Men to be Compassionate one towards another, And why so? [ 1798]
IT is observed of the Bees,* 1.1 that aegrotante unà lamentantur omnes, when one is sick they all mourn; And of the Sheep that if one of them be faint, the rest of the flock will stand between it and the Sun, untill it be revived: Thus it is that God hath hewen us all out of one Rock,* 1.2 tempered all our bodies of one ••ay, and spirited all our Souls of one breath; We are all Sons of one Father, mem∣bers of one body, and heirs of one Kingdome, in respect of which near linking together, there should be Compassion and sympathy betwixt us; If one Member do but grieve, all suffer with it, When a thorn is got into the foot,* 1.3 how is it that the back bows, the eyes pry into the hurt,* 1.4 and the hands are busied to pluck out the cause of the anguish; And we being Members of one another, should bear with, and forbear one the other; the not doing whereof will stick as a brand upon our Souls,* 1.5 that we are of the number of them that have forsaken the fear of the Almighty, Ioh 6. 14.