the cause of Jesus was sent to the City baptized by a Christian Minister instructed and sent abroad and he became the prodigy of the World for learning and zeal for preaching and writing for labor and sufferance for government and wisdom he was admitted to see the holy Jesus after the Lord was taken into Heaven he was taken up into Paradise he conversed with Angels he saw unspeakable rayes of glory and besides that himself said it who had no reason to lie who would get nothing by it here but a conjugation of troubles and who should get nothing by it hereafter if it were false besides this I say that he did all those acts of zeal and obedience for the promotion of the Religion does demonstrate he had reason extraordinary for so sudden a change so strange a labour so frequent and incomparable sufferings and therefore as he did and suffered so much upon such glorious motives so he spared not to publish it to all the world he spake it to Kings and Princes he told it to the envious Jews he had partners of his journey who were witnesses of the miraculous accident and in his publication he urged the notoriousness of the fact as a thing not feigned not private but done at noon day under the Test of competent persons and it was a thing that proved it self for it was effective of a present a great and a permanent change But now it is no new wonder but a pursuance of the same conjugation of great and Divine things that the Fame and Religion of Jesus was with so incredible a swiftness scattered over the face of the habitable World from one end of the earth unto the other it filled all Asia immediately it passed presently to Europe and to the furthest Africans and all the way it went it told nothing but an holy and an humble story that he who came to bring it into the world died an ignominious death and yet this death did not take away their courage but added much for they could not fear death for that Master whom they knew to have for their sakes suffered death and came to life again But now infinite numbers of persons of all sexes and all ages and all Countries came in to the Holy Crucifix and he that was crucified in the reign of Tiberius was in the time of Nero even in Rome it self and in Nero's family by many persons esteem'd for a God and it was upon publick record that he was so acknowledged and this was by a Christian Justin Martyr urged to the Senate and to the Emperors themselves who if it had been otherwise could easily have confuted the bold allegation of the Christian who yet did die for that Jesus who was so speedily reputed for a God the Cross was worn upon breasts printed in the air drawn upon fore-heads carried on banners put upon crowns Imperial and yet the Christians were sought for to punishments and exquisite punishments sought forth for them their goods were confiscate their names odious prisons were their houses and so many kinds of tortures invented for them that Domitius Vlpianus hath spent seven Books in describing the variety of tortures the poor Christian was put to at his first appearing and yet in despite of all this and ten thousand other objections and impossibilities whatsoever was for them made the Religion grow and whatsoever was against them made it grow if they had peace the Religion was prosperous if they had persecution it was still prosperous if Princes favored them the World came in because the Christians lived holily if Princes were incensed the World came in because the Christians died bravely They sought for death with greediness they desired to be grinded in the teeth of Lions and with joy they beheld the wheels and the bended trees the racks and the gibbets the fires and the burning irons which were like the chair of Elias to them instruments to carry them to heaven into the bosom of their beloved Jesus Who would not acknowledge the Divinity of this person and the excellency of this institution that should see Infants to weary the hands of Hangmen for the testimony of Jesus and wise Men preach this doctrine for no other visible reward but shame and death poverty and banishment and Hangmen converted by the blood of Martyrs springing upon their faces which their impious hands cords have strain'd through their flesh who would not have confessed the honour of Jesus when he should see miracles done at the Tombs of Martyrs and Devils tremble at the mention of the name of Jesus and the World running to the honour of the poor Nazaren and Kings and Queens killing the feet of the poor servants of Jesus Could a few Fishermen and a Publican effect all this for the son of a poor Maiden of Judaea can we suppose all the World or so great a part of Mankind can consent by chance or suffer such changes for nothing or for any thing less than this The son of the poor Maiden was the Son of God and the Fishermen spake by a Divine spirit and they catched the World with holiness and miracles with wisdom and power bigger than the strength of all the Roman Legions And what can be added to all this but this thing alone to prove the Divinity of Jesus He is a God or at least is taught by God who can foretell future contingencies and so did the holy Jesus and so did his Disciples Our blessed Lord while he was alive foretold that after his death his Religion should flourish more than when he was alive He foretold Persecutions to his Disciples he foretold the mission of the holy Ghost to be in a very few days after his Ascension which within ten days came to pass he prophesied that the fact of Mary Magdalen in anointing the head and feet of her Lord should be publick and known as the Gospel it self and spoken of in the same place he foretold the destruction of Jerusalem and the signs of its approach and that it should be by War and particularly after the manner of Prophets symbolically nam'd the Nation should do it pointing out the Roman Eagles he foretold his death and the manner of it and plainly before-hand published his Resurrection and told them it should be the sign to that generation viz. the great argument to prove him to be the Christ he prophesied that there should arise false Christs after him and it came to pass to the extreme great calamity of the Nation and lastly he foretold that his beloved Disciple S. John should tarry upon the earth till his coming again that is to his coming to Judgment upon Jerusalem and that his Religion should be preached to the Gentiles that it should be scattered over all the World and be received by all Nations that it should stay upon the face of the Earth till his last coming to judge all the world and that the gates of hell should not be able to
obedience that is the love of his servants signifies what benefits he gives us what great good things he does for us I am the Lord God that brought thee out of the land of Egypt and does Job serve God for nought and he that comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder all his other greatnesses are objects of fear and wonder it is his goodness that makes him lovely and so it is in friendships He only is fit to be chosen for a friend who can give counsel or defend my cause or guide me right or relieve my need or can and will when I need it do me good only this I add into the heaps of doing good I will reckon loving me for it is a pleasure to be beloved but when his love signifies nothing but kissing my cheek or talking kindly and can go no further it is a prostitution of the bravery of friendship to spend it upon impertinent people who are it may be loads to their families but can never ease my loads but my friend is a worthy person when he can become to me instead of God a guide or a support an eye or a hand a staff or a rule There must be in friendship something to distinguish it from a Companion and a Country man from a School-fellow or a Gossip from a Sweet-heart or a Fellow-traveller Friendship may look in at any one of these doors but it stays not any where till it come to be the best thing in the world and when we consider that one man is not better than another neither towards God nor towards Man but by doing better and braver things we shall also see that that which is most beneficent is also most excellent and therefore those friendships must needs be most perfect where the friends can be most useful For men cannot be useful but by worthinesses in the several instances a fool cannot be relyed upon for counsel nor a vitious person for the advantages of vertue nor a begger for relief nor a stranger for conduct nor a tatler to keep a secret nor a pittiless person trusted with my complaint nor a covetous man with my childs fortune nor a false person without a witness nor a suspicious person with a private design nor him that I fear with the treasures of my love But he that is wise and vertuous rich and at hand close and merciful free of his money and tenacious of a secret open and ingenuous true and honest is of himself an excellent man and therefore fit to be loved and he can do good to me in all capacities where I can need him and therefore is fit to be a friend I confess we are forced in our friendships to abate some of these ingredients but full measures of friendship would have full measures of worthiness and according as any defect is in the foundation in the relation also there may be imperfection and indeed I shall not blame the friendship so it be worthy though it be not perfect not only because friendship is charity which cannot be perfect here but because there is not in the World a perfect cause of perfect friendship If you can suspect that this discourse can suppose friendship to be mercenary and to be defective in the greatest worthiness of it which is to love our friend for our friends sake I shall easily be able to defend my self because I speak of the election and reasons of choosing friends after he is chosen do as nobly as you talk and love as purely as you dream and let your conversation be as metaphysical as your discourse and proceed in this method till you be confuted by experience yet till then the case is otherwise when we speak of choosing one to be my friend He is not my friend till I have chosen him or loved him and if any man enquires whom he shall choose or whom he should love I suppose it ought not to be answered that we should love him who hath least amability that we should choose him who hath least reason to be chosen But if it be answered he is to be chosen to be my friend who is most worthy in himself not he that can do most good to me I say here is a distinction but no difference for he is most worthy in himself who can do most good and if he can love me too that is if he will do me all the good he can that I need then he is my friend and he deserves it And it is impossible from a friend to separate a will to do me good and therefore I do not choose well if I choose one that hath not power for if it may consist with the nobleness of friendship to desire that my friend be ready to do me benefit or support it is not sense to say it is ignoble to desire he should really do it when I need and if it were not for pleasure or profit we might as well be without a friend as have him Among all the pleasures and profits the sensual pleasure and the matter of money are the lowest and the least and therefore although they may sometimes be used in friendship and so not wholly excluded from the consideration of him that is to choose yet of all things they are to be the least regarded 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When fortune frowns upon a Man A friend does more than money can For there are besides these many profits and many pleasures and because these only are sordid all the other are noble and fair and the expectations of them no disparagements to the best friendships For can any wise or good man be angry if I say I choose this man to be my friend because he is able to give me counsel to restrain my wandrings to comfort me in my sorrows he is pleasant to me in private and useful in publick he will make my joys double and divide my grief between himself and me For what else should I choose For being a fool and useless for a pretty face or a smooth chin I confess it is possible to be a friend to one that is ignorant and pitiable handsome and good for nothing that eats well and drinks deep but he cannot be a friend to me and I love him with a fondness or a pity but it cannot be a noble friendship 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said Menander By Wine and mirth and every days delight We choose our friends to whom we think we might Our Souls intrust but fools are they that lend Their bosom to the shadow of a friend 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plutarch calls such friendships the Idols and Images of friendship True and brave friendships are between worthy persons and there is in Mankind no degree of worthiness but is also a degree of usefulness and by every thing by which a man is excellent I may be profited and because those
which they could make must needs be violently opposed a change that introduced new Laws and caused them to reverse the old to change that Religion under which their Fathers long did prosper and under which the Roman Empire obtained so great a grandeur for a Religion which in appearance was silly and humble meek and peaceable not apt indeed to do harm but exposing men to all the harm in the world abateing their courage blunting their swords teaching peace and unactiveness and making the Souldiers arms in a manner useless and untying their military girdle a Religion which contradicted their reasons of State and erected new Judicatories and made the Roman Courts to be silent and without causes a Religion that gave countenance to the poor and pitiful but in a time when riches were adored and ambition esteemed the greatest nobleness and pleasure thought to be the chiefest good it brought no peculiar blessing to the rich or mighty unless they would become poor and humble in some real sense or other a Religion that would change the face of things and would also pierce into the secrets of the soul and unravel all the intrigues of hearts and reform all evil manners and break vile habits into gentleness and counsel that such a Religion in such a time preached by such mean persons should triumph over the Philosophy of the World and the arguments of the subtle and the Sermons of the eloquent and the power of Princes and the interest of States and the inclinations of nature and the blindness of zeal and the force of custom and the pleasures of sin and the busie Arts of the Devil that is against wit and power and money and Religion and wilfulness and fame and Empire which are all the things in the World that can make a thing impossible this I say could not be by the proper force of such instruments for no Man can span Heaven with an Infants palm nor govern wise Empires with Diagrams It were impudence to send a footman to command Caesar to lay down his arms to disband his legions and throw himself into Tyber or keep a Tavern next to Pompeys Theatre but if a sober man shall stand alone unarm'd undefended or unprovided and shall tell that he will make the Sun stand still or remove a Mountain or reduce Xerxes his Army to the scantling of a single Troop he that believes he will and can do this must believe he does it by a higher power than he can yet perceive and so it was in the present transaction For that the holy Jesus made invisible powers to do him visible honors that his Apostles hunted the Daemons from their Tripods their Navels their Dens their hollow Pipes their Temples and their Altars that he made the Oracles silent as Lucian Porphyrie Celsus and other Heathens confess that against the order of new things which let them be never so profitable or good do yet suffer reproach and cannot prevail unless they commence in a time of advantage and favour yet that this should flourish like the Palm by pressure grow glorious by opposition thrive by persecution and was demonstrated by objections argues a higher cause than the immediate instrument now how this higher cause did intervene is visible and notorious The Apostles were not learned but the holy Jesus promised that he would send down wisdom from above from the Father of spirits they had no power but they should be invested with power from on high they were ignorant and timorous but he would make them learned and confident and so he did he promised that in a few days he would send the holy Ghost upon them and he did so after ten days they felt and saw a glorious immission from heaven lights of movable fire sitting upon their heads and that light did illuminate their hearts and the mighty rushing wind inspired them with a power of speaking divers languages and brought to their remembrances all that Jesus did and taught and made them wise to conduct souls and bold to venture and prudent to advise and powerful to do miracles and witty to convince gain-sayers and hugely instructed in the Scriptures and gave them the spirit of Government and the spirit of Prophecy This thing was so publick that at the first notice of it three thousand souls were converted on that very day at the very time when it was done for it was certainly a visible demonstration of an invisible power that ignorant persons who were never taught should in an instant speak all the Languages of the Roman Empire and indeed this thing was so necessary to be so and so certain that it was so so publick and so evident and so reasonable and so useful that it is not easie to say whether it was the indication of a greater power or a greater wisdom and now the means was proportionable enough to the biggest end without learning they could not confute the learned World but therefore God became their Teacher without power they could not break the Devils violence but therefore God gave them power without courage they could not contest against all the violence of the Jews and Gentiles but therefore God was their strength and gave them fortitude without great caution and providence they could not avoid the traps of crafty Persecutors but therefore God gave them caution and made them provident and as Besaleel 〈◊〉 Aâ—oliâ—h received the spirit of God the spirit of understanding to enable them to work excellently in the Tabernacle so had the Apostles to make them wise for the work of God and the Ministeries of his Diviner Tabernacle which God pitched not man Immediately upon this the Apostles to make a fulness of demonstration and an undeniable conviction gave the spirit to others also to Jews and Gentiles and to the Men of Samaria and they spake with Tongues and prophesied then they preached to all Nations and endured all persecutions and cured all diseases and raised the dead to life and were brought before Tribunals and confessed the Name of Jesus and convinced the blasphemous Jews out of their own Prophets and not only prevailed upon Women and weak Men but even upon the bravest and wisest All the disciples of John the Baptist the Nazarens and Ebionites Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea Sergius the President Dionysius an Athenian Judge and Polycarpus Justinus and Irenaeus Athenagoras and Origen Tertullian and Clemens of Alexandria who could not be such fools as upon a matter not certainly true but probably false to unravel their former principles and to change their liberty for a Prison wealth for poverty honor for disreputation life for death if by such exchange they had not been secured of truth and holiness and the will of God But above all these was Saul a bold and a witty a zealous and learned young man who going with Letters to persecute the Christians of Damascus was by a light from Heaven called from his furious march reproved by God's Angel for persecuting
supplant him not by any unworthy or unfriendly action but it was from God and he gave him his hand to set him upon his own Throne We find his parallels in the Gentile stories young Athenodorus having divided the estate with his Brother Xenon divided it again when Xenon had spent his own share and Lucullus would not take the Consulship till his younger brother had first enjoyed it for a year but Pollux divided with Castor his immortality and you know who offer'd himself to death being pledg for his friend and his friend by performing his word rescued him as bravely and when we find in Scripture that for a good man some will even dare to die and that Aquila and Priscilla laid their necks down for S. Paul and the Galatians would have given him their very eyes that is every thing that was most dear to them and some others were near unto death for his sake and that it is a precept of Christian charity to lay down our lives for our brethren that is those who were combined in a cause of Religion who were united with the same hopes and imparted to each other ready assistances and grew dear by common sufferings we need enquire no further for the expressions of friendships Greater love than this hath no man than that he lay down his life for his friends and this we are oblig'd to do in some Cases for all Christians and therefore we may do it for those who are to us in this present and imperfect state of things that which all the good Men and Women in the World shall be in Heaven that is in the state of perfect friendships This is the biggest but then it includes and can suppose all the rest and if this may be done for all and in some cases must for any one of the multitude we need not scruple whether we may do it for those who are better than a multitude But as for the thing it self it is not easily and lightly to be done and a Man must not die for humour nor expend so great a Jewel for a trifle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said Philo we will hardly die when it is for nothing when no good no worthy end is served and become a Sacrifice to redeem a foot boy But we may not give our life to redeem another unless 1. The party for whom we die be a worthy and an useful person better for the publick or better for Religion and more useful to others than my self Thus Ribischius the German died bravely when he became a Sacrifice for his Master Maurice Duke of Saxony Covering his Masters body with his own that he might escape the fury of the Turkish Souldiers Succurram perituro sed ut ipse non peream nisi si futurus ero magni hominis aut magnae rei merces said Seneca I will help a dying person if I can but I will not die my self for him unless by my death I save a brave man or become the price of a great thing that is I will die for a Prince for the republick or to save an Army as David expos'd himself to combat with the Philistin for the redemption of the host of Israel and in this sense that is true Praestat ut pereat unus quam Vnitas better that one perish than a multitude 2. A man dies bravely when he gives his temporal life to save the soul of any single person in the Christian world It is a worthy exchange and the glorification of that love by which Christ gave his life for every soul. Thus he that reproves an erring Prince wisely and necessarily he that affirms a fundamental truth or stands up for the glory of the Divine attributes though he die for it becomes a worthy sacrifice 3. These are duty but it may be heroick and full of Christian bravery to give my life to rescue a noble and a brave friend though I my self be as worthy a man as he because the preference of him is an act of humility in me and of friendship towards him Humility and Charity making a pious difference where art and nature have made all equal Some have fancied other measures of treating our friends One sort of men say that we are to expect that our friends should value us as we value our selves which if it were to be admitted will require that we make no friendship with a proud man and so far indeed were well but then this proportion does exclude some humble men who are most to be valued and the rather because they undervalue themselves Others say that a friend is to value his friend as much as his friend values him but neither is this well or safe wise or sufficient for it makes friendship a meer bargain and is something like the Country weddings in some places where I have been where the bridegroom and the bride must meet in the half way and if they fail a step they retire and break the match It is not good to make a reckoning in friendship that 's merchandise or it may be gratitude but not noble friendship in which each part strives to out do the other in significations of an excellent love And amongst true friends there is no fear of losing any thing But that which amongst the old Philosophers comes nearest to the right is that we love our friends as we love our selves If they had meant it as our Blessed Saviour did of that general friendship by which we are to love all Mankind it had been perfect and well or if they had meant it of the inward affection or of outward justice but because they meant it of the most excellent friendships and of the outward significations of it it cannot be sufficient for a friend may and must sometimes do more for his friend than he would do for himself Some men will perish before they will beg or petition for themselves to some certain persons but they account it noble to do it for their friend and they will want rather than their friend shall want and they will be more earnest in praise or dispraise respectively for their friend than for themselves And indeed I account that one of the greatest demonstrations of real friendship that a friend can really endeavour to have his friend advanced in honour in reputation in the opinion of wit or learning before himself Aurum opes rura frequens donabit amicus Qui velit ingenio cedere rarus erit Sed tibi tantus inest veteris respectus amici Carior ut me sit quam tua fama tibi Lands gold and trifles many give or lend But he that stoops in fame is a rare friend In friendships orb thou art the brightest star Before thy fame mine thou preferrest far But then he pleased to think that therefore I so highly value this signification of friendship because I so highly value humility Humility and Charity are the two greatest graces in the World and these are the
greatest ingredients which constitute friendship and express it But there needs no other measures of friendship but that it may be as great as you can express it beyond death it cannot go to death it may when the cause is reasonable and just charitable and religious and yet if there be any thing greater than to suffer death and pain and shame to some are more insufferable a true and noble friendship shrinks not at the greatest trials And yet there is a limit even to friendship It must be as great as our friend fairly needs in all things where we are not tied up by a former duty to God to our selves or some pre-obliging relative When Pollux heard some body whisper a reproach against his Brother Castor he killed the slanderer with his fist that was a zeal which his friendship could not warrant Nulla est excusatio si amici causâ peccaveris said Cicero No friendship can excuse a sin And this the braver Romans instanced in the matter of duty to their Country It is not lawful to fight on our friends part against our Prince or Country and therefore when Caius Blosius of Cuma in the sedition of Gracchus appeared against his Country when he was taken he answered That he loved Tiberius Gracchus so dearly that he thought fit to follow him whithersoever he led and begg'd pardon upon that account They who were his Judges were so noble that though they knew it no fair excuse yet for the honour of friendship they did not directly reject his motion but put him to death because he did not follow but led on Gracchus and brought his friend into the snare For so they preserved the honours of friendship on either hand by neither suffering it to be sullied by a foul excuse nor yet rejected in any fair pretence A man may not be perjured for his friend I remember to have read in the History of the Low-countries that Grimston and Redhead when Bergenapzoom was besieged by the Duke of Parma acted for the interest of the Queen of Englands Forces a notable design but being suspected and put for their acquittance to take the Sacrament of the Altar they dissembled their persons and their interest their design and their religion and did for the Queens service as one wittily wrote to her give not only their bodies but their souls and so deserved a reward greater than she could pay them I cannot say this is a thing greater than a friendship can require for it is not great at all but a great villany which hath no name and no order in worthy entercourses and no obligation to a friend can reach as high as our duty to God And he that does a base thing in zeal for his friend burns the golden thred that ties their hearts together it is a conspiracy but no longer friendship And when Cato lent his Wife to Hortensius and Socrates lent his to a merry Greek they could not amongst wise persons obtain so much as the fame of being worthy friends neither could those great Names legitimate an unworthy action under the most plausible title It is certain that amongst friends their estates are common that is by whatsoever I can rescue my friend from calamity I am to serve him or not to call him friend there is a great latitude in this and it is to be restrained by no prudence but when there is on the other side a great necessity neither vicious nor avoidable A man may chuse whether he will or no and he does not sin in not doing it unless he have bound himself to it But certainly friendship is the greatest band in the world and if he have professed a great friendship he hath a very great obligation to do that and more and he can no ways be disobliged but by the care of his Natural relations I said Friendship is the greatest bond in the world and I had reason for it for it is all the bands that this world hath and there is no society and there is no relation that is worthy but it is made so by the communications of friendship and by partaking some of its excellencies For friendship is a transcendent and signifies as much as Vnity can mean and every consent and every pleasure and every benefit and every society is the Mother or the Daughter of friendship Some friendships are made by nature some by contract some by interest and some by souls And in proportion to these ways of Uniting so the friendships are greater or less vertuous or natural profitable or holy or all this together Nature makes excellent friendships of which we observe something in social parts growing better in each others neighbourhood than where they stand singly And in animals it is more notorious whose friendships extend so far as to herd and dwell together to play and feed to defend and fight for one another and to cry in absence and to rejoyce in one anothers presence But these friendships have other names less noble they are sympathy or they are instinct But if to this natural friendship there be reason superadded something will come in upon the stock of reason which will ennoble it but because no Rivers can rise higher than Fountains reason shall draw out all the dispositions which are in Nature and establish them into friendships but they cannot surmount the communications of Nature Nature can make no friendships greater than her own excellencies Nature is the way of contracting necessary friendships that is by nature such friendships are contracted without which we cannot live and be educated or be well or be at all In this scene that of Parents and Children is the greatest which indeed is begun in nature but is actuated by society and mutual endearments For Parents love their Children because they love themselves Children being but like emissions of water symbolical or indeed the same with the fountain and they in their posterity see the images and instruments of a civil immortality but if Parents and Children do not live together we see their friendships and their loves are much abated and supported only by fame and duty by customs and religion which to nature are but artificial pillars and make this friendship to be complicated and to pass from its own kind to another That of Children to their Parents is not properly friendship but gratitude and interest and religion and whatever can supervene of the nature of friendship comes in upon another account upon society and worthiness and choice This relation on either hand makes great Dearnesses But it hath special and proper significations of it and there is a special duty incumbent on each other respectively This friendship and social relation is not equal and there is too much authority on one side and too much fear on the other to make equal friendships and therefore although this is one of the kinds of friendship that is of a social and relative love and conversation yet in the more