Means to preserve his Life; and in the Second, to fupply his Wants, by affording him such a Relief, as his Mifery calls for, and my Condition will allow, without impoverishing my felf or Family.

St. Matt.

But I do not think that the ftricteft Laws of Christianity obliges me, in either of the Cafes, to exchange Conditions with him, and put my felf into the fame Circumftances of Danger or Wants, without any Regard to my own Safety and Support; because this is more than is implied in that general Rule, which is laid down by our Saviour in this Matter. What-7.12. foever ye would, that Men fhould do unto you, even fo do ye unto them. Which does not require, that I fhould do more for them, than I could reasonably expect, they should do for me, in the like Cafe. Nor is this only the Doctrine of the Law and the Prophets, but of the Gofpel too; for St. Paul plainly intimates, that there is a Priority of Love and Affection, due to our felves, and immediate Relations. No Man (fays he) ever yet hated his own Flesh, Eph. s. but nourisheth and cherisheth it. And again, 29. If a Man provide not for his own, and efpecially for those of his own House, he hath denied the Faith.

Thirdly, This is not to be underftood, as if we were to love all our Neighbours with the fame Zeal and Fervency of Affection; but that a diftinguishing Regard ought to be had to their moral Characters and Virtues.

For

4

For tho' we are commanded to love our Enemies, do good to them that hate, and to pray for them that defpitefully use us and perfecute us: Tho' we are further commanded to have Compaffion on the Ignorant, and on those that are out of the Way, to be pitiful, to be courteous, even to the Unthankful and Injurious; and it is certain, by these Precepts, we are to esteem all Men our Friends in the Spirit of Charity, and to treat them as fuch, in all our Correfpondencies and Dealings with them; yet that does not oblige us to make them our particular Confidents; to let them into the Secret Counfels of our Hearts; nor indeed, into the Freedoms and Familiarities of our Converfation.

This fuppofes an Agreement of Temper and Inclination; of Juftice and Faithfulness, of Piety and Holinefs; of all thofe moral Virtues, and Chriftian Graces of our Holy Profeffion; and thefe improved, and confirmed, by Knowledge, Experience, and Communications of Thoughts and Intentions, And are all Men thus qualified for our Friendship and Charity?

And this Difcretionary Judgment of Men, is not only fuppofed, but recommended in the Rom. 12. Gofpel. Be kindly Affectioned (fays St. Paul) one to another, with Brotherly Love; in HoGal. 6.10.nour, preferring one another. Again, as you have opportunity, do good unto all Men, efpecially to thofe of the Houfbold of Faith. And V. 21. 22. St. Jude more diftinctly, Keep your felves in the Love of God; and of fome bave Compassion,

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making a Difference ; and others fave with Fear, pulling them out of the Fire; hating even the Garment Spotted with the Flesh.

The Sum of the Particular is this.

We are to love the Perfons of all Men, to yield them all the Offices of Civil Respect, of Neighbourly Kindness, of Chriftian Charity; To relieve their Neceffities, to inform their Ignorance, to reprove their Vices, and to pray for their Converfion. But to have no Fellowship Eph. 5.11. with them, in their unfruitful Works of Darknefs.

This, I prefume, may be fufficient, to shew the Meaning, the Extent, the Obligation of this Precept; and whom we are to understand by our Neighbour, and in what Sense we are to love him as our felves. I proceed in the Third Place,

3. To confider what thofe particular Inftances of Benevolence and Charity are, we are to extend to him, by vertue of this Commandment. And,

Firft, By virtue of it, we are undoubtedly obliged to render him all the Neighbourly Offices of Affiftance, Good-Will, and Friendship; not entertain any fecret Thoughts of Hatred, Malice, or Revenge toward him, not to envy his Welfare, not to repine at his Profperity, not to leffen him in his Reputation, Eftate or Family;

Family; but to rejoice with him in all his Succeffes, and heartily with him a fanctify'd Ufe, and comfortable Enjoyment of all the Bleffings of God. We are further to converse with him by an open Freedom of Heart, and an undiffembled Simplicity of Affection, without any dishoneft Referve, or Double-Dealing; without any Flattery or Guile, without any felfish Intereft, or finifter Designs. We are to pay him all the outward Civilities of Refpect, Candour, Affability, and fair Correfpondence. All this, with whatever elfe of this kind, is included in the Love of our felves, is due to our Neighbour, by the Laws of Chrift. And truly, not only by the Laws of Christianity, but by thofe of our common Nature and Humanity: And St. Paul puts it upon that Foot. For in the 12th Chap. 1 Cor. He argues the mutual Sympathies and Antipathies, which all Men ought to have of the Happiness, or the Mifery of their fellow Creatures, from that Order God hath appointed, and that Care which the Members of the natural Body have of one another, as if all Mankind were united, and animated by the fame publick and universal Soul. v. 24. 25. God bath tempered the Body together, that there fhould be no Schifm in the Body, but that the Members have the fame Care one for another; that whether one Member fuffer, all the Members fuffer with it; or one Member be bonoured, all the Members rejoice with it.

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And

And this, by the way, gives a fufficient Anfwer, to the common Objections against the Difficulties and Impracticableness of the Chriftian Precepts, as if they were unreasonable Impofitions, and intolerable Violences to the Original Dictates of our Nature; whereas they are the real Improvements of it, reinforcing those benevolent Virtues and Graces, which were the bright Ornaments of our Beings, in their Primitive State of Innocence and Perfection.

Secondly, By virtue of this Precept, we are further bound to bear with the Paffions, to pass by the Provocations, and freely to forgive the Injuries of our Neighbour.

These are generally the unhappy Beginnings, and fruitful Seeds of thofe Differences and Debates; that Strife, and Contention, which are hatched, and nourished in Neighbourhoods. How often is a hafty, and unguarded Expreffion, an incautious and miftimed Reproof, or an inconfiderable and accidental Trefpafs, aggravated and blown up, into a lafting Variance and Hatred? Now, I pray, what mean and forry, what trifling and childifh Occafions of Difference and Difcord are these? Is there any neceffity of having recourfe to the stricter Laws of Chriftianity, to fupprefs the Growth, or to prevent the fpreading of them? And indeed, a little coolness of Reflection, and second Thoughts would effectually do it.

Thus