DIRECTIONS FOR THE FORGIVING OF ENEMIES, AND THOSE THAT INJURE US;
AGAINST WRATH, AND MALICE, AND REVENGE, AND PERSECUTION.
It is not only actual murder which is forbidden in the sixth
commandment, but also all inordinate wrath, and malice, and desires of
revenge, and injuring the person of our neighbour or our enemy: for so
the Prophet and Judge of the church hath himself expounded it, Matt.
v. 21, 22. Anger hath a hurting inclination, and malice is a fixed
anger, and revenge is the fruit of both or either of them. He that
will be free from injurious actions, must subdue the wrath and malice
which is their cause. Heart murders and injuries must be carefully
rooted up; "For out of the heart proceed all evil thoughts and
murders," &c. Matt. xv. 19. This is the fire of hell on which an evil
tongue is set, Jam. iii. 6. And this must be quenched if you would be
innocent.
_Direct._ I. See God in your neighbour, and love him for that of
God which is upon him. If he be holy, he hath the moral image of God.
If he be unholy, he hath his natural image as he is a man. He is not
only God's creature, but his reasonable creature, and the lord of his
inferior works: and art thou a child of God, and yet canst not see
him, and love him in his works? Without God he is nothing, whom thou
art so much offended with: and though there be somewhat in him which
is not of God, which may deserve thy hatred, yet that is not his
substance or person: hate not, or wrong not that which is of God. It
would raise in you such a reverence, as would assuage your wrath, if
you could but see God in him that you are displeased with.
_Direct._ II. To this end observe more the good which is in your
neighbour, than the evil. Malice overlooketh all that is good and
amiable, and can see nothing but that which is bad and detestable: it
hearkeneth more to them that dispraise and open the faults of others,
than to those that praise them and declare their virtues: nor that
good and evil must be confounded; but the good as well as the evil
must be acknowledged. We have more use ourselves for the observation
of their virtues than of their faults; and it is more our duty: and
were it never so little good that is in them, the right observing of
it, at least would much diminish your dislike.
_Direct._ III. Learn but to love your neighbour as yourself, and
this will make it easy to you both to forbear him and forgive him.
With yourself you are not apt to be so angry. Against yourself you
bear no malice, nor desire no revenge that shall do you hurt. As you
are angry with yourself penitently for the faults you have committed,
but not so as to desire your own destruction, or final hurt; but with
such a displeasure as tendeth to your recovery; so also must you do by
others.
_Direct._ IV. To this end be sure to mortify your selfishness.
For it is the inordinate respect that men have to themselves, which
maketh them aggravate the faults of all that are against them, or
offend them. Be humble and self-denying, and you will think yourselves
so mean and inconsiderable, that no fault can be very great, nor
deserve much displeasure, merely as it is against you. A proud,
self-esteeming man is easily provoked, and hardly reconciled without
great submission; because he thinketh so highly of himself, that he
thinketh heinously of all that is said or done against him; and he is
so over-dear to himself, that he is impatient with his adversary.
_Direct._ V. Be not your own judge in cases of settled malice or
revenge; but let some impartial, sober by-stander be the judge. For a
selfish, passionate, distempered mind, is very unlike to judge aright.
And most men have so much of these diseases, that they are very unfit
to be judges in their own case. Ask first some wise, impartial man,
whether it be best for thee to be malicious and revengeful against
such a one that thou thinkest hath greatly wronged thee, or rather to
love him and forgive him.
_Direct._ VI. Take time to deliberate upon the matter, and do
nothing rashly in the heat of passion against another. Wrath and
malice will vanish, if you bring the matter into the light, and use
but those effectual considerations which will show their sinfulness
and shame; I shall therefore next here set down some such
considerations, as are most powerful to suppress them.
_Consid._ I. Remember first, That whoever hath offended you, hath
offended God by greater injuries, and if God forgive him the greater,
why should not you forgive the less? The same fault which he did
against you, is a greater crime as against God than as against you.
And many a hundred more hath he committed. It is a small matter to
displease such a worm as man, in comparison of the displeasing of
Almighty God; and should not his children imitate their heavenly
Father? Doth he remit the pains of hell, and cannot you forbear your
passionate revenge? Let me ask you, whether you desire that God should
forgive him his sins or not? (both that and all the rest which he hath
committed:) if you say, no, you are devilish and inhuman, who would
not have God forgive a sinner; if you say, yea, you condemn, yea, and
contradict yourselves, while you say you would have God forgive him,
and yet yourselves will not forgive him. (I speak not of necessary
correction, but revenge.)
_Consid._ II. Consider also that you have much more yourselves to
be forgiven by God, or you are undone for ever. There is no comparison
between other men's offences against you, and your offences against
God, either for the number of them, or the greatness, or the desert.
Dost thou owe to God ten thousand talents, and wilt thou lay hold on
thy brother for a hundred pence? See then thy doom, Matt. xviii. 34;
the tormentors shall exact thy debt to God. Doth it beseem that man to
aggravate or revenge his little injuries, who deserveth damnation, and
forfeiteth his soul every day and hour? and hath no hope of his own
salvation, but by the free forgiveness of all his sins?
_Consid._ III. Either thou art thyself a member of Christ or not.
If not, thou art yet under the guilt of all the sins that ever thou
didst commit. And doth it beseem that man to be severe and revengeful
against others, that must forever be damned for his own transgressions,
if a speedy conversion do not prevent it? Sure you have somewhat else
to think on, than of your petty injuries from men! But if thou be
indeed a member of Christ, thy sins are all pardoned by the price of
thy Redeemer's blood! And canst thou feel the sweetness of so great a
mercy, and not feel a strong obligation on thee to forgive thy
brother? Must Christ be a sacrifice for thy offences? and must thy
brother, who offended thee, be sacrificed to thy wrath?
_Consid._ IV. Thou art not forgiven of God, if thou dost not
forgive. For, 1. If ever the love of God and the blood of Christ had
come in power upon thy heart, they would undoubtedly have caused thee
to forgive thy brother. 2. Yea, God hath made thy forgiving others to
be a condition, without which he will not finally or plenarily forgive
thee. Thou hast no warrant to pray or hope for pardon upon any lower
terms; but "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that
trespass against us; for if ye forgive not men their trespasses,
neither will your Father forgive your trespasses," Matt. vi. 14, 15.
Likewise, saith Christ, "shall my heavenly Father do also unto you,
(even deliver you to the tormentors,) if from your hearts ye forgive
not every one his brother their trespasses," Matt. xviii. 35. "For he
shall have judgment without mercy that hath showed no mercy, and mercy
rejoiceth against judgment," James ii. 13.
_Consid._ V. Remember also that you have need of forgiveness from
others, as well as they have need of it from you. Have you wronged
none? Have you provoked none? Have you not passions which must be
pardoned? and a nature which must be borne with? Can so corrupt a
creature as man is, be no annoyance to those he liveth with? Sure all
the sins which burden yourself, and displease the Lord, must needs be
some trouble to all about you: and he that needeth pardon, is obliged
the more to pardon others.
_Consid._ VI. Nay, it is the unhappiness of all mankind, that
their corruptions will in some measure be injurious to all that they
have to do with; and it is impossible for such distempered sinners to
live together, and not by their mistakes, or selfishness, or passions,
to exercise the patience and forbearance of each other. Therefore you
must either be malicious and revengeful against all mankind, or else
against none on such accounts as are common to all.
_Consid._ VII. Observe also how easily you can forgive yourselves,
though you do a thousand-fold more against yourselves, than ever any
enemy did. It is not their wrongs or offences against you that you are
in any danger of being damned for; you shall not suffer for their
sins, but for your own. In the day of judgment, it is not your
sufferings from others, but your own offences against God, that will
be charged upon you: and if ever you be undone, it will be by these.
Men or devils can never do that against you, which by every sin you do
against yourselves. No robber, no oppressor, no persecutor, no
deceiver, can ever hurt you so much as you hurt yourselves. And yet
how gently do you take it at your own hands! How easily do you pardon
it to yourselves! How lovingly do you think of yourselves! So far are
you from malice or revenge against yourselves, that you can scarce
endure to hear plainly of your sins! but are more inclined to bear
malice against those that do reprove you. Judge whether this be equal
dealing, and loving your neighbours as yourselves?
_Consid._ VIII. Consider how great a crime it is, for a worm to
usurp the authority of God, and censure him for not doing justice, and
to presume to anticipate his judgment, and take the sword as it were
out of his hands, as all do that will be their own avengers. It is the
magistrate, and not you, that beareth the sword of public justice; and
what he doth not, God will do in his time and way. "Dearly beloved,
avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath; for it is
written, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if
thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink; for in so
doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of
evil, (that is, the evil that is done against you,) but overcome evil
with good," Rom. xii. 19-21. He that becometh a revenger for himself,
doth by his actions as it were say to God, Thou art unjust, and dost
not do me justice, and therefore I will do it for myself. And shall
such an impatient, blaspheming atheist go unpunished?
_Consid._ IX. Consider how much fitter God is than you, to
execute revenge and justice on your enemies. He hath the highest
authority, and you have none: he is impartial and most just, and you
are unrighteous and perverted by selfishness and partiality. He is
eternal and omniscient, and seeth to the end, and what will be the
consequent; and therefore knoweth the fittest season and degree; but
you are short-sighted creatures, that see no further than the present
day, and know not what will be to-morrow, and therefore may be
ignorant of a hundred things, which would stop you and change your
counsel if you had foreseen them. He is most wise and good, and
knoweth what is fit for every person, and how to do good with as
little hurt as may be in the doing of it; but you are ignorant of
yourselves, and blinded by interest and passion, and are so bad
yourselves, that you are inclined to do hurt to others. At least, for
aught you know, you may miscarry in your passion, and come off with
guilt and a wounded conscience; but you may be sure that God will not
miscarry, but will do all in perfect wisdom, and righteousness, and
truth.
_Consid._ X. Do you not understand that your passion, malice, and
revenge, 1. Do hurt yourselves much more than they can hurt another,
and, 2. Much more than any other can hurt you? Would you be revenged
on another; and will you therefore hurt yourselves? The stone of
reproach which you cast at him, doth fly back into your face, and
wound yourselves. Do you feel that the fire of passion and malice are
like a scorching fever, which overthrow your health and quietness, and
fill you full of restlessness and pain? And will you do this against
yourselves, because another hath abused you? Did not he that offended
you do enough against you? If you would have more, why are you
offended with him? If you would not have more, why do you inflict it
on yourselves? If you love disquietness, why do you complain of him
that doth disquiet you? If you do not, why do you disquiet yourselves?
and that much more than he can do? He that wrongeth you toucheth but
your estates, or bodies, or names; it may be it is but by a blast of
wind, the words of his mouth; and will you therefore wound yourselves
at the very heart? God hath locked up your heart from others; none can
touch that but yourselves. Their words, their wrongs cannot reach your
hearts, unless you open them the door, yea, unless it be your own
doing. Will you take the dagger which pierced but your skin, and
pierce your own hearts with it, because another so much wronged you?
If you do, blame no one for it so much as yourselves; blame them for
touching your estates or names, but blame yourselves for all that is
at your hearts. And if you might desire another's hurt, it is folly to
hurt yourselves much more, and to do a greater mischief to yourselves,
that so you may do a less to him. If you rail at him, or slander or
defame him, you touch but his reputation; if you trouble him at law,
you touch but his estate; if you beat him, it reacheth but to his
flesh; but the passion and guilt is a fire in your own hearts; and the
wrath of God which you procure, doth fall upon your souls for ever! I
have heard but of a few that have said openly, I am contented to be
damned, so I may but be avenged; but many thousands speak it by their
deeds. And oh how just is their damnation, who will run into hell that
they may hurt another! Even as I have heard of some passionate wives
and children, who have hanged themselves, or cut their throats, to be
revenged on their husbands or parents by grieving them.
_Consid._ XI. Remember that malice and hurtfulness are the
special sins and image of the devil. All sin is from him as the
tempter; but some sins are so eminently his own, that they may be
called the nature and image of the devil; and those are principally,
rebellion against God, malignity or enmity to good, pride or
self-exaltation, lying and calumny, and malice, hurtfulness, and
murder; these are above the sins of mere sensuality or carnality, and
most properly denominate men (in whom they prevail) the serpent's
seed. I speak but as Christ himself hath spoken, John viii. 44, to
those that were esteemed the wisest and most (ceremoniously) religious
of those times: "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of
your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and
abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he
speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the
father of it." And what pity is it that a man that should bear the
image of God, should be transformed as it were into an incarnate
devil, by being like to Satan, and bearing his image!
_Consid._ XII. The person that you are angry with, is either a
child of God, or of the devil, and one that must live either in heaven
or hell. If he be a child of God, will not his Father's interest and
image reconcile you to him? Will you hate and hurt a member of Christ?
If you have any hope of being saved yourselves, are you not ashamed to
think of meeting him in heaven, whom you hated and persecuted here on
earth? If there were any shame and grief in heaven, it would overwhelm
you there with shame and grief, to meet those in the union of those
blessed joys, whom you hated and abused. Believe unfeignedly that you
must dwell with them for ever in the dearest intimacy of eternal love,
and you cannot possibly rage against them, nor play the devils against
those, with whom you must live in unity before God. But if they be
wicked men, and such as must be damned, (as malice will make you
easily believe,) are they not miserable enough already, in being the
slaves of sin and Satan? And will they not be miserable time enough
and long enough in hell? Do you thirst to have them tormented before
the time? O cruel men! O devilish malice! Would you wish them more
punishment than hell-fire? Can you not patiently endure to see a poor
sinner have a little prosperity and ease, who must lie in everlasting
flames? But the truth is, malicious men are ordinarily atheists, and
never think of another world; and therefore desire to be the avengers
of themselves, because they believe not that there is any God to do
it, or any future judgment and execution to be expected.
_Consid._ XIII. And remember how near both he and you are to
death and judgment, when God will judge righteously betwixt you both.
There are few so cruelly malicious, but if they both lay dying they
would abate their malice and be easily reconciled, as remembering that
their dust and bones will lie in quietness together, and malice is a
miserable case to appear in before the Lord. Why then do you cherish
your vice, by putting away the day of death from your remembrance? Do
you not know that you are dying? Are a few more days so great a matter
with you, that you will therefore do that because you have a few more
days to live, which else you durst not do or think of? O hearken to
the dreadful trumpet of God, which is summoning you all to come away;
and methinks this should sound a retreat to the malicious, from
persecuting those with whom they are going to be judged. God will
shortly make the third, if you will needs be quarrelling! Unless it be
mastiff dogs or fighting cocks, there are scarce any creatures but
will give over fighting, if man or beast do come upon them that would
destroy or hurt them both.
_Consid._ XIV. Wrathful and hurtful creatures are commonly hated
and pursued by all; and loving, gentle, harmless, profitable
creatures, are commonly beloved. And will you make yourselves like
wild beasts or vermin, that all men naturally hate and seek to
destroy? If a wolf, or a fox, or an adder do but appear, every man is
ready to seek the death of him, as a hurtful creature, and an enemy to
mankind; but harmless creatures no one meddleth with (unless for their
own benefit and use): so if you will be malicious, hurtful serpents,
that hiss, and sting, and trouble others, you will be the common
hatred of the world, and it will be thought a meritorious work to
mischief you; whereas if you will be loving, kind, and profitable, it
will be taken to be men's interest to love you, and desire your good.
_Consid._ XV. Observe how you unfit yourselves for all holy
duties, and communion with God, while you cherish wrath and malice in
your hearts. Do you find yourselves fit for meditation, conference, or
prayer while you are in wrath? I know you cannot: it both undisposeth
you to the duty, and the guilt affrighteth you, and telleth you that
you are unfit to come near to God. As a fever taketh away a man's
appetite to his meat, and his disposition to labour, so doth wrath and
malice destroy both your disposition to holy duties, and your pleasure
in them. And conscience will tell you that it is so terrible to draw
near God in such a case, that you will be readier (were it possible)
to hide yourselves as Adam and Eve, or fly as Cain, as not enduring
the presence of God. And therefore the Common-prayer book, above all
other sins, enableth the pastor to keep away the malicious from the
sacrament of communion; and conscience maketh many that have little
conscience in any thing else, that they dare not come to that
sacrament, while wrath and malice are in their breasts: and Christ
himself saith, "If thou bring thy gift unto the altar, and there
rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee; leave there thy
gift before the altar, and go thy way, first be reconciled to thy
brother, and then come and offer thy gift. Agree with thine adversary
quickly while thou art in the way with him, lest at any time the
adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the
officer, and thou be cast into prison," &c. Matt. v. 23-25.
_Consid._ XVI. And your sin is aggravated, in that you hinder the
good of those that you are offended with, and also provoke them to add
sin to sin, and to be as furious and uncharitable as yourselves. If
your neighbour be not faulty, why are you so displeased with him? If
he be, why will you make him worse? Will you bring him to amendment by
hatred or cruelty? Do you think one vice will cure another? Or is any
man like to hearken to the counsel of an enemy? or to love the words
of one that hateth him? Is malice and fierceness an attractive thing?
Or rather is it not the way to drive men further from their duty, and
into sin, by driving them from you who pretend to reform them by such
unlikely, contrary means as these? And as you do your worst to harden
them in their faults, and to make them hate whatever you would
persuade them to; so at present you seek to kindle in their breasts
the same fire of malice or passion which is kindled in yourselves. As
love is the most effectual way to cause love; so passion is the most
effectual cause of passion, and malice is the most effectual cause of
malice, and hurting another is the powerfullest means to provoke him
to hurt you again if he be able; and weak things are ofttimes able to
do hurt, when injuries boil up their passions to the height, or make
them desperate. If your sinful provocations fill him also with rage,
and make him curse, or swear, or rail, or plot revenge, or do you a
mischief, you are guilty of this sin, and have a hand in the damnation
of his soul, as much as in you lieth.
_Consid._ XVII. Consider how much fitter means there are at hand
to right yourself, and attain any ends that are good, than by passion,
malice, or revenge. If your end be nothing but to do mischief, and
make another miserable, you are to the world as mad dogs, and wolves,
and serpents to the country; and they that know you, will be as glad
when the world is rid of you, as when an adder or a toad is killed.
But if your end be only to right yourselves, and to reclaim your
enemy, or reform your brother, fury and revenge is not the way. God
hath appointed governors to do justice in commonwealths and families,
and to those you may repair, and not take upon you to revenge
yourselves. And God himself is the most righteous Governor of all the
world, and to him you may confidently refer the case, when magistrates
and rulers fail you; and his judgment will be soon enough and severe
enough. And if you would rather have your neighbour reclaimed than
destroyed, it is love and gentleness that is the way, with peaceable
convictions, and such reasonings as show that you desire his good.
Overcome him with kindness, if you would melt him into repentance, and
heap coals of fire on his head. If thy enemy hunger, feed him; if he
thirst, give him drink: this is overcoming evil with good (and not by
beastly fury to overcome him); but when you are drawn to sinful
passion and revenge, you are overcome of evil, Rom. xii. 19-21. If you
would do good, it must be by good, and not by evil.
_Consid._ XVIII. Remember also how little you are concerned in
the words or actions of other men towards you, in comparison of your
carriage to yourselves and them. You have greater matters to mind,
than your little sufferings by them; even the preserving of your
innocency and your peace with God. It is your own actions, and not
theirs, that you must answer for. You shall not be condemned for
suffering wrong, but for doing wrong you may. All their injuries
against you make you not the less esteemed of God, and therefore
diminish not your felicity: it is themselves that they mortally wound,
even to damnation, if they impenitently oppress another: keep
yourselves and you keep your salvation, whatever others do against
you.
_Consid._ XIX. Remember that injuries are your trials and
temptations; God trieth you by them, and Satan tempteth you by them.
God trieth your love, and patience, and obedience; that you may be
perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect, and may be indeed his
children, while you "love your enemies, and bless them that curse you,
and do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully
use you and persecute you," Matt. v. 44, 45; and being tried you may
receive the crown of life, James i. 3, 4, 12. And Satan on the other
side is at work, to try whether he can draw you by injuries to
impatiency, and to hatred, malice, revenge, or cruelty, and so damn
your souls by the hurting of your bodies. And when you foreknow his
design, will you let him overcome? Hear every provoking word that is
given you, and every injury that is done unto you, as if a messenger
from Satan were sent to buffet you, or to speak that provoking
language in his name; and as if he said to you, I come from the devil
to call thee all that is naught and to abuse thee, and to try whether
I can thus provoke thee to passion, malice, railing, or revenge, to
sin against God and damn thy soul. If you knew one came to you from
the devil on this errand, tell me how you would entertain him. And do
you not know that this is indeed the case? "Fear none of those things
which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into
prison that ye may be tried, and ye shall have tribulation ten days;
be thou faithful to the death and I will give thee a crown of life,"
Rev. ii. 10. As trying imprisonments, so all other trying injuries are
from the devil by God's permission, whoever be his instruments; and
will you be overcome by him when you foreknow the end of his attempts?
_Consid._ XX. Lastly, set before you the example of our Lord
Jesus Christ: see whether he was addicted to wrath and malice,
hurtfulness or revenge. If you will not imitate him, you are none of
his disciples; nor will he be your Saviour. A serious view of the holy
pattern of love, and meekness, and patience, and forgiveness, which is
set before us in the life of Christ, is a most powerful remedy against
malice and revenge; and will cure it, if any thing will cure it. Phil.
ii. 5-7, "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who
being in the form of God,--yet made himself of no reputation, and took
upon him the form of a servant." 1 Pet. iv. 1, "Forasmuch then as
Christ hath suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the
same mind." 1 Pet. ii. 19-25, "For this is thankworthy, if a man for
conscience toward God, endure grief, suffering wrongfully; for what
glory is it if when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it
patiently: but if when ye do well and suffer for it, ye take it
patiently, this is acceptable with God. For even hereunto were ye
called; because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an ensample
that ye should follow in his steps; who did no sin, neither was guile
found in his mouth; who when he was reviled, reviled not again; when
he suffered, he threatened not, but committed it to him that judgeth
righteously." Think not to live and reign with Christ, if you will not
follow him, and suffer with him. It is impudent presumption, and not
faith, to look to be like the saints in glory, while you are like the
devil in malice and cruelty.