*As he that lusteth after a woman shall be reckoned an adulterer, tho’ he has only committed the crime in his heart; so the malicious, spiteful, ill-natured man, that only secretly rejoices at evil, shall be reckoned a murderer, tho’ he has shed no blood.
*Since therefore our hearts, which are always naked and open to the eyes of God, give such an exceeding extent and increase, either to our virtues or vices, it is our greatest business to govern the motions of our hearts, to correct and improve the inward state of our souls.
14. Now there is nothing that so much exalts our souls, as this heavenly love; it cleanses and purifies like a holy fire, and all ill tempers fall away before it. By love, I don’t mean any natural tenderness, which is more or less in people, according to their constitutions; but a larger principle of the soul, which makes us kind to all our fellow-creatures, as creatures of God, and for his sake.
It is this love that loves all things in God, as his creatures, as the images of his power, as the creatures of his goodness, as parts of his family, as members of his society, that becomes a holy principle of all great and good actions.
These reasons sufficiently shew, that no love is holy, or religious, till it becomes universal.
For if religion requires me to love all persons, as God’s creatures, that belong to him, that bear his image, enjoy his protection, and make parts of his family and houshold; if these are the great reasons why I should live in love with any one man in the world, they are the same great reasons why I should live in love with every man in the world; and consequently, I offend against all these reasons, whenever I want love towards any one man. The sin therefore of hating or despising any one man, is like the sin of hating all God’s creation; and the necessity of loving any one man, is the same necessity of loving every man in the world. And tho’ many people may appear to us ever so sinful, odious, or extravagant in their conduct, we must never look upon that as the least motive for any contempt or disregard of them; but look upon them with the greater compassion, as being in the most pitiable condition that can be.
15. *As it was the sins of the world, that made the Son of God become a compassionate suffering Advocate for all mankind; so no one is of the Spirit of Christ, but he that has the utmost compassion for sinners. And you have never less reason to be pleased with yourself, than when you find yourself most offended at the behaviour of others. All sin is certainly to be hated; but then, we must set ourselves against sin, as we do against sickness and diseases, by shewing ourselves tender and compassionate to the sick and diseased.
*All other hatred of sin, which does not fill the heart with the softest, tenderest affections towards persons miserable in it, it is the servant of sin at the same time that it seems to be hating it.
And there is no temper which even good men ought more carefully to guard against than this. For it is a temper that lurks under the cover of many virtues, and by being unsuspected does the more mischief.
A man naturally fancies, that it is his own love of virtue that makes him not able to bear with those that want it; and when he abhors one man, despises another, and can’t bear the name of a third, he supposes it all to be a proof of his own high sense of virtue, and just hatred of sin.