THE Most difficult DUTY made Easy: Or, Directions to bring our Hearts to Forgive our Enemies. By D. B. Minister of the Gospel. The strict Precept of Loving, and Blessing, and Praying for Enemies, is more clearly perceptive; and so, more indispensably obligatory to us Christians, than ever it was to the Jews before. Dr. H. Hammond Serm. on Luke 9.55. What Christian soever can indulge himself the enjoyment of that hellish Sensuality of Revenge; nay, that doth not practise the high, but necessary Perfection of overcoming Evil with Good, he knows not what Spirit he is of. Id. ibid. London, Printed for Andrew Bell and Ionas Luntley at the Pestle and Mortar, over against the Horse-shoe-Tavern in Chancery-Lane. 1694. S. Woodford, in Paraph. Ps. 35. FAlse Witnesses did up against me rise, With charge of Crimes I never knew: My good Deeds answered with Indignities, And to the Death my Soul did close pursue. Those for whose Griefs I truly mourned, And prayed for, sick, though on myself the Prayers returned. For my best Friend I could have done no more, Not more, had he my Brother been; I did as hearty his Loss deplore, As if I than my Mother's Grave had seen. Tho in my Troubles they rejoice, And all my Griefs outbrave with their insulting Voice. The most difficult Duty made Easy: OR, The Question Resolved, How we may bring our Hearts to Forgive our Enemies? THE Law of Kindness seems Repealed among us. Giving Love, and Forgiving, both are Exiles, banished out of our Christendom. Their Contraries do every where reign and tyrannize. Bitterness and Wrath fill every Place; and there's nothing hid from the Heat thereof. No; nor is there any Speech or Language, wherein their Voice is not heard. Every Man is a Rehoboam, and answers Roughly; Nabal is a common Name to all. The very Poor do disuse Entreaties. There's no Voice, but is turned to Clamour; Railing is our Rhetoric, Brawling our Eloquence. What Tongue is not a Sword? Whose Lips be not Spears, in our Militant State? There's no Strife in Heaven; and there is little beside upon this Earth. Nor can ever Grapes be expected from Thorns, or Figs from Thistles. I am not going to Prune them, and Dig about them, with such an Expectation. Wickedness will proceed from the Wicked; and must so do. But Vines there be, that would yield better Fruit, if we could take the Foxes, the little Foxes that spoil them. Good Men have an Internal Treasure, whence they might bring forth good Things; and with ease enough, were but the Thiefs that break in and steal, expelled. These Branches (broke off the Tree whereon they grew; the Sermon, in which they were born) are designed for Rods, to whip those thievish Buyers and Sellers out of the said Temples. Ill Men are Dunghills; and Good Ones are Temples; in Christian Divinity and very Pagan, they are so. But scarcely shall I Forgive myself, if I waste my Time in Complaints: Or in telling what I design to do, otherwise than by doing it. Wherefore (being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, etc.) a short Paragraph shall usher in my twenty four Directions. By Forgiving Enemies, I mean, Turning from Endeavour and from Desire to do them Hurt, unto Readiness to do them Good, as Opportunity serves. Unto which we are obliged, whether our Pardon be craved or no. A Man is still to be loved as a Man, and a Kinsman as a Kinsman; Penitent or Impenitent. I do not by Forgiving here intent, so much as Restoring them into former Esteem and Intimacy. No faithful Church will so restore any scandalous Member; nor any wise Man, so restore an injurious Offender, before his thorough Repentance credibly professed. Honour, and Love of this sort depend on men's Innocence and Repentance. Now, Unto the first kind of Forgiving, an untoward Heart seems easily brought, by telling itself as follows. Twelve Particulars concerning the Duty itself, and Twelve more concerning the Person on whom it is incumbent. Concerning the Duty, seriously tell thyself to this Effect. 1. It is my Duty. Therefore I will Forgive. If it be not a Duty, where is God's Authority? He Commands it. If it be not my Duty, I must not be God's Subject. For his Law binds all his Subjects. If I do not Forgive my Enemy, I deny my God. But, How can I do this Evil? Gen. 39.9. 2. It is my DIFFICULT Duty. Therefore I will industriously Forgive. Not with a Forgiveness that shall cost me nothing. I will go to the Expense of much Pains for it. Though I am glued to my Wrath, I will tear myself from it: And with strong Cries pray Almightiness to bring me to brotherly Kindness. Labour in Duty is never lost. That which requires it most, requiteth it best. Wherefore, My Heart shall stir me up, my Spirit shall make me willing, though it find me not so, Exod. 35.21. 3. It is my EQVITABLE Duty. Therefore I will Forgive without grudging. What more Equal? If God will Revenge my Injurer, What need I wish him Evil? If God will Reward me, how just is it that I obey his Command, and render an evil Man Good for Evil? If others be bound to forgive me, as righteously I am bound to forgive them. 'Tis a plain Case; I am in Bedlam as long as I am in a vindictive Passion. Return O my Reason, and let me do my most reasonable Service, Rom. 12.1. 4. It is a Duty of my own COMMANDING. Therefore for very shame I will Forgive. Alas, I charge my Children to forgive each other's Wrongs; and still leave it to me to right them. Do I look that my Wormship should be observed more than my Creator's Godhead? Or, Dream I that my Power is more Sovereign over my Babes, than his over me and my Passions? With what Face can I answer it, Thou that preachest and commandest a Man, should not hate his Enemies, dost thou hate thine? Rom. 2.21. 5. It is a Duty most GLORIOUS. Therefore I will ambitiously Forgive. Wherein is God himself more Glorious, than in letting go his Anger? Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth Iniquity? Mich. 7.18. Fools think it ignoble to digest Injury. But be it ever my Motto, what the wise Man writes; It is the Glory of a Man to pass over a Transgression, Prov. 19.11. To Forgive a malicious Wrong, is to put on a very glorious Crown. 6. It is my BENEFICIAL Duty. Therefore I will covetously Forgive. More is got by true Forgiving one Trespass, than by Receiving many a Kindness. Are the King's Dominions worth an Evidence for Heaven? Forgiving an Injury is a good Evidence; it is so, if Christ's be a good Authority. If you forgive Men their Trespasses, your Heavenly Father will forgive you, Mat. 6.14. O my Soul, have a respect to this Recompense of Reward. 7. It is my FREQVENT Duty. Therefore I will Forgive, of desire to learn to Forgive. Injuries be not rare, as Thunder; but common as Daylight. And they must be Remitted, or God must be Denied. I had need learn therefore very perfectly, what I am to do daily. But (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) what we would learn to do, by doing it we must learn. I will Forgive, to perfect me in Forgiving; as Children writ, to perfect them in Writing. I will abound in this Work of the Lord, that I may get from strength to strength in it, Psal. 84.7. God rewards Grace with Grace, Psal. 119.55, 56. 8. It is my VOWED Duty. Therefore I will Forgive in the dread of Perjury. Constructively, was I sworn in my holy Baptism; and so have I been at the Holy Supper, full often, to Forgive my Trespassers. Wherefore, Having Vowed unto God, I will not delay to pay it, Eccles. 5.4. 9 It is my CONSOLATIVE Duty. Therefore I will, for Comfort's sake, Forgive. Never, never, never, do God above, Men below, and Conscience within, speak more kindly, than when we do Forgive most eminently. If ever, then it's said as unto Abraham, Now I know thou fearest God, Gen. 22.12. Ordinarily more sensible Comfort is given in the Remission of one Injury, than in hearing of seven Sermons. 10. It is my DEFENSIVE Duty. Therefore I will Forgive, were it but to silence the Ignorance of foolish Men. By this Duty, I singularly Convince profane Men, that I am acted by a Spirit much better than theirs. This Good overcomes their Evil, quencheth their Wildfires; and sometimes extorteth their Praise of Religion. Speak Experience! This Wisdom is a great Defence, Eccles. 7.12. 11. It is my FAITH-EXERCISING Duty. Therefore I will Forgive, to Keep my Faith in Action. Faith's exercise, is Faith's increase. And to good purpose is it exercised in Forgiving. A Duty, we can do nothing of, till Faith come and shows us; that, whatever the Wrong be that's done us, it was ordered by God's Providence; and we shall be benefited by it through his Grace. A Duty, than indeed easy. David can then bear Shimei's Cursing, when Faith says, that God bid him. And we, as he, use to be Dumb and Calm, when Faith saith of a bitter Event, God did it. Then we can tell our Enemies, as Joseph his Brethren; It was not you that Wronged us. Gen. 45.8. 12. It is but my MOMENTANY Duty. Therefore I will thankfully Forgive. What, can I not have Patience, one short Vapor's continuance! My Life's no longer in the Trespassing World. And in Heaven, there will be no Wrongs done me. I shall love myself, no better than every one will Love me there. At the Judgement Day, if my Trespassers Repent not before, it will be my Duty and Privilege to laugh at their Calamity, and mock when their Fear comes. It is certain, The Saints shall Judge the World, 1 Cor. 6.2. Concerning thyself, speak on to this purpose. 1. Thousands and ten Thousands of God's Pardons have I needed, and daily need. Therefore I will Forgive. Multiplied Pardons hold me out of Hell; to Pardon will I ever multiply, therefore. Lest God say to me, O thou wicked Servant, I forgive thee all that Debt, shouldest not thou have had compassion on thy Fellow-Servant, even as I had pity on thee? Mat. 18.32, 33. 2. I have and shall ever need abundance of men's Forgiveness. Therefore I will Forgive. O my Soul, Take no heed unto all words that are spoken. For, oftentimes thine own Heart knoweth, that thou thyself hast Cursed others. Eccles. 7.21, 22. 3. I have myself, times without number, Wronged my own Soul. Therefore I will Forgive. No Man, no Devil, hath had the Power, so much to injure me, as I have myself, injured myself. And what can I love an injurious self, and not an injurious Neighbour? There be thousands of Motives to forgive the worst Enemies, in that one Text, He that Sinneth, wrongeth his own Soul. Prov. 8.36. 4. I shall Sin on against God, against Men, and against my own Soul, if I do not Forgive every Enemy I have. Therefore I will Forgive. Horror, where art thou come seize me, in the thought of Renouncing God, enraging Men, murdering my own Soul! The Question is a Thunderbolt; After thy hardness and impenitent Heart, treasurest thou up unto thyself Wrath, against the Day of Wrath, and revelation of the righteous Judgement of God? Rom. 2.5. 5. I shall raze God's Image out of my Soul, and print the Devil's Image upon it, if I do not Forgive. Therefore I will Forgive. My Saviour tells me I must Forgive, that I may be like my Father in Heaven, Matth. 5.45. And his Apostle tells me, I must not let the Sun go down upon my Wrath, [my Unforgiving Wrath] lest I give place [or entertainment] to the Devil. Ephes. 4.26, 27. What then, shall I say in the Language of Practice, I will not be like God, I will be like the Devil? God forbidden. 6. I must not Pray with any hope of God's granting my Prayer, if I do not Forgive. Therefore I will Forgive. In Nature, I can't Live without Breathing, nor in Grace without Praying. But, if no Forgiving, there is no Praying. There is no right Lifting up of the holiest Hands, but without Wrath, 1 Tim. 2.8. Christ's Rule for Prayer is utterly broke by the least Unforgiving Anger. Vainly I bow my Knees, if I do not Forgive my Enemies. And vainly, and worse I Live, if I do not Pray. If I were never to pray any more, I were better Live no more: Yea, though I sunk into the Lake of Fire. But, My Saviour is express, If you forgive not Men, neither will your Father forgive your Trespasses. Matth. 6.15. 7. I must not come to the Lord's Table, unless I Forgive. Therefore I will Forgive. Fearful! Fearful! What shall I be kept away as a Dog, from the Table of my Lord? Yes: For, if I have not Charity, I am Nothing. 1 Cor. 13. 2, 3, 7. And who will admit to the Holy Feast, a Wretch that hath nothing appearing of the Holy Spirit? As long as I am Unreconciled to Men, I am excommunicated from the gracious Presence of God. But forbidden, good God, that it should be said of my Person, Purge out that old (sour) Leaven, that ye may be a new Lump, (a Holy Society)! 1 Cor. 5.7. 8. I shall not be able to Hear the Word of God with hope of Profit, if I do not Forgive. Therefore I will Forgive. Woe is me! I cannot look to have God to be my Saviour, if his Word be not his Power to my Salvation. But, for aught I see, his Word is not likely to save any Soul, save such as do receive it with Meekness. That is, with an humble submissive frame of Spirit. Jam. 1.21. But where is my Meekness, when God, Men and my own Heart see my Stubborness? And my Implacableness saith in the Language of Practice, If God will teach none but meek Sinners, I will be none of his Scholars! while I am so Cross, I am plainly under God's Curse. But I do not Submit to my God, if I do not Remit all whom he commands me. 9 I shall not be taken into the Company of any good and wise Man, if I do not Forgive. Therefore I will Forgive. 'Tis Hell upon Earth to be in ill Company: 'tis the Curse of Curses therefore, to be cast off by good Company. But what a word is that, Make no friendship with an ANGRY Man, [or an Unforgiving one;] and with a FURIOUS Man thou shalt not go, [thou shalt not Converse with him;] Lest thou learn his Ways, and get a Snare to thy Soul. Prov. 22.24, 25. What remains then, but that I resolve to forgive every Enemy, or Live without one Friend? For till I do forgive, God, Angels and Saints turn from me. And I have only the Devil, and his ill Men and Angels for my Company. Well, if it were but for the company of God's Servants, I would put up a thousand Affronts. 10. I shall Sin wilfully, and not of Infirmity, if I do not Forgive. Therefore I will Forgive. O what is all Sin? but of all, of what a Crimson die is wilful Sin? Now, let me think; I am Unregenerate, or Regenerate. If Unregenerate; such men's Vnableness to obey God, is certainly, their unwillingness. Their Impotence is a Moral one. But, if I am Regenerate, 'tis sure, I am able to overcome Evil with Good. In first Conversion, the holy Spirit giveth an ability to obey all God's Commands with a Sincerity that shall be accepted; that through the Grace of the New Covenant, shall be accepted. I believe that Text; Whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the World; i. e. the World's Temptations to disobey God. 1 John 5.4. A wilful Sinner, is the Devil's liveliest Picture! 11. I shall either Convert my Enemies, or be Rewarded of God for endeavouring it, if I do Forgive them. Therefore I will Forgive. To Convert one Soul, is more than to save the Lives of all the Bodies in this World. And to Forgive an injurious Man's Sin, is a direct means to convert his Soul: At least, to endear him; and so make him Attentive, and Flexible, to my Counsels for his Salvation. O that Rom. 12.10. were duly studied! But, what if my Kindness doth not Convert my Enemy? Will not God accept my good Will, Yes; he will reward it, and praise it. He will say to me, as he did to David, For as much as it was in thine Heart,— thou didst well that it was in thine Heart. 2 Chron. 6.8. 12. I shall not be able to rest in all other possible Evidences for Heaven, if this one of Forgiving my Enemies be wanting. Therefore I will Forgive. Miserable is every Life on Earth, that is without Evidences for Heaven. But imperfect are all Evidences, and Vndemonstrative, if this indispensable one, be missing. Let me be ever of his Mind, who was a Man after God's own Heart; So let me think as he thought and spoke; Then shall I not be Ashamed when I have respect to all thy Commandments, Psal. 119.6. All the Evidences that can be heaped together will signify little in a dying Hour; unless Conscience telleth us, that we have been like Zacharias and his Wife; Righteous before God, walking in All the Commandments and Ordinances of the Lord blameless. Luke 1.6. I will conclude with Apostolical Balsam. So will I name St. Paul's description of Charity. Blessed Dr. Manton hath left a Sermon of it; I present but a short Gloss. And wish that it be not more than will be Applicatively read. I have made my Pages so Few, that Readers might be many. Sweet Love! whither art thou fled? Return, return thou blessed of the Lord, return, return, and bless us! Thus the Apostle, 1 Cor. 13. Charity suffereth long. A Charitable Man is not a Wasp. When he is Injured, he does not presently put forth his Sting; but waits for two things, for his Enemy's Repentance, and for his own Deliverance. Our Saviour received the worst of Provocations, but never gave one ill Word for them. Charity is Kind. A Charitable Man forbears doing Evil, and is Forward to do Good. He not only Stabs not, but he Salutes disobliging Creatures. Not only Starves them not, but Feeds them, yea Feasts them. Charity Envieth not. A Charitable Man hath not the Spirit of Cain. He saith, as the Baptist of old, when occasion is; I must Decrease, and this Man must Increase. His Eye is not Evil, because God's is Good. He is not made Sick, to see any Man made Well. Charity Vaunteth not itself. A Charitable Man abhors Ostentation: He allows not himself to let forth his own, and to call for other men's Vices, with the Sound of his Virtues. They that needlessly raise themselves, do Irritate others. But he takes no Praise but to give it unto God. Charity is not puffed up. A Charitable Man is not incident into the Tympany. He knows a Knowledge that pulleth down, from Pride and Scorn of any Men. He knows, it is rare that the best Man is not in some Virtue, inferior to him whom he Contemns. Charity behaves not itself Unseemly. A Charitable Man is a Modest one. He is ashamed of offensive Words, and very Looks; Deeds, and very Habits or Dresses of his Body. The divine Charge [whatsoever things are Lovely, think on these] runneth in his Mind. Charity seeks not her own. A Charitable Man is not like a When, that draws all to itself. He seeks not his own Interest, so as to Neglect others. He so cares for his own Cabin, as to wish very well to the whole Ship. Charity is not easily Provoked. A Charitable Man, can be Angry and not Sin. Be Hot, and not in a Fever. Be Warm, and not Boil so as to let Scum run over. When Necessitated to Anger, he Tempers the Fire with holy Water. He is a Man of broader No stills than his Neighbours. And neither takes he Anger so soon, or Keeps it so long as others. Charity thinketh no Evil. A Charitable Man Plots none. And what is more, he is not hasty to impure any. He suspects no Evil, if he can find a sense that is Good, in which to take men's Words and Works. Yea, where he sees Evil, he doth not as a Vixon, brawl and upbraid with Outrage; exclaiming of more than he sees. Charity rejoiceth not in Evil. A Charitable Man is sorry for all Evil under the Sun. For the Evil of Doing, and the Evil of Suffering. Revenge is others Meat and Sauce; but 'tis his Wormwood and Poison. Charity rejoiceth in the Truth, [or the Sincerity of Goodness in any.] A Charitable Man, welcomes the News of Goodness in any, and of Goodness unto any one. He is of that Country, where they all Love one another as themselves. Charity beareth all things, [Covereth all.] A Charitable Man, hides all the Faults, that he can without Sin and Faultiness. He is the most forward to confess his own, and to cover others Infirmities. Charity believeth all things. A Charitable Man, Credits all good Reports, as readily as all Evil ones; when they are not prevalently contradicted. Of things apparently False, Belief is as Impossible as Unjust. Charity endureth all things. A Charitable Man puts up all Wrongs done unto himself. Rather than not be Kind to his Enemy, he will make it said that he is not Just to himself. Whatever he can let go unpunished, without breach of Law; he will nonsuit without breach of's Peace. Charity never fails. A Charitable Man, shall Eternally hold his Love of God and Men. His Love of both, shall Live in Heaven as on Earth. It shall ever Grow here, and Flourish for ever there. May I shut up with the stupendous practice of David's memorable Piety; and our Saviour's rebuke of his Disciples Wrath, though it seemed very Pious. The first is Psal. 35.11, 12, 13, 14. False witnesses did rise up, they laid to my Charge things that I knew not. They rewarded me Evil for Good, to the spoiling of my Soul. But as for me, when they were Sick, my clothing was Sackcloth: I humbled my Soul with Fasting, and my Prayer returned into mine own Bosom. I behaved myself as though he had been my Friend, or Brother: I bowed down heavily, as one that Mourneth for his Mother. The next is, Luke 9.51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56. And it came to pass, when the time was come, that he should be received up, he steadfastly set his Face to go to Jerusalem. And sent Messengers before his Face, and they went, and entered into a Village of the Samaritans to make ready for him. And they did not receive him, because his Face was as though he would go to Jerusalem. And when his Disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command Fire to come down from Heaven, and consume them even as Elias did? But he turned and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of Spirit ye are of. For the Son of Man is not come to destroy men's Lives, but to save them. And they went to another Village. Reader, farewel! Superfluous Books, are indeed additions to that heap of our Vanities, which needs them not. Whether this be such, I am content that thou be the Judge, if thou wilt but first remember Dr. Hammond's memorable Words; Of all Errors and Ignorances' there are none so Worthy of our Pains to Cure, or Caution to Prevent, as those that have [most] influence on Practice. I add those of Mr. How wherewith he shuts up his Treatise of the Carnality of Religious Contention. Words most worthy of awful Memory. Do we think we shall carry Strife to Heaven, Envyings, Heartburning, Animosities, Enmities, Hatred; shall we carry these to Heaven with us? Let us labour to divest ourselves, and strike off from our Spirits, every thing that cannot go with us thither. Now, The God of Love and Peace, make our Christian Societies less like unto Mahometan Janissaries! And every one that nameth the Name of Christ, to follow after Peace! And, to be Kind one to another, tenderhearted, FORGIVING one another, even as God for Christ's sake, forgiveth them! Amen, and Amen. FINIS.