that do it from under thy own soul's roof? O, Christian, meditate some noble exploit against it. Now, the more to steel thy heart, and harden it against all relenting towards it, carry the blood and wounds of thy Saviour into the field with thee in the hand of thy faith ; the sight of these will certainly enrage thy heart against the lusts that stabbed and killed him, more than the bloody gar- ments of Caesar, held up by Antony, did the Roman citizens against his mur- derers. O see how cruelly they used tlie Lord of glory, and where they laid him in an ignominious grave, and that fastened with a seal stronger than that which man set to it, the ciu-se due to us sinners, never possible to have been broken up by any less than his own almighty arm! And now. Christian, shall these murderers, not of man, but of God, (for it was the blood of God that was shed,) escape that vengeance whicli God would have done with thy hand upon them .' Wherefore else doth he leave them any life in thy soul, but that tliou shouldst have the opportunity of sliewing thy love to Christ by running thy dagger of mortification into their heart? Alexander got no more honour by his great vic- tories in the field than by his piety to his dead father Pliilip, whose bloody death he avenged as soon as he came into the tlirone, slaying the murderers upon his father's tomb. O shew thou, Christian, tliy piety to thy Saviour by falling upon thy cursed lusts, and that speedily: never rest till thou hast had their blood that shed his. Till thou dost tliis, thou art consenting to all tlie cruelty that was executed on him : this, this is the honour which all the saints shall have; and, therefore, the two-edged sword of the Spirit is put into their hands, that they may execute the vengeance written.
Secondly, Is God reconciled to thee ? Be thou willing to be reconciled to any that have wronged thee ; thy God expects it at thy hands : thou hast reason to pardon thy brother for God's sake, who pardoned thee for his pure mercy's sake. Thou in pardoning dost no more than thou owest thy brother ; but God pardoned thee when he did owe thee nothing but wrath. Thou needest not, I hope, think that thou dishonourest thyself in the act, though it be to the veriest beggar in the town : know thou dost it after thy betters ; thy God stooped lower when he reconciled himself to thee, yea, sought it at thy hands, and no dishonour neither to the high and lofty One. Nay, by implaca- bleness and revenge, thou debasest thyself the most thou canst likely do ; for by these thou stoopest not only beneath thy lieaven-born nature, but human. It is the devil, and none but such as bear his image, that are implacable enemies ; hell-fire it is that is unquenchable. 'The wisdom from above is easily to be entreated.' Thou a Christian, and caiTy hell-fire about thee ! how can it be ? When we see a child furious and revengeful, that comes of merciful parents, we use to say, we wonder of whom he got his currish, churlish disposition ; his father and mother were not so. Who learns thee, O Christian, to be so revenge- fid and unmerciful ? thou hast it not of thy heavenly Father, I am sure.
Thirdly, Is God at peace with thee ? hath he pardoned thj- sins ? Never then distnist his providence for any thing thou wantest, as to this life. Two things well weighed would help thy faitli in this particular. First, When he pardoned thy sins he did more for thee tlian this comes to ; and did he give the greater, and will he grudge thee the less ? Thou hast Christ in thy pardon bestowed on thee ; ' how shall he not with him also freely give thee all things ?' Rom. viii. 32. When the father gives his child the wliole orchard, it were folly lo question whether he gives him this apple, or that, in it. 'AH things are yours, and ye are Christ's,' 1 Cor. iii. 22. The reconciled soul hath a right to all ; the whole world is his ; but as a father, though he settles a fair estate on his child, yet lets him hold no more in his own hand than he can well manage, so God gives believers a right to all the comforts of this life, but proportions so much out to them, for their actual use, as his infinite wisdom sees meet, so that he that hath less than anotlier, in his present possession, ought to impute it not to any want of love or care in God, but to the wisdom both of his love and care, that gives stock as we have grace to woi'k it out : we pour the wine according as the cup is ; that which but fills one, would be half lost if poured into a less. Secondly, Consider how God gives these temporalities to those that he denies peace and pardon to. Though within awhile they are to be cast into hell, yet while on earth his providence reacheth unto them. And doth God feed these ravens, unclean birds ? doth he cause his rain to drop fatness on their
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372 THE GOSPEL OF PEACE.