mile,go with him twain. 42. Give to him that ask eth thee, and * from him that would borrow of thee, turn not thou away. + If he. If he would bor. row, &c. 43.¶re have beard that it bath been faid, Thou shalt love thy Neighbour, and hate thine Enemy. 44. But I fay unto you, Love your Enemies, bless them that curfe you,do good to verfary, not by retaliating, but by forgiving an Injury. 42. But do not even reft there. If ye would entirely gain your Adverfary, pursue him with further Acts of Kindness and Beneficence, e. g. If he falls into Decay, and defires your Charity and Bounty, be sure to let him have it. Or if he is above that, but wants to borrow of you, or to be affifted in any fort of good Offices, fhew no Refentment or Averfion to him; but serve him readily and chearfully in every thing wherein he wants your Affistance. This is a much more noble Victory, to gain him over to be your Friend, than to overcome him as an Enemy. 43. And as ye are not to retaliate Injuries, fo if ye intend to be my Difciples, ye must not mind that common Maxim, tho' taught by thofe Doctors; Thou shalt love thy Neighbour, and hate thine Enemy. For ye muft by no Means cherish any Hatred against your Enemies. 44. But love them fo far at leait as to do all common neighbourly Duties to them; and likewife to obferve, esteem, and love their good Qualities; and C 4 on to them that hate you,and pray for them which deSpitefully ufe you and perfecute you. 45. That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven, for he maketh his fun to rife on the evil and on the good, and fendeth rain on the juft and on the unjust. 46. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the Publicans the fame? 47. And if ye falute on account thereof to speak well of them, and to them; and to take all Opportunities to do them Good; and heartily to recommend them to God in Prayer, tho' they treat you ever fo ill in Word and Deed. 45. In fo doing, ye fhall refemble your heavenly Father, God Almighty, who does Good to all, and fhews many common Favours to Friends and Foes, good and bad; tho' he referves his more particular Favours for good Men, for whom he has a particular Friendship. So ye, tho' ye are to reserve your particular Friendship and brotherly Love for good Men and Women, and to chufe your Friends among them only; yet as to the Duties of Juftice, Charity, and Humanity, Prayers, and common neighbourly Love, ye are to pay them to all Men, even to your worst Enemies. 46, and 47. By this ye fhall nobly diftinguish your felves from the reft of the World, who generally content themselves to exprefs their Charity and Kindnefs, and to fhew their Civilities to those of their own Sect and Party only. A very low Degree of of Goodness, which the very Publicans come up to. falute your brethren only, what do you more than others? do not even the Publi cans fo? 48. Be ye. therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in beaven is perfect. 1 48. But as ye have the Opportunity to be much better inftructed, and to be furnished with more divine Principles, inftead of following fuch mean Patterns, who confine their Charity and Beneficence to their own Friends and Party; take Care that in this of Charity, and all the other Parts of Kindnefs to your Neighbour, ye propofe to your felves the Pattern of Almighty God, in a more univerfal Beneficence; and that ye come as near it, as your imperfect State and Circumstances in this World will admit. CHA P. CHAP. VI. Ver. 1. Take beed that ye do not your+Alms before men to be Seen of them: otherwife ye have noreward of your Father which is in heaven. V ERSE 1. But it is not only in in their Mif-interpretations of the Law, that the Morals ye have learnt of the Scribes and Pharifees are to be rectified; there are many other Things, for which they pretend no Countenance from the Law, in which your Righteousness muft exceed theirs. + Righteoufnefs, pocrify, δικαιοσύνην. Particularly they are apt to mar all good Duties with Hypocrify, by intermixing their low carnal Ends and Defigns with them, fuch as Vanity and Oftentation, and the Affectation of Praise and Applause from Men, or Profit and Advantage to themselves. Inftead of which, ye my Disciples are to do alĺ your good Actions with a single Eye to God, and not from any inferior mean Design of Praise or Profit from the World. Otherwife, affure your felves, your Reward for fuch good Actions as are not done with an Eye to God, but from worldly Views and Defigns, fhall be all in this World; ye may perhaps meet with the Praise or Profit ye aim ed 2. Therefore when thou doeft thine alms, do not found a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do, in the fynagogues, and inthe ftreets, that they may have glory of men. Verily, I fay unto you,they have their reward. 3. But when thou doeft alms, let not thy leftband know what thy ed at; but have no further to expect from them in Heaven. For God will not bestow those great heavenly Rewards on any Thing but what is done purely out of Refpect to his Precepts, and defigned for his Service. More particularly ye are to mind this Rule in the most commended Duties of private Alms-giving, Prayer, and Fafting; in all which the Scribes and Pharifees are too much led away with the Purfuit of Vainglory, and breed their Difciples to the Imitation of the fame Spirit. 2. To begin with Alms-giving, do not make a Noife with it, by your felves or others trumpeting out your good Deeds; as Hypocrites chufe to make their good Works as publick as they can, on purpose to procure the Praise and Applaufe of Men, and other worldly Ends confequent thereon. I can affure you, they are to expect no Reward in Heaven for fuch fort of Alms. |