Now this very Obfervation cannot but be of great Use to us; for it will teach us to fet a higher Value upon those Qualities of Beneficence and Charity, and will let us see that we are not of the Chriftian Spirit, if we do not study to do Good to all, according to the Ability that we have; and that tho' we cannot work Miracles for the Relief of neceffitous and miferable Perfons, as our Saviour did, yet we fhould be as kind and as ferviceable to them as we

can.

Thus again; When we confider that Action of our Saviour's, of driving the Buyers and Sellers out of the Temple, we cannot but from hence obferve,what a great Zeal our Saviour had for the Honour and the reverent Ufage of Places dedicated to God's Service; and how concerned he was, that they should not be profaned, and put to a common Ufe. Now tho' this Action of his (as I faid) will not warrant us to do the fame, because we have not the fame Authority that he had, yet it will teach us, that we ought every one of us to behave ourselves reverently in the House of God, and in our Sphere, and as far as we lawfully may, to do our Endeavours to vindicate both Places and Things that appertain to God as much as we can from Profanation and Contempt.

Thus again, When our Saviour washed the Feet of his Difciples; this Action of his doth not pass any Obligation upon us to do the fame, in a literal Senfe, either to our Servants or Friends: Yet it plainly fhews what a mighty Strefs he laid upon all Actions of Humility, and Condescention, and Obligingness, in that for the recommending fuch Actions to us he would stoop to fo mean an Office as the Washing his Disciples Feet. Now this will still add a greater Weight to the Command that he hath given us in this Matter. For thus we are to reafon (as he himself applies this Action, and it is fuch a Reasoning as hath the Force of a Demonftration) If Jefus Chrift, our great Lord and Mafter, defcended fo low as to wash the Feet of his Servants, then sure the best of us ought not to think ourselves too good to ferve our Brethren even in the meaneft Inftances,

Laftly, Suppofe any of us, in a Cafe where our Rights and Privileges are concerned, fhould be doubtful how we are to behave ourselves, whether we should infift upon them, or whether we should depart from them; and the Cafe is fuch, that we have no express Command of God to determine us either way: Why now in this Cafe we have an Example of our Saviour, that will be of great Ufe to us, because it fhews what kind of Principles he himself

then

then acted by, tho' he gave no Command in the Matter. For when the TributeMoney towards the Repairs and Service of the Temple was demanded of him by the Jewish Officers, tho' he made it appear to them that he was not obliged to pay it, as being, by a peculiar Privilege and perfonal Right, free from that Impofition, yet rather than offend them (as he expreffes it) rather than do a Thing that Men might make an ill Conftruction of, and that might encourage others to refuse the Paymennt of their Dues, he orders St. Peter to lay down the Money they demanded, tho' yet a Miracle must be wrought before that Money could be come by. See this Hiftory in the 17th of St. Matthew, ver. 24.

Here now is an everlasting Rule given to all Chriftians, how they are to behave themselves in fuch Cafes as thefe, namely, that it is better to depart from our Rights, than from our Charity; and that Privileges are not to be infifted on against a publick Good, or when the infifting on them proves Matter of Scandal, or gives ill Example to others.

The Sum of what I have faid upon this Head, comes to this: Though the general Rules and Measures of our following Chrift's Example be his Laws and Precepts, yet all his Actions, if we do not fo much attend to the particular Action, as to the Mind

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Mind and Spirit with which it was done, will be of wonderful Ufe to us, both for the reforming our Judgments, and directing our Practice, and for the Encouragement of us in all godly and holy Living. We ought in all Inftances to be of the fame Spirit and Temper that our Saviour was; and if we are fure that we are in the fame Circumftances that he was, then to do as he did. And in any Cafe that happens to us, where we have no direct Law of our Saviour's to guide ourselves by, we may then have recourfe to his Example (I mean the Example of his Genius and Temper) putting the Queftion to ourselves, How would my Lord have done in this Cafe, had he been in the fame Circumftances that I am now in? And if we refolve fincerely to act, as we believe he would have done in the Cafe, according to thofe Notices we have from the Hiftory of his Life, of his Humour, and Qualities, and Temper, there are few Cafes wherein we shall fail of good Direction.

V. My Fifth Propofition about this Point is this: In a Matter where Chrift hath laid his Commands upon us, yet we are not bound to come up to the precife Measures of our Saviour's Life: We are not oblig'd to that Degree of Exactnefs and Perfection in our Actions that he attained to: It is

enough

enough for us, that in thefe Matters we follow him as far as we can; that we endeavour to imitate him according to our Measures, tho' we never reach that Excellency, that heroical Virtue that he gave Proof of in all his Actions.

The Reason of this is plain. As our Saviour was an extraordinary Perfon, fo the Inftances he gave of his Virtue were fometimes extraordinary alfo. And the Duties he recommended to others, he himfelf performed, not only in full Perfection, without any Mixture of Sin and Infirmity, but alfo fometimes in fuch Inftances, and with fuch Circumftances, as the Weakness of our present State, and our Course of Life in the World, will not allow us to imi

tate.

But

To give an Inftance of this. He was much in his Devotions to God. So ought we, because it is a plain Command. he was fo intense and fervent in those Devotions, that we may reasonably believe no wandring Thoughts, no Diftractions of Mind, did ever difcompofe or interrupt him. Why in this too we fhould imitate him as far as we can. But yet to attain to the fame Degree of Fixednefs and Fervency of Spirit, we must never expect, and therefore certainly we are not bound to it.

But further; fo great was the Ardor and Flame of his Devotion, that he fpent whole Nights

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