Serm. XLIX. to undermine Natural. 345 Mifery ; and the greateft good that one Man cando to another, is to be infiru- mental to reclaim him from the Evil and Error of his Way; becaufe this is to fave his foul from death ; and we cannot imagine that God ever intended, by any Ruleofprudence, or pofitive Constitution of the Jewith Law, fo to forbid their accompanying with bad and fcandalous Men, that it fhould beunlawful to con- verfe with them in order to their Recovery and. Amendment g Go ye and learn what that meaneth, Iwill have Mercy and not Sacrifice. And St. Paul was of the fame mind in the Precepts he gives concerning avoid- ing the Companyof fcandalous Chriftians, a Thef. g. 14, 15. and if any man obey not our word by this Eple, note that man, and have no Company with him, that he may be alhamed 5 yet count him not as an enemy, but admonifh him as a Brother. St. Paul qualifies his Precept, left Chriftians fhould miflake ir, and fall into the Jew- ifh extream, not to converte with thofe whom they efteemed fcandalous and wicked upon any account whatfoever, no not in order to their Amendment and Reformation. The Bond of intimacy and Friendfhip with bad Men ought to be broken ; and yet the Bond of common Humanity may be as ftrong as ever. It is one thing to difcountenance bad Men, to bring them toShame, and a Senfe oftheir fault ; and quite another thing to abandon them to Ruin ; and even in Cafe of notorious Herefie, or wickednefs of Life, it is one thing tocut them off from the Society and Communion of Chriftians ; and quite another, to cut them off from HumaneSociety, to cut their Throats, and to extirpate them out of the World. And yet the matter was carried thus far by the furious Zeal of the Jews, when Chriftianity firft appeared in the World ; they thought that no Mercy in fuch Cafes was the beftService that could be done, and the beh Sacrifice that could be offered to Almighty God; and this Pattern hath been fince, notonly clofely followed, but out-done by the Do&rives and Pra&ices of the Church ofRome 5 as we have too much Reafon to remember upon ' this day. rreab'd But to proceed in the farther explication of the Text, the meaning whereof in Nov. 5'88 fhort is this ; that the ritual and infirumental partsofReligion, and all Laws and Duties concerning them, are of lets Value and Efteem with God, than thole which are ofa moral Nature, efpecially the great Duties and Offices of Piety and Humanity, of the loveofGod, and of our Neighbour. And if we confider the mat- ter well, we (hall fee the Reafon of it to be very plain; becaufe natural and moral Duties are approved ofGod for themfelves and for their own fake upon account of their own natural and intrinfacalGoodnefs ; but the ritual and infirumental parts of Religion; are only pleating to God in order to thefe, and fo far as they tend to beget and promote them in us ; theyare not naturallygood in themfelves, but are inflitutedand appointed by God for the fake of the other ; and therefore great Reafon there is that they fhould be fubordinate, and give way to them when they come in competition with one another. For this is aknown Rule, which takes place in all Laws, that Laws of left im- portance fhouldgive way to thofe that areof greater; quoties Leger ex circumflanta colliduntur, ita ut utraquefervari nonpoteft, fervanda efi lex potier. "When ever two " Laws happen to be in fuch circumftances as to clafh with one another, fo that " both of them cannot be obferved, that Law which is better and of greater con- " fequence is to be kept. And Tully gives much the fame Rule in this matter. " In comparing of Laws (lays he) we are to confider which Law is moft ufeful, " and juft, and reafonable to be obferved. From whence it will follow, that when two Laws, or more, or howmany foever they be, cannot be obferved, becaufe they "clafh with one another ; ea maxim? confervanda.putetur, qun ad maximal res pertinere videatur. " It is reafonable that that Law fhould be ob- ferved, which is ofgreateft Moment and Concernment. By what bath been Paid, we may learn what is the meaning of this Saying, whichour Saviour more than once cites outof the Prophet, Iwill have Mercy and not Sacrifice. From the words thus explained, I (hall take occafion toprofecute the two Pro- pofitions which I mentioned before; namely, Y y Firfiy
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