12. Neither can this self-indulgence be reconciled, with the being _zealous of good works_. For by this needless and continual expence, you disable yourself from doing good. You bind your own hands. You make it impossible for you to do that good which otherwise you might. So that you injure the poor in the same proportion as you poison your own soul. You might have cloathed the naked; but what was due to them, was thrown away on your costly apparel. You might have fed the hungry, entertained the stranger, relieved them that were sick or in prison. But the superfluities of your own table swallowed up that whereby they should have been profited. And so this wasting of thy Lord’s goods, is an instance of complicated wickedness; since hereby thy poor brother perisheth, for whom Christ died.
I will not recommend to you either the writings or examples of those whom you account _hereticks_, (although some of these, if you could view them with impartial eyes, might _provoke you to jealousy_.) But O! that God would write in your hearts the rules of self-denial and love, laid down by _Thomas a Kempis_! Or that you would follow both in this and in good works, that burning and shining light of your own church, the Marquis _de Renty_! Then would all who know and loved the Lord rejoice to acknowledge you as the _church of the living God_: when ye were zealous of every good word and work; and abstained from all appearance of evil: when it was hereby shewn that you were filled with the Holy Ghost, and delivered from all unholy tempers: when ye were all _unblameable and unrebukable, without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people, shewing forth_ to all Jews, infidels and hereticks, by your active, patient, spotless love of God and man, _the praises of him, who had called you out of darkness into his marvellous light_.
13. Men and brethren, _Children of the seed of Abraham_, suffer me to speak a few words to you also; you who do not allow, that Messiah _the Prince is_ already come and _cut off_. However you so far hear _Moses_ and the prophets, as to allow, 1. That _it is the inspiration of the Holy One, which giveth man understanding_, and that all the true children of God _are taught of God_. 2. That the substance both of the law and the prophets, is contained in that one word, _Thou shalt love the_ Lord _thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and thy neighbour as thyself_. ♦3. That the sure fruit of love is obedience, _ceasing from evil, and doing good_.
♦ insert “3.” per Errata
And do _you_ walk by this rule? Have _you yourselves_ that _inspiration of the Holy One_? Are _you_ taught of God? Hath he opened your understanding? Have you the inward knowledge of the most High? I fear not. Perhaps you know little more, even of the meaning of the words than a _Mahometan_.
Let us go a little farther. Do you _love the_ Lord _your_ God _with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength? Can you say, Whom have I in heaven but thee; and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee?_ Do you desire God at all? Do you desire to have any thing to do with him, till you can keep the world no longer? Are you not content, so you enjoy the good things of earth, to let God stand afar off? Only calling upon him now and then, when you cannot well do without him. Why then you do not _love_ God at all, tho’ you will sometimes condescend to _use_ him. You _love_ the world. This possesses your _heart_. This therefore is your God. You renounce the God of your fathers, the God of _Israel_; you are still _uncircumcised in heart_. Your own conscience bears witness, you in this no more hear _Moses_ and the prophets, than you do Jesus of _Nazareth_.
14. From _Moses_ and the prophets it has been shewn, that your forefathers were _a faithless and stubborn generation; a generation which set not their hearts aright, and whose spirit cleaved not stedfastly unto God_. And this you acknowledge yourselves. If you are asked, how is it that the promise is not fulfilled? Seeing _the scepter is_ long since _departed from Judah_, why is not _Shiloh_ come? Your usual answer is, “because of the sins of our fathers, God hath delayed his coming.” Have _you_ then reformed from the sins of your fathers? Are _you_ turned unto the Lord your God? Nay, do ye not tread in the same steps? Bating that single point of outward idolatry, what abomination did _they_ ever commit, which _you_ have not committed also? Which the generality of you do not commit still, according to your power? If therefore the coming of the Messiah was hindered by the sins of your forefathers, then by the same rule, your continuance therein will hinder his coming to the end of the world.