The Most Difficult Duty Made Easy, Part 1
THE Moſt difficult DUTY made Eaſy: Or, Directions to bring our Hearts to Forgive our Enemies.
By D. B. Miniſter of the Goſpel.
The ſtrict Precept of Loving, and Bleſſing, and Praying for Enemies, is more clearly perceptive; and ſo, more indiſpenſably obligatory to us Chriſtians, than ever it was to the Jews before.
Dr. H. Hammond Serm. on Luke 9.55.
What Chriſtian ſoever can indulge himſelf the enjoyment of that helliſh Senſuality of Revenge; nay, that doth not practiſe the high, but neceſſary Perfection of overcoming Evil with Good, he knows not what Spirit he is of. Id. ibid.
London, Printed for Andrew Bell and Jonas Luntley at the Peſtle and Mortar, over againſt the Horſeſhoe-Tavern in Chancery-Lane. 1694.
S. Woodford, in Paraph. Pſ. 35.
FAlſe Witneſſes did up againſt me riſe,
With charge of Crimes I never knew:
My good Deeds anſwer'd with Indignities,
And to the Death my Soul did cloſe purſue.
Thoſe for whoſe Griefs I truly mourn'd,
And pray'd for, ſick, tho on my ſelf the Pray'rs return'd.
For my beſt Friend I could have done no more,
Not more, had he my Brother been;
I did as heartily his Loſs deplore,
As if I then my Mother's Grave had ſeen.
Tho in my Troubles they rejoice,
And all my Griefs outbrave with their inſulting Voice.
The moſt difficult Duty made Eaſy: OR, The Queſtion Reſolved, How we may bring our Hearts to Forgive our Enemies?
THE Law of Kindneſs ſeems Repealed among us. Giving Love, and Forgiving, both are Exiles, baniſhed out of our Chriſtendom. Their Contraries do every where reign and tyrannize. Bitterneſs and Wrath fill every Place; and there's nothing hid from the Heat thereof. No; nor is there any Speech or Language, wherein their Voice is not heard. Every Man is a Rehoboam, and anſwers Roughly; Nabal is a common Name to all. The very Poor do diſuſe Intreaties. There's no Voice, but is turned to Clamour; Railing is our Rhetorick, Brawling our Eloquence. What Tongue is not a Sword? Whoſe Lips be not Spears, in our Militant State? There's no Strife in Heaven; and there is little beſide upon this Earth.
Nor can ever Grapes be expected from Thorns, or Figs from Thiſtles. I am not going to Prune them, and Dig about them, with ſuch an Expectation. Wickedneſs will proceed from the Wicked; and muſt ſo do. But Vines there be, that would yield better Fruit, if we could take the Foxes, the little Foxes that ſpoil them. Good Men have an Internal Treaſure, whence they might bring forth good Things; and with eaſe enough, were but the Thieves that break in and ſteal, expelled. Theſe Branches (broke off the Tree whereon they grew; the Sermon, in which they were born) are deſigned for Rods, to whip thoſe thieviſh Buyers and Sellers out of the ſaid Temples. Ill Men are Dunghils; and Good Ones are Temples; in Chriſtian Divinity and very Pagan, they are ſo.
But ſcarcely ſhall I Forgive my ſelf, if I waſte my Time in Complaints: Or in telling what I deſign to do, otherwiſe than by doing it. Wherefore (being foreign, &c.) a ſhort Paragraph ſhall uſher in my twenty four Directions.
By Forgiving Enemies, I mean, Turning from Endeavour and from Deſire to do them Hurt, unto Readineſs to do them Good, as Opportunity ſerves. Unto which we are obliged, whether our Pardon be craved or no. A Man is ſtill to be loved as a Man, and a Kinſman as a Kinſman; Penitent or Impenitent. I do not by Forgiving here intend, ſo much as Reſtoring them into former Eſteem and Intimacy. No faithful Church will ſo reſtore any ſcandalous Member; nor any wiſe Man, ſo reſtore an injurious Offender, before his thorough Repentance credibly profeſſed. Honour, and Love of this ſort depend on Mens Innocence and Repentance. Now,
Unto the firſt kind of Forgiving, an untoward Heart ſeems eaſily brought, by telling it ſelf as follows. Twelve Particulars concerning the Duty it ſelf, and Twelve more concerning the Perſon on whom it is incumbent.