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Mercy we fhew him will drawn down Mercy from Heaven upon us.

The Lth ENTERTAINMENT.

It is our Intereft to forgive and love our Enemies.

O thou wicked Servant, I forgave thee all thy Debt, because thou defiredft me; fhouldft not thou also have had Compaffion on thy Fellow-Servant. Matt. xviii. 32.

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HE main Drift of the Parable, whence I have taken my Text, is to convince us, that it is our Intereft, as well as Duty, to pardon Injuries: For the Servant mentioned in it, being fummoned to make his Accounts, was found to be indebted Ten Thousand Talents to his Lord who, upon his humble Requeft that he would have Patience with him, forgave him the whole Debt: But because he refused foon after to forgive his Fellow-Servant the trifling Debt of a Hundred Pence, his Lord, justly moved to Indignation with this unworthy Behaviour, condemned

him to be delivered to the Tormentors, till he should pay all that was due to him.

This is the Subftance of the Parable, in the Moral whereof we may read the just Punishment of those who die without Charity; for there is no Mercy after Death for them that fhew no Mercy in this Life: So that whilst they refuse to forgive and love their Enemies, they become the worst of Enemies to themselves. Having therefore proved, in the foregoing Difcourse, that it is the indifpenfable Duty of every Chriftian to forgive and love his Enemies, the Subject of this fhall be to fhew, that it is likewise his trueft Intereft to do it.

It is certainly every Man's Interest to obtain the Discharge of an immense Debt, by forgiving a Trifle: Now this is our very Cafe, in Reference to Almighty God on the one hand, and our Neighbour on the other: For if we confider the Multitude and Grievousness of our Sins, and the Punishment due to them, we shall find ourselves in the unhappy Condition of the Servant, who owed Ten Thousand Talents to his Lord: But as he readily forgave him the whole Debt upon his earneft Supplication; fo Almighty God is ready to fhew us the fame Mercy, provided we imitate in fome Measure his Goodnefs, in compaffionating fuch of our Fellow-Servants as

are

are indebted to us for fome Offence committed against us; which, if compared with our grievous Offences against Almighty God, will not even hold the Proportion of an Hundred Pence to the vaft Debt of Ten Thousand Talents: Yet, upon these eafy Terms, God's infinite Goodness offers us the Pardon of our Sins: But the Condition is indifpenfable, and if it be not heartily and fincerely complied with, we become accountable to God for the whole Debt we owe him, and may read our own Fate in the Sentence pronounced against the hard-hearted Servant in the Parable; which our Saviour concludes with these remarkable Words: So likewife shall my Father do unto you, if ye from your Hearts forgive not every one bis Brother their Trefpales. Matt. xviii. 35.

Whoever therefore has Recourse to the facred Tribunal of Penance, in order to obtain the Pardon of his Sins, tho' he feemingly brings all the Difpofitions requifite to qualify him for that Bleffing; if he comes with a Hatred in his Heart to any Person in the World, he is utterly unworthy and incapable of the Mercy he pretends to: His Repentance is a Mockery; his Confeffion is void; his Abfolution null; and, instead of difcharging his Debt, he only inflames the Reckoning, and returns

back

back with the additional Guilt of Sacrilege, over and above his other Sins: So that whoever bears a Hatred to his Neighbour is in a damnable State; and if he continues and dies in it, there is no Room for Mercy for him: God will, in this Refpect, deal with us just as we deal with our Neighbour; if we forgive, we shall be forgiven; but if we entertain deep and lafting Refentments of Injuries received, God will also remember the Injuftices we have committed against him.

This is clearly infinuated in the very Prayer compofed by Chrift himself, and which we daily offer to God for the Pardon of our Sins: For in this Prayer we beg of God to forgive us our Trefpaffes, as we forgive them that trefpafs against us. Which, in Reference to one that bears Hatred in his Heart, is either mocking God, or curfing himself. For 'tis begging God's Hatred instead of Reconciliation, and befpeaking a Denial of the Pardon he seemingly fues for. This, I fay, is the true Meaning of this Prayer, when it is pronounced by a Tongue that holds a Correfpondence with a Heart envenom'd with Hatred to any one. A Perfon under thefe unhappy Circumftances cries out for Juftice inftead of Mercy, for Vengeance instead of Compaffion: And he needs not doubt,

but

but if he perfifts in that Unchristian Difpofition, his Prayer will be heard according to its true Meaning; and God will forgive him his Trefpaffes, juft as he forgives them that trespass against him.

The fecond Reafon to fhew how much it is our Interest to forgive and love our Enemies, is, because whoever has not Charity in his Heart, lofes the Fruit of all his other Virtues. For Charity is not only the Queen and Mother, but the very Life and Soul of all Christian Virtues; fo that without it they are Dead, and can bring forth no Fruit conducing to Life everlasting. This is the Doctrine of St. Paul, 1 Cor. xiii. Tho' I Speak (fays he) with Tongues of Men and Angels, and have not Charity; I am become as founding Brass, or a tinkling Cymbal: And tho I have the Gift of Prophecy, and understand all Myfteries; and tho I have Faith fo as to remove Mountains, and have not Charity, I am nothing; and tho' I bestow all my Goods to feed the Poor, and tho I give my Body to be burnt, and bave not Charity it profits me nothing. Thus St. Paul; who leaves no Room to doubt of what I have faid, viz. that without Charity, and by confequence without the Love of our Enemies, which is a Branch of it. all other Virtues profit nothing to Salvation. Devotion without Charity, leads to Hypocrify and Delufion: Sacrifice and

Fafting

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