his love to others He must not have persons in admiration because of advantage nor allow of any Hypocrisy which Conscience cannot chuse if tender but condemn Therefore sayes the Apostle Let love be without dissimulation Rom. 12. 9. Conscience observes whether our inward affection answers our speeches our shews and our pretences and should be able to bear witness of our integrity Our love to our neighbours should be for Christs sake and should make us to pursue the ends for which Christ died on their account 3. Love must flow from faith unfeigned In that fore-cited place 1 Tim. 1. 5. Now the end of the Commandment is Charity out of a pure heart and of a good conscience and of faith unfeigned There must be a firm belief of Gods good-will towards men of Christs love to his Church so as to give himself for its Redemption and Salvation and that he much insists upon this Command that Christians should love one another and when love is the product of this belief then 't is right then 't is acceptable The Apostle gave thanks without ceasing in the behalf of the Ephesians when he heard of their faith in the Lord Jesus and love to all the Saints Eph. 1. 15 16. How can he refuse to love any one Saint who unfeignedly believes that Christ died for all especially if withall he be upon good grounds perswaded that Christ loved him und gave himself for him 4. Love must be fervent 1 Pet. 1. 22. Seeing ye have purified your Souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto the unfeigned love of the Brethren see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently 'T is ill with the Body if the natural heat abates it argues a dangerous decay in the new Creature if Love wax cold If Christians Love one towards another languish proportionably there will be also a languishing of their love to Christ himself and this is very perillous When there was not a fervency but lukewarmness in Laodicea Christ threatens to spue her out of his mouth Rev. 3. 16. When Ephesus had left her first love he sayes I will come unto thee quickly and remove thy Candlestick out of his place except thou repent Rev. 2. 4 5. The great love of God in Christ his frequent injunctions that love may continue the excellency sweetness usefulness and even absolute necessity of love for the Churches conservation all this should be as perpetual fewel to maintain this holy fire 5. Christians Love must be Brotherly Christ sayes to his Disciples All ye are Brethren Mat. 23. 8. The whole Body of Believers is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Brotherhood 1 Pet. 2. 17. Christians are all Children of the same heavenly Father who by one Spirit according to his abundant mercy has begotten them again to a lively hope all of them have Christ to be their Elder Brother and are born again of the same seed which is incorruptible how reasonable then are those injunctions Love as Brethren 1 Pet. 3. 8. And let Brotherly love continue Heb. 13. 1. Alas for woe that the sinful Defects and Passions of Brethren are to be found among Professors but not the Affection Multitudes at this day resemble the Brother spoken of by Solomon Prov. 18. 19. A Brother offended is harder to be won than a strong City and their Contentions are like the bars of a Castle 6. Love should be extended so as to become Catholick and the more extensive 't is the more it makes a Man resemble God himself 1. Love is to be extended to the whole Church to all Saints When Love is limited to a party 't is Imprisoned as it were which ought to enjoy the greatest Liberty 'T is common and needful to distinguish between Conversion to a party and Conversion to God There is a distinction likewise to be made between Love to a party and Love to the Church of God 'T is but too apparent that men place too much in being of such a party and Perswasion and therefore all Receeding though done with a clear Conscience and for the Churches Peace is nick-named Apostacy And though a man walks as closely with God lives as well as ever loves more Saints and Saints more than ever yet because he is not rigidly of such a way he is censur'd belyed reproacht and shunn'd as if he were an Heathen man or Publican Oh Love why sleepest thou awake awake wherever thou art planted revive and flourish and bring forth the fruits of kindness peaceableness tenderness and moderation All true Saints of all Perswasions are beloved of God and purchased with his blood and nothing shall be able to separate them from the Love of God which is in Christ Jesus their Lord Rom. 8. ult Disaffections therefore and distances one from another are very unseemly very sinful Though God does love all his Children freely yet they are all worthy of one anothers love and this love is a just Debt which they owe one to another If Saints are loved as Saints all Saints will be loved à quatenùs ad omne valet consequentia And if we love not all 't is but too plain that we love none at all truly 2. Love is to be extended to the Jews if they are beloved for their Fathers sakes Rom. 11. 28. Christians should love them and express that love by Prayer that they may not still abide in their Unbelief but look unto Jesus whom they have pierced and obtain Mercy 3. Love is to reach unto the uncalled Gentiles The worlds blindness and wickedness should move our Compassion and since the Mercy of our God is so unconceivably large we should desire that more may partake of it and since Christ is a Propitiation sufficient for the sins of the whole World 1 Joh. 2. 22. We should pity the millions of Souls that never heard of him and beg that the sound of the Gospel may come to their ears and that through this Jesus they may be reconciled and saved 4. Love is to be extended even to enemies and Persecutors Christians must not render evil for evil reproach for reproach cursing for cursing but if they are reviled they are to bless if they are defamed they are to intreat and they must endeavour the Worlds benefit though they are made the filth of the World and the off-scouring of all things 1 Cor. 4. 12 13. A Saints Patience should alwayes be greater than the Passion of a Persecutor a Saints love than a Persecutors hatred 'T is an excellent Spirit and the right Spirit of Christian charity to be meek and kind to those that are most bitter against us to speak the best of those who speak the worst of us to Pray that our most spightful Enemies may be forgiven and that the injuries which are done us being Pardon'd may not do an eternal harm unto the Injurers 7. Love should never fail but more and more increase It must be a constant fire never to be extinguished nay it
to suffer any of his faithful labourers and servants to want encouragement David had it in his heart to build him an house and God establishes the house of David 1 Chron. 17. 23. and his family was upheld till Christ the Son of David came I have done with the third Proposition That the Body of Christ should diligently endeavour the edifying of it self Proposit IIII. The fourth and last Proposition is this The more Love abounds among the members of the Church the more the whole Body will be edified or more briefly thus Love is exceedingly for the Churches edification I might be large in discoursing of Love to Christ and manifest how this will constrain all in whom it is to endeavour the edification of his Body and to seek the welfare of those for whom he died One who loves the Lord Jesus in sincerity how can he chuse but love all Saints though of different perswasions since notwithstanding that difference they are all so dear to him that he gave his life a ransom for them all and the blood of God was shed for every one of them that there might be a price paid sufficient for their Redemption But the Apostle is to be understood in my Text of Christians love one to another This is that Charity which the Scripture calls so loudly for Joh. 13. 34. A new Commandment I give unto you that ye love one another as I have loved you that ye also love one another the command is doubled and called a new commandment because though delivered long before yet here 't is delivered with a new example that of Christ himself as I have loved you and consequently with a new and strongly enforcing motive The Apostle Peter gives this charge 1 Pet. 4. 8. Above all things have fervent charity among your selves Gifts though excellent may be abused and perversely employed to instill Errour and rend the Church of God Knowledge if it be alone will not profit but puss up him that has it But Charity edifieth 1 Cor. 8. 1. Love is greatly beneficial its acts are pure and peaceable and gentle full of mercy and good fruits and 't is against the very nature of it to work ill to any In the handling of the Proposition I shall First Discourse concerning the Nature of Love Secondly Discover the Properties which the Scripture attributes to it Thirdly Demonstrate how it is for the Churches Edification Fourthly Shew the vanity of those excuses that are made for the want of love Lastly Apply In the first place I am to discourse concerning the Nature of love There is a fourfold Love Carnal Natural Civil Spiritual 1. Carnal and impure Thus Amnon loved his fair Sister Tamar 2 Sam. 13. 1. and Sampson fell in love with Delilah but this impure affection cost both these their lives and brought the one and the other to an untimely end This may more properly be called Lust than Love and in whatever heart 't is harbour'd how does it defile and harden If but a spark of lust be let alone what a flame may quickly follow which may consume the Estate the Reputation the Body and the Soul it may indeed be extenuated but 't is threatned with the wrath of God Not only for fornication but for evil concupiscence cometh the wrath of God upon the Children of disobedience Col. 3. 5 6. When Lust is suffer'd to conceive and bring forth actual Adultery how do the Adulterer and his Strumpet shew their hatred one to the other The mischief they do themselves is inconceiveable and how do they defile each the others Body wound each the others Conscience and delight in that whereby they damn each the others Soul 2. There is a Love which is Natural I mean Natural affection To have this natural affection is a duty for 't is planted in the heart by the wise and gracious God as that which has a mighty tendency to the conservation of Mankind therefore to be without natural affection the Apostle makes one of the crimes of them who were given up to a reprobate mind to do those things which were not convenient Rom. 1. 28 31. Natural affection we owe unto Relations which debt if we refuse to pay we shut our ears to the dictates of Nature as well as the word of Christ and become worse than Infidels nay worse than the beasts that perish Parents must love their Children Children their Parents Husbands and Wives be full of affection to one another But Grace should spiritualize this Natural affection Not only the persons of our Relations must be loved but their Souls and their eternal Salvation most earnestly desired and endeavoured and if we cannot bear the thoughts of a Parents Husbands Wives or Childs pain poverty slavery starving the thoughts of their being eternally damn'd should be much more intolerable and all means should be used to prevent it 3. There is a Love which may be styled Civil This is one of the great bonds of Humane Societies whereby they are kept together whereas hatred and discord do first divide and then destroy them This Amor patriae love to our Countrey the more it prevails the more will our Countrey flourish In a Kingdom the whole should be concerned for every individual and every individual for the whole and all the parts for one another No member should hastily be concluded a gangren'd one that is Ense recidendum ne pars sincera trahatur Presently to be cut off lest the whole Community be endanger'd Draco is not lookt upon as one of the wisest Legislators who made almost every Offence capital and therefore is said to have writ his Laws in blood A mild Government such as our English is does best suit with Christianity and is likeliest to attain the end of Magistracy the Highest Sovereigns glory the King and Kingdoms safety Love should make all the Subjects of a Kingdom to consider the Relation they have to and their concern in one another and no Plots and Conspiracies should be allowed but onely designs and endeavours of one anothers wealth and welfare especially the truest wealth and the welfare that is eternal I cannot but here bewail the want of this Civil love and the variance that is in my Native Country New Names of discrimination are invented which our forefathers knew not Breaches grow wide as the Sea who but the God of Love and Peace can heal them A perverse Spirit mingles it self among different Parties and differences are kept up and still increased with an unusual animosity When Phaeton had set the World on fire the Poet by an elegant Prosopopoeia brings in the Earth it self thus pleading Hosne mihi fructus hunc fertilitatis honorem Officiique refers c. And may not England which at this day is in a flame of Contention be introduced thus speaking to her Inhabitants O English-men what means this more than civil Discord and Fury among you In Me you have been born and bred And considering the
of men Mat. 16. 22 23. The same Apostle as one observes scandaliz'd the Jews by pleasing them For fear of offending the weak Judaizing Christians he separated from familiar communion with the Gentiles by which he laid a stumbling block before them to harden them in the sinful opinion of Separation A dangerous Scandal it was whereby Barnabas himself was carried away Love will make us please our Neighbour for his good to Edification Rom. 15. 2. But to please him by doing as he does saying as he says and so to harden him in his too high thoughts of himself in his errour and uncharitableness in his dividing Principles which have a tendency to hinder the lasting settlement and peace of any Church in the World I say thus to please him is to scandalize him by not crossing and offending him A meek and faithful instructing him though it does anger him would be a true expression of love to him 5. In shunning scandal special regard must be had to the weak who are in greatest danger He that is weak falls more easily and therefore stumbling blocks should not be laid but removed out of his way Those that suppose themselves higher than others in light and grace should be the more condescending to them whom they think much below themselves and hear with their infirmities We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please our selves Rom. 15. 1. Those that differ from us in judgement have precious Souls as well as those of our own way therefore we must take heed of scandalizing them especiaily if they are very numerous We should be wary how we utterly disown a vast Body of Christians as if they were a company of Heathen men and Publicans this will confirm them in their exasperations and severities against us as highly reasonable and they will so fix their eyes upon that in us which we cannot justifie 〈◊〉 that they will the less regard what we speak against those things which may strongly be proved to need a Reformation The more general a scandal is the more fatal are the effects of it and the more it proves detrimental to the Church of God 6. All should pray against proneness to be offended Others actions should not make us forward to stumble and fall As the providence of God towards us though at present never so dark and intricate and unaccountable should not make us weary of him or of his service because he is a Lord the most gracious and his service is really the best beyond all comparison So neither should the carriage of men though never so strange and odd and unexpected occasion our sinning nor discourage us in weldoing Vpright men may be astonished at the dispensations of divine Providence they may be amazed to see the world so full of wickedness and to behold faith failing love dying and practical Religion so much ceasing in the Church of Christ yet they stir up themselves against the hypocrites they get over the stumbling blocks that are laid before them they hold on their way and wax stronger and stronger Job 17. 8 9. Foolisn men that are glad of scandal that run eagerly up and down inquiring who will shew us any thing that may offend us They rejoyce at any plea for a sinful course and greedily catch at any thing that may prejudice them against others that are not of their way nay they are forward to suck in prejudices against Ministry Ordinances and the Gospel of Jesus Christ A man that is swift to hear what may scandalize him that is joyful upon occasions that make him angry and uncharitable or any other way to sin he is like unto one that in a time of war does voluntarily run upon the Swords point or up to the Canons mouth or like one that in a time of Pestilence does not strive to avoid but to catch the contagion A man that should thus be fond of Plague or Sword you will judge frantick and he is in a worse sense frantick that is fond of scandal That 's the third Caution Take heed of scandalizing any 4. Take heed of an unbridled Tongue How mighty an hinderance of love has this little member been Both Church and State have felt the Smarting and dangerous wounds which a lawless tongue has given The tongue of a Serpent of a Viper the tongue that is all sting and carries Poyson and Death in it is nothing neer so hurtful as the Tongue of a Liar of a Slanderer The Apostle plainly intimates and the Prophet had done it long before that the Sins of the Tongue are the great cause of the badness of the times 1 Pet. 3. 10 11. He that will love life and see good dayes let him refrain his Tongue from evil and his Lips that they speak no guile let him eschew evil and do good let him seek peace and pursue it Four things are observable in these words 1. That an evil Tongue is the disturber of Peace 2. That 't is a great indication of guile and hypocrisie 3. That it very often shortens the Life 4. That it is a grand Impediment unto our seeing good dayes 'T is a vain thing to expect that times should grow better when tongues grow daily worse and worse and neither Scripture Reason nor Conscience can keep them to the words of truth and soberness When there is so much evil in the tongue how little of love how little of good can there be in the heart Would you have the Church of Christ edified let not your tongues wound any of her members though of a different perswasion from you Do you love your Neighbours as your selves be as backward to speak evil of your Neighbours as of your selves What our Lord speaks concerning doing may be applied to saying whatsoever ye would that men should say concerning you say you even so of them He that knew what was in man tells us Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks Bitterness in the language argues a root of bitterness within which the sooner 'tis pluckt up the better Take heed of speaking lies to the prejudice of others Satan the Accuser has hardly a more exact picture in this world than a Malicious lyer Invent not lyes believe not lyes report not lies He that spreads a lye to his Brothers harm is an hater of his Brother he may talk of love but is he a stranger to it Prov. 26. 28. A lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it and a flattering mouth worketh ruine Spreading of slanders is a sign of hatred Nay you are not to speak truth with an evil design Clamour and railing at the faults of others makes you faulty as well as they 'T were well if instead of publick defamations there were more friendly brotherly and private admonitions That injunction of Christ Tell thy Brother his fault between thee and him alone if he hear thee thou hast gained thy Brother Mat. 18. 15. is