and Waspish People are no Company for one another and much less for those who are of contrary Qualities Similitude being the Foundation of all Love of Complacency Tho' where there is Similitude there may be no such Love viz. when it lyeth in unlovely and troublesome Qualities yet wheresoever there is such a Love there must be more or less Similitude And according to the degree of Similitude will be the degree of Complacential Love Again if such a Person be sensible that such a one Hates him and watcheth all Occasions to do him Mischief he cannot have this kind of Love for him Now when I say that some we can take no Complacency in I suppose that therefore we are not obliged to it Nemo tenetur ad impossibile Nor is it agreeable to the Divine Goodness to impose unnatural things on Men. There are again Others whom we may not Love with this Love of Delight though we could Namely Prophane or Debauched People those who tho' they may have the Form of Godliness deny in their Practice the Power thereof The Apostle admonisheth his Son Timothy to withdraw himself from such as these To be pleased with the Conversations of such People is to express a liking of their Ways at least it argues a very Luke-warm Temper and a great Unconcernedness for the Honour of God and the Interest of Religion But no Man can be of so Unlovely a Temper or so wicked a Wretch as that it should not be our Duty to love him in the Second Sense of the Word viz. to wish well to him and endeavour as we have Opportunity his Welfare and Happiness Which supposeth I need not say a Change of his Nature without which he cannot be capable of Happiness And therefore this Change of his Nature is in the first place to be desired and endeavoured Secondly As to the Necessity of Loving each other there is no Duty more plainly enjoyned or more vigorously urged in the Holy Scriptures Especially by our Blessed Saviour and his Holy Apostles And therefore those who are better acquainted with the Christian Religion than with the Spirits and Behaviour of those who profess it may think it needless to spend any time upon this Argument But because the Religion of too too many who are called Christians and that Religion which our Saviour brought into the World are very unlike it will not be amiss to give a short Account what this is in reference to the Point before us As our Blessed Lord calls it His New Commandment That we Love one another as He hath Loved us so in the Words following he makes this the distinguishing Character of his Disciples By this saith he shall all men know that you are my Disciples if ye have Love one to another And so desirous was he that they should not be defective in Love that above all the excellent Petitions he puts up for them Iohn 17. this of Love is the only Grace he particularly prays for in their behalf viz. ver 21. That they all may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they may be united in Love have one Heart and one Soul And the Reason for which he thus prayeth doth mightily Commend this Grace viz. That the World may believe that thou hast senâ— me Which is as much as to say that Christian ex 〈…〉 ing in the Grace of Love will be a great Conviction to the World of the Execllency and therefore of the Truth of the Christian Religion And again Verse the last I have declared saith he to them thy Name and will declare it that the Love wherewith thou hast Loved me may be in them And his Beloved Disciple S. Iohn thought he could never enough extol this Grace He makes Love the very Essence of the Deity 1 Ep. 4. 16. God is Love and adds that he who dwelleth â—n Love dwelleth in God and God in him And v. 7. he saith that Love is of God and every one that Loveth is born of God and knoweth God Knoweth him practically and experimentally And Ch. 3. 14. We know saith he that we have passed from Death to Life because we love the Brethren We know that we are Regenerate Christians by our Love and Charity He that loveth not his Brother abideth in Death He is certainly an Unregenerate Man a wicked Creature And ver 15. Whosoever hateth his Brother is a Murtherer and ye know that no Murther hath Eternal Life abiding in him Nor is S. Paul wanting in Recommending and pressing this Duty Owe saith he no man any thing but to love one another for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the Law Or this is the Christian Perfection of the Law as it relates to our Neighbour And in what follows he sheweth that the whole second Table is herein implyed And in short this great Apostle preferreth Charity before all other Endowments and Accomplishments Before the speaking with the Tongues of Men or Angels before 〈…〉 all Mysteries before all Knâ—â—â—â—â—â— and 〈◊〉 all Faith too even the Faith of Miracles nay before the greatest Zeal nay such a zeal as will make men give their Bodies to be burnt 1 Cor. 13 chapter He there tells us that Charity is so much above all these that they are none of them worth any thing without Charity Much more may be said to shâ—w what a mighty Figure this Duty of Loving each other makes in the Religion of our Saviour Thirdly I come to shew how far this duty of loving one another is to extend or what we are to understand by one another in the Text. In a word it takes in all Men whatsoever Not only our Friends and Acquaintance Not only our own Party and those that say as we say and think as we think Not only those that oblige us and do us good turns but all the World all that partake of the same common Nature with our selves be they who or what they will 1. This is apparent from the Text. A new Commandment I give unto you That you love one another as I have loved you Now the Love of Christ was Vnlimited He dyed for all mankind S. Iohn saith that He is the Propitiation for the Sins of the whole World S. Paul calls him The Saviour of all Men That is so their Saviour as to exclude none from Salvation who will comply with the Terms on which He offereth it He hath shut out none from having benefit by what he did and suffered in the behalf of Sinners nor ever will he any who shall not reject the Counsel of God against themselves And lest we should think that by the World and the whole World and all Men we are only to understand some of all sorts this same Apostle assures us that this Phrase all Men is to be taken in the same Latitude in referrence to the Remedy brought by Christ that 't is to be taken in in reference to the Mischief done by Adam Therefore as by
the offence of one saith he judgment came upon all men to Condemnation even so by the Righteousness of One the free-gift came upon all men to Iustification of Life viz. the gift of the new Gracious Covenant And the Author to the Hebrews chap. 2. 9. tells us that Christ tasted death for every man Now if our Saviour loved all men loved all so as to put them into a Reconcilable state so that it must be their own Personal fault and long of their Wilfulness and Obstinacy if the worst of Sinners be not actually reconciled to God then since he hath commanded us to love others as He hath loved them our Love is to extend to all without exception And well might our Lord call this a New Commandment for no such is to be found in the Law of Moses or in the Prophets 2. This farther appears from those other words of our Saviour Mark 12. 31. Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self You may say the word Neighbour seems to be Limiting and Confining But we must understand this word as our Lord himself hath Explained it Luke 10. 29. Here is a Question put by a Lawyer to Him Who is my Neighbour Now see His Answer in the following words A Certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves who stripped him of his Rayment and wounded him leaving him half dead and by chance there came a certain Priest that way and when he saw him he passed by on the other side and likewise a Levite when he was at the place came and looked on him and passed by on the other side But a certain Samaritan as he journeyed came where he was and when he saw him he had Compassion on him c. Now saith our Saviour v. 36. Which of these three thinkest thou was Neighbour to him that fell among thieves And the Lawyer answering He that shewed mercy on him Our Lord replyed Go thou and do likewise Which is as if he had said Thou hast now answered thy self every Person that needs thy relief tho' he be unto thee as Iews and Samaritans are to one another tho' he be of a different Religion from thee nay tho' he be thine Enemy as the Iews and Samaritans were to each other he is thy Neighbour and therefore thou art obliged to love him as thy self to do to him when in an afflicted state as thou wouldst be done unto in the like Condition Again 't is Evident 3. That we are not to confine our Love and Charity to some particular Persons in that we are farther required by our Saviour to imitate our Heavenly Fathers Love and Charity Be Perfect saith he as your Heavenly Father is perfect Mat. 5. 48. That is as appears from what goes before let the exercise of your Charity extend as far as God ' s extendeth For as it follows v. 45. He maketh His Sun to rise on the Evil and on the Good and sendeth Rain on the Iust and on the Vnjust And as the Psalmist declareth His mereys are over all his works The Lord is good to all and His tender mercys are over all His works But 4. Express Texts enjoyn this If any are to be excluded from our Love they must be our Enemies but what saith our Lord of these Mat. 5. 44 But I say unto you Love your Enemies bless them that curse you and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you that you may be the Children of your Father which is in Heaven And v. 46. If you love them which love you what Reward have you Do not even the Publicans the same And if you Salute 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 embrace your Bretheren only what do you more than others Or what Excellent thing do you Do not even the Publicans the same And Gal. 6. 10. The Apostle saith Let us do good unto all men and the next words shew that tho' we ought to love all without exception as that word signifies Benevolence yet we are not to shew neither this kind of love to all alike For it follows Especially to them who are of the Household of Faith That which makes our Brother a Member of Christ's Church doth give him a Title to our greater Affection in both the foresaid Senses And here let me mind you that we ought to have a higher degree of love for all that own Christ for their Lord and Saviour than for Infidels and such as are Enemies to his Religion and those that own him most in their Practice we are obliged to have a greater love for than for mere Professors of Christianity or such as whose lives are less Conformable thereunto 'T is highly Reasonable that the most Lovely Persons should have most of our love There is nothing so Amiable as true Goodness and according to the degree thereof in any Person should be the degree of our Love to him God is to be the Object of our Highest Love because He is Perfectly and Originally Good and according as Men are more or less like to God the greater or less Complacency ought we to take in them and more or less ardently to Desire and Endeavour their Wellfare The true Christian Love doth chiefly consist in loving His Image from whom we are call'd Christians And where there is most of that whether the Persons are in all things of our minds or no we do not Love as becomes Christians if there we do not most love I speak now of Christian Love as I said such a love as is the effect of our own choice directed and Governed by our Saviour's Laws I speak not of a Natural Love which is necessary and not the effect of Choice This love do we what we can will ordinarily flow most freely towards our Yoke-Fellows Children Brethren and Sisters as being parts of our selves And so for those that are Naturalized to us by a long Acquaintance we cannot in that respect but love them better than such as are less known to us and those that have greatly obliged us we naturally love with a greater Passion than those to whom we are not at all or less beholden But tho' Scripture Nature and Reason do enjoyn us to love one another with a different kind and degree of love yet it hath been fully made to appear that 't is our duty to extend our love to all to wish well to and desire and endeavour as we are able and have opportunity the happiness of every man Fourthly I proceed to shew what Qualifications our love to each other ought to have Our Text tells us that we ought to love one another as Christ hath loved us and the other Text in S. Mark that we are to love our Neighbour as our selves And that is 1. Most Heartily and Sincerely My little Children saith S. Iohn Let us not love in word neither in tongue but in Deed and in Truth Let love be without dissimulation saith S. Paul I need not say that Christ's love to
the Temper of our Blessed Lord when on Earth We again and again read that upon the sight of People in Calamity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 His Bowels yerned towards them And this we must have a special care to be like Him in as we profess to be His Followers Love as Brethren saith S. Peter be pitiful But then 2. To our Affecting Sense of the Condition of others we must add our Relief of all Objects of Pity according to our Ability And our Nature is indued with such a Passion as this of Pity for this reason only that we may be the more strongly thereby excited to Relieve our Afflicted Brethren so that 't is for this end that we ought to cherish this Affection And to be affected with the sufferings of others without administring what help we can is so poor and low an expression of love as to be of no Account at all with God If a Brother or Sister saith S. Iames be Naked and destitute of daily Food and one of you say unto them Depart in Peace be ye warmed or filled notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful for the Body what doth it profit That is if you be so little Affected with the Condition of your poor Indigent Brethren and Sisters as only to bestow good Wishes on them it will neither profit them nor your selves I will present you with two or three Texts which if we will Consider we cannot think our selves sincere Christians while we live in the neglect of this duty of Charity The first shall be that of S. Iohn Whoso hath this Worlds Goods and seeth his Brother hath need and shutteth up his Bowels of Compassion from him how dwelleth the love of God in him 1 Iohn 3. 17. He hath no more love for God than he hath for his Brother The second shall be that of S. Iames Pure Religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this to visit the Fatherless and Widows in their Affliction and to keep ones self unspotted from the World Iames 1. 27. The third shall be that of the Prophet Micah He hath shewed thee O man what is Good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly to love Mercy and to walk Humbly with thy God Mich. 6. 8. And so great a number of Texts of the like nature may be produced as you must needs be satisfied are more than enough to overthrow all the Hopes of a Covetous Hard-hearted Professour of Christianity let him have built his hopes upon never so many other Evidences 3. Another Expression of Love to each other should be wholesome Advice and Counsel As Oyntment and Perfume says the Wise Man rejoice the heart so does the sweetness of a mans Friend by hearty Counsel And if in our Temporal Concerns the good Advice of a Friend is to be valued How highly valuable is it in our Spiritual And therefore How much more should our Love prompt us to give it in such Concerns Exhort one another daily says the Apostle While it is called to day left any of you be hardned through the deceitfulness of sin And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works Can I be a Friend to any man and not be so to his better Part his Soul And can I be Friend to his Soul and decline giving him that Advice which I am sensible he needs either for the Taking him off from some sinful Course or prevention of his falling into some Sin or of his Continuance in the neglect of some necessary duty And to encourage us to this great Instance of Friendship let us consider those words with which S. Iames concludeth his Epistle Brethren if any of you do Err from the truth and one Convert him let him know that he who Converteth a sinner from the Errour of his way shall save a Soul from death and shall hide a multitude of Sins Or this will be a prevailing Motive with God to pardon his own many sins But yet as Noble and necessary an instance of Charity as this is and as great a Reward as is Promised to it there is no duty more neglected in this Luke-warm nay most Prophane Age in which such an Expression of Friendship too generally passeth for a Piece of Fanaticism But Honest Heathens have had a much more honourable Opinion of it And I will conclude this Argument with this saying of Cicero Consilia Sermones Cohortationes Consolationes interdum etiam Objurgationes in Amicis vigent maxime Good Counsel wholesome Admonitions Instructions and Consolations and severe Reproofs too when there is Occasion for them do most take place in Friendship I might proceed to other Instances of Love to which we are necessarily obliged As a Readiness to forgive offences A Forwardness to make up differences Putting the most Candid interpretations we reasonably can upon each others Actions Concealing each others Faults except when it is necessary to make them Publick And Condescention to each others infirmities But I may not do more than Mention these lest I trespass too much upon your Patience The Application NOw what remaineth but that we put in practice with all our might this Great this New Commandment of loving one another as Christ hath loved us And we of this Society who are many of us Clergy-men and all Sons of the Clergy are in these respects under a special Obligation of Excelling in this with all other Christian Virtues Those of us who are Clergy-men are strictly bound as S. Paul tells us in the Person of Timothy to be Examples to the Flock and so to demean our selves in all respects as to be able to say as that Apostle did Walk as ye have us for an Example As it is our great Business to Teach others their duty and to press them thereto by the most persuasive Arguments so must we make great Conscience of it our selves as we would not lose our labour nay as we would not do more hurt than good And those ought to Expect at least to have their labour lost upon their People whose Examples do not back and inforce their Doctrine If we are not such our selves as we tell them as they hope to be saved they must be each of them will be ready to make this shamefull Reflexion upon our Sermons and good Admonitions Cur verba audio cum facta non videam And particularly as to this duty of loving one another it will be in vain to use Arguments with our Flocks to stir them up hereunto while they perceive us wanting in any of the Necessary instances and Expressions of Love I mean such as are within our own power And I say this because a Multitude of our Clergy are God knows in very sorry Circumstances to be Exemplary in that great Expression of Love Alms-giving I much doubt that the far greater Part have not wherewith to be so Nay 't would pity any good Man to see how many of them