I proceed now to fhew the righteousnefs of thofe precepts which enjoin merthe other branch of our duty to our neighour.

cy;

I suppose I need not take pains to explain the virtue itfelf, for men know well enough what it is. Happy would it be for them if they did practife it as much as they understand it. Only this I would obferve; that it is not a negative virtue, confifting merely in abftaining from acts of cruelty. A man cannot be faid to be merciful, merely because he doth not procure the fufferings of his fellow creatures, or delight in them. This is only to be not cruel. To. denominate cruel.To. a man merciful, something more is requifite; viz. to be affected with the fufferings of other people, tho they proceed not from him, but from others, or from caufes in which he is not concerned; and to be ready to comfort and help them according to his power. Mercy comprehends in it pity and compaffion. It makes a man feel the forrows of his neighbours, and mingle his tears with theirs. Nor doth it reft in fympathy and condolence, but exerts itfelf in offices of love and kindness. It inclines a perfon not only to mourn with

2

his afflicted brother, but to do his utmost to deliver him out of thofe afflictions which he labours under. If his brother be fick, or in pain, it inclines him to think of proper remedies, and to procure them for him if he be not able to procure them for himself. If he is poor and needy, it difpofes him to fupply his wants, and to provide for him thofe things which are neceffary for the body. If he is diftracted with difficulties in his worldly affairs, it inclines him to adminifter fuitable counfel, and to use his utmost skill and industry to extricate him out of thofe difficulties. And if he is difquieted in his mind with fears and doubts relating to his fpiritual state and condition, it difpofes him to adminifter to his dejected brother all the confolation that lies in his power, by fuggesting to him fuch thoughts, and directing him to the use of fuch means, as are proper to diffipate his fears, and difpel his doubts. And, to finish my defcription of mercy; it extends to our enemies, and difplays itself most eminently in a mild and gentle carriage towards those who have treated us ill, in the putting up of affronts, and forgiving of injuries.

Now

Now to demonftrate the righteousness of the practice of mercy, we need do no more than confider these three things.

1. That there is a natural fitness and decency in it.

2. That it is what we ourselves defire to receive from others when we stand in need of it.

3. That we all partake of it in fo liberal a manner from the hand of God.

1. There is a natural fitnefs and decency in it. Sufferings and afflictions naturally call for pity and compaffion. To behold a person in diftrefs, whether of body or mind, and yet to take no notice of his fufferings, nor ufe any endeavours to deliver him out of them, is extremely unnatural it is to ftifle those affections which the author of our beings hath wifely planted in us for the best ends and purposes. God himself hath implanted in our natures the affection of piety, on purpose that we might be stirred up thereby to perform acts of mercy to our fellow creatures. He who is full of mercy himself, delights to fee his reafonable creatures imitating him in that attribute which he moft glories in. But he knows that men would not be disposed to acts of mercy towards their

fellow

fellow creatures, if they did not previoufly feel fome unealinefs within themfelves upon account of their fufferings: and therefore hath fo framed the mind of man, as that it cannot avoid receiving fome uneafy and painful impreffions, upon the fight or hearing of any difafter that hath befaln any of its own fpecies.,

This principle of fympathy and compaffion, which is thus implanted in human nature by the author of it, is commonly called humanity, as if it were fomething that is natural to mankind, and whereby they are diftinguished from the inferior part of the creation, in which this principle cannot be difcerned. And it is obfervable, that they who are deftitute of it, or who labour to stifle and fupprefs it, are faid to be inhumane; as if to cease to be compaffionate was to cease to be a If therefore the man. want of pity be contrary to nature; then the exerci of it, and of thofe acts of mercy which flow from it, is agreeable to nature, or there is a natural fitnefs and decency in it. It is to indulge thofe paffions which were given us to be indulg'd, and to fuffer ourselves to be affected with thofe things which ought to affect us. What can be a more moving fcene than

,!་

το

to fee a perfon groaning under the pangs of fome difeafe, or the anguifh of fome wound, dejected with invincible poverty, and without help abandoned to want and. pain? Who can behold fuch a fpectacle as this, and fhut up his bowels of compaffion? Is it not natural, upon the fight of fuch an object, or even upon the mere hearing of it, to be melted with pity, and adminifter fuitable, relief? Or if a man fuffers great inconveniences for want of fkill to manage any difficult and intricate affairs in which he is concerned; is it not fit that they who have fuperior fkill and judgment fhould communicate feasonable counfel to their diftreffed neighbour, and employ their wit to deliver him out of his diftrefs? Laftly, if a man be, wounded in fpirit, and either thro' the reflection. upon his own fins, or the temptations of Satan, or both together, be driven to defpair of God's mercy, and to look upon himself as a veffel of wrath fitted for deftruction; is it not natural to behold him with the strongest emotions of pity and concern, and by all the foft and tender things that we can fuggeft, endeayour to bring him out of fo truly wretched and lamentable a condition?