SPIRITUAL PEACE AND COMFORT. 379 3. If any further objections should be made against this, read considerately and believingly, Matt. xIv. v. and vii. throughout, or the former only ; and I doubt not but you will be fully resolved. But to the work. Those men that study no other obedience than only to do no (positive) harm, are so far from true comfort, that they have yet no true Christianity; I mean such as will be saving to them. Do- ing good is a high part of a Christian's obedience, and must be the chief part of his life. The heathen could tell him that asked him, how men might be like to God; that one way was, to do good to all. That is beyond our power, being proper to God, the universal good, whose mercy is over all his works. But our good- ness must be communicative, if we will be like God, and it must be extended and diffused as far as we can. The apostle's charge is plain, and we must obey it if we will have any peace " While you have time, do good to all men, especially to them of the house- hold of faith ;" Gal. vi. 10. "Cease to do evil, learn to do well, seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, let us reason together, saith the Lord; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow ; though theybe red like crimson, they shall be as wool ; " Isa. i. 16, 17. "To do good, and to communicate, forget not; for with such sacrifices God is well pleased ;" Heb. xiii. 16. " Charge them that be rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy ; that theydo good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate, laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life ;" 1 Tim. vi. 17 -19. See Luke vi. 33-35. Mark xiv. 7. Matt. v. 44. 1 Pet. iii. 11. James iv. 17. Psalm xxxiv. 14. xxxvii. 27. xxxvi. 3. xxxvii. 3. " Trust in the Lord, anddo good." "If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted ? But if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door ; " Gen. iv. 7. " Cornelius, thy prayers and thine alms are'come up for a memorial before God. In every nation, he that feareth God, and worketh righteousness, is accepted of him;" Acts x. 3, 4. 34, 35. ".Knowyou not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? Yield yourselves unto God as, those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instru- ments of righteousness unto God ; " Rom. vi. 13. 16. Matt. v. 16. Acts ix. 36. Eph. ii. 10. "We are created in Christ Jesus to good works, which Godhath ordained that we should walk in them;" 1 Tim. ii. 10. v. 10. 25. 2 Tim. iii. 1.7. Tit. ii. 7. iii. 8. 14. ii. 14. "He redeemed us from all iniquity, that he
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