. 387 
 
 the best of our neighbors, in saying that it 
 " thinketh no evil /" and we have no reason to 
 think he would repeat the same thing over 
 again in these words. 
 
 Second, It seems plain that the Apostle had 
 finished speaking of the fruits of charity to- 
 ward our neighbors, when he summed them 
 all up, as we have seen, in saying, that it 
 " rejoiceth not in iniquity, hut rejoiceth in the 
 truth ;" that is, that it tends to prevent all 
 evil behavior, and to promote all good beha- 
 vior. So that in this verse we might expect 
 him to proceed to mention some fruits of 
 charity of another kind, such for example, as 
 its tendency to promote the graces of faith and 
 hope, which are such great graces of the gospel. 
 
 Third, We find that the Apostle does, in 
 this chapter, more than once mention the 
 three graces of faith, hope, and charity, to- 
 gether. And it is but reasonable to suppose, 
 that each time he does so, he means the same 
 three graces. In the last verse of the chap- 
 ter, we find these three mentioned and com- 
 pared together; and there, by "faith" and 
 " hope," the Apostle plainly does not mean 
 believing or hoping the best respecting our 
 neighbors, but he does intend those great 
 
388 ALL THE GRACES OP 
 
 graces of the gospel that have God and Christ 
 for their main and immediate object. And so 
 when, in this place, he mentions the same 
 three graces as in the last verse of the chap- 
 ter, why shonld we not believe that he means 
 the same three things in the former place as 
 in the latter, since it is in the same chapter, 
 and the same discourse, and in the course of 
 the same argument. And, again, 
 
 Fourth, This view is agreeable to the drift 
 and aim of the Apostle throughout the chap- 
 ter, which is to show the relation of charity 
 to the other graces, and particularly to faith 
 and hope. This is what the Apostle is aiming 
 at in all that he says ; and therefore when he 
 comes to the conclusion of the matter in the 
 last verse, and says that of faith, hope, and 
 charity, the last is the greatest, he seems to 
 have reference to what he had said in the 
 words of the text, viz. : that charity " belie v- 
 eth all things, and hopeth all things," mean- 
 ing that charity is greater than the other two, 
 as it has the most effectual influence in produ- 
 cing them, and is that by which they are 
 cherished and promoted in the soul. For 
 these reasons, the doctrine I would draw from 
 the text, is this : — 
 
CHRISTIANITY CONNECTED. 389 
 
 That the graces of Christianity are all 
 connected together and mutually depend- 
 ENT on each other. — That is, they are all 
 linked together, and united one to another 
 and within another, as the links of a chain 
 are ; and one does, as it were, hang on an- 
 other, from one end of the chain to the other, 
 so that if one link be broken, all fall to the 
 ground, and the whole ceases to be of any 
 effect. And in unfolding this thought, I 
 would, first, briefly explain how the graces of 
 Christianity are all connected, and then give 
 some reasons why they are so. And I would, 
 
 I. Briefly explain the manner in which the 
 graces of Christianity are connected. And 
 this may be shown in three things : — 
 
 1. All the graces of Christianity always go 
 together. — They so go together, that where 
 there is one, there are all, and where one is 
 wanting, all are wanting. Where there is 
 faith, there are love, and hope, and humility ; 
 and where there is lo^e, there is also trust; 
 and where there is a holy trust in God, there 
 is love to God ; and where there is a gracious 
 hope, there also is a holy fear of God. "The 
 Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him ; 
 in those that hope in his mercy," Psalm cxlvii. 
 
390 ALL THE GRACES OF 
 
 11. "Where there is love to God, there is a 
 gracious love to man ; and where there is a 
 Christian love to man, there is love to God. 
 Hence we find that the Apostle John, at one 
 time gives love to the brethren as a sign of 
 love to God, saying, " If a man say, I love 
 God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar." 
 1 John iv. 20 ; and then, again, speaks of love 
 to God, as a sign of love to the brethren, say- 
 ing, " By this we know that we love the chil- 
 dren of God, when we love God and keep his 
 commandments," 1 John v. 2. It is, also, 
 true, 
 
 2. That the graces of Christianity depend 
 upon one another. — There is not only a con- 
 nection, whereby they are always joined to- 
 gether, but there is also a mutual dependence 
 between them, so that one cannot be without 
 the others. To deny one, would in effect be, 
 to deny another, and so all ; just as to deny 
 the cause, would be to deny the effect, or to 
 deny the effect, would be to deny the cause. 
 Faith promotes love, and love is the most 
 effectual ingredient in a living faith. Love 
 is dependent on faith ; for a being cannot be 
 truly loved, and especially loved above all 
 other beings, who is not looked upon as a real 
 
CHRISTIANITY CONNECTED. 391 
 
 being. And then love, again, enlarges and 
 promotes faith, because we are more apt to be- 
 lieve and give credit to, and more disposed to 
 trust in those we love, than in those we do 
 not. So faith begets hope, for faith sees and 
 trusts in God's sufficiency to bestow blessings, 
 and in his faithfulness to his promises, that 
 he will do what he has said. All gracious 
 hope, is hope resting on faith ; and hope en- 
 courages, and draws forth acts of faith. And 
 so love tends to hope, for the spirit of love is 
 the spirit of a child, and the more any one 
 feels in himself this spirit toward God, the 
 more natural it will be to him to look to God, 
 and go to God as his father. This childlike 
 spirit casts out the spirit of bondage and fear, 
 and gives the spirit of adoption, which is the 
 spirit of confidence and hope. " Ye have not 
 received the spirit of bondage again, to fear ; 
 but ye have received the spirit of adoption,' 
 whereby we cry, Abba, Father, " Eom. viii. 
 15 ; and the Apostle John tells us, "There is 
 no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out 
 fear," 1 John iv. 18. And so, again, a true 
 and genuine hope tends greatly to promote 
 love. When a Christian has most of a right 
 hope of his interest in God's favor, and in 
 
392 ALL THE GRACES OP 
 
 those eternal blessings that are its fruits, this 
 tends to draw forth the exercise of love, and 
 oftentimes does draw it forth; as says the 
 Apostle Paul, " Tribulation worketh patience, 
 and patience experience, and experience hope, 
 and hope maketh not ashamed, because the 
 love of God is shed abroad in our hearts," 
 Rom. v. 3-5. 
 
 Faith, too, promotes humility ; for the more 
 entirely any one depends on God's sufficiency, 
 the more will it tend to a low sense of his own 
 sufficiency. And so humility tends to pro- 
 mote faith; for the more any one has an 
 humble sense of his own insufficiency, the 
 more will his heart be disposed to trust only 
 on God, and to depend entirely on Christ. 
 So love promotes humility ; for the more the 
 heart is ravished with God's loveliness, the 
 more will it abhor itself, and abase and hum- 
 ble itself for its own unloveliness and vileness. 
 Humility promotes love; for the more any 
 one has an humble sense of his own unworthi- 
 ness, the more will he admire God's goodness 
 to him, and the more will his heart be drawn 
 out in love to him for his glorious grace. 
 Love tends to repentance ; for he that truly 
 repents of sin, repents of it because it is com- 
 
 
CHRISTIANITY CONNECTED. 393 
 
 mitted against a being that lie loves. And 
 repentance tends to humility ; for no one can 
 be truly sorry for sin, and self-condemned in 
 view of it, without being humbled in heart 
 for it. So repentance, faith, and love, all 
 tend to thankfulness. He that, by faith, 
 trusts to Christ for salvation, will be thankful 
 to him for salvation. He that loves God, 
 will be disposed thankfully to acknowledge 
 his kindness. And he that repents of his 
 sins, will be disposed heartily to thank God 
 for the grace that is sufficient to deliver him 
 from their guilt and power. A true love to 
 God, tends to love to men, who bear the 
 image of God ; and a spirit of love and peace 
 toward men, cherishes a spirit of love to God, 
 as love to the image cherishes love to the ori- 
 ginal. And so it might be shown how all the 
 graces depend one upon another, by mention- 
 ing many other particulars. Humility cher- 
 ishes all other graces, and all other graces 
 promote humility ; and so faith promotes all 
 other graces, and all other graces cherish and 
 promote faith. And the like is true of every 
 one of the graces of the gospel. 
 
 3. The different graces of Christianity, are, 
 in some respects, implied, one in another. — 
 
394 ALL THE GRACES OF 
 
 They are not only mutually connected and 
 dependent, and each promotive of the others, 
 but are in some respects implied in the na- 
 ture of each other. In respect to several of 
 them it is true, that one is essential to an- 
 other, or belongs to its very essence. Thus, 
 for example, humility is implied in the nature 
 of a true faith, so as to be of the essence of it. 
 It is essential to a true faith, that it be an 
 humble faith ; and essential to a true trust, 
 that it be an humble trust. And so humility 
 belongs to the nature and essence of many 
 other true graces. It is essential to Christian 
 love, that it be an humble love ; to submis- 
 sion, that it be an humble submission ; to re- 
 pentance, that it be an humble repentance; 
 to thankfulness, that it be an humble thank- 
 fulness ; and to reverence, that it be an hum- 
 ble reverence. 
 
 And so love is implied in a gracious faith. 
 It is an ingredient in it, and belongs to its 
 essence, and is, as it were, the very soul of 
 it. or its working, operative nature. As the 
 working, operative nature of man is his soul, 
 so the working and operative nature of faith 
 is love ; for the Apostle Paul tells us, that 
 " faith worketh by love," Galatians v. 6; 
 
CHRISTIANITY CONNECTED. 395 
 
 and the Apostle James tells us, that faith 
 without its working nature is dead, as the 
 body is without the spirit, James ii. 26. And 
 so faith is, in some respects, implied in love ; 
 for it is essential to a true Christian love, that 
 it be a believing love. So saving repentance 
 and faith are implied in each other. They 
 are both one and the same conversion of the 
 soul from sin to God, through Christ. The 
 act of the soul in turning from sin to God 
 through Christ, as it respects the thing from 
 which the turning is, viz.: sin, is called re- 
 pentance ; and as it respects the thing to 
 which, and the mediation by which it turns, 
 is called faith. But it is the same motion of 
 the soul; just as when a man turns, or flees 
 from darkness to the light, it is the same act 
 and motion, though it may be called by dif- 
 ferent names, according as it respects the 
 darkness fled from, or the light fled to ; in the 
 one case, being called avoiding, or turning 
 from, and in the other, receiving or embracing. 
 And so there is love implied in thankful- 
 ness. True thankfulness is no other than the 
 exercise of love to God on occasion of his 
 goodness to us. So there is love in a true and 
 childlike fear of God; for a childlike fear 
 
396 ALL THE GRACES OF 
 
 differs from a slavish, for a slavish fear has no 
 love in it. And all these three graces of love, 
 humility and repentance, are implied in gra- 
 cious childlike submission to the will of God. 
 And so weanedness from the world, and heav- 
 enly mindedness do consist mainly in the three 
 graces of faith, hope, and love. And so a Chris- 
 tian love to man, is a kind of mediate or indirect 
 love to Christ ; and that justice and truth to- 
 wards men that are truly Christian graces, have 
 love in them, and essential to them. Love 
 and humility, again, are the graces wherein 
 consists meekness toward men. And so it is 
 love to God, and faith, and humility, that are 
 the ingredients of Christian patience and con- 
 tentment with our condition, and with the al- 
 lotments of providence toward us. Thus it 
 appears, that all the graces of Christianity are 
 concatenated and linked together, so as to be 
 mutually connected and mutually dependent. 
 I proceed, then, as proposed, 
 
 II. To gwe some reasons of their being thus 
 connected and dependent. And, 
 
 1. They are all from the same source. — All 
 the graces of Christianity are from the same 
 spirit; as says the Apostle, "There are diver- 
 sities of gifts, but the same Spirit ; diversities 
 
CHRISTIANITY CONNECTED. 397 
 
 of operations, but it is the same God which 
 worketh all in all," 1 Cor. xii. 4, 6. The 
 graces of Christianity are all from the same 
 spirit of Christ sent forth into the heart and 
 dwelling there as a holy, and powerful, and 
 divine nature ; and therefore all graces are 
 only the different ways of acting on the part 
 of the same divine nature ; as there may be 
 different reflections of the light of the sun, 
 and yet all in origin the same kind of light, 
 because it all comes from the same source or 
 body of light. Grace in the soul, is the Holy 
 Spirit acting in the soul, and thus communicat- 
 ing his own holy nature. As it is with water in 
 the fountain, so here it is all one and the same 
 holy nature, only diversified by the variety 
 of streams sent forth from it. These streams 
 must all be of the same nature, seeing they 
 all thus come from the same source ; and the 
 difference of many of them, whereby they 
 have different names, is chiefly relative, and 
 more from reference to their various objects 
 and modes of exercise, than from a real differ- 
 ence in their abstract nature. So also, 
 
 2. They are all communicated in the same 
 work of the Spirit, namely in conversion. — 
 There is not one conversion of the soul to 
 
398 ALL THE GEACES OF 
 
 faith, and another conversion to love to God, 
 and another to humility, and another to re- 
 pentance, and still another to love to man ; 
 but all are produced by one and the same 
 work of the Spirit, and are the result of one 
 and the same conversion, or change of the 
 heart. And this proves that all the graces are 
 united and linked together, as being contained 
 in that one and the same new nature that is 
 given us in regeneration. It is here, as it is 
 in the first generation, that of the body, in 
 which the several faculties are communicated 
 in one and the same generation, the senses of 
 seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting, and smelling, 
 and so the powers of moving, breathing, &c, 
 all being given at the same time, and all 
 being but one human nature, and one human 
 life, though diversified in its modes and forms. 
 It is further true of the Christian graces, 
 
 3. That they all have the same root and 
 foundation, namely, the knowledge of God]s 
 excellence. — The same sight or sense of God's 
 excellency begets faith, and love, and repent- 
 ance, and all the other graces. One sight of 
 this excellence will beget all these graces, 
 because it shows the ground and reason of all 
 holy dispositions, and of all holy behavior 
 
CHRISTIANITY CONNECTED. 399 
 
 toward God. They that truly know God's 
 nature will love him, and trust in him, and 
 have a spirit to submit to him, and serve, and 
 obey him. "They that know thy name, will 
 put their trust in thee," Psalm ix. 10. " Who- 
 soever sinneth, hath not seen him, neither 
 known him," 1 John iii. 6. " Every one that 
 loveth, is born of God, and knoweth God," 
 1 John iv. 7. It is also true of the Christian 
 graces, 
 
 4. That they all have the same rule, namely 
 the law of God. — And therefore they must be 
 linked together ; for seeing they all have 
 respect to this rule, they all tend to confirm 
 the whole of the rule, and to conform the 
 heart and life to it. He that has a true respect 
 to one of God's commands, will have a true 
 respect to all ; for they are all established by 
 the same authority, and are all jointly an ex- 
 pression of the same holy nature of God. 
 " Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and 
 yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all ; 
 for he that said, Do not commit adultery, said 
 also, Do not kill. JSTow if thou commit no 
 adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a 
 transgressor of the law," James ii. 10, 11. 
 
 5. All the Christian graces have the same 
 
400 ALL THE GRACES OF 
 
 end, namely God. — He is their end, for they 
 all tend to him. As thej are all from the 
 same source, rising from the same fountain ; 
 and all stand on the same foundation, growing 
 from the same root ; and are all directed by 
 the same rule, the law of God ; so they are all 
 directed to the same end, namely God, and 
 his glory, and our happiness in him. And 
 this shows that they must be nearly related, 
 and very much linked together. And once 
 more, it is true, 
 
 6. That all the Christian graces are alike 
 related to one and the same grace, namely 
 charity, or divine love, as the sum of them 
 all. — As we have before seen, charity or love 
 is the sum of all true Christian graces, how- 
 ever many names we may give them. And 
 however different the modes of their exercise, 
 or the ways of their manifestation, if we do 
 but carefully examine them, we shall find 
 they are all resolved into one. Love, or char- 
 ity, is the fulfilling of them all, and they are 
 but so many diversifications, and different 
 branches, and relations, and modes of exer- 
 cise of the same thing. One grace does, in 
 effect, contain them all, just as the one prin- 
 ciple of life comprehends all its manifestations. 
 
CHRISTIANITY CONNECTED. 401 
 
 And hence it is no wonder that they are 
 always together, and are dependent on and 
 implied in one another. In the application 
 of this subject, 
 
 1. It may aid us to understand in what 
 sense old things are said to he done away, and 
 all things become new in conversion. — This is 
 what the Apostle teaches us is the fact. " If 
 any man be in Christ, he is a new creature ; 
 old things are passed away ; behold ail things 
 are become new," 2 Cor. v. 17. Now the 
 doctrine of the text and what has been said 
 under it, may in some measure show us how 
 this is ; for by this we learn, that all the 
 graces of Christianity are at once imparted in 
 conversion, inasmuch as they are all linked 
 together, so that when one is bestowed, all 
 are bestowed, and not a single one merely. 
 A true convert, the moment he is converted, 
 is possessed not of one or two, but of all holy 
 principles, and all gracious dispositions. They 
 may be feeble indeed, like the faculties and 
 powers of an infant child, but they are all 
 truly there, and will be seen flowing out pro- 
 gressively in every kind of holy feeling and 
 behavior toward both God and man. In every 
 real convert, there are as many graces as 
 26 
 
402 ALL THE GRACES OF 
 
 there were in Jesus Christ himself, which is 
 what the evangelist John means, when he says, 
 " The word was made flesh, and dwelt among 
 ns, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of 
 the only begotten of the Father, full of grace 
 and truth; and of his fulness have all we re- 
 ceived, and grace for grace," John i. 14, 16. 
 And, indeed, it cannot be otherwise, for all 
 true converts are renewed in Christ's image 
 as says the Apostle, "And have put on the 
 new man, which is renewed in knowledge, 
 after the image of him that created him," 
 Colos. iii. 10. But that is no true image or 
 picture of another, which has some parts or 
 features wanting. An exact image has a part 
 answerable to each part in that of which it is 
 an image. The copy answers to the original, 
 throughout, in all its parts and features, though 
 it may be obscure in some respects, and not 
 represent any part perfectly, as grace answers 
 to grace. Grace in the soul, is a reflection of 
 Christ's glory, as appears by 2 Cor. iii. 18. 
 It is a reflection of his glory, as the image of 
 a man is reflected from a glass that exhibits 
 part for part. 
 
 It is in the new birth, as it is in the birth of 
 the infant child. He has all the parts of a 
 
CHEISTIANITY CONNECTED. 403 
 
 man, though they are as yet in a very imper- 
 fect state. JSTot a part is wanting, but there are 
 as many members as to a man of full stature 
 and strength. And therefore what is wrought 
 in regeneration, is called u the new man;" 
 not only new eyes, or new ears, or new hands, 
 but a new man, possessing all the human 
 faculties and members. But all the graces 
 of the Christian are new. All of them are 
 members of the individual after conversion, 
 and none of them were members before con- 
 version. And because there is, as it were, a 
 new man, with all these members, begotten 
 in conversion, therefore Christians are said to 
 be sanctified wholly, in soul, body and spirit, 
 as in 1 Thes. v. 23. And so old things pass 
 away, and all things become new, because as 
 the new man is put on, the old man is put off, 
 so that the man in a sense becomes new all 
 over. 
 
 And if there be all graces alive in this new 
 man, it will follow that all corruptions are 
 mortified; for there is no one corruption but 
 what has a grace opposite to, or to answer it: 
 and the bestowment of the grace, mortifies the 
 opposing corruption. Thus faith tends to mor- 
 tify unbelief; love, to mortify enmity; hu- 
 
404 ALL THE GRACES OF 
 
 militj, to mortify pride ; meekness, to mortify 
 revenge ; thankfulness, to mortify a thankless 
 spirit, &c. And as one of these takes its place 
 in the heart, the opposite gives way, just as 
 darkness in a room vanishes when a light is 
 brought in. Thus old things pass away. All 
 old things, in a measure, pass away, though 
 none perfectly on earth ; and so all things be- 
 come new, though also imperfectly. This 
 shows that conversion, whenever aud wherever 
 it is wrought, is a great work and a great 
 change. Though grace may be very imper- 
 fect, he must needs have a great change 
 wrought in him, who, before, had no corrup- 
 tion mortified, and now has all mortified ; and 
 who, before, had not one grace, and now has 
 all graces. He may well be called a new 
 creature, or, as in the original, a new creation 
 in Christ Jesus. 
 
 2. Hence, also, they that hope they have 
 grace in their hearts, may try one grace hy 
 another, for all graces go together. — If persons 
 think they have faith, and therefore think 
 they have come to Christ, they should inquire 
 whether their faith was accompanied with 
 repentance ; whether they came to Christ in 
 a broken-hearted manner, sensible of their 
 
CHRISTIANITY CONNECTED. 405 
 
 own utter unworthiness and vileness by sin ; 
 or whether they did not come in a presumptu- 
 ous, pharisaical spirit, taking encouragement 
 from their own supposed goodness. They 
 should try their faith, by inquiring whether 
 it was accompanied with humility; whether 
 or no they trusted in Christ in a lowly and 
 humble manner, delighting to renounce them- 
 selves, and to give all the glory of their salva- 
 tion to Him. So they should try their faith, 
 by their love ; and if their faith has in it only 
 light, but no warmth, it has not the true light ; 
 neither is it genuine faith, if it does not work 
 by love. 
 
 And so persons should examine their love, 
 by their faith. If they seem to have an affec- 
 tionate love towards God and Christ, they 
 should inquire whether or no this be accom- 
 panied with a real conviction of soul of the 
 reality of Christ, and of the truth of the gos- 
 pel that reveals him, and with the full convic- 
 tion that he is the Son of God, the only, and 
 glorious, and all-sufficient Saviour. Herein 
 is one great difference between false affections 
 and true ones, that the former are not accom- 
 panied with this conviction, and they do not 
 withal see the truth and reality of divine things. 
 
406 ALL THE GRACES OF 
 
 And therefore such affections are very little 
 to be depended on. They are very much like 
 the affection which we may have towards a 
 person we are reading of in a romance, and 
 fc whom we at the same time suppose to be no 
 other than a feigned person. Such affections 
 as are not accompanied with conviction, will 
 never carry men very far in duty, or influence 
 them, to any great extent, either in doing or 
 suffering. 
 
 So, again, persons should examine them- 
 selves as to that in them which seems to 
 be the grace of hope. They should inquire 
 whether their hope is accompanied with faith, 
 and arises from faith in Jesus Christ, and from 
 a trust in his worthiness, and in his only ? Is 
 their hope built on this rock, or is it rather 
 founded on a high opinion of something they 
 think good in themselves '? And so they should 
 examine in what way their hope works, and 
 what influence it has upon them, and whether 
 or no it be accompanied with humility? A 
 true hope leads its possessor to see his own 
 unworthiness, and in view of his sins to re- 
 flect on himself with shame and brokenness 
 of heart. It lies in the dust before God, and 
 the comfort that arises from it, is a lowly 
 
CHRISTIANITY CONNECTED. 407 
 
 humble joy and peace. On the contrary, a 
 false hope is wont to lift its possessor up with 
 a high conceit of himself, and of his own ex- 
 perience and doings. We should also inquire 
 whether our hope be accompanied with a 
 spirit of obedience, and self-denial, and wean- 
 edness from the world? A true hope is ac- 
 companied with these other graces, linked to, 
 and dependent upon it, whereas a false hope 
 is without them. It does not engage the heart 
 in obedience, but flatters and hardens it in 
 disobedience. It does not mortify carnal ap- 
 petites, and wean from the world, but indulges 
 the appetites and passions that are sinful, and 
 chooses them, and makes men easy while 
 living in them. 
 
 So, again, persons should examine their 
 weaneclness from the world, by inquiring 
 whether it be accompanied with such a prin- 
 ciple of love as draws their hearts off from the 
 things of the world to those spiritual and 
 heavenly objects which a true divine love 
 carries the soul out to, more than to the things 
 of the world. They should not only ask if 
 they have something that appears like a true 
 love, but they should hear Christ asking of 
 them, as he did of Peter, " Simon, son of 
 
408 ALL THE OK ACES OF 
 
 Jonas, lovest thou me more than these?" 
 Herein a true weanedness from the world, 
 differs from a false weanedness. The latter 
 is not from love to God and heavenly things, 
 but commonly either from fear and distress 
 of conscience, or perhaps from some outward 
 affliction, whereby persons have their minds 
 drawn off for a time from the world to some- 
 thing that they are constrained to feel is 
 better, though it is not really sweeter to them ; 
 and they are only drawn, or beaten, or torn 
 off from the world, while their hearts would 
 still cleave to it just as much as ever, if they 
 could but enjoy it, free from these terrors and 
 afflictions. But they, on the other hand, that 
 have a true weanedness from the world, are 
 not wedded to worldly things even in their 
 best and most inviting forms, because their 
 hearts are drawn off by the love of something 
 better. They are so in love with God, ancL 
 with spiritual things, that their affections 
 cannot fasten on the things of the world. 
 
 In the same way, persons should try their 
 love to God, by their love to the people of 
 God ; and also, their love to their fellow Chris- 
 tians, by their love to God. False grace is 
 like a defective or monstrous picture or image, 
 
 
CHRISTIANITY CONNECTED. 4:09 
 
 wherein some essential part is wanting. There 
 is, it may be, an appearance of some good dis- 
 position toward God, while at the same time 
 there is a destitution of Christian dispositions 
 toward men. Or if there appears to be a kind, 
 just, generous, good-hearted disposition toward 
 man, there is a want of right feeling toward 
 God. On this account, we find God complains 
 of Ephraim, that " he is a cake not turned," 
 Hosea vii. 8 ; that is, that his goodness is par- 
 tial and not consistent ; that he is good in one 
 thing, and bad in another, like a cake not 
 turned, which is generally burnt on one side, 
 and raw on the other, and good for nothing 
 on either. Such a character we should studi- 
 ously avoid, and endeavor that each grace 
 that we have may testify to the genuineness of 
 all our other graces, so that we may be pro- 
 portioned Christians, growing in the unity of 
 the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of 
 God, unto perfect men, unto the measure of 
 the stature of the fulness of Christ. 
 
LECTURE XIV. 
 
 R TRUE GRA.CE, NOT T 
 
 THROWN BY OPPOSITION. 
 
 I 
 
 " Endureth all things." — 1 Cor. xiii. 7. 
 
 In these words, and in saying previously 
 that " charity suffereth long," and again, that 
 it "beareth all things," the Apostle is com- 
 monly understood as making statements of 
 substantially the same signification, as though 
 the three expressions were synonymous, and 
 all of them only said the same things in dif- 
 ferent words. 
 
 But this idea is doubtless from a misunder- 
 standing of his meaning. For if we closely 
 consider these various expressions, and the 
 manner in which they are used, we shall find 
 that every one of them signifies or points to a 
 different fruit of charity. Two of these ex- 
 pressions have already been considered, viz. : 
 that " charity suffereth long," and that it 
 
CHARITY NOT TO BE OVERTHROWN, ETC. 411 
 
 "beareth all things;" and the former was 
 shown to have reference to the bearing of in- 
 juries received from men, and the latter, to 
 the spirit that wonld lead ns to undergo all 
 sufferings to which we might be called for 
 Christ's sake, and rather than to forsake him 
 or our duty. And this expression of the text, 
 that charity " endureth all things," signifies 
 something different from either of the other 
 statements. It expresses the lasting and abid- 
 ing nature of the principle of charity, or true 
 grace in the soul, and declares that it will not 
 fail, but will continue and endure, notwith- 
 standing all the opposition it may meet with, 
 or that may be brought against it. The two 
 expressions, u beareth all things," and " en- 
 dureth all things," as in our English transla- 
 tion, and as commonly used, are indeed very 
 much of the same import. But the expression 
 of the original, if literally translated, would 
 be, " charity remains under all things ;" that 
 is, it still remains, or still remains constant, 
 and persevering, under all opposition that 
 may come against it. Whatever assaults may 
 be made upon it, yet it still remains, and en- 
 dures, and does not cease, but bears up, and 
 bears onward with constancy, and persever- 
 
412 CHAHITY KOT TO BE 
 
 ance, and patience, notwithstanding them 
 all. 
 
 According to the explanation that has been 
 given of the four expressions of this verse 
 ;; beareth," "believeth," "hopeth,"and " en- 
 dureth all things," the meaning of the Apostle 
 appears easy, natural, and agreeable to the 
 context. He is endeavoring to set forth the 
 universal benefit of charity, or a spirit of 
 Christian love. And to show how it is the 
 sum of all good in the heart, he first shows 
 how it disposes to all good behavior towards 
 men, and sums up that matter by saying that 
 charity rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth 
 in the truth. And then he proceeds, and de- 
 clares that charity not only disposes to doing 
 and suffering in the cause of Christ, but that 
 it includes a suffering spirit, so that it bear- 
 eth all things ; and that it does this by promot- 
 ing the two graces of faith and hope, which 
 are mainly occupied in sufferings in the cause 
 of Christ ; for such sufferings are the trials of 
 our faith, and what upholds the Christian 
 under them is the hope of a far more exceed- 
 ing and eternal weight of glory to be given 
 to the faithful in the end ; and charity cher- 
 ishes this faith and hope ; and as the fruit of 
 
OVERTHROWN BY OPPOSITION. 413 
 
 this faith and hope, it endures all things, and 
 perseveres, and holds out, and cannot be con- 
 quered by all the opposition made against it, 
 for faith overcomes the world, and hope in 
 God enables the Christian always to triumph 
 in Christ Jesus. The doctrine, then, that I 
 would derive from the text, is, That charity, 
 or true Christian grace, cannot be over- 
 thrown BY ANYTHING THAT OPPOSES IT. In 
 
 speaking to this doctrine, I would, J^rst, notice 
 the fact that many things do oppose grace in 
 the heart of the Christian ; second, advert to 
 the great truth, that it cannot be overthrown ; 
 and third, state some reasons why it cannot be 
 shaken, but remains firm under all opposition. 
 And, 
 
 I. There are many things that do greatly 
 oppose the grace which is in the heart of the 
 Christian. — This holy principle has innumera- 
 ble enemies constantly watching and warring 
 against it. The child of God is encompassed 
 with enemies on every side. He is a pilgrim 
 and stranger passing through an enemy's 
 country, and exposed to attack at any and 
 every moment. There are thousands of devils, 
 artful, intelligent, active, mighty, and impla- 
 cable, that are bitter enemies to the grace that 
 
414 CHABITY NOT TO BE 
 
 is in the heart of the Christian, and do all that 
 lies in their power against it. And the world 
 is an enemy to this grace, because it abounds 
 with persons and things that make oppo- 
 sition to it, and with various forms of allure- 
 ment and temptation, to win or drive us 
 from the path of duty. And the Christian 
 has not only many enemies without, but mul- 
 titudes within his own breast, that he carries 
 about with him, and from which he cannot 
 get free. Evil thoughts and sinful inclina- 
 tions cling to him ; and many corruptions that 
 still hold their footing in his heart are the 
 worst enemies that grace has, and have the 
 greatest advantage of any in their warfare 
 against it. And these enemies are not only 
 many, but exceeding strong and powerful, 
 and very bitter in their animosity, implaca- 
 ble, irreconcilable, mortal enemies, seeking 
 nothing short of the utter ruin and overthrow 
 of grace. And they are unwearied in their 
 opposition, so that the Christian, while he re- 
 mains in this world, is represented as being in 
 a state of warfare, and his business is that of 
 the soldier, insomuch that he is often spoken 
 of as a soldier of the cross, and as one whose 
 
OVERTHROWN BY OPPOSITION. 4:15 
 
 great duty it is to fight manfully the good 
 fight of faith. 
 
 Many are the powerful and violent assaults 
 that the enemies of grace make upon it. 
 They are not only constantly besieging it, but 
 often they assault it, as a city that they would 
 take by storm. They are always lurking and 
 watching for opportunity against it, and some- 
 times they rise up, in dreadful wrath, and 
 endeavor to carry it by urgent assault. Some- 
 times one enemy, and sometimes another, and 
 sometimes all together, with one consent, buf- 
 feting it on every side, and coming in like a 
 flood, are ready to overwhelm it, and to swal- 
 low it up at once. Sometimes grace, in the 
 midst of the most violent opposition of its ene- 
 mies fighting against it with their united sub- 
 tilty and strength, is like a spark of fire en- 
 compassed with swelling billows and raging 
 waves, that appear as if they would swallow it 
 up and extinguish it in a moment. Or it is 
 like a flake of snow falling into the burning 
 volcano ; or rather like a rich jewel of gold in 
 the midst of a fiery furnace, the raging heat 
 of which is enough to consume anything ex- 
 cept the pure gold, which is of such a nature 
 that it cannot be consumed by the fire. 
 
416 CHAKITY NOT TO BE 
 
 It is with grace in the heart of a Chris- 
 tian, very much as it is with the church of 
 God in the world. It is God's post ; and it is 
 but small, and great opposition is made against 
 it by innumerable enemies. The powers of 
 earth and hell are engaged against it, if pos- 
 sible to destroy it ; and oftentimes they rise 
 with such violence, and come with such great 
 strength against it, that if we were to judge 
 only by what appears, we should think it 
 would be taken and destroyed immediately. 
 It is with it as it was with the children of Is- 
 rael in Egypt, against whom Pharaoh and 
 the Egyptians united all their craft and 
 power, and set themselves to endeavor to 
 extirpate them as a people. It is with it as it 
 was with David in the wilderness, when he 
 was hunted as a partridge on the mountains, 
 and driven about by those that sought his life 
 from one desert or cave to another, and seve- 
 ral times was chased out into a strange land. 
 And it is with it as it has been with the Chris- 
 tian church under the heathen and antichris- 
 tian persecutions, when all the world, as it 
 were, united their strength and wit to exter- 
 minate it from the earth, destroying thousands 
 and millions with the utmost cruelty, and by 
 
OVERTHROWN BY OPPOSITION". 417 
 
 the most bloody persecutions without respect 
 to sex or age. But, 
 
 II. All the opposition that is, or can he 
 made against true grace in the heart, cannot 
 overthrow it. — The enemies of grace may, in 
 many respects, gain great advantages against 
 it. They may exceedingly oppress and re- 
 duce it, and bring it into such circumstances 
 that it may seem to be brought to the very 
 brink of utter ruin. But yet it will live. The 
 ruin that seemed impending shall be averted. 
 Though the roaring lion sometimes comes with 
 open mouth, and no visible refuge appears, 
 yet the lamb shall escape and be safe. Yea, 
 though it be in the very paw of the lion 
 or the bear, yet it shall be rescued and not 
 devoured. And though it even seems actually 
 swallowed down, as Jonah was by the whale, 
 yet it shall be brought up again and live. It 
 is with grace in the heart in this respect, as it 
 was with the ark upon the waters, however 
 terrible the storm may be, yea, though it be 
 such a deluge as overwhelms all things else, 
 yet it shall not overwhelm that. Though the 
 floods rise ever so high, yet it shall be kept 
 above the waters ; and though the mighty 
 waves may rise above the tops of the highest 
 27 
 
418 CHAEITY NOT TO BE 
 
 mountains, yet they shall not be able to get 
 above this ark, but it shall still float in safety. 
 Or it is with this grace, as it was with the ship 
 in which Christ was when there arose a great 
 storm, and the waves ran high, inasmuch that 
 it seemed as if the ship would instantly sink ; 
 and yet it did not sink, though it was actually 
 covered with waters, for Christ was in it. 
 
 And so, again, grace in the,, heart, is like 
 the children of Israel in Egypt, and at the 
 Red Sea, and in the wilderness. Though 
 Pharaoh strove ever so much to destroy them, 
 they yet grew and prospered. And when, 
 at last, he pursued them with all his army, 
 and with chariots and horsemen, and they 
 were pent up by the Red Sea, and saw no 
 way of escape, but seemed to themselves to 
 be on the very brink of ruin, yet they did es- 
 cape, and were not delivered a prey to their 
 foes. Yea, they were preserved in passing 
 through the very sea itself, for the waters 
 opened before them, and when they had 
 safely passed over, rolled back and over- 
 whelmed their foes. An d they were preserved 
 for a long time in the desolate wilderness, in 
 the midst of pits, and drought, and fiery fly- 
 ing-serpents. Thus as the gates of hell can 
 
OVERTHROWN BY OPPOSITION. 419 
 
 never prevail against the church of Christ, so 
 neither can they prevail against grace in the 
 heart of the Christian. The seed remaineth, 
 and none can root it ont. The fire is kept 
 alive even in the midst of the floods of water; 
 and though it often appears dim, or as if it 
 were just going out, so that there is no flame, 
 but only a little smoke, yet the smoking flax 
 shall not be quenched. 
 
 And grace shall not only remain, but' at 
 last shall have the victory. Though it may 
 pass through a long time of sore conflicts, and 
 may suffer many disadvantages and depres- 
 sions, yet it shall live ; and not only live, but it 
 will finally prosper, and prevail, and triumph, 
 and all its enemies shall be subdued under 
 its feet. As David in the wilderness, though 
 he was long kept in very low and distressed 
 circumstances, pursued by his potent enemies, 
 and many times apparently on the brink of 
 ruin where there seemed but a step between 
 him and death, was yet through all preserved, 
 and at last exalted to the throne of Israel, and 
 to wear the royal crown in great prosperity 
 and with glory, so we see it is with grace, that 
 it can never be overthrown, and its depres- 
 sions do but prepare the way for its exalta- 
 
420 CHARITY NOT TO BE 
 
 tion. Where it does truly exist in the heart, 
 all its enemies cannot destroy it, and all the 
 opposition made against it cannot crush it. It 
 endures all things, and stands all shocks, and 
 remains notwithstanding all opposers. And 
 the reason of this may be seen in these two 
 things : 
 
 1. That there is so much more in the na- 
 ture of true grace that tends to perseverance, 
 than in false grace. — False grace is a super- 
 ficial thing, consisting in mere outward show, 
 or in superficial affections, and not in any 
 change of nature. But true grace reaches to 
 the very bottom of the heart. It consists in a 
 new nature, and therefore it is lasting and en- 
 during. Where there is nothing but counter- 
 feit grace, corruption is unmortified, and what- 
 ever wounds may seem to be given it, they 
 are but slight wounds, that do not at all reach 
 its life or diminish the strength of its princi- 
 ple, but leave sin in its full strength in the 
 soul, so that it is no wonder that it ultimately 
 prevails, and bears down all before it. But 
 true grace really mortifies sin in the heart. 
 It strikes at its vitals, and gives it a wound 
 that is mortal, sending its stroke to the very 
 heart. When it first enters the soul, it begins 
 
OVERTHROWN BY OPPOSITION. 421 
 
 a never-ceasing conflict with sin, and therefore 
 it is no wonder that it keeps possession, and 
 finally prevails over its enemy. Counterfeit 
 grace never dispossesses sin of the dominion 
 of the soul, or destroys its reigning power 
 there, and therefore it is no wonder that it 
 does not itself remain. But true grace is of 
 such a nature that it is inconsistent with the 
 reigning power of sin, and dispossesses the 
 heart of it as it enters, and takes the throne 
 from it, and therefore is the more likely to 
 keep its seat there, and finally to prevail en- 
 tirely against it. Counterfeit grace, though 
 it may affect the heart, yet is not founded on 
 any real conviction of the soul. But true 
 grace begins in real and thorough conviction, 
 and having such a foundation, has so much 
 the greater tendency to perseverance. Coun- 
 terfeit grace is not diligent in prayer ; but 
 true grace is prayerful, and thus lays hold on 
 the divine strength to support it, and indeed 
 becomes divine itself, so that the life of God 
 is, as it were, imparted to it. Counterfeit 
 grace is careless whether it perseveres to the 
 end, or not ; but true grace naturally causes 
 earnest desires for perseverance, and leads to 
 hungerings and thirstings for it. It also makes 
 
422 CHABITY NOT TO BE 
 
 men sensible of the dangers they are encom- 
 passed with, and has a tendency to excite 
 them to watchfulness, and to care and dili- 
 gence that they may persevere, and to look to 
 God for help, and trust in him for preserva- 
 tion from the many enemies that oppose it. 
 And, 
 
 2. God will uphold true grace, when he has 
 once implanted it in the heart, against all op- 
 position. — He will never suffer it to be over- 
 thrown by all the force that may be brought 
 against it. Though there be much more in 
 true grace that tends to perseverance than 
 there is in counterfeit grace, yet nothing that 
 is in the nature of grace, considered by itself 
 and apart from God's purpose to uphold it, 
 would be sufficient to make sure its continu- 
 ance, or effectually to keep it from final over- 
 throw. We are kept from falling, not by the 
 inherent power of grace itself, but as the 
 Apostle Peter tells us (1 Pet. i. 5), "by the 
 power of God through faith." The principle 
 of holiness in the hearts of our first parents, 
 where it had no corruption to contend with, 
 was overthrown ; and much more might we 
 expect the seed of grace in the hearts of fallen 
 men, in the midst of so much corruption, and 
 
 
OVERTHROWN BY OPPOSITION. 423 
 
 exposed to such active and constant opposi- 
 tion, would be overthrown did not God up- 
 hold it. He has undertaken to defend it 
 from all its enemies, and to give it the victory 
 at last, and therefore it shall never be over- 
 thrown. And here I would briefly show how 
 it is evident that God will uphold true grace, 
 and not suffer it to be overthrown, and then 
 show some reasons why he will not suffer it. 
 
 First, I would show how it is evident that 
 God will uphold true grace in the heart. And 
 in oi] e word it is evident from his promise. 
 God has explicitly and often promised that 
 true grace shall never be overthrown. It is 
 promised in that declaration concerning the 
 good man (Psalm xxxvii. 24), that "though 
 he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down ; for 
 the Lord upholdeth him with his hand ;" and 
 again in the words (Jer. xxxii. 40), " I will 
 make an everlasting covenant with them, that 
 I will not turn away from them to do them 
 good ; but I will put my fear in their hearts, 
 that they shall not depart from me;" and 
 again, in those words of Christ (Matt, xviii. 
 14), that "it is not the will of your Father 
 which is in heaven, that one of these little 
 ones should perish." And in accordance with 
 
4:24: CHARITY NOT TO BE 
 
 these various declarations, Christ has promised 
 concerning grace (John xiv. 14), that it shall 
 be in the soul, "asa well of water, springing 
 np into everlasting life." And again he says 
 (John vi. 39), " This is the Father's will which 
 hath sent me, that of all which he hath given 
 me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it 
 up again at the last day." And in other places 
 it is said, that Christ's sheep " shall never 
 perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of 
 his hand," John x. 27; that whom God "did 
 foreknow, them he also called ; and whom he 
 called, them he also justified ; and whom he 
 justified, them he also glorified," and that 
 nothing "shall separate" Christians " from the 
 love of Christ," Rom. viii. 29, 30, 35 ; and 
 again, "that he which hath begun a good 
 work" in us, "will perform it until the day of 
 Jesus Christ," Phil. i. 6 ; and again, that 
 Christ " shall confirm" his people " unto the 
 end that" they " maybe blameless in the day 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Cor. i. 8 ; and 
 still again, that "he is able to keep" them 
 "from falling, and to present" them "fault- 
 less before the presence of his glory with 
 exceeding joy," Jude 24. And many other 
 similar promises might be mentioned, all of 
 
OVERTHROWN BY OPPOSITION. 425 
 
 which declare that God will uphold grace in 
 the heart in which he has once implanted it, 
 and that he will keep to the end those who 
 put their trust in him. But, 
 
 Second, I would briefly show some reasons 
 why God will uphold the principle of grace, 
 and keep it from oeing overthrown. And in 
 the ftrst place, unless the redemption provided 
 by Christ secured our perseverance through 
 all opposition, it would not be a complete re- 
 demption. Christ died to redeem us from the 
 evil we were subject to under the law, and to 
 bring us to glory. But if he brought us no 
 further than the state we were in at first, and 
 left us as liable to fall as before, then all his 
 redemption might be made void, and come to 
 nothing. Man, before the fall, being left to 
 the freedom of his own will, fell from his 
 steadfastness, and lost his grace when he was 
 comparatively strong and not exposed to the 
 enemies that now beset him. "What then 
 could he do in his present fallen state, and 
 with such imperfect grace, in the midst of his 
 powerful and manifold enemies, if his perse- 
 verance depended on himself alone? He 
 would utterly fall and perish ;• and the redemp- 
 tion provided by Christ, if it did not secure 
 
426 CHARITY NOT TO BE 
 
 him from thus falling, would be a very imper- 
 fect redemption. 
 
 In the second place, 'the covenant of grace 
 was introduced to supply what was wanting 
 in the first covenant, and a sure ground of 
 perseverance was the main thing that was 
 wanting in it. The first covenant had no 
 defect on the part of God who constructed it ; 
 in that respect it was most holy and just, and 
 wise and perfect. But the result proved that 
 on our part it was wanting, and needed some- 
 thing more in order to its being effectual for 
 our happiness ; and the thing needed was 
 something that should be a sure ground of our 
 perseverance. All the ground we had under 
 the first covenant was the freedom of our own 
 will ; and this was found not to be depended 
 on : and therefore God Jias made another 
 covenant. The first was liable to fail, and 
 therefore another was ordained more enduring 
 than the first, and that could not fail, and 
 which therefore is called " an everlasting cove- 
 nant." The things that could be shaken are 
 removed, to make way for those that cannot 
 be shaken. The first covenant had a head and 
 surety that was liable to fail, even the father 
 of our race ; and therefore God has provided 
 
OVERTHROWN BY OPPOSITION. 427 
 
 as the head and surety of the new covenant, 
 one that cannot fail, even Christ, with whom, 
 as the head and representative of all his 
 people, the new covenant is made, and ordered 
 in all things and sure. 
 
 In the third place, it is not fit that in a 
 covenant of mercy and saving grace, the 
 reward of life should be suspended on man's 
 perseverance as depending on the strength 
 and steadfastness of his own will. It is a cove- 
 nant of works, and not a covenant of grace 
 that suspends eternal life on that which is the 
 fruit of a man's own strength to keep him from 
 falling. If all is of free and sovereign grace, 
 then free grace has undertaken the matter to 
 complete and finish it, and has not left it to 
 men themselves, and to the power of their own 
 wills, as it was under the first covenant. As 
 divine grace has commenced the work, it will 
 finish it ; -and therefore we shall be kept to the 
 end. 
 
 In the fourth place, our second surety has 
 already persevered and done what our first 
 surety failed of doing ; and therefore we shall 
 surely persevere. Adam, our first surety, did 
 not persevere ; and so all fell with him. But 
 if he had persevered, all would have stood 
 
428 CHARITY NOT TO BE 
 
 with him, and never would have fallen. But 
 our second surety has already persevered, and 
 therefore all that have him for their surety 
 will persevere with him. "When Adam fell, 
 he was condemned, and all his posterity was 
 condemned with him, and fell with him. But 
 if he had stood, he would have been justified, 
 and so would have partaken of the tree of life, 
 and been confirmed in a state of life, and all 
 his posterity would have been confirmed. And 
 by parity of reason, now that Christ, the 
 second Adam, has stood, and persevered, and 
 is justified, and confirmed in life, all who are 
 in Christ and represented by him, are also 
 accepted, and justified, and confirmed in him. 
 The fact that he, as the covenant head of his 
 people, has fulfilled the terms of that cove- 
 nant, makes it sure that they shall persevere. 
 In the fifth place, the believer is already 
 actually justified, and thus entitled, through 
 the promise of mercy, to eternal life, and 
 therefore God will not suffer him to fail and 
 come short of it. Justification is the actual 
 acquittal of the sinner. It is a full acquittance 
 from guilt, and freedom from condemnation, 
 and deliverance from hell, and acceptance to 
 a full title to eternal life. And all this is 
 
OVERTHROWN BY OPPOSITION. 429 
 
 plainly inconsistent with the idea that deliver- 
 ance from hell, and the attainment of eternal 
 life, are yet suspended on an uncertain perse- 
 verance. 
 
 In the sixth place, the Scriptures teach us, 
 that the believer's grace and spiritual life, are 
 a partaking of the life of Christ in his resurrec- 
 tion, which is an immortal and unfading life. 
 This is plainly taught by the Apostle, when he 
 says (Col. ii. 13), "You hath he quickened 
 together with him," that is, with Christ ; and 
 again (Eph. ii. 4, 6), "But God, who is rich 
 in mercy, for his great love wherewith he 
 loved us, even when we were dead in sins, 
 hath quickened us together with Christ, and 
 hath raised us up together, and made us sit 
 together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus ;" 
 and still again (Gal. ii. 20), " I live ; yet 
 not I, but Christ liveth in me." These ex- 
 pressions show that the believer's spiritual life 
 cannot fail ; for Christ says (Rev. i. 18), "I 
 am he that liveth, and was dead ; and behold 
 I am alive for evermore ;" and the Apostle 
 says (Rom. vi. 9), " Knowing that Christ, 
 being raised from the dead, dieth no more ; 
 death hath no more dominion over him." 
 Our spiritual life being his .life, as truly as the 
 
430 CHAEITT NOT TO BE 
 
 life of the branch is the life of the tree, cannot 
 but continue. 
 
 In the seventh place, grace is that which 
 God hath implanted in the heart against the 
 great opposition of enemies, and therefore he 
 will doubtless maintain it there against their 
 continued and combined efforts to root it out. 
 The enemies of God and the soul used their 
 utmost endeavors to prevent grace being im- 
 planted in the heart that possesses it. But 
 God manifested his all-conquering and glorious 
 power in introducing it there in spite of them 
 all. And therefore he will not at last suffer 
 himself to be conquered by their expelling 
 that which he by his mighty power has so 
 triumphantly brought in. From all which it 
 is plain, that God will uphold the principle of 
 grace in the heart of the Christian, so that it 
 shall never be overthrown or fail. In the 
 application of this subject, 
 
 1. We may learn one reason why the devil 
 so exceedingly opposes the conversion of sin- 
 ners. — It is because if they are once converted, 
 they are forever converted, and thus forever 
 put beyond his reach, so that he can never 
 overthrow and ruin them. If there was such 
 a thing as falling, from grace, doubtless the 
 
OVERTHROWN BY OPPOSITION. 431 
 
 devil would even then oppose our having 
 grace ; but more especially does he oppose it 
 since he knows that if once we have it, he can 
 never expect to overthrow it, but that we, bj 
 its very possession, are finally lost to him and 
 forever out of the reach of his destroying 
 power. This may show us something of the 
 reason of that violent opposition that persons 
 who are under awakenings and convictions, 
 and who are seeking conversion, meet with 
 through the many and great temptations they 
 are assailed with by the adversary. He is 
 always active and greatly bestirs himself for 
 the overthrow of such, and heaps mountains 
 in their way, if possible, to hinder the saving 
 work of the Holy Spirit, and prevent their 
 conversion. He labors to the utmost to quench 
 convictions of sin, and if possible to lead per- 
 sons that are under them to return to the ways 
 of heedlessness and sloth in transgression. 
 Sometimes he endeavors to natter, and at 
 other times to discourage them, laboring to 
 entangle and perplex their minds, and to his 
 utmost stirring up exercises of corruption, 
 suggesting blasphemous thoughts, and leading 
 them to quarreling with God. By many sub- 
 tle temptations he endeavors to make them 
 
432 CHAEITY NOT TO BE 
 
 think that it is in vain to seek salvation. He 
 tempts them from the doctrine of God's de- 
 crees ; or by their own impotence and helpless- 
 ness ; or by telling them that all they do is 
 sin ; or by trying to persuade them that their 
 day of grace is past ; or by terrifying them 
 with the idea that they have committed the 
 unpardonable sin. Or it may be he tells them 
 that their pains and trouble are needless, and 
 that there is time enough hereafter ; or if 
 possible he will deceive them with false hopes, 
 and flatter them that they are in a safe estate 
 while they are still out of Christ. In these, 
 and innumerable other ways, Satan endeavors 
 to hinder the conversion of men, for he knows 
 the truth of the doctrine we have insisted on, 
 that if ever grace be implanted in the soul, he 
 can never overthrow it, and that the gates of 
 hell cannot prevail against it. Again, 
 
 2. We may see from this subject, that those 
 whose seeming grace fails, and is overthrown, 
 may conclude that they never had any true 
 grace.' — That is not true grace which is like 
 the morning cloud, and the early dew, which 
 passeth away. When persons seem for a 
 while to be awakened and terrified, and have 
 more or less of a sense of their sinfulness and 
 
OVERTHROWN BY OPPOSITION. 433 
 
 vileness, and then afterwards seem much affect- 
 ed with the mercy of God, and appear to find 
 comfort in him, and yet after all, when the 
 novelty is over, their impressions decline and 
 pass away, so that there is no abiding change 
 in the heart and life, then it is a sign that they 
 have no true grace. There is nothing in the 
 case of such that answers to the declaration 
 of the Apostle (2 Cor. v. 17), that " if any 
 man be in Christ, he is a new creature." If 
 the individual, after seeming conversion, turns 
 back from God and Christ and spiritual things, 
 and the heart again goes after vanity and the 
 world, and the known duties of religion are 
 neglected, and the person again returns to the 
 ways of sin, and goes on gratifying the selfish 
 or sensual appetites, and leading a carnal and 
 careless life, then all the promise of his ap- 
 parent conversion is deceptive. It is but like 
 the promise of the blossoms on the trees in the 
 time of spring or early summer, so many of 
 which fall off, and never bring forth fruit. 
 The result proves that all these seeming ap- 
 pearances of grace are only appearances, and 
 that those who trust to them are awfully 
 deluded. The grace that does not hold out 
 and persevere, is not real grace. Once more, 
 28 
 
434 CHAEITY NOT TO BE 
 
 3. The subject affords matter of great joy 
 and comfort to all who have good evidence that 
 they indeed have true grace in their hearts, — 
 Those with whom it is thus, are possessed of 
 an inestimable jewel, which is worth more 
 than all the jewels and precious stones, and 
 all the crowns and costly treasures in the uni- 
 verse. And this may be a matter of great 
 comfort to them, that they never shall lose 
 this jewel, but that he that gave it will keep 
 it for them ; and that as he has brought them 
 into a most happy state, so he will uphold 
 them in it, and that his mighty power by 
 which he is able to subdue all things to him- 
 self, is on their side, and pledged for their 
 protection, so that none of their enemies shall 
 be able to destroy them. They may rejoice 
 that they have a strong city unto which God 
 has appointed salvation for walls and bul- 
 warks. And whatever bitterness their enemies 
 manifest against them, and however subtle and 
 violent they may be in their attacks upon 
 them, they may still stand on high on their 
 munitions of rocks on which God has set them, 
 and laugh their foes to scorn, and glory in the 
 Most High as their sure refuge and defence. 
 The everlasting arms are underneath them. 
 
OVERTHROWN BY OPPOSITION. 435 
 
 Jehovah, who rides upon the heavens, is their 
 help. And all their foes he will subdne under 
 his feet ; so that they may well rejoice in the 
 Lord, and joy in the rock of their salvation. 
 Finally, 
 
 4. The subject also affords matter of great 
 encouragement to the saints in carrying on the 
 warfare against the enemies of their souls. — 
 It is the greatest of all disadvantages to a 
 soldier to have to go forth to battle without 
 the hoj3e of being able to conquer, but with 
 the prevailing expectation of being overcome. 
 As hope in the one case might be half the 
 victory, so despondency in the other would be 
 likely to ensure defeat. The latter would 
 debilitate and weaken, while the former would 
 co-operate with and increase strength. You 
 that have good evidence that you have grace 
 in your hearts, have, then, all that you can 
 need to encourage you. The captain of your 
 salvation will assuredly conduct you to victory 
 in the end. He who is able to uphold you 
 has promised that you shall overcome, and 
 his promise shall never fail. Resting on that 
 promise, be faithful to your part, and ere long 
 the song of victory shall be yours, and the 
 crown of victory he will place, with his own 
 hands, upon your head. 
 
LECTUEE XV. 
 
 THE HOLY SPIRIT FOREVER TO BE COMMUNICATED 
 TO THE SAINTS, IN THE GRACE OF CHARITY, OR 
 DIVINE LOVE. 
 
 " Charity never faileth. But whether there he prophe- 
 cies, they shall fail ; whether there be tongues, they shall 
 cease ; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away." 
 — 1 Cor. xiii. 8. 
 
 In the entire context, the drift of the Apos- 
 tle is, to show the superiority of charity over 
 all the other graces of the Spirit. And in this 
 chapter he sets forth its excellence by three 
 things : first, by showing that it is the most 
 essential thing, and that all other gifts are 
 nothing without it ; second, by showing that 
 from it all good dispositions and behavior do 
 arise ; and third, by showing that it is the 
 most durable of all gifts, and shall remain 
 when the church of God shall be in its most 
 perfect state, and when the other gifts of the 
 
ETC. 437 
 
 Spirit shall have vanished away. And in the 
 text may be observed two things : — 
 
 First, That one property of charity by 
 which its excellence is set forth, is, that it is 
 unfailing and everlasting. " Charity never fail- 
 eth." This naturally follows the last words 
 of the preceding verse, that " Charity endur- 
 eth all things." There the Apostle declares 
 the durableness of charity as it appears in its 
 withstanding the shock of all the opposition 
 that can be made against it in the world. 
 And now he proceeds further, and declares 
 that charity not only endures to the end of 
 time, but also throughout eternity. " Charity 
 never faileth." When all temporal things shall 
 have failed, this shall still abide, and abide 
 forever. "We may also observe in the text, 
 
 Second, That herein charity is distinguished 
 from all the other gifts of the Spirit, such as 
 prophecies, and the gift of tongues, and the gift 
 of knowledge, &c. " Whether there be prophe- 
 cies, they shall fail ; whether there be tongues, 
 they shall cease ; whether there be knowledge, 
 it shall vanish away;" but "charity never 
 faileth." By the knowledge here spoken of, 
 is not meant spiritual and divine knowledge in 
 general ; for surely there will be such knowl- 
 
438 THE HOLY SPIRIT FOREVER 
 
 edge hereafter in heaven, as well as now on 
 earth, and vastly more than there is on earth, 
 as the Apostle expressly declares in the fol- 
 lowing verses. The knowledge that Christians 
 have of God, and Christ, and spiritual things, 
 and in fact all their knowledge, as that word 
 is commonly understood, shall not vanish 
 away, but shall be gloriously increased and 
 perfected in heaven which is a world of light 
 as well as love. But by the knowledge which 
 the Apostle says shall vanish away, is meant 
 a particular miraculous gift that was in the 
 church of God in those days. For the Apos- 
 tle, as we have seen, is here comparing char- 
 ity with the miraculous gifts of the Spirit, those 
 extraordinary gifts which were common in the 
 church in those days, one of which was the 
 gift of prophecy, and another the gift of tongues, 
 or the power of speaking in languages that 
 had never been learned. Both these gifts are 
 mentioned in the text, and the Apostle says 
 they shall fail and cease. And another gift 
 was the gift of knowledge, or the word of 
 knowledge, as it is called in the eighth verse 
 of the previous chapter, where it is so spoken 
 of as to show that it was a different thing both 
 from that speculative knowledge which is ob- 
 
TO BE COMMUNICATED IN LOVE. 439 
 
 tained from reason and study, and also from 
 that spiritual or divine knowledge that comes 
 from the saving influence of the Holy Spirit 
 in the soul. It was a particular gift of the 
 Spirit with which some persons were endowed, 
 whereby they were enabled by immediate in- 
 spiration to understand mysteries, or the mys- 
 terious prophecies and types of the Scriptures, 
 which the Apostle speaks of in the second 
 verse of this chapter, saying, "Though I have 
 the gift of prophecy, and understand all mys- 
 teries and all knowledge, &c." It is this mi- 
 raculous gift which the Apostle here says shall 
 vanish away, together with the other miracu- 
 lous gifts of which he speaks, such as prophe- 
 cy, and the gift of tongues, &c. All these 
 were extraordinary gifts, bestowed for a sea- 
 son for* the introduction and establishment 
 of Christianity in the world, and when this 
 their end was gained, they were all to fail and 
 cease. But charity was never to cease. Thus 
 the Apostle plainly teaches, as the doctrine 
 of the text, 
 
 That that great fruit of the Spirit, in 
 which the Holy Ghost shall, not only for a 
 season, but everlastingly be communicated 
 
440 THE HOLY SPIRIT FOEEVEE 
 
 TO THE CHTJECH OP ChEIST, IS CHAEITY, OE DI- 
 VINE LOVE. 
 
 That the meaning and truth of this doctrine 
 may be better understood, I would speak to it 
 in the four following propositions : first, The 
 spirit of Christ will be everlastingly given to 
 his church and people, to influence and dwell 
 in them ; second, There are other fruits of the 
 Spirit besides divine love, wherein the Spirit 
 of God is communicated to his church ; third, 
 These other fruits are but for a season, and 
 either have already, or will at some time cease ; 
 fourth, That charity, or divine love, is that 
 great and unfailing fruit of the Spirit, in which 
 his everlasting influence and indwelling in the 
 saints, or in his church, shall appear. 
 
 I. The Spirit of Christ is given to his church 
 and people, everlastingly to influence and dwell 
 in them. — The Holy Spirit is the great pur- 
 chase, or purchased gift of Christ. The chief 
 and sum of all the good things in this life and 
 in the life to come, that are purchased for the 
 church, is the Holy Spirit. And as he is the 
 great purchase, so he is the great promise, 
 or the great thing promised by God and Christ 
 to the church, as said the Apostle Peter on 
 the day of Pentecost (Acts ii. 32, 33), "This 
 
TO BE COMMUNICATED IN LOVE. 441 
 
 Jesus, being by the right hand of God exalted, 
 and having received of the Father the prom- 
 ise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this 
 which ye now see and hear." And this great 
 purchase and promise of Christ is forever to be 
 given to his church. He has promised that 
 his church shall continue, and expressly de- 
 clared that the gates of hell shall not prevail 
 against it. And that it may be preserved, he 
 has given his Holy Spirit to every true mem- 
 ber of it, and promised the continuance of 
 that Spirit forever. His own language is 
 (John xiv. 16, 17), "And I will pray the 
 Father, and he shall give you another com- 
 forter, that he may abide with you forever ; 
 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world can- 
 not receive, because it seeth him not, neither 
 knoweth him ; but ye know him, for he dwell- 
 eth with you, and shall be in you." - 
 
 Man, in his first estate in Eden, had the 
 Holy Spirit ; but he lost it by his disobe- 
 dience. But a way has been provided by 
 which it may.be restored, and now it is given 
 a second 'time, never more to depart from the 
 saints. The Spirit of God is so given to his 
 own people as to become truly theirs. It w T as, 
 indeed, given to our first parents in their state 
 
442 THE HOLY SPIRIT FOREVER 
 
 of innocence, and dwelt with them, but not in 
 the same sense in which it is given and dwells 
 in believers in Christ. Tha y had no proper 
 right or sure title to the Spirit, and it was not 
 finally and forever given to them, as it is to 
 believers in Christ ; for if it had been, they 
 never would have lost it. But the Spirit of 
 Christ is not only communicated to those that 
 are converted, but he is made over to them by 
 a sure covenant, so that he is become their 
 own. Christ is become theirs, and therefore 
 his fulness is theirs, and therefore his Spirit is 
 theirs — -their purchased, and promised, and 
 sure possession. But, 
 
 II. There are other fruits of the Spirit he- 
 sides that which summarily consists in char- 
 ity, or divine love, wherein the Spirit of God 
 is communicated to his church. For ex- 
 ample, 
 
 1. The Spirit of God has been communi- 
 cated to his church in extraordinary gifts, 
 such as the gift of miracles, the gift of inspi- 
 ration, <&c. — The Spirit of God seems to have 
 been communicated to the church in such 
 gifts, formerly to the prophets under the Old 
 Testament, and to the Apostles, and evange- 
 lists, and prophets, and to the generality of the 
 
TO BE COMMUNICATED IN LOVE. 443 
 
 early ministers of the gospel, and also to mul- 
 titudes of common Christians under the New 
 Testament. To them were given such gifts 
 as the gift of prophecy, and the gift of tongues, 
 and the gift called the gift of knowledge, and 
 others mentioned in the context, and in the 
 foregoing chapter. And besides these, 
 
 2. There are the common and ordinary gifts 
 of the Spirit of God. — These, in all ages, have 
 more or less been bestowed on many natural, 
 unconverted men, in common convictions of 
 sin, and common illuminations, and common 
 religious affections, which, though they have 
 nothing in them of the nature of divine love, 
 or of true and saving grace, are yet the fruits 
 of the Spirit in the sense that they are the 
 effect of his influences on the hearts of men. 
 And as to faith and hope, if there be nothing 
 of divine love with them, there can be no 
 more of the Spirit of God in them than is 
 common to natural, unregenerate men. This 
 is clearly implied by the Apostle, when he 
 says, in this chapter, " Though I have all 
 faith, so that I could remove mountains, and 
 have not charity, I am nothing." All saving 
 faith and hope have love in them as ingre- 
 dients, and as their essence ; and if this ingre- 
 
444 THE HOLT SPIRIT FOREVER 
 
 dient be taken out, there is nothing left but 
 the body without the spirit. It is nothing 
 saving; bnt at best, only a common fruit of 
 the Spirit. But, 
 
 III. All these other fruits of the Spirit are 
 hut for a season, and either have already 
 ceased, or at some time tvill cease. — As to the 
 miraculous gifts of prophecy and tongues, &c, 
 they are but of a temporary use, and cannot 
 be continued in heaven. They were given 
 only as an extraordinary means of grace that 
 God was once pleased to grant to his church 
 in the world. But when the saints that once 
 enjoyed the use of these means went to heav- 
 en, such means of grace ceased, for they were 
 no longer needful. There is no occasion for 
 any means of grace in heaven, whether ordi- 
 nary, such as the stated and common means 
 of God's house, or extraordinary, such as the 
 gifts of tongues, and of knowledge, and of 
 prophecy. I say there is no occasion for any 
 of these means of grace to be continued in 
 heaven, because there the end of all means 
 of grace is already fully obtained in the per- 
 fect sanctification and happiness of God's 
 people. The Apostle, speaking in the fourth 
 chapter of Ephesians, of the various means of 
 
TO BE COMMUNICATED IN" LOVE. 445 
 
 grace, says that they are given " for the per- 
 fecting of the saints, for the work of the min- 
 istry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 
 till we all come, in the nnity of the faith and 
 of the knowledge of the Son of God, nnto a 
 perfect man." But when this has come to 
 pass, and the saints are perfected, and are al- 
 ready come to the measure of the stature of 
 the fulness of Christ, then there will be no 
 further occasion for any of these means, 
 whether ordinary or extraordinary. It is in 
 this respect, very much as it is with the fruits 
 of the field, which stand in need of tillage, 
 and rain, and sunshine, till they are ripe and 
 gathered in, and then they need them no 
 more. 
 
 And as these miraculous gifts of the Spirit 
 were but temporary with regard to those par- 
 ticular persons that enjoyed them, so they are 
 but for a season with regard to the church of 
 God taken as a collective body. These gifts 
 are not fruits of the Spirit that were given to- 
 be continued to the church throughout all 
 ages. They were continued in the church, or 
 at least were granted from time to time, though 
 not without some considerable intermissions, 
 from the beginning of the world till the canon 
 
4A6 THE HOLY SPIRIT FOREVER 
 
 of the Scriptures was completed. They were 
 bestowed on the church before the beginning 
 of the sacred canon, that is before the book of 
 Job and the five books of Moses were written. 
 People had the word of God then in another 
 way, viz. : by immediate revelation from time 
 to time given to eminent persons who were, as 
 it were, fathers in the church of God, and this 
 revelation handed down from them to others 
 by oral tradition. It was a very common 
 thing then for the Spirit of God to communi- 
 cate himself in dreams and visions, as appears 
 by several passages in the book of Job. They 
 had extraordinary gifts of the Spirit before 
 the flood. God immediately and miraculously 
 revealed himself to Adam and Eve, and so to 
 Abel, and to Enoch, who we are informed 
 (Jude 14) had the gift of prophecy. And so 
 JSToah had immediate revelations made to him, 
 and he warned the old world from God ; and 
 Christ, by his Spirit speaking through him, 
 went and preached to the spirits that are now 
 in prison, who were sometime disobedient 
 when once the long-suffering of God waited 
 while the ark was preparing, 1 Pet. iii. 19, 20. 
 And so Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob were 
 favored with immediate revelations ; and Jo- 
 
 — j 
 
TO BE COMMUNICATED IN LOVE. 447 
 
 seph had extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, and 
 so had Job and his friends. From this time, 
 there seems to have been an intermission of 
 the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit nntil the 
 time of Moses ; and from his time they were 
 continued in a succession of prophets that was 
 kept up, though not again without some inter- 
 ruptions, till the time of Malachi. After that, 
 there seems to have been a long intermission 
 of several hundred years, till the dawn of the 
 gospel day, when the Spirit began again to 
 be given in his extraordinary gifts, as to Anna, 
 and Simeon, and Zacharias, and Elizabeth, and 
 Mary, and Joseph, and John the Baptist. 
 
 These communications of the Spirit were 
 given to make way for him who hath the 
 Spirit without measure, the great prophet of 
 God, by whom the Spirit is communicated to 
 all other prophets. And in the days of his 
 flesh, his disciples had a measure of the mi- 
 raculous gifts of the Spirit, being enabled 
 thus to teach and to work miracles. But after 
 the resurrection and ascension, was the most 
 full and remarkable effusion of the Spirit in 
 his miraculous gifts that ever took place, be- 
 ginning with the day of Pentecost, after Christ 
 had risen and ascended to heaven. And in 
 
448 THE HOLY SPIRIT FOREVER 
 
 consequence of this, not only here and there 
 an extraordinary person was endowed with 
 these extraordinary gifts, bnt they were com- 
 mon in the church, and so continued during 
 the lifetime of the Apostles, or till the death 
 of the last of them, even the Apostle John, 
 which took place about an hundred years from 
 the birth of Christ ; so that the first hundred 
 years of the Christian era, or the first century, 
 was the era of miracles. But soon after that, 
 the canon of Scripture being completed when 
 the Apostle John had written the book of 
 Revelation, which he wrote not long before his 
 death, these miraculous gifts were no longer 
 continued in the church. For there was now 
 completed an established written revelation 
 of the mind and will of God, wherein God 
 had fully recorded a standing and all-suffi- 
 cient rule for his church in all ages. And the 
 Jewish church and nation being overthrown, 
 and the Christian church and the last dispen- 
 sation of- the church of God being established, 
 the miraculous gifts of the Spirit were no 
 longer needed, and therefore they ceased ; for 
 though they had been continued in the church 
 for so many ages, yet then they failed, and 
 God caused them to fail because there was no 
 
TO BE COMMUNICATED IN LOVE. 449 
 
 further occasion for them. And so was ful- 
 filled the saying of the text, " Whether there 
 be prophecies, they shall fail : whether there 
 be tongues, they shall cease ; whether there 
 be knowledge, it shall vanish away." And 
 now there seems to be an end to all such 
 fruits of the Spirit as these, and we have no 
 reason to expect them any more. And as to 
 those fruits of the Spirit that are common, 
 such as the conviction, illumination, belief, 
 &c, which are common both to the godly and 
 ungodly, these are given in all ages of the 
 church in the world ; and yet with respect to 
 the persons that have these common gifts, 
 they will cease when they come to die ; and 
 with respect to the church of God considered 
 collectively, they will cease, and there will be 
 no more of them after the day of judgment. 
 I pass, then, to show, as proposed, 
 
 IV. That charity, or divine love, is that 
 great fruit of the Spirit that never fails, and 
 m which his continued and everlasting influ- 
 ence and indwelling in his church, shall ap- 
 pear and he manifest. — "We have seen that 
 the Spirit of Christ is forever given to the 
 church of Christ, and given that it may dwell 
 in his saints forever, in influences that shall 
 
450 THE HOLY SPIRIT FOREVER 
 
 never fail. And therefore however many 
 fruits of the Spirit may be but temporary, and 
 have their limits where they fail,. yet it must 
 be that there is some way of the Spirit's influ- 
 ence, and some fruit of that influence, which 
 is unfailing and eternal. And charity, or di- 
 vine love is that fruit, in communicating, and 
 nourishing, and exercising which, his unfailing 
 and eternal influences appear. This is a fruit 
 of the Spirit that never fails or ceases in the 
 church of Christ, whether we consider it with 
 respect to its particular members, or regard 
 it as a* collective body. And, 
 
 1. We may consider the church of Christ 
 with respect to the particular members of 
 which it consists. — And here it will appear 
 that charity, or Christian love, is an unfailing 
 fruit of the spirit. Every one of the true 
 members of Christ's invisible church, is pos- 
 sessed of this fruit of the spirit in the heart. 
 Divine or Christian love, is implanted, and 
 dwells, and reigns there, as an everlasting 
 fruit of the spirit, and one that never fails. It 
 never fails in this world, but remains through 
 all trials and oppositions, for the Apostle tells 
 us (Eomans viii. 38, 39), that nothing " shall 
 be able to separate us from the love of God, 
 
TO BE COMMUNICATED IN LOVE. 451 
 
 which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." And it 
 ceases not when the saints come to die. When 
 the Apostles and others of their day died and 
 went to heaven, they left all their miraculous 
 gifts behind them with their bodies. But they 
 did not leave the love that was in their hearts 
 behind them, but carried that with them to 
 heaven, where it was gloriously perfected. 
 Though when wicked men die, who have had 
 the common influences of the Spirit, their gifts 
 shall eternally cease, yet death never over- 
 throws Christian love, that great fruit of the 
 Spirit, in any that have it. They that have 
 it, may and shall leave behind them many 
 other fruits of the Spirit which they had in 
 common with wicked men. And though they 
 shall leave all that was common in their faith, 
 and hope, and all that did not pertain to this 
 divine and holy love, yet this love they shall 
 not leave behind, but it shall go with them to 
 eternity, and shall be perfected there, and 
 shall live and reign with perfect and glorious 
 dominion in their souls forever and ever. And 
 so, again, 
 
 2. We may consider the church of Christ 
 collectively, or as a body. — And here, again, 
 it will appear that charity, or Christian love, 
 
452 THE HOLY SPIRIT FOREVER 
 
 shall never fail. Though other fruits of the 
 Spirit fail in it, this shall never fail. Of old, 
 when there were interruptions of the miracu- 
 lous gifts of the Spirit in the church, and when 
 there were seasons in which no prophet or in- 
 spired person appeared that was possessed of 
 such gifts, still there never was any total in- 
 terruption of this excellent fruit or influence 
 of the Spirit. Miraculous gifts were inter- 
 mitted through the long time extending from 
 Malachi to near the birth of Christ ; but in 
 all this time, the influence of the Spirit in 
 keeping up divine love in the church, was 
 never suspended. As God always had a 
 church of saints in the world, from the first 
 creation of the church after the fall, so this 
 influence and fruit of his spirit never failed in 
 it. And when after the completion of the 
 canon of the Scriptures, the miraculous gifts 
 of the Spirit seemed finally to have ceased and 
 failed in the church, this influence of the 
 Spirit in causing divine love in the hearts of 
 his saints did not cease, but has been kept up 
 through all ages from that time to this, and 
 so will be to the end of the world. And at 
 the end of the world, when the church of 
 Christ shall be settled in its last, and most 
 
TO BE COMMUNICATED IN LOVE. 453 
 
 complete, and its eternal state, and all common 
 gifts, snch as convictions and illuminations, 
 and all miraculous gifts shall be eternally at 
 an end, yet then divine love shall not fail, but 
 shall be brought to its most glorious perfection 
 in every individual member of the ransomed 
 church above. Then, in every heart, that love 
 which now seems as but a spark, shall be 
 kindled to a bright and glowing name, and 
 every ransomed soul shall be as it were in a 
 blaze of divine and holy love, and shall re- 
 main and grow in this glorious perfection and 
 blessedness through all eternity ! 
 
 I shall give but a single reason for the truth 
 of the doctrine which has thus been presented. 
 And the great reason why it is so, that other 
 fruits of the Spirit fail, and the great fruit of 
 love remains, is, that love is the great end of 
 all the other fruits and gifts of the Spirit. 
 The principle and the exercises of divine love 
 in the heart, and the fruits of it in the con- 
 duct, and the happiness that consists in and 
 flows from it, these things are the great end 
 of all the fruits of the Spirit that fail. Charity 
 or divine love is the end, to which all the in- 
 spiration, and all the miraculous gifts that 
 ever were in the world, are but the means. 
 
454 THE HOLT SPIRIT FOEEVEB 
 
 They were only means of grace, but charity 
 or divine love is grace itself / and not only so, 
 but the sum of all grace. Revelation and 
 miracles were never given for any other end, 
 but only to promote holiness, and build up 
 the kingdom of Christ in men's hearts ; but 
 Christian love is the sum of all holiness, and 
 its growth is but the growth of Christ's king- 
 dom in the soul. The extraordinary fruits of 
 the Spirit were given for revealing and con- 
 firming the word and will of God, that men 
 by believing might be conformed to that will ; 
 and they were valuable and good, only so far 
 as they tended to this end. And hence when 
 that end was obtained, and when the canon 
 of the Scriptures, the great and powerful 
 means of grace was completed, and the ordi- 
 nances of the New Testament and of the last 
 dispensation were fully established, the ex- 
 traordinary gifts ceased and came to an end 
 as being no further useful. Miraculous gifts 
 being a means to a further end, they are good 
 no further than as they tend to that end. 
 But divine love is that end itself, and there- 
 fore remains when the means to it cease. The 
 end is not only a good, but the highest kind 
 of good in itself, and therefore remains for- 
 
TO BE COMMUNICATED IN LOVE. 4:55 
 
 ever. So it is with respect to the common 
 gifts of the Spirit that are given in all ages, 
 such as illumination, conviction, &c. They 
 have no good in themselves, and are no fur- 
 ther good than as they tend to promote that 
 grace and holiness which radically and sum- 
 marily consist in divine love, and therefore 
 when this end is once fully answered, there 
 shall be an end forever of these common gifts, 
 while divine love, which is the end of them 
 all, shall eternally remain. 
 
 In the application of this subject, I would 
 remark, 
 
 1. That there seems to be no reason to think, 
 as some have thought, that the extraordinary 
 gifts of the Spirit are to oe restored to the 
 church in the future and glorious times of her 
 latter day prosperity and blessedness. — Many 
 divines have been of the opinion, that when 
 the latter day glory of the church which is 
 spoken of in the word of God shall come, 
 there will again be prophets, and men en- 
 dowed with the gifts of tongues and of work- 
 ing miracles, as was the case in the times of 
 the Apostles ; and some now living seem to 
 be of the same mind. 
 
 But from what the Apostle says in the text 
 
456 THE HOLT SPIRIT FOEEYER 
 
 and context, it seems as though, we had no 
 reason to imagine any such thing from what 
 the Scriptures say of the gloriousness of those 
 times, or because it speaks of the state of the 
 church then as being more glorious than ever 
 before, and as though the Spirit of God would 
 then be poured out in more abundant measure 
 than ever in times past. All these things 
 may be, and yet there be no such extraordinary 
 gifts bestowed on the church. When the 
 Spirit of God is poured out for the purpose of 
 producing and promoting divine love, he is 
 poured out in a more excellent way than when 
 he is manifested in miraculous gifts. This 
 the Apostle expressly teaches in the latter 
 part of the foregoing chapter, where after 
 enumerating many miraculous gifts, he advises 
 Christians to covet or desire the best of them, 
 but then adds, "But yet I show unto you a 
 more excellent way," namely, to seek the 
 influence of the Spirit of God, working charity 
 or divine love m the heart. Surely the Scrip- 
 tures, when speaking of the future glorious 
 state of the church as being such an excellent 
 state, give us no reason to conclude that the 
 Spirit of God will be poured out then in any 
 other way than in the most excellent way. 
 
TO BE COMMUNICATED IN LOYE. 457 
 
 And doubtless the most excellent way of the 
 Spirit, is for the most excellent state of the 
 church. 
 
 The future state of the church being so 
 much more perfect than in previous times, 
 does not tend to prove that then there shall 
 be miraculous gifts, but rather the contrary. 
 For the Apostle himself, in the text and con- 
 text, speaks of these extraordinary gifts ceas- 
 ing and vanishing away to give place for a 
 kind of fruits or influences of the Spirit that 
 are more perfect. If you do but read the 
 text in connection with the two following 
 verses, you will see that the reason implied 
 why prophecy and tongues fail, and charity 
 remains, is this, that the imperfect gives way 
 to the perfect, and the less excellent to the 
 more excellent ; and the more excellent, he 
 declares, is charity or love. Prophecy and 
 miracles argue the imperfection of the state 
 of the church, rather than its perfection. For 
 they are means designed by God as a stay or 
 support, or as a leading-string, if I may so 
 say, to the church in its infancy, rather than 
 as means adapted to it in its full growth ; and 
 as such the Apostle seems to speak of them. 
 "When the Christian church first began, after 
 
458 THE HOLT SPIRIT FOREVER 
 
 the ascension of Christ, it was in its infancy, 
 and then it needed miracles, &c, to establish 
 it ; but being once established, and the canon 
 of the Scriptures being completed, they ceased, 
 which, according to the Apostle's arguing, 
 shows their imperfection, and how much in- 
 ferior they are to that fruit or influence of the 
 Holy Spirit which is seen in divine love. 
 Why, then, should we expect that they should 
 be restored again, when the -church is in its 
 most perfect state ? All these miraculous gifts 
 the Apostle seems to call " childish things," 
 in comparison with the nobler fruit of Chris- 
 tian love. They are adapted to the childish 
 state of the church, while holy love is more to 
 be expected in its full grown and manly state ; 
 and in themselves they are childish, in com- 
 parison with that holy love which will so 
 abound in the church when it comes to its 
 perfect stature in Christ Jesus. 
 
 Nor is the gloriousness of the future times 
 of the church any argument for the continu- 
 ance, in those times, of the miraculous gifts 
 of the Spirit. For surely the state of the 
 church then will not be more glorious than the 
 heavenly state ; and yet the Apostle teaches 
 that in the heavenly state all these gifts shall 
 
TO BE COMMUNICATED IN LOVE. 459 
 
 be at an end, and the influence of the Spirit 
 in producing divine love only shall remain. 
 Nor does it appear that there shall be any 
 need of miraculous gifts in order to the bring- 
 ing about of the future glorious times of the 
 church ; for God is able to bring them about 
 without the instrumentality of these gifts. 
 If the Spirit of God be poured out in only his 
 gracious influences in converting souls, and in 
 kindling divine love in them in such measure 
 as he may and will, this will be enough, with- 
 out new revelations or miracles, to produce 
 all the effects that need to be produced in 
 order to the bringing in of the glorious times 
 of which we are speaking ; as we may all be 
 convinced by the little we have seen in the 
 late outpouring of the Spirit in this and the 
 neighboring towns. If we needed any new 
 rule to go by, and the common influences of 
 the Spirit together with the word of God were 
 insufficient, then there might be some necessity 
 for restoring miracles. But there is no need 
 whatever of new Scriptures being given, or of 
 any additions being made to those we have, 
 for they are in themselves a perfect rule for 
 our faith and practice ; and as there is no need 
 of a new canon of Scripture, so there is no 
 
460 THE HOLY SPIRIT FOREVER 
 
 need of those miraculous gifts, the great object 
 of which was, either to confirm the Scriptures, 
 or to make up for the want of them when as 
 yet they had not been given by the inspiring 
 Spirit. 
 
 2. The subject we have been considering 
 should make persons exceedingly cautious how 
 they give heed to anything that may look like 
 a new revelation, or that may claim to be any 
 extraordinary gift of the Spirit. — Sometimes a 
 person may have an impression in his mind 
 as to something that he thinks immediately 
 revealed to him that is to come to pass con- 
 cerning himself or some of his relatives or 
 friends ; or as to something that is to come to 
 pass that before was hid from him, and if it 
 had not been revealed, would remain still a 
 secret ; or perhaps he thinks it has been re- 
 vealed to him what is the spiritual state of 
 some other person, or of his own soul, in some 
 other way than by the Scriptural marks and 
 evidences of grace in the heart. Sometimes 
 persons imagine that they have an immediate 
 direction from heaven to go and do this, or 
 that, or the other thing, by impressions im- 
 mediately made on their minds, or in some 
 other way than by learning from Scripture or 
 
TO BE COMMUNICATED IN LOYE. 461 
 
 reason that it is their duty. And sometimes 
 they fancy that God immediately reveals to 
 them by a dream what the future shall be. 
 But all these things, if they were from God's 
 Spirit, would be of the nature of those extraor- 
 dinary gifts of the Spirit which the Apostle 
 says do cease and are done away, and which 
 having long since failed there is no reason to 
 suppose that God will restore again. And if 
 they are not from God's Spirit, they are but 
 gross delusions. And once more, 
 
 3. The subject teaches how greatly we should 
 value those influences and fruits of the Spirit 
 which are evidences of trice grace in the soul, 
 and which are all summarily included in 
 charity, or divine love. — This is the end and 
 design of the Apostle in the text and context, 
 to teach us to value this charity or love, by 
 showing that it never fails, though all the 
 miraculous gifts of the Spirit do fail and come 
 to an end. This grace is the most excellent 
 fruit of the Spirit, without which the most ex- 
 traordinary and miraculous gifts are nothing. 
 This is the great end to which they are but the 
 means / and which is, of course, more excellent 
 than all these means. Let us *all therefore 
 earnestly seek this blessed fruit of the Spirit, 
 
462 THE HOLT SPIRIT FOREVER, ETC. 
 
 and let us seek that it may abound in our 
 souls; that the love of God may more and 
 more be shed abroad in our hearts ; and that 
 we may love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, 
 and love one another as Christ hath loved us. 
 Thus we shall possess the richest of all treasures, 
 and the highest and most excellent of all 
 graces. Having within us that love which is 
 immortal in its nature, we shall have the 
 surest evidence that our immortality will be 
 blessed, and that our hope of eternal life is 
 that good hope which shall never disappoint 
 us. Love cherished in the soul on earth, will 
 be to us the foretaste of, and the preparation 
 for that world which is a world of love, and 
 where the Spirit of love reigns and blesses 
 forever. 
 
LECTURE XVI. 
 
 HEAVEN, A WORLD OF CHARITY, OK LOVE. 
 
 " Charity never faileth. But whether there be prophe- 
 cies, they shall fail; whether there he tongues, they shall 
 cease ; whether there he knowledge, it shall vanish away. 
 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when 
 that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall 
 be done away." 
 
 From the first of these verses, I have already 
 drawn the doctrine, that that great fruit of the 
 Spirit in which the Holy Ghost shall not only 
 for a season, but everlastingly be communica- 
 ted to the church of Christ, is charity or divine 
 love. And now I would consider the same 
 verse in connection with the two that follow 
 it, and upon the three verses would make two 
 observations. 
 
 First, That it is mentioned as one great 
 excellence of charity, that it shall remain 
 when all other fruits of the Spirit have failed. 
 And, 
 
4:64 HEAVEN, A WORLD OF 
 
 Second, That this will come to pass in the 
 perfect state of the church, when that which 
 is in part shall be done away, and that which 
 is perfect is come. 
 
 There is a two-fold imrperfect, and so a two- 
 fold perfect state of the Christian church. The 
 church in its beginning, or in its first age, 
 before it was strongly established in the world, 
 and settled in its New Testament state, and 
 before the canon of Scripture was completed, 
 was in an imperfect state — a state, as it were, 
 of childhood, in comparison with what it was 
 to be in its elder and later ages when it should 
 have reached its state of manhood, or of com- 
 parative earthly perfection. And so, again, 
 this comparatively perfect church of Christ, 
 so long as it remains in its militant state, that 
 is, down to the end of time, will still be in an 
 imperfect, and as it were in a childish state in 
 comparison with what it will be in its heavenly 
 state, in which latter it is comparatively in its 
 state of manhood or perfection. 
 
 And so there is a two-fold failing of these 
 miraculous gifts of the Spirit here mentioned. 
 One was at the end of the first or infant age 
 of the church, when the canon of Scripture 
 was completed, and so there was to be no need 
 
OR LOVE. 465 
 
 of such gifts for the church in its latter ages, 
 when it should have put away childish things, 
 and come to a state of manhood before the end 
 of the world, and when the Spirit of God 
 should most gloriously be poured out and 
 manifested in that love or charity, which is its 
 greatest and everlasting fruit. And the other 
 will be, when all the common fruits of the 
 Spirit cease with respect to particular persons 
 at death, and with respect to the whole church 
 at the end of the world, while charity shall 
 still remain in heaven, and there the Spirit of 
 God shall be poured forth and manifested in 
 perfect love in every heart to all eternity. 
 
 The Apostle, in the context, seems to have 
 respect to both these states of the church, but 
 especially to the latter. For though the glori- 
 ous state of the church in its latter age on 
 earth, will be perfect in comparison with its 
 former state, yet its state in heaven is that 
 state of the church to which the expressions 
 of the Apostle seem most agreeable, when he 
 says, " when that which is perfect is come, 
 &c," and " now we see through a glass darkly, 
 but then face to face ; now I know in part, 
 but then shall I know even as also I am 
 30 
 
±m 
 
 known." The doctrine, then, that I would 
 draw from the text, is, that 
 
 Heaven is a world of charity, or loye. 
 
 The Apostle speaks, in the text, of a state 
 of the chnrch when it is perfect in heaven, 
 and therefore a state in which the Holy Spirit 
 shall be more perfectly and abundantly given 
 to the church than it is now on earth. But 
 the way in which it shall be given when it is 
 so abundantly poured forth, will be in that 
 great fruit of the Spirit, holy and divine love 
 in the hearts of all the blessed inhabitants of 
 that world. So that the heavenly state of the 
 church, is a state that is distinguished from 
 its earthly state, as it is that state which God 
 has designed especially for such a communica- 
 tion of his Holy Spirit, and in which it shall 
 be given perfectly, whereas in the present 
 state of the church it is given with great im- 
 perfection. And it is also a state in which 
 this holy love or charity shall be, as it were, 
 the only gift or fruit of the Spirit, as being the 
 most perfect and glorious of all, and which 
 being brought to perfection renders all other 
 gifts that God was wont to bestow on his 
 church on earth, needless. And that we may 
 the better see how heaven is thus a world of 
 
CHARITY, OR LOVE. 467 
 
 holy love, I would consider, first, the great 
 cause and fountain of love that is in heaven ; 
 second, the objects of love that it contains ; 
 third, the subjects of that love ; fourth, its 
 principle, or the love itself ; fifth, the excellent 
 circumstances in which it is there exercised 
 and expressed and enjoyed ; and sixth, the 
 happy effects and fruits of all this. And, 
 
 I. The cause and fountain of love in heav- 
 en. Here I remark that the God of love him- 
 self dwells in heaven. Heaven is the palace 
 or presence-chamber of the high and holy One, 
 whose name is love, and who is both the cause 
 and source of all holy love. God, considered 
 with respect to his essence, is everywhere : he 
 fills both heaven and earth. But yet he is 
 said, in some respects, to be more especially 
 in some places than in others. He was said 
 of old to dwell in the land of Israel, above all 
 other lands ; and in Jerusalem, above all 
 other cities of that land ; and in the temple, 
 above all other buildings in the city ; and in 
 the holy of holies, above all other apartments 
 of the temple ; and on the mercy-seat over 
 the ark of the covenant, above all other places 
 in the holy of holies. But heaven is his dwell- 
 ing-place above all other places in the uni- 
 
468 HEAVEN, A WOELD OP 
 
 verse ; and all those places in which he was 
 said to dwell of old, were but types of this. 
 Heaven is a part of creation that God has 
 built for this end, to be the place of his glori- 
 ous presence, and it is his abode forever ; and 
 here will he dwell, and gloriously manifest 
 himself to all eternity. 
 
 And this renders heaven a world of love ; 
 for God is the fountain of love, as the sun is 
 the fountain of light. And therefore the glo- 
 rious presence of God in heaven, fills heaven 
 with love, as the sun placed in the midst of 
 the visible heavens in a clear day, fills the 
 world with light. The Apostle tells us that 
 " God is love ;" and therefore, seeing he is an 
 infinite being, it follows that he is an infinite 
 fountain of love. Seeing he is an all-sufficient 
 being, it follows that he is a full, and over- 
 flowing, and inexhaustible fountain of love. 
 And in that he is an unchangeable and eternal 
 being, he is an unchangeable and eternal foun- 
 tain of love. 
 
 There, even in heaven, dwells the God from 
 whom every stream of holy love, yea, every 
 drop that is, or ever was, proceeds. There 
 dwells God the Father, God the Son, and God 
 the Spirit, united as one, in infinitely dear, 
 
CHARITY, OK LOVE. 469 
 
 and incomprehensible, and mutual, and eternal 
 love. There dwells God the Father, who is 
 the father of mercies, and so the father of love, 
 who so loved the world as to give his only-be- 
 gotten Son to die for it. There dwells Christ, 
 the Lamb of God, the prince of peace and of 
 love, who so loved the world that he shed his 
 blood, and poured out his soul unto death for 
 men. There dwells the great Mediator, through 
 whom all the divine love is expressed toward 
 men, and by whom the fruits of that love have 
 been purchased, and through whom they are 
 communicated, and through whom love is 
 imparted to the hearts of all God's people. 
 There dwells Christ in both his natures, the 
 human and the divine, sitting on the same 
 throne with the Father. And there dwells the 
 Holy Spirit, the spirit of divine love, in whom 
 the very essence of God, as it were, flows out 
 and is breathed forth in love, and by whose 
 immediate influence all holy love is shed 
 abroad in the hearts of all the saints on earth 
 and in heaven. There, in heaven, this infinite 
 fountain of love — this eternal three in one — is 
 set open without any obstacle to hinder access 
 to it, as it flows forever. There this glorious 
 God is manifested and shines forth, in full 
 
470 HEAVEN, A WORLD OF 
 
 glory, in beams of love. And there this glori- 
 ous fountain forever flows forth in streams, 
 yea, in rivers of love and delight, and these 
 rivers swell, as it were, to an ocean of love, in 
 which the souls of the ransomed may bathe 
 with the sweetest enjoyment, and their hearts, 
 as it were, be deluged with love ! Again, I 
 would consider heaven, with regard, 
 
 II. To the objects of love that it contains. 
 And here I would observe three things. 
 
 1. There are none hut lovely objects in heav- 
 en. — No odious, or unlovely, or polluted per- 
 son or thing is to be seen there. There is 
 nothing there that is wicked or unholy. ' ' There 
 shall in no wise enter into it anything that 
 defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomina- 
 tion," Rev. xxi. 27. And there is nothing that 
 is deformed with any natural or moral defor- 
 mity ; but everything is beauteous to behold, 
 and amiable, and excellent in itself. Th& 
 God that dwells and gloriously manifests him- 
 self there, is infinitely lovely ; gloriously lovely 
 as a heavenly Father, as a divine Redeemer 
 and as a holy sanctifier. 
 
 All the persons that belong to the blessed 
 society of heaven are lovely. The Father of ' 
 the family is lovely, and so are all his chil 
 
CHARITY, OR LOVE. 471 
 
 dren ; the head of the body lovely, and so are 
 all the members. Among the angels there 
 are none that are unlovely ; for they are all 
 holy ; and no evil angels are suffered to infest 
 heaven as they do this world, but they are 
 kept forever at a distance by that great gulf 
 which is between them and the glorious world 
 of love. And among all the company of the 
 saints there are no unlovely persons. There 
 are no false professors or hypocrites there ; 
 none that pretend to be saints, and yet are of 
 an unchristian and hateful spirit or behavior, 
 as is often the case in* this world ; none whose 
 gold has not been purified from its dross ; none 
 who are not lovely in themselves and to others. 
 There is no one object there to give offence, or 
 at any time to give occasion for any passion 
 or emotion of hatred or dislike, but every 
 object there shall forever draw forth love. 
 
 And not only shall all objects in heaven be 
 lovely, but 
 
 2. They shall he perfectly lovely. — There are 
 many things in this world that in the general 
 are lovely, but yet are not perfectly free from 
 that which is the contrary. There are spots 
 on the sun ; and so there are many men that 
 are most amiable and worthy to be loved, whc 
 
472 HEAVEN, A WORLD OF 
 
 yet are not without some things that are dis- 
 agreeable and unlovely. Often there is in 
 good men some defect of temper, or character, 
 or conduct, that mars the excellence of what 
 otherwise would seem most amiable ; and even 
 the very best of men are, on earth, imperfect. 
 But it is not so in heaven. There shall be no 
 pollution, or deformity, or unamiable defect 
 of any kind, seen in any person or thing ; but 
 every one shall be perfectly pure, and per- 
 fectly lovely in heaven. That blessed world 
 shall be perfectly bright, without any dark- 
 ness ; perfectly fair, without any spot ; per 
 fectly clear, without any cloud. No moral 
 or natural defect shall ever enter there ; and 
 there nothing be seen that is sinful, or weak, 
 or foolish ; nothing, the nature or aspect of 
 which is coarse or displeasing, or that can 
 offend the most refined taste, or the most deli- 
 cate eye. No string shall there vibrate out of 
 tune, to cause any jar in the harmony of the mu- 
 sic of heaven ; and no note be such as to make 
 discord in the anthems of saints and angels. 
 
 The great God who so fully manifests him- 
 self there, is perfect with an absolute and 
 infinite perfection. The Son of God, who is 
 the brightness of the Father's glory, appears 
 
CHARITY, OR LOVE. 473 
 
 there in the fulness of his glory, without that 
 garb of outward meanness in which he appeared 
 in this world. The Holy Ghost shall there be 
 poured forth with perfect richness and sweet- 
 ness, as a pure river of the water of life, clear 
 as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God 
 and the Lamb. And every member of that 
 holy and blessed society, shall be without any 
 stain of sin, or imperfection, or weakness, or 
 imprudence, or blemish of any kind. The 
 whole church, ransomed and purified, shall 
 there be presented to Christ, as a bride, clothed 
 in fine linen, clean and white, without spot or 
 wrinkle, or any such thing. Wherever the 
 inhabitants of that blessed world shall turn 
 their eyes, they shall see nothing but dignity, 
 and beauty, and glory. The most stately cities 
 on earth, however magnificent their buildings, 
 yet have their foundations in the dust, and 
 their streets dirty and defiled, and made to be 
 trodden under foot; but the very streets of 
 this heavenly city are of pure gold, like unto 
 transparent glass, and its foundations are of 
 precious stones, and its gates are pearls. And 
 all these are but faint emblems of the purity 
 and perfectness of those that dwell therein. 
 And in heaven, 
 
474 HEAVEN, A WOKLD OF 
 
 satnts 
 
 3. Shall be all those objects that the saint 
 have set their hearts upon, and which they 
 have loved above all things while in this 
 world. — There they will find those things that 
 appeared most lovely to them while they 
 dwelt on earth; the things that met the ap- 
 probation of their judgments, and captivated 
 their affections, and drew away their souls 
 from the most dear and pleasant of earthly 
 objects. There they will find those things 
 that were their delight here below, and on 
 which they rejoiced to meditate, and' with the 
 sweet contemplation of which their minds 
 were often entertained; and there, too, the 
 things which they chose for their portion, and 
 which were so dear to them that they were 
 ready for the sake of them to undergo the 
 severest sufferings, and to forsake even father, 
 and mother, and kindred, and friends, and 
 wife, and children, and life itself. All \e 
 truly great and good, all the pure and holy 
 and excellent from this world, and it may be 
 from every part of the universe, are constantly 
 tending toward heaven. As the streams tend 
 to the ocean, so all these are tending to the 
 great ocean of infinite purity and bliss. The 
 progress of time does but bear them on to its 
 
CHARITY, OR LOVE. 475 
 
 blessedness ; and us, if we are holy, to be 
 united to them there. Every gem which death 
 rudely tears away from us here, is a glorious 
 jewel forever shining there ; every Christian 
 friend that goes before us from this world, is 
 a ransomed spirit waiting to welcome us in 
 heaven. There will be the infant of days that 
 we have lost below, through grace to be found 
 above ; there the Christian father, and mother, 
 and wife, and child, and friend, with whom 
 we shall renew the holy fellowship of the 
 saints, which was interrupted by death here, 
 but shall be commenced again in the upper 
 sanctuary, and then shall never end. There 
 we shall have company with the patriarchs 
 and fathers and saints of the Old and New 
 Testaments, and those of whom the world was 
 not worthy, with whom on earth we were only 
 conversant by faith. And there, above all, 
 w shall enjoy and dwell with God the Father, 
 whom we have loved with all our hearts on 
 earth, and with Jesus Christ our beloved 
 Saviour, who has always been to us the chief 
 among ten thousands and altogether lovely, 
 and with the Holy Ghost our Sanctifier, and 
 guide, and comforter ; and shall be filled with 
 all the fulness of the Godhead forever ! 
 
476 HEAVEN, A WORLD OF 
 
 And such being the objects of love in 
 heaven, I pass, 
 
 III. To its subjects. And these are the 
 hearts in which it dwells. In every heart in 
 heaven, love dwells and reigns. The heart of 
 God is the original seat or subject of love. 
 Divine love is in him, not as in a subject that 
 receives it from another, but as in its original 
 seat, where it is of itself. Love is in God, as 
 light is in the sun, which does not shine by a 
 reflected light as the moon and planets do, 
 but by its own light, and as the great fountain 
 of light. And from God, love flows out toward 
 all the inhabitants of heaven. It flows out, in 
 the first place, necessarily and infinitely, to- 
 ward his only begotten Son, being poured forth, 
 without mixture, as to an object that is infinite, 
 and so fully adequate to all the fulness of a 
 love that is infinite. And this infinite love is 
 infinitely exercised toward him. Not only 
 does the fountain send forth streams to this 
 object, but the very fountain itself wholly and 
 altogether goes out toward him. And the Son 
 of God is not only the infinite object of love, 
 but he is also an infinite subject of it. He is 
 not only the beloved of the Father, but he 
 infinitely loves him. The infinite essential 
 
OR LOVE. 477 
 
 love of God, is, as it were, an infinite and 
 eternal mutual holy energy between the Father 
 and the Son : a pure and holy act, whereby 
 the Deity becomes, as it were, one infinite 
 and unchangeable emotion of love proceeding 
 from both the Father and the Son. This 
 divine love has its seat in the Deity, as it is 
 exercised within the Deity, or in God toward 
 himself. 
 
 But this love is not confined to such exer- 
 cises as these. It flows out in innumerable 
 streams toward all the created inhabitants of 
 heaven, to all the saints and angels there. 
 The love of God the Father flows out toward 
 Christ the head, and to all the members, 
 through him in whom they were beloved before 
 the foundation of the world, and in whom the 
 Father's love was expressed toward them in 
 time by his death and sufferings, as it now is 
 fully manifested in heaven. And the saints 
 and angels are secondarily the subjects of 
 holy love, not as those in whom it is as in an 
 original seat, as light is in the sun, but as it is 
 in the planets that shine only by reflected 
 light. And the light of their love is reflected 
 in the first place, and chiefly, back to its great 
 source. As God has given the saints and 
 
478 HEAVEN, A WORLD OF 
 
 angels, love, so their love is chiefly exercised 
 towards God, its fountain, as is most reasona- 
 ble. They all love God with a supreme love. 
 There is no enemy of God in heaven ; but all, 
 as his children, love him as their father. They 
 are all united, with one mind, to breathe forth 
 their whole souls in love to God their eternal 
 Father, and to Jesus Christ their common 
 Redeemer, and head, and friend. 
 
 Christ loves all his saints in heaven. His 
 love flows out to his whole church there, and 
 to every individual member of it. And they 
 all, with one heart and one soul, unite in love 
 to their common Redeemer. Every heart is 
 wedded to this holy and spiritual husband, 
 and all rejoice in him, while the angels join 
 them in their love. And the angels and saints 
 all love each other. All the members of the 
 glorious society of heaven are sincerely united. 
 There is not a single secret or open enemy 
 among them all. 'Not a heart is there that is 
 not full of love, and not a solitary inhabitant 
 that is not beloved by all the others. And as 
 all are lovely, so all see each other's loveli- 
 ness with full complacence and delight. Every 
 soul goes out in love to every other ; and 
 among all the blessed inhabitants, love is 
 
CHARITY, OR LOVE. 479 
 
 mutual, and full, and eternal. I pass next, to 
 speak, as proposed, 
 
 IV. Of the principle of love in heaven. 
 And by this I mean the love itself that fills 
 and blesses the heavenly world, and which 
 may be noticed both as to its nature and 
 degree. And, 
 
 1. As to its nature. — In its nature, this love 
 is altogether holy and divine. Most of the 
 love that there is in this world, is of an un- 
 hallowed nature. But the love that has place 
 in heaven, is not carnal but spiritual. It does 
 not proceed from corrupt principles or selfish 
 motives, nor is it directed to mean and vile 
 purposes and ends. As opposed to all this, it 
 is a pure flame, directed by holy motives, and 
 aiming at no ends inconsistent with God's 
 glory and the happiness of the universe. The 
 saints in heaven love God for his own sake, 
 and each other for God's sake, and for the 
 sake of the relation that they have to him, and 
 the image of God that is upon them. All 
 their love is pure and holy. We may notice 
 this love, also, 
 
 2. As to its degree. — And in degree it is 
 perfect. The love that dwells in the heart of 
 God is perfect, with an absolutely infinite and 
 
480 HEAVEX, A WORLD OF 
 
 divine perfection. The love of angels and 
 saints to God and Christ, is perfect in its kind, 
 or with snch a perfection as is proper to their 
 nature. It is perfect with a sinless perfection, 
 and perfect in that it is commensurate to the 
 capacities of their nature. So it is said in the 
 text, that when that which is perfect is come, 
 that which is in part shall be done away. 
 Their love shall be without any remains of 
 any contrary principle, having no pride or 
 selfishness to interrupt it or hinder its exer- 
 cises. Their hearts shall be full of love. 
 That which was in the heart on earth as but a 
 grain of mustard seed, shall be as a great tree 
 in heaven. The soul that in this world had 
 only a little spark of divine love in it, in 
 heaven shall be as it were turned into a bright 
 and ardent flame, like the sun in its fullest 
 brightness when it has no spot upon it. 
 
 In heaven there shall be no remaining en- 
 mity, or distaste, or coldness, or deadness of 
 heart towards God and Christ. Xot the least 
 remainder of any principle of envy shall exist 
 to be exercised toward angels or other beings 
 who are superior in glory ; nor shall there be 
 aught like contempt or slighting of those who 
 are inferiors. Those that have a lower station 
 
CHARITY, OR LOVE. 
 
 481 
 
 in glory than others, suffer no diminution of 
 their own happiness by seeing others above 
 them in glory. On the contrary, all the mem- 
 bers of that blessed society rejoice in each 
 other's happiness, for the love of benevolence 
 is perfect in them all. Every one has not 
 only a sincere, but a perfect good-will to every 
 other. Sincere and strong love is greatly 
 gratified and delighted in the prosperity of 
 the beloved object ; and if the love be perfect, 
 the greater the prosperity of the beloved is, 
 the more is the lover pleased and delighted ; 
 for the prosperity of the beloved, is, as it were, 
 the food of love, and therefore the greater that 
 prosperity, the more richly is love feasted. 
 The love of benevolence is delighted in behold- 
 ing the prosperity of another, as the love of 
 complacence is, in beholding the beauty or 
 perfection of another. So that the superior 
 prosperity of those that are higher in glory, is 
 so far from being a hindrance to the degree 
 of love felt toward them, that it is an addition 
 to it, or a part of it. 
 
 There is undoubtedly an inconceivably pure, 
 
 sweet, and fervent love between the saints in 
 
 glory ; and that love is in proportion to the 
 
 perfection and amiableness of the objects 
 
 31 
 
482 HEAVEN, A WOELD OF 
 
 beloved, and therefore it must necessarily 
 cause delight in them when they see that the 
 happiness and glory of others are in proportion 
 to their amiableness, and so in proportion to 
 their love to them. Those that are highest in 
 glory, are those that are highest in holiness, 
 and therefore are those that are most beloved 
 by all the saints ; for they most love those that 
 are most holy, and so they will all rejoice in 
 their being the most happy. And it will not 
 be a grief to any of the saints to see those that 
 are higher than themselves in holiness and 
 likeness to God, more loved also than them- 
 selves, for all shall have as much love as they 
 desire, and as great manifestations of love as 
 they can bear ; and so all shall be fully satis- 
 fied ; and when there is perfect satisfaction, 
 there can be no reason for envy. And there 
 will be no temptation for any to envy those 
 that are above them in glory on account of 
 the latter being lifted up with pride, for there 
 will be no pride in heaven. "We are not to 
 conceive that those who are more holy and 
 happy than others in heaven, will be elated 
 and lifted up in their spirit above others, for 
 those who are above others in holiness, will be 
 superior to them in humility. The saints that 
 
483 
 
 are highest in glory, will be the lowest in 
 humbleness of mind, for their superior humility 
 is part of their superior holiness. Though all 
 are perfectly free from pride, yet as some will 
 have greater degrees of divine knowledge than 
 others, and larger capacities to see more of 
 the divine perfections, so they will see more 
 of their own comparative littleness and nothing- 
 ness, and therefore will be lowest and most 
 abased in humility. 
 
 And besides, the inferior in glory will have 
 no temptation to envy those that are higher 
 than themselves, for those that are highest 
 will not only be more loved by the lower for 
 their higher holiness, but they will also have 
 more of the spirit of love to others, and so will 
 love those that are below them more than if 
 their own capacity and elevation were less. 
 They that are highest in degree in glory, will 
 be of the highest capacity ; and so having the 
 greatest knowledge, will see most of God's 
 loveliness, and consequently will have love to 
 God and love to the saints most abounding in 
 their hearts. And on this account those that 
 are lower in glory will not envy those that are 
 above them, because they will be most beloved 
 by those that are highest in glory. And the 
 
484: HEAVEN, A W0BLD OF 
 
 superior in glory will be so far from slighting 
 those that are inferior, that they will have 
 most abundant love to them — greater degrees 
 of love in proportion to their superior knowl- 
 edge and happiness. The higher any are in 
 glory, the more they are like Christ in this 
 respect, so that the love of the higher to the 
 lower will be greater than the love of the 
 equals of the latter to them. And what puts 
 it beyond all doubt that seeing the superior 
 happiness of others will not be a damp to the 
 happiness of the inferior, is this, that their 
 superior happiness consists in their greater 
 humility, and in their greater love to them, 
 and to God, and to Christ, than the inferior, 
 will have in themselves. Such will be the 
 sweet and perfect harmony among the heavenly 
 saints, and such the perfect love reigning in 
 every heart toward every other, without limit, 
 or alloy, or interruption ; and no envy, or 
 malice, or revenge, or contempt, or selfishness 
 shall ever enter there, but all such feelings 
 shall be kept as far away, as sin is from holi- 
 ness, and as hell is from heaven ! Let us next 
 consider, 
 
 Y. The excellent circumstances in which 
 
485 
 
 love shall he exercised and expressed, and en- 
 joyed in heaven. And 
 
 1. Love in heaven is always mutual. — It is 
 always met with answerable returns of love ; 
 with returns that are proportioned to its exer- 
 cise. Such returns, love always seeks ; and 
 just in proportion as any person is beloved, in 
 the same proportion is his love desired and 
 prized. And in heaven this desire of love, or 
 this fondness for being loved, will never fail 
 of being satisfied. ~Ko inhabitants of that 
 blessed world will ever be grieved with the 
 thought that they are slighted by those that 
 they love, or that their love is not fully and 
 fondly returned. 
 
 As the saints will love G-od with an incon- 
 ceivable ardency of heart, and to the utmost 
 of their capacity, so they will know that he 
 has loved them from all eternity, and still 
 loves them, and will continue to love them 
 forever. And God will then gloriously mani- 
 fest himself to them, and they shall know that 
 all that happiness and glory which they are 
 possessed of, are the fruits of his love. And 
 with the same ardor and fervency will the 
 saints love the Lord Jesus Christ ; and their 
 love will be accepted; and they shall know 
 
486 HEAVEN, A WORLD OF 
 
 that he has loved them with a faithful, yea, 
 even with a dying love. They shall then be 
 more sensible than now they are, what great 
 love it manifested in Christ that he should lay 
 down his life for them ; and then will Christ 
 open to their view the great fountain of love 
 in his heart for them, beyond all that they 
 ever saw before. Hereby the love of the 
 saints to God and Christ, is seen to be re^ 
 ciprocated, and that declaration fulfilled, " I 
 love them that love me ;" and though the love 
 of G-od to them cannot properly be called the 
 return of love, because he loved them first, yet 
 the sight of his love, will, on that very account, 
 the more fill them with joy, and admiration, 
 and love to him. 
 
 The love of the saints, one to another, will 
 always be mutual and reciprocated, though 
 we cannot suppose that every one will, in all 
 respects, be equally beloved. Some of the 
 saints are more beloved of God than others, 
 even on earth. The angel told Daniel that he 
 was "a man greatly beloved" (Dan. ix. 23) ; 
 and Luke is called "the beloved physician" 
 (Col. iv. 14) ; and John, " the disciple whom 
 Jesus loved" (John xix. 26). And so, doubt- 
 less, those that have been most eminent in 
 
CHARITY, OR LOVE. 487 
 
 fidelity and holiness, and that are highest in 
 glory, are most beloved by Christ in heaven : 
 and doubtless those saints that are most be- 
 loved of Christ, and that are nearest to him in 
 glory, are most beloved by all the other saints. 
 Thus we may conclude that such saints 'as the 
 Apostle Paul, and the Apostle John, are more 
 beloved by the saints in heaven than other 
 saints of lower rank. They are more beloved 
 by lower saints than those of equal rank with 
 themselves. But then there are answerable 
 returns of love in these cases ; for as such are 
 more beloved by all other saints, so they are 
 fuller of love to other saints. The heart of 
 Christ, the great head of all the saints, is more 
 full of love than the heart of any saint can be. 
 He loves all the saints, far more than any of 
 them love each other. But the more any 
 saint is loved of him, the more is that saint 
 like him, in this respect, that the fuller his 
 heart is of love. 
 
 2. The joy of heavenly love shall never he 
 interrupted or damped by jealousy. — Heavenly 
 lovers will have no doubt of the love of each 
 other. They shall have no fear that the declara- 
 tions and professions of love are hypocritical ; 
 but shall be perfectly satisfied of the sincerity 
 
488 HEAVEN, A WORLD OF 
 
 and strength of each other's affection, as much 
 as if there were a window in every breast, so 
 that everything in the heart could be seen. 
 There shall be no such thing as flattery or dis- 
 simulation in heaven, but there perfect sin- 
 cerity shall reign through all, and in all. 
 Every one will be just what he seems to be, 
 and will really have all the love that he seems 
 to have. It will not be as in this world, where 
 comparatively few things are what they seem 
 to be, and where professions are often made 
 lightly, and without meaning ; but there every 
 expression of love shall come from the bottom 
 of the heart, and all that is professed shall be 
 really and truly felt. 
 
 The saints shall know that God loves them, 
 and they shall never doubt the greatness of 
 his love, and they shall have no doubt of the 
 love of all their fellow-inhabitants in heaven. 
 And they shall not be jealous of the constancy 
 of each other's love. They shall have no sus- 
 picion that the love which others have felt 
 toward them is abated, or in any degree with- 
 drawn from themselves for the sake of some 
 rival, or by reason of anything in themselves 
 which they suspect is disagreeable to others, 
 or through any inconstancy in their own hearts 
 
CHARITY, OK LOVE. 489 
 
 or the hearts of others. Nor will they be in 
 the least afraid that the love of any will ever 
 be abated toward them. There shall be no 
 snch thing as inconstancy and unfaithfulness 
 in heaven, to molest and disturb the friendship 
 of that blessed society. The saints shall have 
 no fear that the love of God will ever abate 
 towards them, or that Christ will not continue 
 always to love them with unabated tenderness 
 and affection. And they shall have no j ealousy 
 one of another, but shall know that by divine 
 grace the mutual love that exists between 
 them, shall never decay or change. 
 
 3. There shall he nothing within themselves, 
 to clog or hinder the saints in heaven, in the 
 exercises and expressions of love. — In this 
 world the saints find much to hinder them in 
 this respect. They have a great deal of dul- 
 ness and heaviness. They carry about with 
 them a heavy-moulded body — a clod of earth — 
 a mass of flesh and blood that is not fitted to 
 be the organ for a soul inflamed With high 
 exercises of divine love ; but which is found a 
 great clog and hindrance to the spirit, so that 
 they cannot express their love to God as they 
 would, and cannot be so active and lively in 
 it as they desire. Often thev fain would fly, 
 
490 
 
 but they are held down as with a dead weight 
 upon their wings. Fain would they be active, 
 and mount up as a name of fire, but they find 
 themselves, as it were, hampered and chained 
 down, so that they cannot do as their love in- 
 clines them to do. Love disposes them to 
 burst forth in praise, but their tongues are not 
 obedient ; they want words to express the 
 ardency of their souls, and cannot order their 
 speech by reason of darkness, Job xxxvii. 19 ; 
 and often for want of expressions, they are 
 forced to content themselves with groanings 
 that cannot be uttered, Rom. viii. 26. 
 
 But in heaven they shall have no such 
 hindrance. There they will have no dulness 
 and unwieldiness, and no corruption of heart 
 to war against divine love, and hinder its ex- 
 pressions ; and there no earthly body shall 
 clog with its heaviness the heavenly flame. 
 The saints in heaven shall have no difficulty 
 in expressing all their love. Their souls being 
 on fire with holy love, shall not be like a fire 
 pent up, but like a flame uncovered and at 
 liberty. Their spirits being winged with love, 
 shall have no weight upon them to hinder 
 their flight. There shall be no want of strength 
 or activity, nor any want of words wherewith 
 
— t 
 
 CHARITY, OR LOVE. 491 
 
 to praise the obj ect of their affection. Nothing 
 shall hinder them from communing with God, 
 and praising and serving him just as their 
 love inclines them to do. Love naturally 
 desires to express itself, and in heaven the 
 love of the saints shall be at full liberty to ex- 
 press itself as it desires, whether it be towards 
 God, or to created beings. 
 
 4. In Kea/ven love will he expressed with 
 perfect decency and %oisdom. — Many in this 
 world that are sincere in their hearts, and 
 have indeed a principle of true love to God 
 and their neighbor, yet have not discretion to 
 guide them in the manner and circumstances 
 of expressing it. Their intentions, and so their 
 speeches, are good, but often not suitably 
 timed, or discreetly ordered as to circum- 
 stances, but are attended with an indiscreet- 
 ness that greatly obscures the loveliness of 
 grace in the eyes of others. But in heaven, 
 the amiableness and excellence of their love 
 shall not be obscured by any such means. 
 There shall be no indecent, or unwise, or 
 dissonant speeches or actions — no foolish and 
 sentimental fondness — no needless officious- 
 ness— no low or sinful propensities of passion — 
 and no such thing as affections clouding or 
 
492 HEAVEN, A WORLD OF 
 
 deluding reason, or going before or against it. 
 But wisdom and discretion shall be as perfect 
 in the saints as love is, and every expression 
 of their love shall be attended with the most 
 amiable and perfect decency, and discretion, 
 and wisdom. 
 
 5. There shall he nothing external in heaven, 
 to keep its inhabitants at a distance from each 
 other, or to hinder their most perfect enjoy- 
 ment of each others love. — There shall be no 
 wall of separation in heaven to keep the saints 
 asunder, nor shall they be hindered from the 
 full and complete enjoyment of each other's 
 love by distance of habitation ; for they shall 
 all be together, as one family, in their heavenly 
 Father's house. Nor shall there be any want 
 of full acquaintance to hinder the greatest 
 possible intimacy; and much less shall there 
 be any misunderstanding between them, or 
 misinterpreting things that are said or done 
 by each other. There shall be no disunion 
 through difference of temper, or manners, or 
 circumstances, or from various opinions, or 
 interests, or feelings, or alliances, but all shall 
 be united in the same interests, and all alike 
 allied to the same Saviour, and all employed 
 
CHARITY, OK LOVE. 493 
 
 in the same business, serving and glorifying 
 the same God. 
 
 6. In heaven all shall he united together in 
 very near and dear relations. — Love always 
 seeks a near relation to the one who is beloved ; 
 and in heaven they shall all be nearly allied 
 and related to each other. All shall be nearly 
 related to God the supreme object of their 
 love, for they shall all be his children. And 
 all shall be nearly related to Christ, for he 
 shall be the head of the whole society, and 
 the husband of the whole church of saints, all 
 of whom together shall constitute his spouse. 
 And they shall all be related to each other as 
 brethren, for all will be but one society, or 
 rather but one family, and all members of the 
 household of God. And more than this, 
 
 7. In heaven all shall have property and 
 ownership in each other. — Love seeks to have 
 the beloved its own ; and divine love rejoices 
 in saying, "My beloved is mine, and I am 
 his." And in heaven all shall not only be re- 
 lated one to another, but they shall be each 
 other's, and belong to each other. The saints 
 shall be God's. He brings them home to him- 
 self in glory, as that part of the creation that 
 he has chosen for his peculiar treasure. And 
 
4:94 HEAVEN, A WOULD OF 
 
 on the other hand, God shall be theirs, made 
 over to them in an everlasting covenant in 
 this world, and now they shall be forever in 
 fnll possession of him as their portion. And 
 so the saints shall be Christ's, for he has 
 bought them with a price; and he shall be 
 theirs, for he that gave himself for them, will 
 have given himself to them ; and in the bonds 
 of mutual and everlasting love, Christ and the 
 saints will have given themselves to each other. 
 And as God and Christ shall be the saints', so 
 the angels shall be their angels, as is intimated 
 in Matt, xviii. 10 ; and the saints shall be one 
 another's, for the Apostle speaks (2. Cor. viii. 
 5) of the saints in his days, as first giving 
 themselves to the Lord, and then to one another 
 by the will of God ; and if this is done on 
 earth, it will be more perfectly done in heaven. 
 8. In heaven they shall enjoy each other's 
 love in perfect and uninterrupted prosperity. — 
 What often on earth alloys the pleasure and 
 sweetness of worldly friendship, is, that though 
 persons live in love, yet they live in poverty, 
 or meet with great difficulties and sore afflic- 
 tions, whereby they are grieved for themselves 
 and for one another. For though in such 
 cases, love and friendship in some respects 
 
CHARITY, OR LOVE. 
 
 495 
 
 lighten the burden to be borne, yet in other 
 respects they rather add to its weight, be- 
 cause those that love each other become, by 
 their very love, sharers in each other's afflic- 
 tions, so that each has not only his own trials 
 to bear, but those also of his afflicted friends. 
 But there shall be no adversity in heaven, to 
 give occasion for a pitiful grief of spirit, or to 
 molest or disturb those who are heavenly 
 friends, in the enjoyment of each other's 
 friendship. But they shall enjoy one another's 
 love in the greatest prosperity, and in glorious 
 riches and comfort, and in the highest honor 
 and dignity, reigning together in the heav- 
 enly kingdom — inheriting all things, sitting on 
 thrones, all wearing crowns of life, and being 
 made kings and priests unto God forever. 
 
 Christ and his disciples while on earth were 
 often together in affliction and trial, and they 
 kept up and manifested the strongest love and 
 friendship to each other under great and sore 
 sufferings. And now in heaven they enjoy 
 each other's love in immortal glory, all sorrow 
 and sighing having forever fled away. Both 
 Christ and his saints were acquainted with 
 much sorrow and grief in this world, though 
 Christ had the greatest share, being peculiarly 
 
496 HEAVEN, A WORLD OF 
 
 a " man of sorrows." But in heaven they 
 shall sit together in heavenly places, where 
 sorrow and grief shall never more be known. 
 And so all the saints will enjoy each other's 
 love in heaven, in a glory and prosperity in 
 comparison with which the wealth and thrones 
 of the greatest earthly princes, are but as sordid 
 poverty and destitution. So that as they love 
 one another, they have not only their own but 
 each other's prosperity to rejoice in, and are 
 by love made partakers of each others' bless- 
 edness and glory. Such is the love of every 
 saint to every other saint, that it makes the 
 glory which he sees other saints enjoy, as it 
 were, his own. He so rejoices that they enjoy 
 such glory, that it is in some respects to him as 
 if he himself enjoyed it in his own personal 
 experience. 
 
 9. In heaven all things shall conspire to 
 promote their love, and give advantage for 
 mutual enjoyment. — There shall be none there 
 to tempt any to dislike or hatred ; no busy- 
 bodies, or malicious adversaries, to make mis- 
 representations, or create misunderstandings, 
 or spread abroad any evil reports, but every be- 
 ing and every thing shall conspire to promote 
 love, and the full enjoyment of love. Heaven 
 
CHARITY, OR LOVE. 4:97 
 
 itself, the place of habitation, is a garden of 
 pleasures, a heavenly paradise, fitted in all 
 respects for an abode of heavenly love ; a 
 place where they may have sweet society and 
 perfect enjoyment of each other's love. None 
 are unsocial or distant from each other. The 
 petty distinctions of this world do not draw 
 lines in the society of heaven, but all meet in 
 the equality of holiness and of holy love. 
 
 All things in heaven do, also, remarkably 
 show forth the beauty and loveliness of God 
 and Christ, and have the brightness and sweet- 
 ness of divine love upon them. The very light 
 that shines in and fills that world, is the light 
 of love, for it is the shining of the glory of the 
 Lamb of God, that most wonderful influence 
 of lamb-like meekness and love that fills the 
 heavenly Jerusalem with light. "The city 
 had no need of the sun, neither of the moon 
 to shine in it ; for the glory of God did lighten 
 it, and the Lamb is the light thereof," Rev. 
 xxi. 23. The glory that is about him that 
 reigns in heaven, is so radiant and sweet that 
 it is compared (Rev. iv. 3) to "a rainbow 
 round about the throne, in sight like unto an 
 emerald ;." and it is the rainbow that is so 
 often used in the Old Testament, as the fit 
 32 
 
498 HEATED, A WORLD OF 
 
 token of God's love and grace manifested in 
 his covenant. The light of the JSTew Jeru- 
 salem, which is the light of God's glory, is 
 said to be like a jasper stone, clear as crystal 
 (Rev. xxi. 11), thus signifying the greatest 
 preciousness and beauty ; and as to its con- 
 tinuance, it is said there is no night there, but 
 only an endless and glorious day. This sug- 
 gests, once more, that, 
 
 10. The inhabitants of heaven shall Tcnow 
 that they shall forever be continued in the per- 
 fect enjoyment of each other's love. — They 
 shall know that God and Christ shall be for- 
 ever with them as their God and portion, and 
 that his love shall be continued and fully 
 manifested forever, and that all their beloved 
 fellow-saints shall forever live with them in 
 glory, and shall forever keep up the same love 
 in their hearts which they now have. And 
 they shall know that they themselves shall ever 
 live to love God, and love the saints, and to 
 enjoy their love in all its fulness and sweet- 
 ness forever. They shall be in no fear of any 
 end to this happiness, or of any abatement 
 from its fulness and blessedness, or that they 
 shall ever be weary of its exercises and ex- 
 pressions, or cloyed with its enjoyments 5 or 
 
CHARITY, OR LOVE. 499 
 
 that the beloved objects shall ever grow old, 
 or disagreeable, so that their love shall at last 
 die away. All in heaven shall flourish in im- 
 mortal youth and freshness. Age will not 
 there diminish any one's beauty or vigor ; and 
 there love shall abide in every one's heart, as 
 a living spring perpetually springing up in 
 the soul, or as a name that never dies away. 
 And the holy pleasure of this love shall be as 
 a river that is forever flowing, clear and full, 
 and increasing continually. The heavenly 
 paradise of love shall always be kept as in a 
 perpetual spring, without autumn or winter, 
 where no frosts shall blight, or leaves decay 
 and fall, but where every plant shall be in 
 perpetual freshness and bloom, and fragrance, 
 and beauty, always springing forth, and al- 
 ways blossoming, and always bearing fruit. 
 The leaf of the righteous shall not wither, 
 Ps. i. 3. And in the midst of the streets of 
 heaven, and on either side of the river, grows 
 the tree of life, which bears twelve manner 
 of fruits, and yields her fruit every month, 
 Rev. xxii. 2. Everything in the heavenly 
 world shall contribute to the joy of the saints, 
 and every joy of heaven shall be eternal. JSTo 
 
500 HEAVED, A WORLD OF 
 
 night shall settle down with its darkness upon 
 the brightness of their everlasting day. 
 
 Having thus noticed many of the blessed 
 circumstances with which love in heaven is 
 exercised, and expressed, and enjoyed, I pro- 
 ceed as proposed to speak, lastly, 
 
 VI. Of the Messed effects and fruits of this 
 love, as exercised and enjoyed in these circum- 
 stances. — And of the many blessed fruits of it, 
 I would at this time mention but two. 
 
 1. The most excellent and perfect behavior 
 of all the inhabitants of heaven toward God 
 and each other. — Charity or divine love is the 
 sum of all good principles, and therefore the 
 fountain whence proceed all amiable and ex- 
 cellent actions. And as in heaven this love 
 will be perfect, to the perfect exclusion of all 
 sin consisting in enmity against God and fel- 
 low-creatures, so the fruit of it will be a most 
 perfect behavior toward all. Hence life in 
 heaven will be without the least sinful failure 
 or error. None shall ever come short, or turn 
 aside from the way of ^holiness in the least de- 
 gree, but every feeling and action shall be 
 perfect in itself and in all its circumstances. 
 Every part of their behavior shall be holy and 
 
CHARITY, OR LOYE. 501 
 
 divine in matter, and form, and spirit, and 
 end. 
 
 We know not particularly how the saints in 
 heaven shall be employed ; but in general we 
 know that they are employed in praising and 
 serving God ; and this they will do perfectly, 
 being influenced by such a love as we have 
 been considering. And we have reason to 
 think that they are so employed as in some 
 way to be subservient under God, to each 
 other's happiness, for they are represented in 
 the Scriptures as united together in one society 
 which, it would seem, can be for no other pur- 
 pose but mutual subserviency and happiness. 
 And they are thus mutually subservient by a 
 most excellent and perfectly amiable beha- 
 vior one towards another, as a fruit of their 
 perfect love one to another. And even if they 
 are not confined to this society, but if any or 
 all of them are at times sent on errands of 
 duty or mercy to distant worlds, or employed, 
 as some suppose them to be, as ministering 
 spirits to friends in this world, they are still 
 led by the influence of love to conduct, in all 
 their behavior, in such a manner as is well 
 pleasing to Gocl, and thus conducive to their 
 own and others' happiness. The other fruit 
 
502 HEAVEN, A WOULD OF 
 
 of love as exercised in such circumstances, 
 is, 
 
 2. Perfect tranquillity and joy in heaven. — 
 Charit y, or holy and humble Christian love, is 
 a principle of wonderful power to give ineffa- 
 ble quietness and tranquillity to the soul. It 
 banishes all disturbance, and sweetly com- 
 poses and brings rest to the spirit, and makes 
 all divinely calm and sweet and happy. In 
 that soul where divine love reigns and is in 
 lively exercise, nothing can cause a storm, or 
 even gather threatening clouds. 
 
 There are many principles contrary to love, 
 that make this world like a tempestuous sea. 
 Selfishness, and envy, and revenge, and jeal- 
 ousy, and kindred passions keep life on earth 
 in a constant tumult, and make it a scene of 
 confusion and uproar, where no quiet rest is 
 to be enjoyed except in renouncing this world 
 and looking to another. But O ! what rest is 
 there in that world which the God of peace 
 and love fills with his own gracious presence, 
 and in which the Lamb of God lives and 
 reigns, filling it with the brightest and sweet- 
 est beams of his love ; where there is nothing 
 to disturb or offend, and no being or object to 
 be seen that is not surrounded with perfect 
 
CHARITY, OK LOVE. 503 
 
 amiableness and sweetness ; where the saints 
 shall find and enjoy all that they love, and so 
 be perfectly satisfied ; where there is no ene- 
 my and no enmity, but perfect love in every 
 heart and to every being ; where there is per- 
 fect harmony among all the inhabitants, no 
 one envying another, but every one rejoicing 
 in the happiness of every other; where all 
 their love is humble, and holy, and perfectly 
 Christian, without the least carnality or im- 
 purity ; where love is always mutual and 
 reciprocated to the full ; where there is no 
 hypocrisy or dissembling, but perfect simplici- 
 ty and sincerity ; where there is no treachery, 
 or unfaithfulness, or inconstancy, or jealousy 
 in any form; where there is no clog or hin- 
 drance to the exercises or expressions of love, 
 no imprudence or indecency in expressing it, 
 and no influence of folly or indiscretion in 
 any word or deed ; where there is no separa- 
 tion wall, and no misunderstanding or strange- 
 ness, but full acquaintance and perfect inti- 
 macy in all ; where there is no division through 
 different opinions or interests, but where all in 
 that glorious and loving society shall be most 
 nearly and divinely related, and each shall 
 belong to every other, and all shall enjoy each 
 
504 HEAVEN, A WORLD OF 
 
 other in perfect prosperity and riches, and 
 honor, without any sickness, or grief, or per- 
 secution, or sorrow, or any enemy to molest 
 them, or any busybody to create jealousy or 
 misunderstanding, or mar the perfect, and 
 holy, and blessed peace that reigns in heaven ! 
 And all this in the garden of God — in the 
 paradise of love, where everything is filled 
 with love, and everything conspires to pro- 
 mote and kindle it, and keep up its flame, and 
 nothing ever interrupts it, but everything has 
 been fitted by an all-wise God for its full en- 
 joyment under the greatest advantages for- 
 ever ! And all, too, where the beauty of the 
 beloved objects shall never fade, and love 
 shall never grow weary or decay, but the soul 
 shall more and more rejoice in love forever ! 
 
 O ! what tranquillity will there be in such a 
 world as this ! And who can express the fulness 
 and blessedness of this peace ! What a calm 
 is this ! How sweet, and holy, and joyous ! 
 What a haven of rest to enter, after having 
 passed through the storms and tempests of this 
 world, in which pride, and selfishness, and 
 envy, and malice, and scorn, and contempt, 
 and contention, and vice are as waves of a 
 restless ocean, always rolling, and often dashed 
 
CHARITY, OR LOVE. 505 
 
 about in violence and fury ! What a Canaan 
 of rest to come to, after going through this 
 waste and howling wilderness full of snares, 
 and pitfalls, and poisonous serpents, where no 
 rest could be found ! 
 
 And Q ! what joy will there be, springing 
 up in the hearts of the saints, after they have 
 passed through their wearisome pilgrimage, 
 to be brought to such a paradise as this ! 
 Here is joy unspeakable indeed, and full of 
 glory — joy that is humble, holy, enrapturing, 
 and divine in its perfection ! Love is always 
 a sweet principle ; and especially divine love. 
 This, even on earth, is a spring of sweetness ; 
 but in heaven, it shall become a stream, a 
 river, an ocean ! All shall stand about the 
 God of glory, who is the great fountain of 
 love, opening, as it were, their very souls to 
 be filled with those effusions of love that are 
 poured forth from his fulness, just as the 
 flowers on the earth, in the bright and joyous 
 days of spring, open their bosoms to the sun 
 to be filled with his light and warmth, and to 
 flourish in beauty and fragrancy under his 
 cheering rays. 
 
 Every saint in heaven is as a flower in that 
 garden of God, and holy love is the fragrance 
 
506 
 
 and sweet odor that they all send forth, and 
 with which they fill the bowers of that para- 
 dise above. Every soul, there, is as a note in 
 some concert of delightful music, that sweetly 
 harmonizes with every other note, and all to- 
 gether blend in the most rapturous strains in 
 praising God and the Lamb forever. And so 
 all help each other, to their utmost, to ex- 
 press the love of the whole society to its glo- 
 rious father and head, and to pour back love 
 into the great fountain of love whence they 
 are supplied and filled with love, and blessed- 
 ness, and glory. And thus they will love, and 
 reign in love, and in that godlike joy that is 
 its blessed fruit, such as eye hath not seen, nor 
 ear heard, nor hath ever entered into the 
 heart of man in this world to conceive ; and 
 thus in the full sunlight of the throne, enrap- 
 tured with joys that are forever increasing 
 and yet forever full, they shall live and reign 
 with God and Christ forever and ever ! 
 
 In the application of this subject, I remark, 
 1. If heaven he such a world as has been 
 described, then we may see a reason why con- 
 tention and strife tend to darken our evi- 
 dence of fitness for its possession. — Experience 
 teaches that this is the effect of contention. 
 
 : 
 
OR LOVE. 507 
 
 "When principles of malignity and ill-will pre- 
 vail among God's people, as they sometimes 
 do through the remaining corruption of their 
 hearts, and they get into a contentious spirit 
 or are engaged in any strife whether public 
 or private, and their spirits are filled with 
 opposition to their neighbors in any matter 
 whatever, their former evidences for heaven 
 seem to become dim, or die away, and they 
 are in darkness about their spiritual state, and 
 do not find that comfortable and satisfying 
 hope that they used to enjoy. 
 
 And so when converted persons get into ill 
 frames in their families, the consequence com- 
 monly if not universally, is, that they live 
 without much of a comfortable sense of heav- 
 enly things, or any lively hope of heaven. 
 They do not enjoy much of that spiritual calm 
 and sweetness that those do who live in love 
 and peace. They have not that help from 
 God, and that communion with him, and that 
 near intercourse with heaven in prayer, that 
 others have. The Apostle seems to speak of 
 contention in families as having this influence. 
 His language is (1 Pet. iii. 7), u Likewise ye 
 husbands dwell with them" (your wives), "ac- 
 cording to knowledge, giving honor unto the 
 
508 • HEAVEN, A WORLD OF 
 
 wife as unto the weaker vessel, and as being 
 heirs together of the grace of life, that your 
 prayers be not hindered." Here he intimates 
 that discord in families tends to hinder Chris- 
 tians in their prayers. And what Christian, 
 that has made the sad experiment, has not 
 done it to his sorrow, and in his own experi- 
 ence does not bear witness to the truth of the 
 Apostle's intimation. 
 
 "Why it is so, that contention has this effect 
 of hindering spiritual exercises and comforts 
 and hopes, and of destroying the sweet hope 
 of that which is heavenly, we may learn from 
 the doctrine we have considered. For heaven 
 being a world of love, it follows that when we 
 have the least exercise of love, and the most 
 of a contrary spirit, then we have the least of 
 heaven, and are farthest from it in the frame 
 of our mind. Then we have the least of the 
 exercise of that wherein consists a conformity 
 to heaven, and a preparation for it, and what 
 tends to it ; and so, necessarily, we must have 
 least evidence of our title to heaven, and be 
 farthest from the comfort which such evidence 
 affords. We may see, again, from this sub- 
 ject, 
 
 2. How happy those are who are entitled to 
 
CHAUITY, OK LOVE. 
 
 509 
 
 heaven. — There are some persons living on 
 earth, to whom the happiness of the heavenly 
 world belongs as much, yea much more than 
 any man's earthly estate belongs to himself. 
 They have a part and interest in this world 
 of love, and have a proper right and title to 
 it, for they are of the number of those of whom 
 it is written (Rev. xxii. 14), " Blessed are they 
 that do his commandments, that they may 
 have right to the tree of life, and may enter 
 in through the gates into the city." And 
 doubtless there are such persons here, amongst 
 us. And O ! how happy are all such, entitled 
 as they are to an interest in such a world as 
 heaven ! Surely they are the blessed of the 
 earth, and the fulness of their blessedness, no 
 language can describe, no words express. 
 But here some may be ready to say, " With- 
 out doubt they are happy persons that have a 
 title to such a blessed world, and are soon to 
 enter on the eternal possession of its joys. 
 But who are these persons ? How shall they 
 be known, and by what marks may they be 
 distinguished?" In answer to such an in- 
 quiry, I would mention three things that be- 
 long to their character : — 
 
 First, They are those that have had the 
 
510 HEAVEN, A WORLD OF 
 
 principle or seed of the same love that reigns 
 in heaven, implanted in their hearts, in this 
 world, in the work of regeneration. — The y are 
 not those who have no other principles in 
 their hearts than natural principles, or such 
 as they have by their first birth, for " that 
 which is born of the flesh is flesh." But they 
 are those who have been the subjects of the 
 new birth, or who have been born of the 
 Spirit. A glorious work of the Spirit of God 
 has been wrought in their hearts, renewing 
 them by bringing down from heaven, as it 
 were, some of the light and some of the holy, 
 pure flame that is in that world of love, and 
 giving it place in them. Their hearts are a 
 soil in which this heavenly seed has been 
 sown, and in which it abides and grows. And 
 so they are changed ; and from being earthly, 
 have become heavenly in their dispositions. 
 The love of the world is mortified and the 
 love of God implanted. Their hearts are 
 drawn to God and Christ, and for their sakes 
 flow out to the saints in humble and spiritual 
 love. " Being born, not of corruptible seed, 
 but of incorruptible," 1 Pet. i. 23, " Which 
 were born not of blood, nor of the will of the 
 
CHAEITY, OK LOVE. 511 
 
 flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God," 
 John i. 13. 
 
 Second, They are those who have freely 
 chosen the happiness that flows from the exer- 
 cise and enjoyment of such love as is in heav- 
 en, above all other conceivable happiness. — 
 •They see and understand so much of this 
 as to know that it is the best good. They 
 do not merely yield that it is so from ration- 
 al arguments that may be offered for it, 
 and by which they are convinced that it is so, 
 but they know it is so from what little they 
 have tasted of it. It is the happiness of love, 
 and the beginning of a life of such love, holy, 
 humble, divine and heavenly love. Love to 
 God, and love to Christ, and love to saints for 
 God and Christ's sake, and the enjoyment of 
 the fruits of God's love in holy communion 
 with God, and Christ, and with holy persons, 
 this is what they have a relish for ; and such 
 is their renewed nature that such happiness 
 suits their disposition and appetite and wishes 
 above all other things ; and not only above all 
 things that they have, but above all that they 
 can conceive it possible that they could have. 
 The world does not afford anything like it. 
 They have chosen this before all things else, 
 
512 HEAVEN, A WORLD OF 
 
 and chosen it freely. Their souls go out after 
 it more than after everything else, and their 
 hearts are more eager in pursuit of it. They 
 have chosen it not merely because they have 
 met with sorrow, and are in such low and 
 afflicted circumstances that they do not expect 
 much from the world, but because their hearts 
 were so captivated by this good that they 
 chose it for its own sake before all worldly 
 good, even if they could have ever so much 
 of the latter, and enjoy it ever so long. 
 
 Third, They are those who from the love 
 that is in them, are in heart and life, in prin- 
 ciple and practice, struggling after holiness. — 
 Holy love makes them long for holiness. It 
 is a principle that thirsts after growth. It 
 is in imperfection, and in a state of infancy 
 in this world, and it desires growth. It has 
 much to struggle with. In the heart in this 
 world there are many opposite principles and 
 influences ; and it struggles after greater one- 
 ness, and more liberty, and more free exer- 
 cise, and better fruit. The great strife and 
 struggle of the new man, is after holiness. His 
 heart struggles after it, for he has an interest 
 in heaven, and therefore he struggles with that 
 sin that would keep him from it. He is 
 
CHARITY, OR LOVE. 513 
 
 full of ardent desires, and breathings, and 
 longings, and strivings to be holy. And bis 
 bands struggle as well as bis beart. He 
 strives in bis practice. His life is a life of sin- 
 cere and earnest endeavor to be universally 
 and increasingly boly. He feels that be is not 
 holy enough, but far from it ; and he desires 
 to be nearer perfection, and more like those 
 who are in heaven. And this is one reason 
 why he longs to be in heaven, that he may be 
 perfectly holy. And the great principle which 
 leads him thus to struggle, is love. It is not 
 only fear ; but it is love to God, and love to 
 Christ, and love to holiness. Love is a holy 
 fire within him, and like any other flame 
 which is in a degree pent up, it will and does 
 struggle for liberty ; and this its struggling, 
 is the struggle for holiness. 
 
 3. What has been said on this subject may 
 well awaken and alarm the impenitent. — And, 
 
 First, By putting them in mind of their 
 misery, in that they have no portion or right 
 in this world of love. — You have heard what 
 has been said of heaven, what kind of glory 
 and blessedness is there, and how happy the 
 saints and angels are in that world of perfect 
 love. But consider that none of this belongs 
 33 
 
514 HEAVEN, A WORLD OF 
 
 to you. When you hear of such things, you 
 hear of that in which you have no interest. 
 No such person as you, a wicked hater of God 
 and Christ, and one that is under the power 
 of a spirit of enmity against all that is good, 
 shall ever enter there. Such as you are, never 
 belong to the faithful Israel of God, and shall 
 never enter their heavenly rest. It may be 
 said to you, as Peter said to Simon (Acts viii. 
 21), "Thou hast neither part nor lot in this 
 matter, for thy heart is not right in the sight 
 of God;" and as Nehemiah said to Sanballat 
 and his associates (ISeh. ii. 20), " You have no 
 portion, nor right, nor memorial in Jerusa- 
 lem." If such a soul as yours should be ad- 
 mitted into heaven, that world of love, how 
 nauseous would it be to those blest spirits 
 whose souls are as a flame of love ; and how 
 would it discompose that loving and blessed 
 society, and put everything in confusion ! It 
 would make heaven no longer heaven, if such 
 souls should be admitted there. It would 
 change it from a world of love to a world of 
 hatred, and pride, and envy, and malice, and 
 revenge, as this world is ! But this shall never 
 be ; and the only alternative is, that such as 
 you shall be shut out with " dogs, and sorcer- 
 
CHARITY, OK LOVE. 
 
 515 
 
 ers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and 
 idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a 
 lie," Kev. xxii. 15 ; that is, with all that is vile, 
 and nn clean, and unholy. And this subject 
 may well awaken and alarm the impenitent. 
 
 Secondly, By showing them that they are in 
 danger of hell, which is a world of hatred. — 
 There are three worlds. One is this, which is 
 an intermediate world — a world in which good 
 and evil are so mixed together as to be a sure 
 sign that this world is not to continue forever. 
 Another is heaven, a world of love, without 
 any hatred. And the other is hell, a world 
 of hatred, where there is no love, which is the 
 world to which all of you who are in a Christ- 
 less state properly belong. This last is the 
 world where God manifests his displeasure 
 and wrath, as in heaven he manifests his 
 love. Everything in hell is hateful. There 
 is not one solitary object there, that is not 
 odious and detestable, horrid and hateful. 
 There is no person or thing to be seen there, 
 that is amiable or lovely ; nothing that is pure, 
 or holy, or pleasant, but everything abomina- 
 ble and odious. There are no beings there 
 but devils, and damned spirits that are like 
 devils. Hell is, as it were, a vast den of poi- 
 
516 HEAVEX, A WOULD OF 
 
 sonous, hissing serpents ; the old serpent, who 
 is the devil and Satan, and with him all his 
 hateful brood. 
 
 In that dark world there are none but those 
 whom God hates with a perfect and everlast- 
 ing hatred. He exercises no love, and ex- 
 tends no mercy to any one object there, but 
 pours out upon them horrors without mixture. 
 All things in the wide universe that are hate- 
 ful shall be gathered together in hell, as in a 
 vast receptacle provided on purpose that the 
 universe which God has made may be cleansed 
 of its filthiness by casting it all into this great 
 sink of wickedness and woe. It is a world pre- 
 pared on purpose for the expression of God's 
 wrath. He has made hell for this ; and he 
 has no other use for it but there to testify 
 forever his hatred of sin and sinners, where 
 there is no token of love or mercy. There is 
 nothing there but what shows forth the divine 
 indignation and wrath. Every object shows 
 forth wrath. It is a world all overflowed with 
 a deluge of wrath, as it were, with a deluge 
 of liquid fire, so as to be called a lake of fire 
 and brimstone, and the second death. 
 
 There are none in hell but what have been 
 haters of God, and so have procured his wrath 
 
517 
 
 and hatred on themselves ; and there they 
 shall continue to hate him forever. JSTo love 
 to God will ever be felt in hell ; but every one 
 there perfectly hates him, and so will con- 
 tinue to hate him ; and without any restraint 
 will express their hatred to him, blaspheming 
 and raging against him, while they gnaw 
 their tongues for pain. And though they all 
 join together in their enmity and opposition 
 to God, yet there is no union or friendliness 
 among themselves : they agree in nothing but 
 hatred, and the expression of hatred. They 
 hate God, and Christ, and angels, and saints 
 in heaven, and not only so, but they hate one 
 another, like a company of serpents or vipers, 
 not only spitting out venom against God, but 
 at one another, biting and stinging and tor- 
 menting each other. 
 
 The devils in hell will hate damned souls. 
 They hated them while in this world, and 
 therefore it was, that with such subtilty and 
 indefatigable temptations they sought their 
 ruin. They thirsted for the blood of their 
 souls, because they hated them ; they longed 
 to get them in their power to torment them ; 
 they watched them as a roaring lion does his 
 prey ; because they hated them, therefore they 
 
518 HEAVEN", A WORLD OF 
 
 flew upon their souls, like hell-hounds, as soon 
 as ever they were parted from their bodies, 
 full of eagerness to torment them. And now 
 they have them in their power, they will spend 
 eternity in tormenting them with the utmost 
 strength and cruelty that devils are capable 
 of. They are, as it were, continually and 
 eternally tearing these poor damned souls 
 that are in their hands. And these latter will 
 not only be hated and tormented by devils, 
 but they will have no love or pity one to- 
 wards another, but will be like devils one to 
 another, and will to their utmost torment each 
 other, being like brands in the fire, each 
 of which helps to burn the others. 
 
 In hell all those principles will reign and 
 rage that are contrary to love, without any 
 restraining grace to keep them within bounds. 
 Here will be unrestrained pride, and malice, 
 and envy, and revenge, and contention in all 
 its fury and without end, never knowing peace. 
 The miserable inhabitants will bite and devour 
 one another, as well as be enemies to God and 
 Christ and holy beings. Those who in their 
 wickedness on earth were companions to- 
 gether, and had a sort of carnal friendship 
 one for another, will here have no appearance 
 
CHARITY, OR LOVE. 519 
 
 of fellowship ; but perfect and continual and 
 undisguised hatred will exist between them. 
 As on earth they promoted each other's sin, 
 so now in hell they will promote each other's 
 punishment. On earth they were the instru- 
 ments of undoing each other's souls : there 
 they were occupied in blowing up the fires of 
 each other's lusts, and now they will blow for- 
 ever the fires of each other's torments. They 
 ruined one another in sinning, setting bad ex- 
 amples to each other, poisoning each other by 
 wicked talk, and now they will be as much 
 engaged in tormenting, as once they were in 
 tempting and corrupting each other. 
 
 And there their hatred, and envy, and all 
 evil passions will be a torment to themselves. 
 God and Christ whom they will hate most, and 
 toward whom their souls will be as full of ha- 
 tred as an oven is ever full of fire, will be in- 
 finitely above their reach, dwelling in infinite 
 blessedness and glory which they cannot 
 diminish. And they will but torment them- 
 selves by their fruitless envy of the saints and 
 angels in heaven, whom they cannot come 
 nigh to or injure. And they shall have no 
 pity from them or from any one, for hell is 
 looked on only with hatred, and with no pity 
 
520 HEAVEN, A WORLD OF 
 
 or compassion. And thus they will be left to 
 spend their eternity together. 
 
 JSTow consider, all ye that are out of Christ, 
 and that were never born again, and that 
 never had any blessed renovation of your 
 hearts by the Holy Spirit implanting divine 
 love in them, and leading you to choose the 
 happiness that consists in holy love as your 
 best and sweetest good, and to spend your life 
 in struggling after holiness, — consider your 
 danger, and what is before you. For this is 
 the world to which ye are condemned ; and so 
 the world to which you belong through the 
 sentence of the law ; and the world that every 
 day and hour you are in danger of having 
 your abode everlastingly fixed in ; and the 
 world to which, if you repent not, you will 
 soon go, instead of going to that blessed world 
 of love of which you have now heard. Con- 
 sider, O ! consider, that it is indeed thus with 
 you. These things are not cunningly-devised 
 fables, but the great and dreadful realities of 
 God's word, and things that, in a little while, you 
 will know with everlasting certainty are true. 
 How then can you rest in such a state as you 
 are in, and go about so carelessly from day to 
 day, and so heedless and negligent of your 
 
CHARITY, OR LOVE. 521 
 
 precious, immortal souls ? Consider seriously 
 these things, and be wise for yourself, before 
 it is too late ; before your feet stumble on the 
 dark mountains, and you fall into the world 
 of wrath and hatred, where there is weeping, 
 and wailing, and gnashing of teeth, with spite- 
 ful malice and rage against God, and Christ, 
 and one another, and with horror and anguish 
 of spirit forever." Flee to the stronghold 
 while ye are prisoners of hope, before the 
 door of hope is closed, and the agonies of the 
 second death shall begin their work, and your 
 eternal doom is sealed ! 
 
 4. Let the consideration of what has been 
 said of heaven, stir up all earnestly to seek 
 after it. — If heaven be such a blessed world, 
 then let it be our chosen country, and the in- 
 heritance that we look for and seek. Let us 
 turn our course this way, and press on to its 
 possession. It is not impossible but that this 
 glorious world may be obtained by us. It is 
 offered to us. Though it be so excellent and 
 blessed a country, yet God stands ready to 
 give us an inheritance there, if it be but the 
 country that we desire, and will choose, and 
 diligently seek. God gives us our choice. 
 We may have our inheritance wherever we 
 
522 HEAVEN, 
 
 choose it, and may obtain heaven if we will 
 but seek it by patient continuance in well- 
 doing. "We are all of us, as it were, set here 
 in this world as in a vast wilderness, with di- 
 verse countries about it, and with several ways 
 or paths leading to these different countries, 
 and we are left to our choice what course we 
 will take. If we heartily choose heaven, and 
 set our hearts entirely on that blessed Canaan 
 — that land of love, and if we choose and love 
 the path that leads to it, we may walk in that 
 path, and if we continue to walk in it, it will 
 lead us to heaven at least. 
 
 Let what we have heard of the land of love, 
 stir us all up to turn our faces toward it, and 
 bend our course thitherward. Is not what we 
 have heard of the happy state of that country, 
 and the many delights that are in it, enough 
 to make us thirst after it, and to cause us with 
 the greatest earnestness and steadfastness of 
 resolution, to press towards it, and spend our 
 whole lives in travelling in the way that leads 
 thither ? "What joyful news might it well be 
 to us when we hear of such a world of perfect 
 peace and holy love, and to hear that it is pos- 
 sible, yea, that there is full opportunity for us 
 to come to it, and spend an eternity in its 
 
CHARITY, OR LOVE. 523 
 
 joys! Is not what we have heard of that 
 blessed world, enough to make us weary of 
 this world of pride, and malice, and conten- 
 tion, and perpetual jarring and jangling, a 
 world of confusion, a wilderness of hissing 
 serpents, a tempestuous ocean where there is 
 no quiet rest, where all are for themselves, 
 and selfishness reigns and governs, and all are 
 striving to exalt themselves regardless of what 
 becomes of others, and all are eager after 
 worldly good which is the great object of de- 
 sire and contention, and where men are con- 
 tinually annoying, and calumniating, and re- 
 proaching, and otherwise injuring and abus- 
 ing one another — a world full of injustice, and 
 oppression, and cruelty, — a world where there 
 is so much treachery, and falsehood, aiui fic- 
 kleness, and hypocrisy, and suffering, and 
 death — where there is so little confidence in 
 mankind, and every good man has so many 
 failings, and has so much to render him un- 
 lovely and uncomfortable, and where there is 
 so much of sorrow, and guilt, and sin in every 
 form ? 
 
 Truly this is an evil world, and so it is like 
 to be. It is in vain for us to expect that it 
 will be any other than a world of sin, a world of 
 
524 
 
 pride, and enmity, and strife, and so a restless 
 world. And though, the times may hereafter be 
 mended, yet these things will always be more 
 or less found in the world so long as it stands. 
 Who, then, would content himself with a por- 
 tion in such a world? What man acting 
 wisely and considerately, would concern him- 
 self much about laying up in store in such a 
 world as this, and would not rather neglect 
 the world, and let it go to them that would 
 take it, and apply all his heart and strength 
 to lay up treasure in heaven, and to press on to 
 that world of love ? What will it signify for 
 us to hoard up great possessions in this world, 
 and how can the thought of having our por- 
 tion here be pleasing to us, when there is an 
 interest offered us in such a glorious world as 
 heaA^en is, and especially when if we have our 
 portion here, we must, when the world has pass- 
 ed away, have our eternal portion in hell, that 
 world of hatred, and of the endless wrath of 
 God, where only devils and damned spirits 
 dwell. 
 
 We all naturally desire rest and quietness, 
 and if we would obtain it, let us seek that 
 world of peace and love of which we have 
 now heard, where a sweet and blessed rest 
 
CHAUITY, OR LOVE. 525 
 
 remaineth for God's people. If we get an in- 
 terest, in that world, then when we have done 
 with this, we shall leave all our cares, and 
 troubles, and fatigues, and perplexities, and 
 disturbances forever. We shall rest from 
 these storms that are raging here, and from 
 every toil and labor, in the paradise of God. 
 You that are poor, and think yourselves de- 
 spised by your neighbors and little cared for 
 among men, do not much concern yourselves 
 for this. Do not care much for the friendship 
 of the world ; but seek heaven, where there is 
 no such thing as contempt, and where none are 
 despised, but all are highly esteemed and hon- 
 ored, and dearly beloved by all. You that think 
 you have met with many abuses, and much 
 ill-treatment from others, care not for it. Do 
 not hate them for it, but set your heart on 
 heaven, that world of love, and press toward 
 that better country where all is kindness and 
 holy affection. And here for direction how to 
 seek heaven. 
 
 First, Let not your heart go after the things 
 of this world, as your chief good. Indulge 
 not yourself in the possession of earthly 
 things, as though they were to satisfy your 
 soul. This is the reverse of seeking heaven ; 
 
526 
 
 HEAVEN, A WORLD OF 
 
 it is to go in a way contrary to that which 
 leads to the world of love. If you would 
 seek heaven, your affections must be taken 
 off from the pleasures of the world. You 
 must not allow yourself in sensuality, or 
 worldliness, or the pursuit of the enjoyments 
 or honors of the world, or occupy your 
 thoughts or time in heaping up the dust of 
 the earth. You must mortify the desires of 
 vain glory, and become poor in spirit and 
 lowly in heart. 
 
 Second, You must, in your meditations and 
 holy exercises, be much engaged in conversing 
 with heavenly persons, and objects, and en- 
 joyments. You cannot constantly be seeking 
 heaven, without having your thoughts much 
 there. Turn, then, the stream of your thoughts 
 and affections towards that world of love, and 
 towards the God of love that dwells there, 
 and toward the saints and angels that are at 
 Christ's right hand. Let your thoughts, also, 
 be much on the objects and enjoyments of the 
 world of love. Commune much with God and 
 Christ in prayer, and think often of all that 
 is in heaven, of the friends who are there, 
 and the praises and worship there, and of all 
 that will make up the blessedness of that 
 
CHAEITY, OR LOVE. 527 
 
 world of love. "Let your conversation be in 
 heaven." 
 
 Third, Be content to pass through all diffi- 
 culties in the way to heaven. Though the 
 path is before you, and you may walk in it if 
 you desire, yet it is a way that is ascending, 
 and filled with many difficulties and obsta- 
 cles. That glorious city of light and love is, 
 as it were, on the top of a high hill or moun- 
 tain, and there is no way to it but by upward 
 and arduous steps. But though the ascent be 
 difficult, and the way full of trials, still it is 
 worth your while to meet them all for the sake 
 of coming and dwelling in such a glorious city 
 at last. Be willing, then, to undergo the la- 
 bor, and meet the toil, and overcome the dif- 
 ficulty. What is it all in comparison with 
 the sweet rest that is at your journey's end? 
 Be willing to cross the natural inclination of 
 flesh and blood, which is downward, and 
 press onward and upward to the prize. At 
 every step it will be easier and easier to as- 
 cend ; and the higher your ascent, the more 
 will you be cheered by the glorious prospect 
 before you, and by a nearer view of that 
 heavenly city where in a little while you shall 
 forever be at rest. 
 
528 HEAVEN, A WOELD OF 
 
 Fourth, In all your way let your eye be 
 fixed on Jesus, who lias gone to heaven as 
 your forerunner. Look to him. Behold his 
 glory in heaven, that a sight of it may stir 
 you up the more earnestly to desire to be 
 there. Look to him in his example. Con- 
 sider how by patient continuance in well-do- 
 ing, and by patient endurance of great suffer- 
 ing, he went before you to heaven. Look to 
 him as your mediator, and trust in the atone- 
 ment which he has made, entering into the 
 holiest of all in the upper temple. Look to 
 him as your intercessor, who forever pleads 
 for you before the throne of God. Look to 
 him as your strength, that by his Spirit he 
 may enable you to press on, and overcome 
 every difficulty of the way. Trust in his 
 promises of heaven to those that love and fol- 
 low him, which he has confirmed by entering 
 into heaven as the head, and representative, 
 and Saviour of his people. And, 
 
 Fifth, If you would be in the way to the 
 world of love, see that you live a life of love ; 
 of love to G-od, and love to men. All of us 
 hope to have part in the world of love here- 
 after, and therefore we should cherish the 
 spirit of love, and live a life of holy love here 
 
CHARITY, OR LOVE. 529 
 
 on earth. This is the way to be like the in- 
 habitants of heaven, who are now confirmed 
 in love forever. Only in this way can you 
 be like them in excellence and loveliness, 
 and like them, too, in happiness, and rest, and 
 joy. By living in love in this world you may 
 be like them, too, in sweet and holy peace, 
 and thus have, on earth, the foretastes of heav- 
 enly pleasures and delights. Thus, also, you 
 may have a sense of the glory of heavenly 
 things, as of God, and Christ, and holiness ; 
 and your heart be disposed and opened by 
 holy love to God, and by the spirit of peace 
 and love to men, to a sense of the excellence 
 and sweetness of all that is to be found in 
 heaven. Thus shall the windows of heaven be, 
 as it were, opened, so that its glorious light 
 shall shine in upon your soul. Thus you may 
 have the evidence of your fitness for that 
 blessed world, and that you are actually on the 
 way to its possession. And being thus made 
 meet, through grace, for the inheritance of 
 the saints in light, when a few more days 
 shall have passed away, you shall be with 
 them in their blessedness forever. Happy, 
 thrice happy those, who shall thus be found 
 faithful to the end, and then shall be wel- 
 34 
 
530 HEAVEN, A WORLD OF CHARITY. 
 
 corned to the joy of their Lord ! There they 
 shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more ; 
 neither shall the sun light on them, nor any 
 heat, for the Lamb which is in the midst of 
 the throne, shall feed them, and lead them to 
 fountains of living waters, and God shall wipe 
 away all tears from their eyes ! 
 
 THE END. 
 
 ^ 
 
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