the end is at hand ye are not in the beginning of your journey and therefore you must not rest onely in Ceasing from sin for the end is at hand therefore you must do good and holy duties of Sobriety and Piety verse 7. Be sober and watch unto prayer of Love ver 8. Ahove all things have love or charity of Hospitality verse 9. Be harborours one to another of ministring mutual Consolation and Instruction verse 10. As every man hath received the gift so let him minister as good Stewards of the manifold grace of God and verse 11. If any speak let him speak as the Oracles of God that God in all things may be glorified of Constancy under persecutions from verse 12. to the end of the Chapter Think it not strange concerning the fiery tryal verse 16. If any man suffer as a Christian let him not be ashamed verse 17. Judgement must begin at the house of God c. And lastly of the ultimate resignation even of their soules in suffering for Gods cause verse the last Let them that suffer according to the will of God commit their soules to him in well doing as unto a faithful Creator And thus you have seen how this Chapter containes an exact platform of a Christians race in which my Text points at one of those good duties which the Apostle requires of them that are not onely to cease from sin but to work righteousness and that not of the least account neither for after duties of sobriety and piety it comes in with a But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But above all things have fervent charity among your selves Which if we may make Divisions in a Text of Love may be divided into Four Parts 1. Here is the Duty it self enjoyned and that is Love or Charity Have Charity 2. Here is the Importance of that Duty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Above all things have charity 3. Here is the Qualification or Complexion of that Duty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 translated Fervent Charity 4. Here is the Reciprocation of that Duty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Among your selves But above all things have fervent charity among your selves First the Duty it self enjoyned is Love or Charity Have Charity which is not in this place 1. That Cardinal Grace as I may so call it so highly extold by S. Paul 1 Cor. 13. which abideth in Heaven even after Tongues and Prophesies and Knowledge shall fail and which is preferr'd before Hope and Faith it self which in that place is a comprehensive name including in it the perfection of all Graces and Duties both towards God and towards our Neighbour in which respect it is said Ro. 13.10 That Love is the fulfilling of the law Neither Secondly is this Love onely and meerly a Moral Love arising from a complacency in a present good found in Heathens and Unbelievers and meer Natural Men mentioned by our Saviour Matth. 5.46 If ye love them that love you what reward have you do not even the Publicans the same which is a Natural affection and not a Christian grace a Humane passion and not a Religious duty Neither Thirdly is this Charity a bare Eleemosynary Charity of Almes and Good deeds which in a strict sense is usually called Charity by attributing the inward affection of the minde to the outward action of the hand mentioned 3 John 6. But this Charity in my Text is a Divine grace and a Religious duty whereby we are to extend our bowels of love and Christian compassion one towards another not under the narrow relations of Kindred Friends or Benefactors but unto all in the common capacity of Religion and that not upon any humane or natural designes which love is meerly a moral passion but onely for Pious and Christian ends and considerations which turns Nature into Grace and a Humane Passion into a Christian Affection Which being thus described unto us from the Original the Object and the End by treating briefly of each of them apart you will know sufficient of the whole duty it self And First for the Original of Christian love It is the grace of Gods holy Spirit Indeed Love 1. As it is a passion of the Soul ariseth meerly from Nature which is an affection placed originally in Man by the great Creator whereby he takes complacency and content in the good things of the Creature which God hath made for him without which all the blessings of this life were but in vain created and were no more delicious to Man then to a Stock or Stone That the pleasant acceptation therefore of all Gods good things might not be lost did he indue Man with this natural affection of Love But Love as it 2. is an inordinate passion ariseth not from Nature Qua talis but as corrupted and depraved by Sin whereby the soul is Praeter institutum naturae carried beyond the mediocrity of natural appetite towards the creature and created blessings While Man only loved the Creature according to the Law of Nature and God according to the Law of God then he loved it in a mean and in a moderate subordination to the love of God who was to be loved with all our Might Heart and Strength But when as by sinne Mans heart forsook his God then that earnest and zealous love Ad ultimum posse before bestowed upon the Almighty was irregularly added to that mean and moderate Fountain of love of the Creature according to the Law of Nature which great addition coming to the force of natural love makes the soules of all corrupt unregenerate men run over their old banks towards the Creature in a most inordinate measure and a most irregular manner loving the Creature from two violent inforcements one from Nature the other from Lust Wherefore to endeavour to reform this violent passion only by Precepts of Morality or Rules of Depraved Reason or the like Philosophick aides will prove as great a folly as to set obstacles in the midst of a strong torrent to prevent Inundation they may perhaps give a check for a time and make lust suspend a while the actual exercise of her inordinacy but in the mean while she gathers strength and will as soon as ever those violent restraints be remitted which cannot be perpetual overflow our soules with the greater flood of concupiscence and carry our hearts without possibility of resistance down the stream from God towards the World So that there is no means left to weaken this torrent and to keep it within its due limits but by dealing with the Fountain the Heart must be changed and renewed and the inclinations and desires of our soules must be altered which thing is neither in the power of Nature nor Reason but only of the grace of Gods Spirit to effect which is able to re-inkindle that religious love in our hearts with which Man at first loved both God and his Brother which was the ground of S. Johns exhortation 1 Ep. 4.7 8. Let us love one another for
love is of God and every one that loveth is born of God God is love ve◠8. The original then of this religious love is Gods grace which is the first part of the description Secondly consider the Object of this love which is said in the description to be extended not onely to Kindred Friends or Benefactors but unto All in the capacity and latitude of Religion The generick Object of all love is one and the same and that is a present good either real or appearing the vilest wretch yet never loved evil Sub ratione mali not as evil but at least under the appearance of good But the Specifick Objects are vastly different nay to shew the wonderful power of Grace over Nature their Objects are contrariant and directly opposite one to another Matth. 5.43 44. In old time it was thou shalt love thy Neighbour and hate thy Enemy this is the voice of Nature and of the Old Man in the old time But I say unto you verse 44. which is the voice of Grace and Christ Love your enemies blesse them that curse you and do good to them that hate you Hence is it that the Scripture makes no difference in Offices of love and mutual relief between Friend and Foe but he that in one Precept is called our Enemy in the recital of the same Precept in another place is called our Brother and both to be loved and served alike as appears Exod. 23.4 compared with Deut. 22.1 In one place it is If thine enemies Ox or his Asse go astray thou shalt surely bring it back in the other which is the recital of the same Law it is Thou shalt not see thy brothers Ox or his Asse go astray but thou shalt in any case bring him back So that whether he be Enemy or Brother it is all one in the eye of Religion and both to be alike beloved assisted and relieved Which although it be very severe to Nature yet the Christian Law of love requireth it at our hands never seeking to comply with but to over-rule all our unregenerate affections in so much that a new man at his first conversion is in nothing more an Ephraimite like a young Heifer unaccustomed and strugling under the Yoke of Grace then in respect to those impulsions and checks which Gods Spirit imposeth upon mans Affections For indeed if you observe the Law of Grace and the Gospel this contrariety is not found only in this one affection of Love but all the rest of the passions by the power and constraint of Grace are not only diverted but inverted turned cleer backward in their motions to objects diametrically opposite to their former Thus for our Hatred We must hate Father and Mother and Wife and Children and Brethren Sisters and our own lives also or we cannot be Christs Disciples Luke 14.26 Next for our Joy We must joy in persecutions reproaches calamities and be exceeding glad Mat. 5.13 Nay Leap for joy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is Christs word in S. Luke chap. 6.23 when men hate you and reproach you and so in all the rest Which although it may seem to be a very sharp usage of Nature yet is it not without sufficient reason and abundant compensation in regard that by vertue of the divine Chimistry of Grace Good even spiritual good is brought out of natural evils according to S. Pauls word of consolation Rom. 8.28 We know that all things work together for good to them that love God Even enemies reproaches and persecutions Which is a Paradox to Nature because it is beyond her Ken or Comprehension the Back cannot feel any good in cold and nakednesse nor the Belly in hunger and emptinesse and on the other side they cannot apprehend there is any Evil in food and raiment and as they judge so they love and so they hate But Grace comes and findes Wantonnesse in fulnesse of bread and Pride in gorgeous apparel and on the other side it findes Humility in rags Chastity in hunger and abstinence it findes Patience under afflictions triumphs under persecutions and thus they work together for the good of them that love God And thus much of the Object Thirdly consider the End of Christian charity which is said in the Description to be Not upon any humane or natural designe but for pious and Christian ends and considerations There are three Stages of all Mans actions Himself his Brother and his God Now 1. to love meerly for a mans own good and upon self interest is basely Carnal nay 't is Ethnick Do not even the Heathen the Publicans the same Nay 't is Brutish for the Beasts love their Feeder for his food but if he withholds his hand and hunger begins to gripe those Savages Exasperatur mitigata torvit as they flye in his face that nourished them and make a prey of their Benefactor And Secondly to love our Brother meerly for our Brothers sake at best is but moral in which respect though Man even under depravation excels the bruit Beasts whose love if I may so call it reacheth no further then the first sort loving all things as they are agreeable or serviceable to their own sensitive appetites whereas this moral love in Man admits not of such mean mercenary reflections and is bestowed upon no other considerations then the goodnesse vertue and merit of the person beloved as a debt due to his worth goodness which is the love of Philosophers and that which is called Amor Amicitiae or Benevolentiae the love of Friendship and Good-will yet is this love as far below the duty of the Text and the affection of true Christians as it is above the lust of Beasts and brutish Men. Thirdly therefore there is another sort of love which is neither for our own sakes nor our Brothers but for Gods sake and that not only in obedience to Gods Commandment of love which is the Evangelick Law and the New Command nor for the conservation of the peace of Gods Church which is fortified by love but also and principally when it is bestowed in consideration of that spiritual relation which our Brethren by grace have to God as instruments of his praise as Members or as Ministers of his Church as parts of the houshold of faith c. This is to love our Brother for Gods sake Or in our Saviours phrase when we love a Disciple in the name of a Disciple Mat. 10.41 42 and a Prophet in the name of a Prophet and a righteous Man in the name of a righteous man That is when we love them under that relation in which they stand towards God and Religion which ought to be so predominant in every good heart that it should give Law and Rule to all inferior relations whatsoever whether Natural or Moral in so much that if ever their interests stand in opposition these subordinate indeerments ought to be utterly superseded and neglected which is the reason our Saviour saith That unlesse we
be fervent Away with the extended charity of the Hand the charity of Scribes and Pharisees that give onely to be seen of men who although many a poor soul may have been refreshed by their Almes clothed in their Liveries and recovered by their Physick yet at the last account they will find they had as good never have given at all as have given at the sound of a Trumpet for vain-glory and applause without any true sincere charity in their soules â—ar be it from me to speak against the poor mans interest God knowes he lives in hunger and rags notwithstanding all â—e incomes of charity yea though we take in those also which â—portunity or custome which pride or vain-glory or any other â—arisaical motives of beneficence may bring into the poor mans Store-house I onely tell the rich the best way to husband their charity and that they may at the same rate purchase to their own hearts and consciences the true satisfaction of Christian and religious benefactours as they now give to buy onely the ayre of a good name and the vain reputation of munificence It is but onely altering the disposition of the Heart the Hand hath already learn'd its duty And unlesse the heart be changed you may call it vanity and ostentation but you exceedingly wrong this sweet and spiritual grace of Christianity to call it charity And if this seems a mystery and a soloecisme against the common dialect of the World to deny almes-deeds to be charity go and learn the meaning of S. Pauls Paradox 1 Cor. 13.3 That a man may give all his goods to feed the poor and yet have no charity Judges 4. Or what think you of Jaels kindnesse to Sisera who brings her Milk and Butter in a Lordly Dâ—sh to the faint and the weary Captain and gives him house and harbour entertainment and lodging if we did not see the Nail and the Hammer we should be ready enough to call this pure compassion but when we read of the fatal effect of this kindnesse how should we wrong the integrity and simplicity of this lovely grace to give to such usages the name of charity And when I consider how many Jaels favours are bestowed in the World only upon a designe to work in Men the greater confidence of their fidelity that so they might destroy with the greater assurance and advantage I cannot but think it high time to preach up the charity of the heart and to tell you that the liberality of the hand alone is nothing but the price of hypocrisie nay perhaps it may be the very pretexts of treachery a piece of charity which the Devil practised who had good nature enough to offer Christ the glories of the world when he suffered hunger and solitude in the waste wildernesse and the same foul spirit that once thought to make Job curse God by Taking Iob 1.11 Chap. 2.5 now tryes whether he can make our Saviour blesse the Devil by Giving And even such and no other are the deceitful charities of the Hand where the Heart is not sincere and upright and thus much for reprehension Vse 2 Now in one word of Exhortation if Charity must bee fervent Bee yee then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 kindly affectioned one towards another with brotherly love Rom. 12. rest not in the cold formalities of vulgar freindship nor in the outward complements or uncertain offices of Love but let your hearts erne over your brothers necessities and fellow-feele in all their miseries doutless Religion makes Charity a very secret and mentall grace when it 's call'd in Scripture by the name of Bowels Col 3.12 Put on therefore as the elect of God holy and beloved Bowels of mercy and in another place to shew us whence every outward act of Charity should proceed the denyall of assistance to the poor and needy is called a shutting up of our Bowels 1 Joh. 3.17 Whoso hath this worlds good and seeth his brother hath need and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him how dwelleth the love of God in him the holy Ghost in this place takes no notice of any of those equivocal productions of Charity which may proceed either from custome importunity or vain-glory accounting no ourward office of Love worth naming but what proceeds from open bowels that is from a Christian tender compassion of our Brethrens needs If yee wil but change the name and call Charity Love you will soon see the necessity of the heart in this duty love being an affection ever naturally fixed and seated there and it is as improper for men to love with their hands or to love with their tongues as it is to see with their ears or hear with their eyes Which secret and sacred seat of this divine grace the holy Apostle evidently discovers 1 Tim. 1.5 Where hee calls it Charity out of a pure heart a good Conscience and faith unfained Outward offices of love where they are found alone are but Charity 's out of uncleane hands but the true Apostolical Christian Love is Charity out of a prue heart Excellently expressed by God Isa 58.10 where he calls it a drawing out of the soul to the hungry it is not so much a drawing out of our treasures our cruise and our Barrel but wee must set our souls on broach and draw out even the secret compassions and ernings of our own bowells over the necessities of our needy brethren and by this means how slender and narrow soever thy share is of the good things of this World thou shalt discover a rich fountain of Love sufficient to answer all the necessities of thy brethren for whereas treasures may bee exhausted and the cruise may fail and the barrell cease but the overflowing Fountain of Christian pitty and compassion in the good mans heart shall never bee drawn dry for so saith the Text v. 11. If thou draw out thy soul to the hungry then thou shalt bee as a spring of waters whose waters fayl not which leads us to the last construction of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 protended or lasting Charity Which is the third dimension of this grace to wit the length of it True Christian Charity to our brother doth not live and die with our own ends and interests it doth not last till our turnes are served nor cease upon any personal indignities or disobligements but it is in the Philosophers phrase pertinax bonitas Senec. a grace which as no worldly inducements wrought in us so no worldly discouragement can blast but it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lasting and perpetual Charity which construction of the word I need not crave aide of profane Authors to justifie though Suidas and others frequently use it for jugis and assiduus but I can give you express Scripture for it Act. 12.5 Peter was kept in Prison and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. it is not translated fervent prayer But Prayer without ceasing was made by the Church to God for