if he love her he wisnes her well he doth well for her he gives her what in justice and reason she â—n desire he suffers for her more then she would he is carefull not to displease and most willing to give her honour and all good content God when he gives lawes and precepts to man he concludes them all in this Love the Lord thy God and S. Paul Rom. 13 10. love is the fulfilling of the law And to this love as portrayed the husband is bound so saith S. Paul men ought so to love their wives Eph. 5.28 and this expresly proves it to be the husbands duty to love his wife Which S. Paul barely saith not it is his duty though his word as from God were a law and there needed no other confirmation for it but he proves it For the man to his wife is as Christ to his Church and Christ loved his Church and therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so ye husbands ought to love your wives Secondly the wife is not flesh of thy flesh but is made one flesh and one body and as it were one person with thee Eph. 5.28 so Ephes 5.28 and therefore man ought to love his wife And if you ask me how he ought to love her this the Apostle expresseth too and most plainly saying 1. as Christ loved his Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so ye husbands ought to love your wives Where note that the Apostle means not by this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so to tell the husband that he ought to love his wife in that high measure and degree as Christ did love his spouse the Church this is not possible for man to do but as Christ did truly and heartily love the Church so ought mâ—n to love their wives And a second 〈…〉 should love his wife the Apostle adde in the same place when he saith he ought to love her as hit own and as himself and be it that the man love his wife so the woman covets too much that would desire more then that her husband love her as he doth himself for no man v. 29. except a mad one saith S. Paul hateth but rather cherisheth and nourisheth his own flesh Now S. Basil taking it for granted that the man according to this duty and rule loves the wife more then the wife her husband demands the reason for it and answers it thus That woman was made subject to the guidance of the man and therefore to make a compensation as it were the man by his love is made in some sort subject to his wife so that the husband though he be in his naturall capacity a Lord to his wife as Sarah called her husband yet in a sweet manner he is through his love become her servant so that though God gave the woman long haire which might be as reynes in the mans hand to guide her yet God gave her an eye that her husband may say as Christ to his spouse Cant. 4.9 thou hast ravished or taken away my heart with one of thine eyes and be the man the head of the wife yet the wife by her ravishmâ—nt of the man is become according to the place or part whence she was first taken the heart of the man and hereby it comes to pass that as Christ taught the man is to leave father and mother and cleave to his wife and all this is wrought by mans love to his wife Well therefore did S. Paul Ephes 5. speaking of this loving subject call it a mystery a mystery in nature and a mystery in grace and each applied by the Apostle to the husbands love for as Eve was taken out of Adam so the Church from Christ she from Adam cast into a sleep the Church from Christ sleeping in Death Eve was from the side opened the Church from Christs side pierced Adam therefore was to to love Eve as his flesh and bone Christ his Church as his blood and life and hereupon the Apostle concludes Men therefore love your wives as Adam did Eve and as Christ did the Church For man and his wife are coupled as in the bond of nature so in the covenant of grace and this is the mystery which S. Paul calls the love of man to his wife And another mystery there is couched in the words of the Apostle when be saith that the man and wife being two subjects or persons are made and become one for though two yet but one body and two but one soul and affection to love each other as himself Eph. 5.28 v. 33. so that two should be one in and by love and yet by the power of the same love this one to become two to help each other against all enemies adversaries or opponents and here is the mysterie and such a mysterie as love onely under God can and should make between man and wife Which love as it is strong as Death Can. 8.6 so it feares not nor stoopeth to death but undauntedly encountered for the object be it the wife or the spouse beloved S. Paul tells us it was so in that most divine love of Christ to his Church who gave himself even to death for her and so hath it been in many a man naturall love to do the like for his beloved He touch but one example of Tiberius who finding two snakes in his bed-chamber was told that if he killed the female his wife must die if the male himself whereupon to preserve his wife he chose rather to kill the malâ—â—â—nd himself to die and happy is that conjunction which is so cemented by love that each can say as Castor and Pollux as brethren vive tuo Coujux tempore vive meo live ô my spouse thy terme and live thou mine The Greeks though most abundant in expressions by words yet in this case of husband and wife seem defective and scanty For as Ephes 5. and Col. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph. 5. Col. 1. which is in generall a man stands for husband so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is in generall a woman signifies in the Apostle a wife which defect if it may be so called is supplied by our English when we translate that man and woman by husband and wife and not unfitly from the first creation of both for as the woman was made for the man to be a comfort unto him as a wife Gen. 2.18 so the man being alone and wanting any under God on whom to place his love and delight is to settle these on the woman his wife therefore saith the Apostle husbands love your wives Eph. 5.22 these being the objects of your solace and delight and as they were made helps to the husband Which word husband as it notes the man to be the band of the house and all therein so primarily and principally of his wife by which he is put in minde to keep her from shattering as the band in sheaves or as the band of
inflamed by the heat of love And this love though it oft-times want a tongue for outward expression yet this defect it makes good by the eye for as loves palace is the heart so this palace is full of lights through which love makes it self visible and known And as a Chamaeleon or an Actor on the stage is now fearfull then confident sorrowfull and anon joyfull jealous yet secure weak but made strong so love makes one man twenty severall men it makes him all and again a nothing but all working love CHAP. V. Love lesseneth or facilitateth things most difficult LOve hath a participation of the Almighties power able to make the bitter sweet heavy light and the almost impossible things feasible A tast of the Colloquintida in Elisha's pot of portage 2 King 4.41 causeth his guests the Prophets to cry out Death is in the pot to remedy the which Elisha casts meal and then saith the text there was no harm or evil thing in the pot what that meal did Love can doe and more Our most blessed Saviour saith My yoke is easie Mat. 11â— 30 and my burden light now his yoke and burden are the renouncing all that a man hath wealth liberty and life and are these so easie and light yes Truth it self hath spoken it and most true it is that Love makes these both light and easie The traditionall Jewes had branched and summed up the precepts of the Mosaicall law into 793 whereof they made 428 affirmatives 365 negatives but all these and if there were a thousand times more Joh. 15â— 12 Christ hath reduced them all into this one Love and according to this truth S. Paul averreth that the fulfilling of that law which to flesh and blood was impossible is now done and performed by love Love saith he is the fulfilling of the law Rom. 13.10 As love fulfills all and makes all things easie and light so where love is wanting nothing is light easie well done or indeed is done at all or not as it ought to be done for where love is wanting all is too much that is done and where love is all that is done is too little love maketh a beam a straw and contrariwise it can change a straw into a beam He saith Christ that loveth me keepeth my law for where love is the least word is a law and that law is fulfilled by this word Love Some spectacles there are that represent things greater and others lesser then indeed they are and both these spectacles are made of love which makes the virtues of the beloved greater but his vices lesse Jacob loves Rachel and that he may injoy this beloved piece he serves twice seven yeares bearing the heat of the day and cold by night and yet all this seemed to him but as a pleasant act of a few daies Gen. 29.20 for the love saith the text he had to her The truth of this Axiome is made manifest by the mirrour of love Love it self Christ our Saviour who being very God and so impassible yet assumes our nature and then suffers himself to be reviled scornfully used scourged and put to a shamefull and most ignominious death and all for us his open deadly enemies Look upon me O Lord saith David and be mercifull unto me â—s 119.132 as thou usest to doe unto those that love thy name that is as to thy friends and servants whom thou lovest for as Love by the Heathens and Poets is feigned and portrayed blind so indeed where love is it doth not or will not see or censure the infirmities and blemishes of its beloved but takes them to be as Love-spots rather then deformities When Adam laid the blame of his transgression on his Wife S. Bernard seems to blame Adam that he had not taken it upon himself which saith he he would have done had he loved her CHAP. VI. Love extracteth delight and glory out of torments and sufferings I Speak not this of carnall or politick love which is usually changeable and inconstant and accompanied with falsity tending to self-ends but of Divine love and of this I may truly say the greater or lesser the affection is such more or lesse is the perfection acquired The blessed Apostles and holy Martyrs in the primitive times give us ample testimony and proof to this assertion whose revilings and most exquisite tortures begot in them not patience only but delight and pleasure the stones thrown at the Proto-martyr Stephens head he esteemed as so many jewels The fire under Laurence was to him as some pretious balme or soveraigne confection Ignatius who so much longed to be torn in pieces by wild beasts said If they be tame I will provoke them for I am as wheat to be bruised broken and to be served up to my Lords table And S. Paul said that his afflictions 2 Cor. 11.30 temptations and tribulations were his joy and glory so that though pain oft-times might have drawn teares from their eyes or blood from their veines yet the love they bore to their Lord Christ raised content in their hearts and such smiles in their faces as if they had been already with him in heavenly joy And in all this they did but as scholars imitate their Master who as he often delighted to treat of his passion so he profest to his disciples that Luk. 22.15 with desire he desired that is he greatly and earnestly desired to eat the Passover not as delighted to feast with them but to suffer for them and when S. Peter would have disswaded his Lord from his last great sufferings his Lord reproved him more for this then for his deniall of him in the high Priests hall for on this deniall Christ did but cast his eye toward Peter minding him thereby of his high promise made never to deny him but for that he not only bids him avaunt Mat. 16.23 which we only say to Dogs but he calls him Satan as being an adversary or hinderer of his much desired and longed-for Death We read in the New Testament of two Mountains whereon Christ more eminently appeared the one was Tabor where the shine of his glory seemed greater then that of the sun the other was Calvarie where he was beheld as a man despised more then the worst of men Barabbas the thief murderer prefer'd before him and when the sun hid his face ashamed of the horrid fact of putting the God of Heaven to death yet this exaltation on the Crosse in Mount Calvarie took more with Christ then that other of his transfiguration on Mount Tabor insomuch as here he finished the great work of his love for which he came into the world for the redemption of mankind and that all might be saved a pledge of which the thief dying besides him found who upon the word of Christ spoken unto him presently entred Paradise and this suffering on the Crosse in Calvarie substantially proved what the other appearing on
murther under which the Saints and holy ones suffer And to that place more especially of the souls crying How long O Lord dost thou not judge and avenge know that these souls in the 6th chap. v. 9. are the same with them who ch 7.9 clothed with white robes and palm sin their hands cryed with a loud voyce Salvation and herein is no destruction 2. These souls being the same with them cannot be deemed to pray for ought more then what is suitable to Christian doctrine and the kingdom attained by it which cannot be revenge or that such holy ones should desire it but that which they desire is 1. That Gods justice may be seen in his vengeance on those persecutors of his holy Martyrs 2. That God would shorten the time of those ten Roman Persecutions and of the suffering of those Martyrs and hasten his judgement 3. That the kingdom of Sin may be the speedier destroyed and the bodies of the persecuted Martyrs be the sooner glorified and in all this there is nothing that savours of an uncharitable hate or desire of revenge to their enemies CHAP. XXIV Motives and Reasons inducing love to our Enemies AND the first main reason may be drawn from the Author and Maker of this Law which is Christ God blessed for ever Who tells us Matth. 5.14 Ye have heard of old that ye may hate your enemies but I say Follow not all that you have heard but that which I tell and instruct you who am the Way the Truth and Life it self and I say Love your enemies Now concerning mans carriage or demeanour to his neighbour we have three several Laws and Law-makers the one Law is that of a friend to love his friend which though it may and should be from God yet very often it is from the world and worldly respects Christ himself intimateth little less when he saith When thou makest a dinner Luk. 14.12 call not thy friends nor thy rich neighbours as though this were the use or law of the world to love and make much of their friends The second is of an enemy to an enemy each of which hunt and take all occasions to prosecute one another with vexatious law-suits and quarrels and the maker of this law is the Devil who as Christ witnesseth is a murtherer from the beginning The third and last law is this not only of love to a friend John 8.44 but to an enemy and this is Gods when he saith But I say love your enemies It hath ever held as just and reasonable to give reverence and obedience to good Laws partly for the respect we shew to the Justice Wisedome and Integrity of the Law-giver With the disciples of Pythagoras the Philosopher it was enough to say he our master spoke it and this with them was confirmation sufficient of the saying We reade of the Rechabites that because they had obeyed the Commandment of Jonadab their father Jer. 35.18 therefore there should not want a man to stand before God for ever And of Laban it is recorded that when he purposed mischief against Jacob he desisted and changed his enmity into good why for saith he The God of your father spake unto me Gen. 31.29 saying Take heed that thou speak not unto Jacob either good or bad or from good to bad and this authority Laban the Syrian though an Heathen and an Idolater obeyed Now the Author of this precept is no less but the same who spoke unto Laban who now saith I who am the King of kings and Lord of lords I who from the beginning have created and made all I who from the beginning to the end make Laws and punish the breakers of them and none can deliver I even I give you this law to be observed for ever Love your enemies And this being the law of God then whether the law of Duels so understood and practised in these latter and worser times be the law of God or of Devils judge ye and bethink your selves in time whether he the same God that gives this law of Love to out enemies will not judge and severely punish the despisers of his authority and the breakers of this his just and sweet Law with everlasting hell-fire A second reason may be drawn from the love of this Law-giver God unto his enemies and he saith Matth. 5.45 I that give my light to shine upon the good and on the bad and send my rain on the just and on the unjust and so impartially that if my rain of afflictions fall first on the just yet my Suns prosperity doth first shine on the bad And again I who not onely pardoned my persecutors and murtherers but dyed for all my greatest enemies I who have done this and more give you this law wherein if you have any thing of children disciples or Christians in you ye will imitate and obey me for it is I who say and command Love your enemies And see further that when this Law-giver Christ had given this command of love to our enemies but in general in the fifth Chapter of S. Matthew in the next Chapter he teacheth the manner how we should love them when in his most divine Prayer he bade them to forgive them Mat. â— as they wished and prayed that God would forgive themselves and to give them an example not onely in the general which was not yet so sensible to all he shews and gives us a patern of this his love when a night or two before his passion he not onely washeth the feet of Judas but he feasts him with the rest of his Apostles and though he knew him to be a Thief an Apostate and a Traytor yet as though he had forgiven him he calls him friend And it is the. reasonable conjecture of an ancient Father That to the Thief who dyed with Christ and heard him pray for and to forgive his enemies it became an especial motive to his belief and thereby to his Salvation A third reason for this love to our enemies is the benefits redounding thence to our selves For my Names sake that is Isa 48.9 for mine honor's and for my praise saith God I will refrain and not revenge or punish and man loving and pardoning his enemies is made partaker of this honour and praise with God How often Mat. 18.21 saith S. Peter to Christ shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him where the remitter of his enemies injuries is called by the Apostle a forgiver and is not this a great honour and highly to be esteemed to participate in the like title with God to be a forgiver But hear on he that is out of charity and fostereth enmity in his heart is like a man wounded or sick of an hectick Feaver now the first means to cure and recover this infirm person is to wash away the corrupted blood and to purge out the putrefied humor which is the rancor and hatred burning in the soul
just man when he was robb'd of his goods and cattel had his houses burnt his children slain and his body filled with botches and sores neither chargeth these on the Chaldeans Sabeans or Egyptians nor on the fire no nor on the Devil himself but acknowledging the hand of God in all gives God thanks for all saying It is thou Lord who gavest all that hast taken away all and blessed be thy name that is the power and mercy of the Lord and in all this Job sinned not Job 1.21 nor charged God foolishly but wisely and thankfully entertained these sufferings as great benefits and blessings from the Lord. We finde S. Paul vehemently afflicted complaining of the thorn in his flesh 2 Cor. 12.7 and the messenger of Satan buffetting him suppose these to be like unto the wrongs and injuries done thee by thine enemies and then learn by S. Pauls example how to behave thy self in this case where we hear the Apostle praying thrice that is earnestly and often that it might depart from him and though his Saviour had promised that whatever he asked in his name it should be granted yet in this case S. Paul is not heard but his suffering is continued but know why for though the thorn and the devil bâ— not removed yet they are continued for his greater good for by them he hath the presence and assistance of Gods grace for so the Spirit of God answered My grace is sufficient for thee V. 9. and hereupon the Apostle in stead of grieving or complaining most gladly rejoyceth that the power of Christ may rest upon him and for this cause he not onely rejoyceth but as there he professeth he takes pleasure in his reproaches necessities persecutions and distresses and he gives his reason for all When I am weak saith he to the world and the flesh then am I strong and comforted in the Lord Can there be any greater benefit then this redounding to the heart of man while he suffers and revengeth not the hate and wrongs of his enemies whereby saith our Saviour ye are not onely made like to your Father Matâ— 5. â—8 but are made perfect like your Father And this may satisfie the question Whether it be of more merit to love a friend or an enemy which is answered first by that of our Savior to love your friends and those that love you is to do no more then the publicans and sinners do and he that doth but this saith our Saviour hath his reward in returning love for love but to love our enemies saith Christ is to attain the height and perfection of love and so be like and perfect as our Father which is in heaven is perfect The old Proverb with the Heathen was I am a friend till I come to be sacrificed for my friend but then no longer a friend but God saith S. Paul commendeth his love towards us that he would dye for us Rom. 5.8 while we were yet sinners that is as in another place they are called enemies so that the height perfection and merit of Christian love is seen in the love of our enemies more then of our friends We may urge this duty further from the great and eternal reward held forth and promised to the lovers of their enemies in a tempest on the sea when the ship is tossed the best way to keep thy brains steady is to look up to heaven the application is ready at hand and this course took that holy Martyr S. Stephen Acts 7.34 who when his enemies gnashed upon him with their teeth as enraged against him be then saith the Text looked stedfastly into heaven where he â—â—w the glory of God and Jesus on his right hand and this caused him not onely to pray for himself Lord Jesus receive my spirit but to pray for his persecuting enemies saying Lord lay not their sins to their charge It is storied of Abraham that his seed should be strangers in Egypt where they should serve Gen. 1â— 13 and be afflicted 400 years but that nation God saith be will judge and not onely so but that his Israel shall go forth out of Egypt with great substance and after that shall go to their fathers in peace and shall be buried in a good old age so that the patient suffering of the worlds injuries is rewarded with freedom plenty of goods long life honorable burial and peace that peace of God which S. Paul saith passeth all understanding Christ when he gave this law of love to our enemies hath explained and made it Gospel-proof when he saith Hereby ye shall make God your Father and if he be our Father then we are his Sons and if Sons saith S. Paul then also we are heirs with Christ in the heavenly kingdom The last reason to provoke us to this duty may be the example of Christ and the holy ones praying for their enemies and the inevitable necessity that we cannot in this world live without enemies and therefore are to make as we say a vertue of necessity and therein imitate God who draweth sweet out of sowre and good out of evil and by a godly alchymie draw patience from their persecution and praise to God for granting us patience and a greater reward after all our sufferings If some Country as Crete Ireland or the like want poysonous beasts yet no land or countrey is without contentious rancorous men yea no village is without some such for aâ— David said so may we They have compassed me round about and are as bulls and lyons roaring and seeking where and whom to devour I have read of one who foolishly bragg'd that be had never an enemy in the world to whom another more wisely replied saying Then I conceive you have never a friend for sure there is not a man living that hath any thing in him worthy a man but for his wisdome his justice his valour his honour or wealth he shall be envied quarrelled with pursued or persecuted so that he that will think to live free from these must as S. Paul go out of this world In this world saith our Saviour unavoidably ye must and shall suffer tribulation onely be of good comfort saith the same Saviour for I have overcome this world and that by my suffering and leaving this act and suffering of mine as an example to you that as I so ye likewise should suffer For so not onely Moses S. Stephen and S. Paul did suffer and yet pray for their enemies and persecutors but above all let our Lord and Master Christ be as our Law-giver so in this our pattern and example for imitation who descending from heaven and humbling himself to the ignominious death of the Cross for his desperate enemies yet then on the Cross suffering under them prayed for them in these words Father forgive them Luk. 23.34 for they know not what they do their malice hatred and revenge is such that they know not what they do
absence when he shall hear least of it A third enemy to friendship is Anger you may observe that when God spake unto Elijah 1 Kin. 19.11 12. there first came a renting wind then a shaking earthquake and after both a burning fire but the Text tells that God the Spirit of meekness and love was in neither of these but in a small still or gentle voyce This this and not rage or fury is the parent of love and therefore Moses who was a meek man is the onely man to be called Gods friend And yet S. Paul teacheth us that there is an anger that may not be sinful for so saith he Be angry and sin not Eph. 4.26 and anger sins not then when it makes sin the object or butt of his displeasure and this anger Moses wanted not when he brake the two Tables wherein God himself wrote his Law but if ye observe this anger was not set against the persons of the people sinning for these be bewailed these he prayed for and with a wonderful measure of love when he wished rather that himself should be blotted out of Gods book then that they should be destroyed but all his anger was bent against sin and that not against a petite out against a most hainous and abominable sin gross Idolatry So that there is an anger in a friend which is not onely tolerable but commendable and it is like that of the Prophet when he saith Psa 141.5 Let the righteous smite me it shall be a great kindeness and let him reprove me it shall be an excellent oyle which will not break my head The Greeks as the Latines have distinguished anger by two words the one is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and iracundia by which is understood an ebullition or boiling of the blood which as it comes from a natural cause so it oft-times and in many is almost as soon gone as it suddenly came and this usually is found to be a consequent of the best dispositions the other anger is termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is a setled lasting wrath arising from a malicious heart and a revengeful stomach S. Paul himself seems to allow or favor this distinction when he saith Be angry and sin not Eph. 4.26 let not the Sun go down upon your wrath neither give place to the devil and this latter properly and not that former anger is it which we here speak against as being the deadly enemy to true friendship CHAP. XXVIII Of self-Self-love WE read not that man is expresly commanded to love himself because every one is so inclinable to it that the danger lies in our over-love to our selves yet it is implyed when we are taught to love our neighbour as our self and under this command is likewise implyed what we should not do to our neighbour as not to rob not to kill him We should not defraud our selves of what is justly and necessarily requisite for us much less should we destroy or kill our selves And this tacit precept of loving our selves is so much the stronger because it is natural â—nd ariseth from the first principles infused into man and never becomes vitious or sinful until it transgress or goes beyond the limits prescribed unto it which limits being to love God first above above all things and for himself for that he is the Alpha the first of all the first by whom all things were made and were all made for the exaltation of his glory And the second limit or bounding of our love being to our neighbour who is Gods image and our second self and therefore to love him as our self now when man shall so love himself as that he loves no other but himself then this love is corrupted and forbidden as sinful And into this sin as the first and root of all other sins did our first parents Adam and Eve fall when the devil tempting Eve he told her that by eating the forbidden fruit she should be like God the inordinate love to her own so great a seeming good moved her to desire what was forbidden and thereby to forsake God in disobeying his commands Pride properly was not the first sin in that Adam or Eve would be like God but the love of themselves was the cause of that pride And as Eve was the first that fell into the transgression of not loving God through her self-love so very soon after Adam dropt into the same transgression of not loving his neighbour for he when God called him to an account took nothing upon himself nor any way excused Eve but laid all the blame and sin upon her which was not to love her as his friend or neighbour and all this came from self-love The devil accusing Job asks God whether Job served or loved him for nought wherein his meaning was That neither Job the upright nor any other loved God as they ought wholly for God but for themselves Jacob vows unto God Gen. 28. â—0 but hear his conditions If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go and will give me food and raiment so that I come again to my fathers house in peace then shall the Lord be my God Might not the devil interpose and ask Doth Jacob serve God for nought the like may be said of the mother and the sons of Zebedee whose thoughts when Christ drew near his passion were for honour and precedency above their fellow-Apostles so that self-love seeketh primarily its own good though at the cost and charges of another And so tender-hearted and loving we are to our selves that when God hath poured out all the vessels of wine and oyle of his graces mercies and benefits yet if he require but some small return of a thankful love expressed by some holy exercises in the Church or at home how apt are we to say as the Spouse I have put off my coat how shall I put it on Cant. 5.3 I have washed my feet how shall I defile them small things about our garments or our very feet shall keep us from God or else we will say as in the Proverbs There is a Lyon in the way In our way to God we feign and suppose Lyons dangers of losing liberty or estates and rather then we will lose or hazard any thing for God we will swear backward and forward and serve the devil rather then God and we think we have excused all sufficiently by saying we were forced thereunto for we saw a Lyon in the way when oft-times this Lyon is of our own making or fear rather then that there were any such indeed and all this is the bastard-brat of â—â—lf-love And if you ask me what hath been the Mother and Nurse of all Heresies as that first of Simon Magus of the Gnosticks and Nicolaitans who to be great and to enjoy filthy pleasure were sometimes Jews sometimes Christians at other times Gentiles in their Professions but sure they would never willingly
upon this Christ by way of satisfaction to the Lawyers question demands of the Lawyer whom he took to be neighbour to the wounded Jew whether the Jew who passed by not helping him or the Samaritan who hated the Jew and the Lawyer as convinced in judgement and conscience readily and roundly answered The Samaritan who helped the Jew whom otherwise he hated was neighbour to the Jew and upon that verdict thus given by the Jewish Lawyer Christ inferreth this doctrine by way of exhortation Go and do likewise that is have mercy and love ' thine enemy And what Christ preached here he practised to the full for had Christ any so great enemies unto him as the Jews who notwithstanding all the good works that he did among and for them yet hated and persecuted him to his death and when they cryed loudly to the Judge Crucifie him he more fervently prayes to his Father to forgive them and when they madly wished that his blood might be upon them and their children he mildly pronounced that his blood should be shed for them and their posterity Could there be any greater signs of the Jews enmity to Christ and could there be any greater evidence of Christs love to the Jews and according to his practice he gives his law As I have loved you even so love ye your neighbour though he be your enemy Notwithstanding this so plain and evident truth there have not wanted who have urged reasons against this position as the Rabbies masters or expounders of the Mosaical Law who feign that though the Commandment of loving our neighbour was written by God in the Tables of Stone delivered unto Moses yet it was written in the heart of man to hate his enemy 2. They urge that of our Lord God to Solomon 1 Kings 3.11 saying Because thou hast not asked long life nor riches nor the life of thine enemies I have given thee a wife heart whence they would infer that revenge on our enemies is as justifiably desired as long life 3. They adde that David of whom not onely himself but God pronounced that he had walked according to his Commandments yet David used many and bitter curses and imprecations against his enemies 4. To perswade us that this is natural to man they will tell us that a childe being offended with any will soon be pleased if another will but strike and revenge him upon the person that gave him the offence 5. They urge some passages of ancient Fathers who deem this hate of enemies to have been permitted to the Jews as that of Divorce for the hardness of their hearts To the first argument I may say That such a Tradition as is alleaged by the Rabbies is not to be regarded but to be rejected as frivolous and falfe But if any adde that it should seem by the words of Christ himself that in Moses's time or at least before Christ there was such a Tradition among the the Jews as that it was permitted to them to hate their enemies for Christ saith Ye have heard that it hath been said of old Mat. 5.43 Thou shalt love thy neighbour and hate thine enemie To this I may answer That the words of Christ It hath been said of old might relate to the perverse interpretation of the Scribes who argued That seeing we are to love our neighbors that is say they our friends therefore we may hate our enemies or because God commanded to make no peace with nor to spare the Canaanites but destroy them therefore we might do the like to all our enemies But to this or that old saying we need say no more then what Christ hath said Ye have heard it said of old V. 44. Thou shalt hate thine enemy but I say unto you Love your enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you But notwithstanding this they urge That by the Law of Moses as much is implyed as the hate of our enemies for it is said Thou shalt not hate thy brother Lev. 19.17 Deut. 15.7 and ver 18. Thou shalt not avenge nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people from which Texts and the like they would infer That they may hate and avenge themselves on all but their brethren and the children of their own people which were the Jews onely and therefore all the rest they might hate as their accounted enemies But to this we answer That it is an implication of their own making without ground from the Text which may be proved from other Texts which command the love of our enemy and the Spirit of God doth not cannot command contradictions Now God commands If thou meet thine enemies beast straying Exod. 23.4 Prov. 25.21 thou shalt bring it back to him that is to thine enemy and Solomon which words S. Paul Rom. 12.20 urgerh to our Saviours sense If thine enemy be hungry give him bread to eat and if he be thirsty give him to drink and the Lord will reward thee Here is no sign nor tittle of hate or revenge to our enemy but quite contrary to shew him the fruits of our love in doing him good And if to any the hate of our enemies seem natural I must say It must be to such as are of a perverse corrupted Jewish disposition and not to the nature of a true Christian for can any man conceive that God who is love and is most delighted with mercy and love should infuse into the heart of man created after his own image hatred and revenge and that against his neighbour his brother who likewise bears the image of his Maker who is Love That David used imprecations against many is not to be denyed but denyed it must be that it was against them because simply his enemies but rather against them as Gods enemies not his 2. The imprecations were not against their persons directly as to the destruction of their soul or body but against them as they were sinners 3. It was for the conversion of sinners and that Gods glory might appear either by their conversion or destruction and not to the satisfying his own revenge Observe I pray with me That David in his Psalms is often said to hate but what sin not the man for so Psal 101. v. 3. I hate the work of them that turn aside Psal 119. v. 104. I hate every false way Ver. 113. I hate vain thoughts Ver. 163. I hate lying and if once as Psal 139. v. 21. he be found to hate them the persons yet observe v. 22. he is said to hate them with a perfect hatred which hate can onely be such when it is against that which God hates the sin but not the person of the man which is an imperfect hatred and against charity and such an hatred God abhorreth Hear David speak as to his rebellious Son Absolom his treacherous Cousin Joab and foul-mouth'd Shimei Psal 7.4 5. If I have rewarded evil to mine enemy let him persecute
my soul tread down my life and lay mine honour in the dust And to that of Solomon because God commended and blessed him for not desiring the blood of his enemies from hence to conclude that he might have hated or revenged himself upon his enemies is all one as to say God loves and blesseth the humble the chaste and the sober therefore a man may be proud lascivious a glutton or a drunkard But passing by what is or may be argued in desence of hate or revenge to our enemies it is easie to shew and prove that it is unnatural and against the law of God so to do and that the contrary to love them is not onely commanded and praised as natural but easie to be performed even by the Heathen The royal Prophet David saith Thy law is sweeter and more pleasant to me then honey Psa 19.10 or the honey-comb and our Saviour Christ speaking of his Law which is this to love and not hate our enemies Matth. 11.30 he calls it though a yoke and a burthen yet such as he professeth to be easie and light But we must consider to whom it is such not to the carnal worldling and meer natural man but to his disciple whom he understands to be a new creature born and begotten by the Spirit of grace and then to such a nature it is as natural to love his enemy as it is natural to the other to hate him The reason is for that as the Elements of Earth and Water though of themselves ponderous and heavy yet while they are in their own place they press not nor are burthensom So is the love of an enemy in an heart spiritual And as the armour of Saul before David was exercised in bearing arms was cumbersom unto him but after much use and practise in the war he could wield the great Sword of the Giant Goliah and say as he did to Abimelech There is none like unto that 1 Sam. 21.9 even so fareth it with him who hath practised and exercised himself in this holy duty of loving an enemy which an humble spiritual use and exercise will make not onely tolerable but joyous and delight-full May not this and much more be confirmed by the examples of Joseph who being sold treacherously by his brethren Gen. 45. wept over them feasted them and plentifully provided for them of Moses who being murmured against by his Subjects and grosly slandered by Corah Numb 16. Dathan and Abiram who endevoured to disgrace and dethrone him yet then even then he ceased not to labour with God to preserve them whom otherwise the Lord in his just anger would have consumed of David who not onely would not suffer his Soldiers to knock down that railing Shimei but forgave him and when his unnatural rebellious Son Absolom conspired not only the deposing but the killing him yet he then cryes Spare the life of the yong-man who being slain against his will he with floods of tears bewails his death and as desirous to have saved his life by the loss of his own cryes out Absolom my son my son Absolom 2 Sam. 18. would God I had dyed for thee O Absolom my son my son Now can we conceive that more love then this in Joseph Moses and David to their greatest enemies could have been shewed by any other to their dearest friends So true is this that love of an enemy in a soul purified and exercised with patience proves not onely connatural to it but most easie and delightful Nay further if any shall say these indeed were rare examples of men extraordinarily endowed with heavenly gifts of faith love and patience and to these and such as these it was no hard matter thus to love their enemies To this let me reply and tell you that Heathens who as S. Paul speaks of them know not God yet by the light of reason and by the help of humane patience alone have come near to these most illightned and sanctified men and therefore the art of loving your enemies is not so hard a thing to the naturall man if he would give his minde to it Augustus Caesar that great Conqueror and Commander of the World being in the open streets called Tyrant by an unworthy fellow returned no more then this If I were as thou callest me thon couldst not live to call me so a second time Zino a Conspirator against Julius Caesar was pardoned by him and his estate restored and when he had fallen into the like again yet Caesar again pardoned him saying I will see which of us two shall be soonest weary thou in procuring thy own death or I in pardoning thy life I confess there are ingraffed by God in mans sensitive Soul the concupiscible and irascible faculties the one whereof is soon provoked and the other as soon desires and delights in revenge but on the other side you must know That God hath placed in the reasonable Soul the Understanding and Will so that be thy Passions as wilde horses or curst and cruel as mastiff Dogs yet these two the reasonable Spiritual Soul like the skilful Rider or the Master of the dogs can with the whistle or bridle retrain and keep them in if they will use their own power and authority over them If any ask me May I not sue my neighbour or mine enemy who hath taken or kept away my goods or may I not implead him who hath robbed me of my good name I briefly answer Yes so it be for restitution of the one or reparation of the other and without hate or revenge to his person Nay this thou art bound to do in a triple obligation the one to God for the honour of his Power and Justice in punishing violence and iniquity the second to thy self who art bound to love thy self before thy neighbour the third to thy neighbour be he in this case as in place of an enemy yet thou are bound to sue and implead him that by a moderate and lawful chastisement he may see his faults repent and do no more so and hereby thou shalt in part and as much as in thee is save his soul which is no piece of hate but a great part of love that thou shouldest bear to thy neighbour If it be yet urged that the voyce of the blood of Abel cryeth to God for vengeance Gen. 4.10 and that the Souls of them that were slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held cry with a loud voyce saying How long O Lord holy and true Rev. 6.9 10. dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth The general answer to the cryes of Gods Saints or holy ones living or dead to God for vengeance is That these as holy ones and Saints desire nothing against but according to his will 2. Not so much or not directly to the torture of their persons as to the destruction of their violence rapine and
against themselves nor what they do against me yet Father for this and for this cause that their malice hath so blinded them O Father forgive them And if this cannot work and perswade you to love and not to hate and revenge your selves upon your enemies I know not what to say but to leave you to Gods judgement or which I rather desire upon your repentance to his mercy CHAP. XXVI Of Friendship OUR Saviour Christ commands us to love our neighbours Ioh. 15. and Matth. 5. to love our enemies but I read not that he ever counselled us to love our friends not that he thought them unworthy to be loved as more especially comprised under the title of neighbour but he omitted this precept or counsel for that every one would as most bound love them of their own accord and indeed Christ himself expresseth so much when be saith the Heathen Publicans who are ranged with sinners Mat. 5. â—6 these love their friends But because friendship hath been used and worn as a Cloak to do and cover much deceit and iniquity I will therefore follow the method of the Psalmist Psal 1. where from describing the wicked he makes his way to the godly so here I shall first note the disguises and falsities of counterfeit friends that avoiding these we may the better choose and love the true and good ones And the first rank of these are like Simeon and Levi Gen. 49.5 Brethren or friends so made and joyned together by the cords as the Prophet calls them of iniquity such are they of whom Solomon speaks who cry Come let us lye in wait for blood come let us fill our selves with strong drink and come let us take our fill of lust the world hath and ever will be too full of such conspirators not friends Such were Josephs brethren when they sold him such were the Scribes and Pharisees Herod and Pilate Jews and Romans made friends in a most wicked conspiracy to murther the annointed of the Lord of these I may say as Jacob O my soul Gen. 49.6 come not thou into their secret cursed be their wrath for it was cruel divide them therefore O Lord in Jacob and scatter them in Israel Another rank of false friends are such who under the cover of sheepskins get in and play the Wolves to the spoil and destruction of the simple and innocent-minded man and of this sort was Cain who as some Rabbies spake Gen. 4. â— kindely entreated his brother to walk into the fields and when he had him there alone he flew him and such was Absalom to his brother Ammon Joab to Abner the Pharisees and Judas to our Lord Christ all which under the pretext and colour of love betrayed and murthered the innocent With this rank of men as King David was too well acquainted so he often complains of and prayes against them as being of his counsell and eating of his bread Psa 94. yet while they had butter and oyle in their lips their hearts and tongues were spears swords and very poyson These to David were more dangerous then his publick enemies for of those saith he I could have taken heed but the others I mistrusted not The Thief that robbed in the day if he were killed Exod. 22.3 4. the blood of the killer was to be shed for him but if he robbed in the dark and was slain the killer was not to dye for it so much are the disguises and works of darkness abominable in the sight of God more then apert and open villany Of these I might counsel as the Philosophers and wise-men have done Try before you trust and lâ—â—rn to distrust and seeing all is not gold that glisters eat a bushell of salt with that man whom you purpose to make your friend Sâ—chem paid dear for trusting Simeon and Levi's friendship so did Sampson in relying on the love of Delilah and Abner on the fidelity of Joab The counsel given by the Prophet is seasonable and proper Jer. 5.4 Take heed every one of his neighbour and trust not any brother for they will deceive V. 7. they will tell lies and commit iniquity therefore I will melt and try them saith the Lord. There is a third sort of false friends who make shew of love when all tends to their own benefit or advantage Such are they spoken of by the Prophet Isa 1.23 Every one loveth gifts and followeth after rewards Such were Jobs friends such the Prodigals lovers in the Gospel who like Mice Whores and Swallows make love and frequent your house in the summer of prosperity but in the end prove like Acteons hounds to be your destroyers The wise-man distinguisheth and rangeth this kinde of friendship into a friend for his occasion Ecclus. â— v. 7. v. 10 11. and to a friend at thy table and to a friend in prosperity these are to be tryed as metals not by colour nor weight these are deceitful but by fire and the hammer by the fire of danger and adversity and by the hammer of trouble and persecution If they will endure and burnish and look bright under these take and hold them for good if not reject them as counterfeit The fourth kinde of false friends is that who loves for his own delight be it of thy beauty feature or other outward parts or gifts and these are not unlike to Lice which so long as the body hath sweat and foul matter they continue but no longer and their love is like the Apple of Sodom or the beast called Acucena which in twice handling yields an ill savour We have Gardens Parks and Chambers full of these I would I could not truly say Churches full of such whose love is most seen in being seen touched and tasted But as the flowers of the Garden hold not long their colour or sent so nor this love They cry Let its crown our selves with roses let us eat drink take our fill of love and suddenly they as their love is vanished and their place no where to be found Psa 37. Betwixt these false vitious loves and the true moral friendship there is a natural love engendered fostered and encreased by a similitude in the outward shape or inward qualities and such is that whereof we say Like loves its Like and Birds of a feather will fly together But this being in it self simply neither good nor ill but may prove either as it is applied and used I will pass it by And tell you what the true moral love or friendship is and what is required to the birth and growth thereof Some Philosophers have called a friend another self understanding thereby that although friendship be betwixt two yet that these two had but one soul that is but one will and affection in two bodies so that Tully hath more largely described friendship to be a mutual and reciprocal will and desire betwixt two in all good things divine and humane by