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3dly, That our Saviour's Authority ought particularly to engage us to Love and Peace, and Reconciliation; inafmuch, as the whole Courfe of his Life was the faireft Pattern and Example of it. In this Precept, he requires nothing more of us, than what he himself practifed in the highest Degree. Can we think of his great Condefcention in coming down from Heaven, and converfing with Sinners in the moft meek, and affable manner; of his aftonishing Love, and boundless Compaffion to his Enemies and Murderers; his patient fubmitting to all the Sorrows and Miseries of an afflicted Life; his enduring all the Contradictions, Affronts, and Reproaches of enraged Malice; I fay, can we think of thefe Things, and fuffer our felves to be Proud and Haughty, Uncharitable, and Cruel; to be overcome with Paffion to be tranfported with Fury; to be acted by a revengeful and perfecuting Spirit? Had he not been fo great an Example of Mercy and Forgivenefs; had he been only a Preacher of Peace and Reconciliation; poffibly our Obligations thereto, had not been fo very great, nor our Guilt fo inexcufable; but fince he hath come, and done thefe Things amongst us, we have no Cloak for our Sin.

Further yet, this Duty of Reconciliation, is not only recommended to us by the Authority and Practice of our Saviour, but it is enjoined as the particular Mark, as the diftin

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guishing Character of his Difciples. If ye love them which love you, what Thank have ye? For Sinners alfo love thofe that love them; and if ye do Good to them that do Good to you, what thank have ye? For Sinners alfo do even the fame. But love ye your Enemies, and do Good, hoping for nothing again, and your Reward 32. 33° fhall be great, and ye shall be the Children of the Higheft. The plain Meaning of which, is this. When we oblige, and do Good to our Friends, and Rich Neighbours only, we do but just as Men of other Religions do we confult only our own Intereft and Reputation but if we do Good to the Poor, and Needy, if for Chrift's Sake, we relieve the Friendlefs, and him that bath no Helper; if our Charity extends to Enemies; if we be willing to be reconciled to thofe that have injured us; if we can beartily forgive andpray for thofe that have defpitefully used and perfecuted us, this is Thank-worthy, this is true and undiffembled Chriftianity, this is pure Obedience to the Command of Chrift. And doubtless, Great fhall be the Reward of fuch in Heaven, they shall be called the Children of the Higheft. But,

2dly, Our Obligations in this Matter will further appear, if we confider the Reasonablenefs, and Intrinfick Excellency of the Precept it felf. For there is nothing conduces more to the Peace of Human Society, to the true Dignity and Perfection of our Natures; to the prefent Happiness and Satisfaction of our Minds.

For

For is not Anger, and Malice, and Revenge, a Reproach to our Reason, and a Torment to our Thoughts? Do not these ruffle our Tempers, drink up, or rather burn up our Spirits? Is a Man (whilft he is under the Dominion of thefe) in a Capacity to purfue any wife Defign? Is he fit to converfe with Men, or to pray to God? Much lefs can he be fuppofed prepared to die. 'Tis the Apoftle's Advice. Be ye angry and fin not, let not the Sun go down upon your Wrath.

Let not the Sun go dorm upon your Wrath] Methinks there is a great deal couch'd in the Expreffion. The going down of the Sun, the Reft, and Sleep which Nature then seems to take; the Darkness and Lonesomeness of the Night, is no improper Similitude, 'tis a pretty Emblem of our Mortality; of the ceafing from our Labours, of repofing our Bodies in the Silence and Obfcurity of the Grave; but whether we make that use of it, or no, poffibly there may be more than Emblem in it; our Lives may fet with this Sun, and we may not rife to fee the Light of another Day; which Confideration is of great Moment, to perfwadé us fpeedily to put off our Wrath, and Anger, left in that III-State, and Temper of Mind, we be fnatched away.

But because this is a Cafe which happens but feldome, and for one that's carried off fuddenly, and unexpectedly, Thousands die leifurely and gradually, because Men are wont to lie down in Strife, and Malice, and Uncharitableness,

charitablenefs, and rife again the next Morning the very fame Men; that which I would chiefly remark in this Matter, is this. That Men of fuch Spirits, and Difpofitions, can never have any real Pleasure in their Lives. For what Pleafure can there be, where Love is banifhed, and Peace is a Stranger?

True indeed it is, that fuch do enjoy the fame Mercies, and Providences in common with other Men; but they have not the fame Effect and Bleffing upon them; they do not fmooth their Paffions, and mollify their Hearts; they do not raise any devout and grateful Senfe of that Goodness which is beftowed upon them. Like the Beafts of the Forreft, and the Savage Inhabitants of the Wilderness, they rife early in the Morning, and feek after their Prey, and lay them down in their Dens, but they regard not the Works of the Lord, nor confider the Operations of his Hands. Doubtlefs, 'tis one of the heavieft Judgments in this World, to be given up to an unthankful Heart, and an ill-Nature; to a Mind void of Senfe of the Religion, and the Tenderneffes of Chriftian Charity. To be infenfible of the Being, Providence, and Goodness of God, is (as I take it) what the Apoftle calls, living without God in the World.

Whereas, on the other Hand, thefe Things make the deepest Impreffions upon Ingenuous and Virtuous Minds; They afford the moft delightful, the moft ravishing Reflections, E

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very Occurrence of Providence, every Mercy of Heaven, gives a fresh Occafion, yields a new Argument of Gratitude and Praife. In the Morning they rife from their Beds, full of Devotion, and Thanksgiving to God, of Charity, and Good-Will to Men; the Thoughts and Defires of their Hearts are as General, and unconfined as the Mercies of God, as pure and chafte, as harmlefs and innocent, as kind and obliging, as the Light that shines forth upon them. They fee God in every Providence of the Day, and the Night covers them in the Beds of their Innocence and Security. But

3dy, Our Obligation to this Duty, will further appear from the Reafon, and Inftitution of the Chriftian Eucharift. This, I told you in the Beginning, fome Interpreters take to be the Cafe pointed at by our Saviour, in thefe Words, When thou bringeft thy Gift to the Altar. But whether it was fo, or no, (that Sacrament not being then inftituted) yet certainly, it is the strongest Obligation in the World to us, who live under the leftablished Ufe of it. For ever fince its firft Inftitution, this Duty of Love, and Charity, and Reconciliation, hath always been made the Principle Part of Preparation, for the worthy receiving that Holy Sacrament. That as Chriftians there meet together, to celebrate the greatest Inftance of Love that was ever vouchfafed to the World, for likewife in the Acknowledg

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