fhould be no bar to our Charity: But till we have fatisfied the Duty of our refpective Capacities, we are not yet in a Condition of owing no Man any thing; And therefore cannot be at Liberty, to transfer thofe Provifions to the Ufe of the Poor, for which our own Flesh and Blood may make a reasonable and juft Demand upon us. From hence we may infer,

Secondly, This Obligation to Love cannot be unlimited, except with regard to the Inward Difpofition: 'Tis manifeft, it cannot poffibly be fo, with regard to the Outward Act, of Charity. These muft needs be bounded, by our Circumftances in the World, by the Relati ons in which we ftand, by the very former Acts of this kind; each of which leaves in our Power less than we had before. But though no Man's Abilities can extend to all that want, yet every Man may fincerely and earneftly with the Succours he cannot give; and the Sincerity of thofe Defires he may approve by doing all the Good he can; and by praying for and promoting that which in his own Perfon he cannot effect. Thus his Love may, and ought to be unbounded; and in this Temper of the Mind it is, that the Effence of Charity truly confifts. The Apostle, we fee, fuppofes it poffible, that a Man fhould give all his Goods to feed the 1 Cor. xiii. 3. Poor, and yet not have Charity: Therefore, it is neither the Act of Giving, nor the Quantity of the Gift, but the Principle from whence it proceeds, which recommends it to God's Acceptance. And our Bleffed Saviour, by preferring the Widow's two Mar.xii.43,44 Mites, before the very magnificent Contributions of many wealthy Perfons, hath taught us plainly, that God will judge us by the Intenseness of our Love; and that This will be measured by that Proportion, which our Liberality bears to our feveral Abilities and Circumstances in the World. But then it is true again, Thirdly, That there is another Branch of this Love, in which not only the Difpofition, but the Act it felf,

ought

Mat. xviii. 22.

ought to know no Bounds: That I mean, of bearing and forgiving Injuries. No Man is allowed to fet fuch Meafures to himself, as thefe; So many Wrongs I will pardon and no more; fo long I will continue my Love: and then let loose the Reins to Hatred and Revenge: For here our Blessed Master's Rule takes Place, I fay unto you, not until seven times, but until seventy times feven. Our greatest Crimes, and fuch as we daily repeat, do not weary out the Mercy of God, though each of these deserve speedy and eternal Vengeance. And therefore the most heinous Provocations from our Brethren ought not to extinguifh our Charity; or make us cease either our felves to forgive, or heartily to pray that God would forgive, even our most unreasonable, even our most implacable Enemies. Thus much, I think, may fuffice at prefent, concerning the firft Duty commanded here; and the Apostle's peculiar manner of expreffing it, in those words, Owe no Man any thing, but to love one another.

II. I proceed now to the Second thing, urged upon us in this Exhortation, viz. Purity of Heart and Life. To which I fhall at present say only so much, as refults from the Explanation of thofe Figurative Terms, by which the Apostle hath recommended it to us. And they are Four: 1. Awaking out of Sleep.

2. Cafting off the Works of Darkness, and putting on the Armour of Light.

Ver. 11.

Ver. 12.

Ver. 13.

3. Walking boneftly, as in the Day, Or, avoiding those Viees, which are manifeftly here implied, to be attended with Indecency and Shame. 4. Putting on the Lord Jefus Christ, and (in Agreement with, or as a neceffary Confequence of this) Not making Provifion for the Flesh, to fulfil the Lufts thereof.

Ver. 14.

1. The First of these Metaphors compares a Life of Senfuality and Sin, to Sleep: and the fhaking off fuch a

diffolute Conversation, to Mens awaking out of that Sleep. And this I might make appear to be a very proRefemblance, upon many Accounts; more particularly these Three that follow.

per

Ifaiah xxix. 8.

·

1. As Sleep is a Condition of Blindness and great Delufion. It entertains us with dark, and confufed, and inconfiftent Images of Things; which, when our waking Thoughts reflect upon, we find to have nothing in them, but Falfhood and Deceit. Thus the fenfual Man, who feeds and is governed by his Paffions, lives, as it were, in one continued Dream. He flatters himself with wild and empty notions of things, efteems those Vanities and Exceffes to be the Perfection and Happiness, which are in very deed the Blemish and Mifery, of Human Nature. And all his fancied Satisfactions are fo far from yielding any true Enjoyment, that, after the utmost Industry to indulge them, they leave him at laft under that wretched Disappointment defcribed by the Prophet Ifaiah. As when a Hungry Man dreameth, and, behold, be eateth, but he awaketh, and his Soul is empty; or as when a Thirsty Man dreameth, and behold he drinketh, but he awaketh, and behold he is faint, and his Soul bath Appetite: So is it with all, who make the Gratification of their sensual Affections, the End and Bu finefs of Life. They pursue after fomething, which for a little while works ftrongly upon their Imaginations, fooths and tickles them with a falfe and treacherous Delight; But, when their Eyes are opened, and they awaken into ferious and compofed Thought, the Airy Idea vanishes immediately; and the Perfons, who fuppofed themselves poffefs'd of moft, upon a juft Computation, find nothing in their Hands. 2. As Sleep is a State of Negligence and Inactivity. Neceffary indeed this is, for the Recruit of these frail and feeble Bodies of Ours; which cannot bear continued Labour and Thought, without fome Intervals of Reft, and frequent Sufpenfions of our Nobleft Powers. But it is

Pfal. Ixxvi. 5.

།

1 Pet. ii. II.

the Animal Life only, which receives Benefit by fuch Intermiffions. To the Rational all that Time is loft: and the Man (properly speaking) is dead, to the best and true Purposes of Living. So likewise fenfual Pleasures administer to the meaner and brutal part of the Soul, our Appetites and Affections; but Reafon and Religion are fo far from receiving any Improvement, that they are manifeftly impaired, by our ftudious Gratifications of, and vehement Pursuits after them. If these Pleasures be of a finful kind, they manifeftly war against the Soul. And if they be innocent in their Kind, but immoderate in their Degree, they bring upon us a fatal Habit of Spiritual Drowfinefs; make us unthinking and heavy in our Duty, dull to good Impreffions, and unfit for vigorous Improvements. Like thofe Drones who fleep, not for Refreshment, but Wantonnefs and Sloth, we make the vacant Spaces of Life fo many, and fo large, that all our good Difpofitions languifh and grow cold upon our Hands. The Things that are temporal and prefent, when too long dwelt upon, will render us of courfe regardlefs and infenfible of distant and spiritual; and leave us at laft as little Inclination, as Leifure, for the Discharge of that great Work, which God fent us into the World about.

3. The Pertinence of this Comparison appears yet farther, in regard Sleep is a State, liable to great Danger and Surprise; fuch as Enemies and Robbers take advantage of, because we are then leaft of all in a Condition to discover or prevent their Attempts upon us. And this is evidently the Cafe of a fenfual Life. It lulls and stupifies Men with a falfe Security; keeps them in Ignorance of the infinite Perils, which befet them on every fide; and doth not only expofe them to Affaults, but even affift the Adversary against them. For those very Affections, which fuch Perfons are at fo much Pains to gratifie and cherish, are the Engines and Instruments employed in the Deftruction of Souls. Every Indulgence

C

of

1

of thefe, beyond due meafure, is like drawing a Sword, and turning the Point of it upon one's own felf. And they who do so, inftead of standing upon their Guard, march directly up to the Mouth of the loaded Cannon, help to lay the Ambufcade, and turn their own Tempters.

Now a Life of Sobriety and fevere Virtue, fuch as the Gospel prefcribes, and the Apoftle here recommends, is, on the other hand, very fitly reprefented by Awaking out of Sleep.

1. As it opens Men's Eyes, difabufes them of their Errors, teaches them to pass a right Judgment, and to make a juft Computation, of things; infpires them with a generous Difdain of fordid and brutish, and puts them upon feeking every way manly Pleafures; fuch as are fubftantial and durable, fpiritual and fatisfactory, anfwerable to the Dignity, and proportioned to the De fires, of a Reasonable and Immortal Soul.

2. As is rouses Men to Action, and fuffers them not to loiter away their precious Hours in idle and unprofitable living; but fires them with a vigorous Zeal, of doing good, of anfwering their Character, and difpatching their Master's Business, with Diligence and Chearfulness.

3. As it gives them due Apprehenfions of their Danger, and keeps a ftrict Guard against the Malice and Cunning, of an Enemy, who, they are fenfible, lies in wait continually to destroy them. These wakeful Men, as oft as the Cares or Diverfions of this Life difpofe them to flumber, confider, that Death and Danger are ever at hand, and therefore they fleep in their arms. Their Appetites and Paffions, I mean, are kept under ftrict Difcipline, and their very firft Motions nicely obferved, and timely fubdued. They know the Difficulties of the way, and take every Step, with a Wariness, becoming Men, who travel in the midst of Snares and Precipices. And thus they awake out of the Blindnefs and Delu