mory of Affronts and Injuries, especially among good natured People, and much more among good Chriftians, is apt to wear off: whereas by excommunicating ourfelves from one anothers Society, upon any Provocation, we leave the ill Humours to work, without any Antidote; and the Remedy becomes daily much more desperate. For fuch is the Infection of Malice, that as Poison spreads, and fwells the Body; so Malice fpreads itself into all the Parts of the Soul, and fowres all the Thoughts with the fame Leaven. It is therefore a very dangerous Practice, upon fmall Offences, immediately to fling away, and to abandon the Company and Converfation of an Adverfary. Solomon obferved the Danger of this in the Cafe of Rulers and great Men, Eccl. X. 4. If the Spirit of the Ruler rise up against thee, leave not thy Place; for yielding pacifieth great Offences. What Solomon advised with Relation to Rulers and great Men, our Saviour here recommends in general, that we agree and make up Friendship with our Adverfary whilft we are in the Way with him.

2. As we are not to abandon the Adversary's Company if it may be allowed us; we are in the next Place to leave no Means untried with him, that may tend to Reconciliation; but to ufe the Opportunity, while we are in fpeaking and converfing Terms, to try to make up our Differences with him; this is the leaft that can be meant by the Precept of Agreeing with our Adverfary; that we try all Means that are poffible and lawful, to make up the Breach: as the Apostle St Paul expreffes it elsewhere, Rom. xii. 18. If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably

peaceably with all Men. Now how many other Duties this hearty Endeavour of agreeing with our Adversary may comprehend, is not eafy to describe. But in general, they may be reduced to these Four or Five.

(1) Inward Love.

(2) Outward Expreffions of Courtefy and Civility.

(3) Receding from our strict Right for Peace's

Sake.

(4) Acts of Beneficence and Friendship. (5) Prayer to God for him.

It will not be amifs to Inftance in each of these.

(1) Inward Love; I begin with this, as being the chief, and Foundation of all the reft. It is a Duty more earnestly preffed by the Chriftian Religion than ever it was by any other Institution; and is certainly the best Expedient that ever was ufed, for Gaining an Adverfary. The World is not infenfible of this; but having their Minds corrupted with Malice and Hatred, they cannot comply with it; but act quite contrary to what they are convinced would be their true Intereft. And to demonstrate to us that this is their Opinion, we need no more than obferve how by Acts of Flattery and Hypocrify towards ther Enemies, they counterfeit true Love and Friend fhip. Now if the bare Diffembling of Friendship answers many wicked Mens Ends, towards the Pacifying of an Adverfary, and Lulling him afleep till they can furprise him with their Revenges; how much more would true uncounterfeited Love gain upon him towards a Reconciliation? For if the Hypocrify is detected, (and a

very hard Matter it is to hide it) it then works the quite contrary Effects, and enflames the Enmity to a much higher Degree than ever; a Danger which true Love is far from incurring. And at the best, Hypocrify is but an Imitation of true Love, and therefore can never be fo lively as what is real, nor fo lafting. Now, what Enmity is there fo obdurate, that a lasting importunate Love could not in Time overcome, at least fo far as to be reconciled?

;

But now as the Love of our Adverfary is the Foundation of this Duty of Agreeing with him for it is not a Counterfeit, but a real Agreement, to which we are here exhorted by our Saviour; fo I must confefs it to be a Duty of the greatest Difficulty; and therefore it will be neceflary to fay fomething to induce you to lay this Foundation, without which all other Arts and Inventions, and even Articles of Agreement, will be in vain and to no Purpose. In order then to the exciting this Love of our Adverfary, 1. Let us Endeavour frequently to reflect, not fo much on his Enmity to us, as on his other good Gifts, and Graces, and Talents, wherewith he is furnished, and the many worthy Actions he has performed. This is a Piece of common Juftice due to an Enemy, but very rarely paid him; for we are ufually fo Unjuft, that if we once look upon a Man as our Enemy, tho' he be otherwife a Perfon of ever fo good Parts, ever fo Learned, Prudent, Moderate, Virtuous in all Refpects, ever fo good a Friend, ever fo full of good Works; we are prefently fo blinded to all his good Qualities, that he is neither a Man of Parts, nor Learning, nor Prudence, nor Moderation; in fhort, we can fee no Virtue that he is

Master

Master of; but, on the contrary, greedily fuck in and believe all the ill Things, either our own exafperated Minds can fuggeft, or malicious People can represent to us against him. Let us endeavour in the first Place, to rectify and correct our own Judgments in this particular; that we may in the Light of Truth, and not through the falfe Glass of Enmity, behold our Adverfa`ry's Good Qualities as well as our Friend's; and then he will appear to us to be a much more beautiful Perfon than to our Jaundice Eyes he has hitherto appeared. 2. Let us Confider, whether the Injuries we think he has done us, are not much aggravated by regarding them with the fame unjust hoftile Mind, as we did his other good Qualities. Daily Experience fhews us with what a different Afpect any Action looks which is represented by a Friend, from what it doth when related by an Enemy. The very fame Thing charitably conftrued is altogether void of Offence, which if ill taken, is reckoned a very black Action. The telling a Thing with a grave, ferious Countenance, which was fpoke with a jocund one; the bare Altering of the Air in Telling, does likewife alter the Senfe, and often gives us bad Impreffions of our Neighbour very undefervedly. And here likewife we fail in that common Juftice which is due to an Adversary, that we condemn him, ex parte, without a Hearing, and take our Characters of him from his Enemies, who are fure to interpret every Thing in the worft Senfe, and to reprefent it with the worst Face; whereas Juftice requires that we fufpend our Judgment till we have heard both Parties, and are well informed of the Action in all it's Circumftances.

[SERM. cumstances. 3 But granting our Neighbour to be in the Fault, are there not many Things which may fo leffen it, that it may be found to be a very pardonable one, and not fuch as to provoke us to withdraw our Love from him? If we confider that all Men in general are very fubject to Lapfes, Mistakes and Inadvertencies; that we often fee and hear with other Men's Eyes and Ears; that all Men are not of the fame Opinion and Judgment; and that Things are represented in a very different Light to one, from what they are to another; that Mens Notions, Principles, and Educations, are vaftly different, and must be allowed for; and that if all things be weighed in a juft Balance, we have many more Inducements to love our Adversary, as a Man, and a Christian, and a good Man, or one at least, that whatever he is now, may hereafter become a chofen Veffel, an eminent Inftrument in God's Service; than we have to hate him, from the little Injuries he has done us. So much for Inward Love; next to it,

2. There is nothing that is more neceffary towards Agreeing and making up all Differences with an Adversary, than Outward Expreffions of Courtefie and Civility. I mean not that Outward Mimicking of it, which confifts in Gestures and Cringes of the Body, and High, Florid, Complementing Words, which by confent are to have no Meaning; but thofe real Expreffions of Humility and Kindness, of which the other is but the Shadow. For as Differences are exceedingly enflamed by Pride and Rudeness, so they are much diminished by Humility and Kindness. It was a prudent Advice Rehoboam's Old Counsellers