SPIRITUAL PEACE AND COMPORT. 365 meats, drinks, apparel, recreations, lasciviousness, and all the con- siderations of reason cannot restrain it ; this is a sad case, and God may well give over such to sadness of heart. If we walk sopleas- ingly to the flesh, Godwill walk moredispleasingly to us. And as you should be jealous of these great heart transgressions, so should you be of particular, actual sins. Examine whether the jealouseye of God see not something that much offendeth him, and causeth your heaviness. I will not enlarge so far as to mind you of the particular sins that you should look after, seeing it must be all, and your obedience must be universal. Only one I will give you a hint of. . . I have observed God sometimes show himself most displeased and angryto thosb Christians who have the least ten- derness and compassion towards the infirmities of others.. He that hath made the forgiving others a necessary condition of God's for- giving us, will surely withdraw the sense of our forgiveness, when we withdraw our forgiveness and compassion to men.. He that casts the unmerciful servant into hell, who takes his fellow servant by the throat, will threaten us and frown upon us, ,if we come but near it. " Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." "He shall have judgment without mercy that showeth no mercy, ;" James ii. 13. Study well Rom. xiv. xv. Gal. vi.; which the proud, censorious, self-esteeming professors of this age have stud- ied so little, and will not understand. When we deal sourly and churlishlywith our weak brethren, and instead of winning anoflénd- er by love, we will vilify him, and disdain him, and say, ' How can such a man have any grace ?' and will think and speak hardly of those that do but cherish any hopes that, he may be gracious, or speak of him with tenderness and compassion; no wonder if God force the consciences ofsuch persons to deal as churlishly and sour- ly with them, and to clamor against them, and say, ' How canst thou have any true grace, who hast such sins as these ?' When our Lord himselfdealt away so tenderly with sinners, that it gave occasion'to the slanderous Pharisees to say,.he was " a friend of publicans and sinners; " (and so he was, even theirgreatestfriend.) And his command to us is, "We thenthat are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves : let every one of us please his neighbor for his good to edification -; for even Christ pleased not himself;" Rom. xv 1 -3. And Gal. vi. 1, 2, "Brethren, if a man be overtaken with a fault, ye which are spirit- ual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness, considering thy- self lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." When people can bear with al- most no infirmity in a neighbor, in a servant, or in their nearest friends, but will make the worst of every fault, no wonder if, God makesuch feel their dealings with others, by his dealings with them.
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