Sermons, preached partly before His Majesty at White-Hall and partly before Anne Dutchess of York, at the chappel at St. James / by Henry Killigrew ...

The Nineteenth Sermon.

1 PETER iv.8.

And above all things have fervent Cha∣rity among your selves: for Charity covereth the multitude of Sins.

The Object of Charity, All Men in General.

GOD taught the Church of the Jews in the beginning by easie and natural No∣tices and Instructions, by a kind of hie∣roglyphical or symbolical Divinity, the Scene of their Religion lay in Gar∣ments, Diet, Washes, and the like; the Command∣ment was conversant in the Objects of the Senses, touch not, taste not, handle not. And thus men were inur'd to the Ways of Vertue, and held at a Distance from Vice, by allowing or disallowing them the Use of such Creatures and Customs, as shew'd the Beau∣ty of the one, and the Deformity of the other. God endeavouring to render Sensuality and Prophaneness

odious, by rendring Dogs and Swine so; Hypo∣crisie and Corruption of Doctrine, by forbidding Garments of mixt matters, and sowing the Field with Seeds of several kinds; Exorbitant Lust, by amputation of the Fore-skin; Idolatry and Unnatural Mixtures, by commanding a perpetual War with the seven Nations of Palestine, deeply ingulph'd in these Sins. Again, he endeavoured to train them in Purity and Innocence of Life, by enjoining frequent Wash∣ings of themselves, their Garments and their Vessels: But the Jews perverted and defeated the Counsel of God in this method of instructing them, they lookt not, as 'tis said of them, to the bottom of their Lava∣tories, to the Design and Signification of their Types; they cleans'd their Pots and Skins, and polluted their Lives; they entertain'd the forbidden Sin, and ter∣minated their Hatred in the innocent Sign; wal∣low'd in the Sensuality of Beasts, and detested the harmless Creatures; practis'd all the Abominations of the Heathen, and when they were as guilty as they, lookt upon them as their Enemies: As if God had taught them, not to hate Idolatry, but Men; not to be at Variance with Sin, but to keep up a Feud with the greatest part of the Creation. When they were enjoined utterly to root out the Canaanites, that their Corruptions might not spread among them, they made Marriages with them, and incorporated them into one People with themselves: and again, when in after Ages the reason of such Enmity was worn out, and the Danger of their Community Out∣dated; when their Aversion to the Gentiles did not Secure their Religion, but render it Odious; and preserved not the Truth, but hindred the Propaga∣tion of it; then most preposterously and unreasona∣bly they shew'd an irreconcileable Hatred to the

Heathen, and extended their Malice not only to the seven Nations, but to all Nations beside themselves, and were detestable to all the Inhabitants of the Earth for their Churlishness and Inhumanity.

In this Condition of hating, and being hated, our Lord found them when he came into the World; and when he set himself to reform their Mistakes, to remove the Outward Ordinances they had so little profited by, and to reveal the Duties that were shadowed un∣der them, they abhorred the Sanctity of their Mean∣ing, preferr'd the Burden of them before the Vertue they signified; embraced closer and more strictly their beggarly Elements; like degenerate Children that fly from their Book to the Bables of their Infancy; from their Tutors to their Nurses; chusing rather to counterfeit still an imperfect clipt Speech, than to form their Tongue to pronounce Words of Instru∣ction and Knowledge. And it cost our Saviour the Cross, and his Disciples Persecutions and cruel Deaths, while they laboured to wean them from their first Childish Rudiments; to redeem the Creatures from those Prejudices which for a time were thrown upon them for Religion and Instruction sake; to bring the anathematiz'd and excommunicated World into the Pale of the Church; to have all men seen to be of one Kindred, as they were at the Creation; to revive the Consanguinity of Nature, by the Alliance of Grace; which acknowledges its scattered and re∣motest Relations, though situate in the furthest Climes, and made not only Strangers, but Enemies by distant Countries, and more distant Religions and In∣terests.

However therefore the Jews were born to Animo∣sities and Hatreds, had Quarrels intail'd on them like their Lands, had so many Nations made over to

them their hereditary, legal, and commanded Ene∣mies: yet Christians are allow'd to account no Sort of People their Enemies, but are enjoined to bear an Amicable friendly Disposition to all men; or taught that their Brethren are not those only of the same Kindred or Nation, but those of the same Kind and the same Nature: as Tertullian says, Lex vetus amo∣rem docet in proximos, nova in extraneos; the Old Law taught us to love our Neighbours, but the New teaches us that all the World are our Neighbours; not only those that live near us, but those that do any way stand in need of our Assistance; not those alone that we know, but those whose Distresses we are acquainted with, though their Persons are Stran∣gers to us. And this Doctrine our Lord revealed or explained in the Parable of the wounded Samari∣tan: and according to the Tenour of it, we ought to say with Gregory Nazianzen, All the Earth is my Country, and no Part of the Earth is my Country, 'tis Heaven alone that can claim that Title; and no man ought to be excluded my Kindness, till I know him to be excluded Heaven; and no man but may challenge my Love, of whom I can say, Behold an Other Man. And this Point of Christianity is so grounded on the Principles of Nature, that the better Heathens dis∣cerned and practised it: As I am Antoninus, says that excellent Emperour, my Country and City are Rome and Italy: but as I am a Man, the whole World. And like again to this is that Speech in the Comoedi∣an, Homo sum, humani nihil à me alienum puto; I am a Man, and I esteem nothing humane strange to me, or not to be my Concern.

Be then my Brother an Arabian or Indian, though he has travelled far, and planted himself in a remote Clime, though he be fed with Fruits of the Earth I

never saw, and speaks a Language I never heard, he ceases not to be my Brother; nay, though he be a Jew, Mahometan, or Infidel, and not only an Enemy to the Faith, but also to me; he has not lost his Hu∣manity, though he lost his Religion and Goodness; he has not drunk of Circe's Cup, he is not become a Lion or a Wolf: & docet Christus, delicto alterius non tolli Naturam, and Christ teaches us, that a mans Nature is not destroyed by his Sins, the Image of God remains still in him, and he is yet a Member of Mankind: and whoever shall obliterate this Chara∣cter, though but in his Uncharitable Estimation, is impious and sacrilegious; and because his Brother has done something unworthy of his Relation to him, he does that which is unworthy of his Creation, un∣worthy of the Divine Character he bears.

The Word Enemy ought to be a mere Notion or empty Term in Christian Religion, or to be Relative to nothing, but to Sin and Satan, to the Devil and the Devil's Works; God and Nature made all men Brethren; Malice, Interest, or Chance, made them Strangers or Enemies. Says Hierocles, To a Good man no man is an Enemy, i. e. a Good man may be hated, but he will not hate again; he may be treated hostilely, but he will not use another as an Adversary. And this unconquered Love, of returning good for evil, is the truest and noblest Badge of our Christian Pro∣fession. The Disciples of the Philosophers were di∣stinguisht by the Various Opinions of their Masters; those of the Lawyers by particular Sentences and In∣terpretations of the Law; the Scholars of the Pha∣risees by certain Traditions and Observations: But Christ would have his Disciples known by no Vain-glorious Marks or Distinctions, But by this, says he, shall men know that you are my Disciples, if ye love

one another: And those that hate their Brother, be it upon what Pretence soever, Judaize; and though they wear their Baptismal Cross as conspicuously on their Foreheads, as the Pharisees did their Phylacte∣ries, they are Disciples of the Synagogue.

I shall add but one thing more, and conclude this Point. Though we are oblig'd to love one another, i. e. All men to love all men, we are not obliged to love all men alike. Our heavenly Father, who is set to be our Example in general Beneficence, does not do so; though his Love be Universal to all, 'tis not Equal to all: but as Seneca says of Earthly Kings, Rex honores dignis dat, congiarium & indignis, a King bestows common Largesses both on the Wor∣thy and Unworthy, but Offices and Charges of Ho∣nour he confers only on the Worthy. So the King of Heaven sends his Rain and makes the Sun to shine on the Good and Bad, on the Just and Unjust; but does not in the like promiscuous manner and without Distinction scatter the Gifts of his Holy Spirit; he shews himself a Common Father to all men, but a Gracious Father only to the Righteous. And we ought to conduct our private limited Charity by the like Rule, shed the common Influences of it on all Mankind, even as far as we can extend them: but when they will not reach both to Believers and Un∣believers, then to give the preference to Believers: for the Alliance of Grace is yet straiter, than that of Nature. And thus S^t Paul states this Duty, Gal. 6.10. As we have opportunity, says he, let us do good to all men, but especially unto the houshold of Faith. And I conceive after this manner we are to understand what is said Ecclus 12.4. Give to a godly man, and help not a Sinner; i. e. help the Godly man rather; when thou canst not relieve both, chuse to relieve the

first. And let thus much suffice to be said of the Object of our Charity. I proceed to the Reason that inforces it, which is taken from its Operation and Effect, It covers Sins, together with the Extent of that Effect, not one or two, but many and many Sins;

For Charity shall cover the multitude of Sins.

These Words are Parallel to the last Verse of the fifth Chapter of S^t James, He that converteth a Sin∣ner from the errour of his ways, shall save a Soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of Sins. But in some Copies, both in this place and in my Text, the Original has not 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 in the Future Tense, Chari∣ty [shall] cover a multitude of Sins, implying the Sins of the Charitable Man, but 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 in the present, [Does] cover a multitude of Sins, implying the Sins of other men: as 'tis Prov. 10.12. Hatred stirreth up Strife, but Love [or Charity] covereth all Sins, i. e. hideth and beareth with the transgressions of o∣ther men: and thus again 'tis said 1 Cor. 13.4. Charity suffereth long, and is kind. In which words the Apostle speaks of a prime Act of Charity, not of its Reward; of the Goodness it shews, not of the Recompence it shall receive. But there will be no need to contend for rendring of the Words either way: for both these Propositions are true. Charity is a benign Vertue that pardons the Sins of those that offend against us. And again, Charity is so accepta∣ble a Vertue in the Sight of God, that for its sake he will pardon many Sins committed against him. I shall therefore handle the Words in both Senses.

And first, Charity shall cover the Multitude of Sins, i. e. of our own Sins against God. Sins are said to

be hid or covered in Scripture, when they are pardon∣ed: so Psal. 32.1. Blessed is he whose unrighteousness is forgiven, and whose sin is covered. And again, Psal. 84.3. Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy peo∣ple, thou hast covered all their Sins. Covering of Sins imports not the concealing them in relation to God's Sight or Knowledge, but in relation to his Justice or Punishment: as men are said to forget Injuries, not in a Sense of Memory, but of Mercy, when they re∣member them not to revenge them: as Joseph for∣got his Brethrens selling him into Egypt, not as Pha∣raoh's Butler forgot Joseph in Prison. But may not then the same Question be ask'd here, which the Scribes and Pharisees ask'd in the Gospel? Who can forgive sins, but God alone? In what Sense can Cha∣rity be said to cover or pardon Sins? for covering or pardoning of Sins, and Justification, are one and the same thing, the peculiar Prerogative of God, and his free Gift of Grace through Jesus Christ: and to affirm, that Charity, or any other Vertue whatso∣ever, can work this Work belonging only to God, were to make it, as S^t Hilary speaks, ambitiosa errorum patrona, an ambitious or aspiring Patroness of Errour, to make it affect the Throne of God like Lucifer; to attribute to an imperfect humane Vertue the Power of the Deity, and to advance that to be a Giver of Pardon, which stands in need to receive Pardon it self. When 'tis said therefore, That Charity shall co∣ver our Sins, it means only, That it will dispose God to shew us Favour, that it is an acceptable Vertue in his Sight, and if we come qualify'd with this Grace for his Mercy, which is a special Condition also of his Covenant, we shall not fail to obtain it; but may more powerfully urge this Petition, Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us:

not, as the Papists teach, upon the Presumption of Merit, but upon the Confidence of God's Promise and Covenant, Fac hoc, & vives; Do this, and thou shalt live.

Secondly, If we take the Words in the other Sense, Charity covers the Sins of other men against us. Charity does this many ways, but I shall men∣tion only three: 1. Remittendo, by pardoning and forgiving them: and this is the perfectest and most absolute way of covering Sins of all other: for thus Sins are covered, as, I said, God covers them; he that remits Offences, when he has right to do it, restores the Person guilty to the State of Innocence again; and does not so much cover his Transgressions, as ut∣terly take them away: as he on the other side that revenges or punishes Offences, registers and preserves the Memory of them; as the Widow of Zerepaths Expostulation with the Prophet Elijah imports, Art thou come, says she, to call my Sins to remembrance, and to slay my Son? to punish her old Guilt, and to revive it, was all one in her account; to slay her Son, to call her past transgressions to remembrance.

2. Charity covers the Sins of other men, corrigendo & medendo, by Correcting and amending them, by turning their Vicious Habits into Vertuous: and thus it covers Sins, as a Plaster does a Wound; its cover∣ing is its healing them, and bringing it to sound flesh again. But then much Prudence and Skill is requir'd in this Point of Charity, we must be sure that our Corrections of our Brethren be medicinal and saluta∣ry, that our Cures of Mens Minds and Manners be conducted with as much Caution and Tenderness, as Surgeons and Physicians use in the Cure of their Bo∣dies. The first Caution therefore that I shall give, is, That we do not mistake the Disease, and cast the Pa∣tient

into a Worse Condition; bring him out of a light Distemper, into a more dangerous and deadly. There are many Spiritual Physicians in these days, who, like the Pharisees of old, compass Sea and Land to make Proselytes, and then render them sevenfold more the Children of Hell, than they were before. The second Caution which I shall give, is, That if soft and gentle Remedies will work the Cure; we do not apply rough and sharp ones; affect to operate with Saws, and Knives, and Fire, use cut∣ting and corroding Reproofs, where Oils and Bal∣sams, milder Counsels will suffice: a Physician ought to compassionate the Sufferings of his Patient; and the Reformer of his Brother that shews more Rigour and Austerity than is necessary, acts the part of a Tyrant, not of a Councellor; and leaves it to be suspected, that his Design is not so much to reclaim, as to insult over him; to make him a Convert, as to dress up a Trophee to his own Pride. Churlish∣ness and Harshness hardens the Bread that's given in Alms, into a Stone; whereas on the other side, Mild∣ness and Gentleness renders the sharpest Reprehen∣sions, sweet; and the severest Discipline, grateful. The last Caution I recommend, is, If the Disease or Sin be disgraceful, that we not only shew our selves good Physicians, but good Men; perform the Duty of Confessors, as well as of Reformers; hide the Shame, as well as amend the Crime: Open Reprehension turns into Scandal, and that which would have been Advice, if secret; publisht, becomes a Libel.

3. Charity covers the Sins of other men, benignè interpretando, by favourably Interpreting of them, and taking them in the best Part, by setting all Acti∣ons, even Injuries themselves in the most advan∣tageous Light; as Joseph call'd not his Brethrens ill-Dealing

with him (in selling him into Egypt) their Envy or their Malice, but God's Providence; and looking upon the Success, and not upon their Inten∣tion, he upbraided them not for their Cruelty, but congratulated the Preservation of his Father's House. And those that will have God look with favourable Eyes upon their Miscarriages, must in like manner behold and excuse the Miscarriages and Delinquences of others: where the Intention appears to have been Evil towards them, content themselves, if the Suc∣cess be Good; and when the Success is Ill, yet per∣swade themselves the Meaning was not so bad; and when they can make no fair Construction of either of them, then consider if themselves would not have done the same upon the like Temptation, or have not done Worse in some other Instance. And thus where they cannot preserve their Charity by a can∣did Interpretation of their Neighbours Defaults, support it yet on the Consideration of their own In∣firmities; where they find them not Kind, Just, or Reasonable in their proceedings, remember that themselves are as Unkind, Unjust, and Unreasonable as they.

And now I shall not have much to do in the last place, to shew the Extent of the Operation of Cha∣rity, viz. That it covers a Multitude of Sins: For if it covers all our Own Sins, and all the Sins of other Men; not only a Great Number, where a Greater Number yet remains; but the whole Infinity of them, though they out-vie the Leaves of Autumn, and the Sand on the Sea-shore; we may well al∣low the Apostles Expression, That Charity covers the Multitude of Sins. And I doubt not to understand the Words in their utmost Latitude, Our Lord com∣mands us to forgive our Brother seventy times seven

times, which is a definite Number set for an indefinite, and imports as much as to forgive him without Mea∣sure or Number, if he request it: Again, Luke 6.37. he says, Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven, and with∣out all doubt, as Unlimitedly as he commands us to forgive, he will forgive: for 'tis not imaginable that God's Benignity should be less than his Creatures; that when he requires of us to remit the Sins of o∣thers totally and plenarily, that he will remit ours partially and restrainedly.

And if it be said, There are some Sins menti∣oned in Scripture, as the Sin against the Holy Ghost, which shall neither be forgiven in this World, nor in the World to come: I answer, This is no Ob∣jection: For where such Sins are found, 'tis not pos∣sible that Charity, or any other Grace, can be found to mediate for the Transgressor; such Sins do not only offend against God's Laws, but deny his Deity; and the Committers of them are not only Trans∣gressors, but Apostates; and unpardonable not on the account that their Crimes are above his Mercy, but renounce it; or that they transcend the Pro∣mise made to Charity, but are destitute of the Vertue.

And if it seems too high a Prerogative to ascribe to Charity, or to any other Single Vertue whatsoe∣ver, and such as derogates from the rest, and makes them useless, to say, It covers all Sins; I answer, That Charity, nor no other Vertue in a high and Heroick Degree, are Single, but Complicated Ver∣tues: and whoever shall consider what S^t Paul says of Charity throughout the thirteenth Chapter of the First to the Corinthians, and again, Rom. 13.8. He that loveth another, hath fulfilled the Law; will con∣fess 'tis not a Single Vertue; but that whoever has

Charity in an Eminent Degree, must also have Faith, Justice, Liberality, Patience, Humility, Self-denial, even a whole Conjugation or Constellation of Chri∣stian Graces. And that where this Vertue is enter∣tain'd, there all Quarrels and Dissentions, secret Ma∣lice and open Injuries, both the greater Outrages and more petty Vexations and Molestations so much complained of in humane Society, are utterly inter∣dicted and banisht. Where Charity has its abode, indifferent actions are not put upon the Tenter, and men made guilty by Censures, when their Lives are Innocent. Calamities and Misfortunes are not rec∣koned among Crimes, and the Miserable judged void of Goodness, because they are void of Success. Brutish and voluptuous Affections are not call'd Ver∣tues; Lust, the greatest Enemy to Charity, stampt with the Specious Title of Love. Men are not seen to visit their Lawyer oftener than their Neighbour; to seek his Ruine and undoing, whom 'tis their Duty to protect; to keep him upon a perpetual Guard and Alarm, whose Security should be as precious to them as their own, giving him cause to complain, That he rather borders on the Den of a Dragon or some savage Beast, than on the Habitation of his Christian Brother. Men disturb not, for every Nothing, the Quiet of their own Fa∣milies, making their Houses resemble the Habitation, the Poets describe, of Aeolus, places of continual Storms and Tempests. Look not upon the Peace and Safety of their Country with a more malignant and malevolent Aspect, than a fatal Comet; hatch not worse Mischiefs in their black Cabals, than are brooded in the poysonous Womb of the Air, when the Contagion of a Plague is fermenting in it. Men rend not the Church in pieces to patch up their Beggar∣ly

Fortunes, or to cover their more beggarly Endow∣ment; knowing the Perverseness of men is such, that a mean Harangue will lead them sooner into Sedition, than the most powerful Oratory will be able to re∣tain them in their Duty and Obedience; and that their Voices which sound so loud and shrill in the Cause of Schism and Rebellion, would be hoarse and flat in the Defence of Loyalty and Conformity. Against these, and infinite Disorders more, Charity is the best Ca∣tholicon, the best General Antidote can be prescri∣bed, Which, as the Apostle says, seeks not its own things, but the things of another. And if we enter∣tain this Vertue, it will not only remove those Mis∣chiefs which are already on foot, but prevent those that are springing up; it will defend us, not by the Power of Arms, but by turning Wars into Peace; Ill-Will into Love; Enemies into Brethren; by ma∣king the World one Common Family, and of one Common Interest; by making God our Common Father, and Heaven our Common Aim and Ambiti∣on; to the attaining the highest Honours and Digni∣ties in which Kingdom, 'tis not Envy and Strife, the crossing and frustrating Mens Endeavours, but the furthering and assisting them, that conduces.

To God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, be ascribed all Honour, Glory, &c.