Selected quad for the lemma: enemy_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
enemy_n	love_n	love_v	neighbour_n	3,555	5	9.3021	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A54848	Philallelpa, or, The grand characteristick whereby a man may be known to be Christ's disciple delivered in a sermon at St. Paul's, before the gentlemen of VVilts, Nov. 10, 1658, it being the day of their yearly feast, by Thomas Pierce ...	Pierce, Thomas, 1622-1691.	1658 (1658)	Wing P2190; ESTC R33406	27,750	46

whole substance to feed the poor and yet may perish for want of Love He may dare to dye a pretended Martyr by giving his body to be burnt And yet he may be frozen for want of Love So I collect from the Apostle 1 Cor. 13. 3. It concerns us therefore to know what love this is having seen what it is not by which a man may be known to be Christs Disciple And the shortest way to know this is to reflect a while on the Love of Christ For such as was his Love to us such must ours be to Him and to one another We have his own word for it in the verse immediatly before my Text and c. 15. v. 10 12. If ye keep my Commandements ye shall abide in my love v. 10. And this is my Commandement that ye love one another even as I have loved you v. 12. Now we know the Love of Christ was both extrensively and intensively great and proposed in both respects not more to our wonder than imitation First it was so extensively Great as that it reached to All in generall 1 Tim. 4. 10. to every man in particular Heb. 2. 9. not to a world of men onely as that may signifie a part but to all the whole world without exception 1 Ioh. 2. 2. without exception of the ungodly Rom. 5. 6. without exception of enemies Rom. 5. 10. without exception of them that perish 2 Pet. 2. 1. And so intensively great was the Love of Christ that it made him empty himself of glory and become of * no reputation † it made him a man of sorrowes and acquainted with grief indeed an intimate Acquaintance of the most heart-breaking grief that ever was suffer'd on this side Hell It put him upon the vassallage of * washing and wiping his servants feet It made him † obedient unto the Death and to seek the lives of his Enemies whilst his enemies sought his He in order to their safety as they in order to his Ruine It made him once our Priest after the order of Aaron and our Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedeck For us he descended into Hel for us he ascended into Heaven for us he maketh intercession at the right hand of God Rom. 8. 34. Thus Christ as our Master hath set us a Copy of His Love to the end that we as his Disciples might do our utmost to take it out Our Love must be so extensive that it must reach even to All not onely to all our fellow-Disciples but to all men living upon the Earth it must reach unto our Enemies and of them to all sorts too not onely to those without the pale of the Church who do us little or no hurt even Iewes Turks Infidels and Hereticks for whom we pray once a year in our English Liturgy But to our Crueller Enemies within the Church our particular Persecutors and Slanderers for whom we pray in our Liturgy three times a week Indeed the Hypocrites of the Synagogue did constraine the word Neighbour to signifie nothing but a Friend esteeming it Godlinesse and Zeal to hate an Enemy And some there are even in Christendom who feigning God from all Eternity to have hated more then he loved think they acquit themselves fairly and look upon it in themselves as a God-like property if they are much less inclinable to love then Hatred They know they need not love more then the Saviour of the world was pleas'd to dye for And easily taking it for granted that he dyed onely for some they think they need not exhibit their love to all Such men must be taught that even our Enemies are to be treated as one sort of friends and that the Scripture-word Neighbour extend's to both 't was so extended even by * Moses and so by † Solomon if by Moses and Solomon much more by Christ who having first commanded us to love our Enemies to bless them that curse us to oblige them that hate us and to pray for them that are spitefull to us give's us his reason in these words because * God also is kind to the unthankfull and to the evil Which is as much as to say that in the extension of our kindnesse we must be imitators of God For so he tells us in the very next words † be ye mercifull as your Father in Heaven is mercifull And when a Jew askt the Question * Who is my Neighbour Our Saviour answer'd him by a Parable of a Iew and a Samaritan not of a Iew and a Iew Whereby we are given to understand that all are our Neighbours who stand in Need. Let that need be what it will A need of our Pardon or our Purse we must not onely forgive them in case they reduce us to want of Bread but we must give them our † Bread too in case they want it We must pray for them and pity them and indeavour to melt them to reconcilement we must do them all the good offices within our power excepting such as are apt to hurt them we must shew them such favours as may help to raise them out of the Pit not such as may sink them the faster in we must not be so rudely civill so discourteously complaisant as to * suffer their sins to be upon them without disturbance but must rather oblige them with our † rebukes lest for want of such favours they go down quietly to destruction For so run's the precept Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart on the contrary thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy brother and shalt not suffer Sin upon him Although a man be so scandalous as to be shut out of our * company by the direction of the Apostle yet the same Apostle tells us we must not count him as an Enemy but admonish him as a brother 2 Thes. 3. 15. And from hence we are to argue à minori ad majus For if our Love must thus extend to Enemies how much more to such as are friends friends to our persons and to our God too The love of Ch●ist had degrees so must ours As the Apostle tells concerning Christ he is the Saviour of all but especially of them that believe 1 Tim. 4. 10. so the same Apostle doth also tell us of our selves we must do good unto All men but especially to them who are of the houshold of faith Gal. 6. 10. And even of those that are faithfull a primary care is to be taken for them that are of our own Country † It was not onely for Gods sake that David was kind unto Ierusalem but for his Brethren and Companions sake he prayed to God for her and did his utmost to do her good Psal. 122. 8. Our Saviour being himself an Israelite did * prefer the lost sheep of the House of Israel How kind was Moses to His Countrymen when he became for their sakes extremely cruell unto Himself

Disciples if ye Hate one another Will it not be a very sad and a shamefull thing if Iewes and Gentiles shall rise in judgement against a great part of Christendom whilest Christendom shall justifie both Iewes and Gentiles First for the Jewes they are so much at unity amongst themselves that however covetous in their particulars and however cruel to us Christians yet they are kind to one another and full of good works too They suffer not the needy to goe without his relief nor the Captive without his ransom Nay the * Esseni amongst the Jewes had all things in common and living Virgins themselves bestow'd their cost and their care in breeding other folks children Then secondly for the Gentiles a Homer describes the love of Enemies The b Pythagoreans gave it in precept and c Antius Restio's brave servant reduc't the Doctrin into practise Whilest some of the Heathens do love their Enemies were it not well if some Christians would love their Friends What a scandal is it at this day to the Disciples of Mahomet that grand Impostor that the Spirit of Division should seem to reign more amongst Christians then amongst them Nay are there not many great Potentates who professe to be the followers and friends of Christ and yet are ready at any rate to buy peace of the Turk to the end that they may break it with one another Or not to go so far from home how little is there of Christianity except the syllables and the sound even in that part of Christendom where Christ is most talkt of Amongst the many who are followers of the name of Christ how few are followers of his Example how far are they from giving all to the poor who * grind their faces as it were meal and eat them up as it were * Bread how unlikely are they to iudure the bearing of the Crosse who lay it so heavily upon other mens shoulders how do they leave all and follow Christ who take away all from them that follow him How do they wrestle against powers and principalities who flatter and syncretize with every thing that is mightiest How doe they abstain from all appearance of evil who have nothing of good but in appearance Where are those pieces of Christianity which are the grand characteristicks whereby a Christian should be distinguish't from Iew and Gentile I fear the places are very few though God be thanked some there are where Christ may be known by solid Love to have real Disciples upon the earth Thus you see how this Scripture doth furnish matter for Reproof And as for Reproof so withall for correction and instruction in righteousnesse Because it serves to * reduce such as are wandering out of the way and to build up such as have begun or as it were set out in the way of righteousness Whereby it brings me neerer and neerer to the more special end of our present meeting which we are not only to celebrate as a people born in the very same County but as a people brought up too in the very same School and deservedly dear to one another not so much by being Countrey-men as Condisciples Not Disciples under the Law which was a rigid * School master to drive us on unto Christ but Disciples under Christ who was a gracious Schoolmaster to lead us on unto God You know when I entred upon my Text I told you it was a part of our Saviour's last will And I must tell you before I leave it that the will was made for the behoof as well of us and of our children upon whom the ends of the world are come as for that dozen of Disciples to whom 't was given by parole and with whom the Depositum was left in trust They were the Witnesses Overseers and Executors in chief But we the remotest of the Legataries have equal right with the most immediate For this Testament like the Sun is so communicated to All that every Christian in particular hath a full right unto the whole Will ye know the reason 't is briefly this The true intent of the Testator was to make us * rich in good works rich towards God and to one another But I may say of Right in such a Legacy what Aristotle saith of the soul of man that the whole is in the whole and the whole in every part too Nor is it left as other Legacies to be accepted or refused without offence For what is allowed to be our priviledge is also injoyned to be our duty In such a Legacy as this we are not only permitted but strictly obliged to claim our portions For so run the words A new commandement give I unto you His command of our Acceptance was one part of the Gift and made his Testament of force not only * after but before his death Thus we see our obligation to fulfill the intent of the Testator And to the end we might see it the will is registred by St. Iohn in this indelible Record It lies upon us this day to give a proof unto the world of our Discipleship under Christ As much as in us lyes through the grace of our God which is working in us we must make this an imitable and an exemplary meeting Every man must endeavour as St. Paul exhorts his son Titus to shew himself a pattern of good works Tit. 2. 7. Our love as well as our moderation * must be know unto all men Our light of love like the Sun must cast a glory round about it though not to this end that men may see us and glorifie us yet at least to this end that men may see our * good works and glorifie our Father which is in heaven Or as 't is expressed in my Text that all men may know we are Christs Disciples Let us not walk after them who open their meeting with a Sermon and shut it up with a Surfet But as we have happily begun with some Acts of sacrifice so let us end more happily in works of mercy for we are not invited to a Feast like that of Herod and the Israelites who sate down like Brutes to eat and drink and then like wantons rose up to play Exod. 32. 6. This is not {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} a Graecian Feast of good fellowship but a Christian {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} or Feast of love If you will know what that means you must consult the second Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles where you will finde in the co●clusion that they did not onely continue daily in the Temple but they did also break bread from house to house They did enjoy their merry meetings of love and charity for so it followes in the Text * They did eat their meat with gladness as well as with singleness of heart From whence I take out this Lesson That Christianity is not a sullen

{non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} they shal know it Nor 2ly doth he say Your Discipleship shall be known as a speciall Secret to very few but as the Sun in his Meridian {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} All men shall know it Nor thirdly doth he say All men shall know that ye seem to be by a Disguise but {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} that ye are my Disciples without a fiction Last of all he doth not say Your Discipleship shall be known by such deceiveable Tokens as your Assembling your selves in the House of Prayer your crying out * Lord Lord your doing † wonders in my name your being Orthodox in Judgement and jumping together in Opinions but by This it shall be known as by a Token which never fails {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} If ye have Love for one another I must therefore begin with That Proposition which is last in Order but first in Dignity And which being as the Heart of the whole Body of Christianity deserves to be like the Heart in the body of man {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} The first thing that lives and the last that dyes in our consideration For can there be any thing in the world of greater consequence then this which gives us a Token whereby to know we have an Interest in Christ and such a sure token too as cannot possibly deceive us yet even such is that Love with which I am now to entertain you and which if you take into your hearts as well as into your outward eares will I doubt not carry with it that peace of Conscience which is to all that feed on it a continuall * Feast But because there is hardly any word that is more equivocal than this I must needs Anticipate an Objection by shewing what Love it is which our Saviour meant when he appointed it for the measure by which his Scholars are to be scann'd And to shew you the better what it is I must first shew you what it is not For all sorts of men pretend to Love not only Christians but the professed Enemies of Christ and as well the nominall as reall Christians Nay in one kind or other they all have Love in their possession and many times the worst men in the greatest measure For greater Love then this our * Saviour tells us there is none that a man lay down his life for his friend And plentiful store of this Love we commonly find in our reading amongst the Heathen Their great † Philosophers did prescribe it and not a few of their people obey'd the Precept To save a Friend ready to perish we find Episthenes in Xenophon a ready to lay down his life And such was the love of Artapates to Cyrus Iunior that he perfectly b hated his own life as soon as Cyrus had lost His Nor c would Lucius Petronius out-live his friend d Pomponius Laetorius dyed a couple of Martyrs for Caius Gracchus And Titus e Volumnius follow'd Lucullus into his grave f Terentius preferr'd the life of Brutus by many degrees before his own And g Valerius tells us of divers servants who to preserve their masters destroy'd themselves What transcendent lovers of one another were h Menedemus and Hipsides i Cleonymus and Archidamus k Agasias and Xenophon l Bagωas and Mentωr m Hippoclides and Polystratus n Asclepiodotus and Soranus 'T were easie to name as many o more as would make you weary to hear them nam'd Nor do I speak onely of Couples but of whole Societies and Sects whose astonishing Love to one another hath rais'd them Monuments in story which will endure as long as the Sun and Moon Such as the p Cimbri and Celtiberians in Valerius Maximus The q friends of Cyrus in Xenophon The r Athenians in Thucydides The s Megal●politans in Polybius The men of t Saguntum and Petellia The many u Societies reckon'd up by Alexander ab Alexandro who had all things in common of every kind and as well their sufferings as their injoyments Insomuch that if one did lose a limb by any accident all the rest were to cut off theirs that in every Circumstance of Adversity they might all be equall and alike Thus there were multitudes of men who lov'd each other unto the Death And some beyond it as far as * Hell Yet very far were those Pagans from being known by such love to have been either the Disciples of Christ or Moses 'T was little better than the love of King Perus his Elephant and other generous beasts which have expos'd their own lives to save their Riders There is a † naturall kindnesse and Generosity which is common to men with the meanest Creatures and so hath nothing of affinity with what is intended in the Text Nay if we reflect upon our selves upon whom the name of Christ is called we must not imagin we have attain'd unto that excellent Love which is here requir'd because we find upon inquiry that we are loving to our friends or because we have our † solemn meetings or stand * fast to one another as drivers on of a design For as there are many sorts of Love which are not rationall and pure as not proceeding from a right principle so there are many things too which are but the Counterfeits of love and yet are call'd by that Name because they look extremely like it The Devils themselves have their combination they are still at † agreement among themselves so as Satan is never divided against Satan but 't is from a principle of Policy and not of Love Even Rebells and Schismaticks the greatest enemies of Church and state are wont to * hold altogether and keep themselves close but from a principle of Faction and not of Love We read of † Pilate and Herod that they were solemnly made friends but from a principle of Hatred to an innocent Christ not of love to one another The world is full of such Merchants as keep a good correspondence and are punctuall Dealers with one another but from a principle of Traffick and not of true Love The friends of Ceres Bacchus have their times of Feasting and Good-fellowship their times of injoying the Creature-Comforts but from a principle of loosenesse and not of Love Many love the merry meeting but not the men whom they meet Or if they are Lovers of the men 't is far from being * thank-worthy For even the Publicans and Sinners do love those that love them but from a principle of Nature and not of Grace It being a meer self-Love which makes them so to love others Nay farther yet A man may do the very things which are the principall offices and works of Love for which not his Love but onely his vanity is to be thankt He may bestow his