we must ascend toward the perfection of them and strive to conform our practice to their exactness If what is prescribed be according to the reason of things just and fit it is enough although our practice will not reach it for what remaineth may be supplied by repentance and humility in him that should obey by mercy and pardon in him that doth command In the prescription of duty it is just that what may be required even in rigour should be precisely determined though in execution of justice or dispensation of recompence consideration may be had of our weakness whereby both the authority of our Governour may be maintained and his clemency glorified It is of great use that by comparing the Law with our practice and in the perfection of the one discerning the defect of the other we may be humbled may be sensible of our impotency may thence be forced to seek the helps of grace and the benefit of mercy Were the Rule never so low our practice would come beneath it it is therefore expedient that it should be high that at least we may rise higher in performance than otherwise we should doe for the higher we aim the nearer we shall go to the due pitch as he that aimeth at heaven although he cannot reach it will yet shoot higher than he that aimeth onely at the house top The height of duty doth prevent sloth and decay in vertue keeping us in wholsome exercise and in continual improvement while we be always climbing toward the top and straining unto farther attainment the sincere prosecution of which course as it will be more profitable unto us so it will be no less acceptable to God than if we could thoroughly fulfill the Law for in judgment God will onely reckon upon the sincerity and earnestness of our endeavour so that if we have done our best it will be taken as if we had done all Our labour will not be lost in the Lord for the degrees of performance will be considered and he that hath done his duty in part shall be proportionably recompensed according to that of Saint Paul Every man shall receive his own reward according to his own work Hence sometimes we are enjoined to be perfect as our heavenly father is perfect and to be holy as God is holy otherwhile to go on to perfection and to press toward the mark which Precepts in effect do import the same thing but the latter implyeth the former although in attainment impossible yet in attempt very profitable and surely he is likely to write best who proposeth to himself the fairest Copy for his imitation In fine if we do act what is possible or as we can do conform to the Rule of Duty we may be sure that no impossibility of this or of any other sublime Law can prejudice us I say of any other Law for it is not onely this Law to which this exception may be made but many others perhaps every one Evangelical Law are alike repugnant to corrupt nature and seem to surmount our ability But neither is the performance of this task so impossible or so desperately hard if we take the right course and use proper means toward it as is supposed as may somewhat appear if we will weigh the following considerations 1. Be it considered that we may be mistaken in our accompt when we do look on the impossibility or difficulty of such a practice as it appeareth at present before we have seriously attempted and in a good method by due means earnestly laboured to atchieve it for many things cannot be done at first or with a small practice which by degrees and a continued endeavour may be effected divers things are placed at a distance so that without passing through the interjacent way we cannot arrive at them divers things seem hard before trial which afterward prove very easie it is impossible to fly up to the top of a steeple but we may ascend thither by steps we cannot get to Rome without crossing the Seas and travelling through France or Germany it is hard to comprehend a subtle Theoreme in Geometry if we pitch on it first but if we begin at the simple principles and go forward through the intermediate propositions we may easily attain a demonstration of it it is hard to swim to dance to play on an Instrument but a little trial or a competent exercise will render those things easie to us So may the practice of this duty seem impossible or insuperably difficult before we have employed divers means and voided divers impediments before we have inured our minds and affections to it before we have tried our forces in some instances thereof previous to others of a higher strein and nearer the perfection of it If we would set our selves to exercise charity in those instances whereof we are at first capable without much reluctancy and thence proceed toward others of a higher nature we may find such improvement and taste such content therein that we may soon arise to incredible degrees thereof and at length perhaps we may attain to such a pitch that it will seem to us base and vain to consider our own good before that of others in any sensible measure And that nature which now so mightily doth contest in favour of our selves may in time give way to a better nature born of custome affecting the good of others Let not therefore a present sense or experience raise in our minds a prejudice against the possibility or practicableness of this duty 2. Let us consider that in some respects and in divers instances it is very feasible to love our neighbour no less than our selves We may love our neighbour truly and sincerely out of a pure heart and a good conscience and faith unfeigned as Saint Paul doth prescribe or according to Saint Peter's injunction from a pure heart love one another fervently and in this respect we can do no more toward our selves for truth admitteth no degrees sincerity is a pure and compleat thing exclusive of all mixture or alloy And as to external acts at least it is plain that charity toward others may reach self-love for we may be as serious as vigorous as industrious in acting for our neighbours good as we can be in pursuing our own designs and interests for reason easily can manage and govern external practice and common experience sheweth the matter to this extent practicable seeing that often men do employ as much diligence on the concerns of others as they can do on their own being able to doe no more than their best in either case wherefore in this respect charity may vie with selfishness and practising thus far may be a step to mount higher Also rational consideration will enable us to perform some interiour acts of charity in the highest degree for if we do but as without much difficulty we may do apply our mind to weigh the qualities
ISAACUS BARROW S.T.P. REG. MATI. A SACRIS COLL. S.S. TRINI CANTAB PRAEFEC NEC NON ACAD EIUSDEM PROCANC 1676. OF THE LOVE of GOD AND OUR NEIGHBOUR In Several SERMONS By ISAAC BARROW D. D. Late Master of Trinity College in Cambridge and one of His MAJESTY'S Chaplains in Ordinary The Third Volume LONDON Printed by Miles Flesher for Brabazon Aylmer at the Three Pigeons over against the Royal Exchange in Cornhill 1680. TO The Right Honourable HENEAGE Lord FINCH Baron of DAVENTRY Lord High CHANCELLOUR OF ENGLAND AND One of His MAJESTY'S most Honourable Privy Council THOMAS BARROW the Authour's Father Humbly Dedicateth these SERMONS THE CONTENTS SERMON I and II. S. Matthew 22. 37. Iesus said unto him Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart SERMON III and IV. S. Matthew 22. 39. And the Second is like unto it Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self SERMON V. Ephesians 5. 2. And walk in love SERMON VI. Hebrews 10. 24. Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works SERMON VII and VIII Romans 12. 18. If it be possible as much as lieth in you live peaceably with all men The First Sermon MATT. 22. 37. Jesus said unto him Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart THIS Text is produced by our Saviour out of Moses his Law in answer to a question wherewith a learned Pharisee thought to pose or puzzle him the question was which was the great and first commandment in the Law a question which it seems had been examined and determined among the Doctours in the Schools of those days for in Saint Luke to the like question intimated by our Saviour another Lawyer readily yields the same answer and is therefore commended by our Saviour with a rectè respondisti thou hast answered rightly so that had our Saviour answered otherwise he had we may suppose been taxed of ignorance and unskilfulness perhaps also of errour and heterodoxie to convict him of which seems to have been the design of this Jewish trier or tempter for he is said to ask 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 trying or tempting him But our Saviour defeats his captious intent by answering not onely according to truth and the reason of the thing but agreeably to the doctrine then current and as the Lawyer himself out of his memory and learning would have resolved it and no wonder since common sense dictates that the Law enjoyning sincere and entire love toward God is necessarily the first and chief or the most fundamental Law of all Religion for that whosoever doth believe the being of God according to the most common notion that Name bears must needs discern himself obliged first and chiefly to perform those acts of mind and will toward him which most true and earnest love do imply different expressions of love may be prescribed peculiar grounds of love may be declared in several ways of Religion but in the general and main substance of the duty all will conspire all will acknowledge readily that it is love we chiefly owe to God the duty which he may most justly require of us and which will be most acceptable to him It was then indeed the great commandment of the old or rather of the young and less perfect Religion of the Jews and it is no less of the more adult and improved Religion which the Son of God did institute and teach the difference onely is that Christianity declares more fully how we should exercise it and more highly engages us to observe it requires more proper and more substantial expressions thereof extends our obligation as to the matter and intends it as to the degree thereof for as it represents Almighty God in his nature and in his doings more lovely than any other way of Religion either natural or instituted hath done or could doe so it proportionably raises our obligation to love him it is as S. Paul speaketh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the last drift or the supreme pitch of the Evangelical profession and institution to Love to love God first and then our neighbour out of a pure heart and good conscience and faith unfeigned it is the bond or knot of that perfection which the Gospel injoins us to aspire to 't is the first and principall of those goodly fruits which the Holy Spirit of Christ produceth in good Christians It is therefore plainly with us also the great Commandment and chief Duty chiefly great in its extent in its worth in its efficacy and influence most great it is in that it doth eminently at least or virtually contain all other Laws and Duties of Piety they being all as Branches making up its Body or growing out of it as their Root Saint Paul saith of the love toward our neighbour that it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a full performance of the laws concerning him and that all commandments 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are recapitulated or summ'd up in this one saying Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self and by like or greater reason are all the Duties of Piety comprised in the Love of God which is the chief of those two hinges upon which as our Saviour here subjoins the whole law and the prophets do hang. So great is this Duty in extent and it is no less in proper worth both as it immediately respects the most excellent and most necessary performances of Duty employing our highest faculties in their best operations and as it imparts vertue and value to all other acts of Duty for no Sacrifice is acceptable which is not kindled by this heavenly Fire no Offering sweet and pure which is not seasoned by this holy Salt no Action is truly good or commendable which is not conjoined with or doth not proceed from the Love of God that is not performed with a design to please God or at least with an opinion that we shall do so thereby If a man perform any good work not out of love to God but from any other principle or for any other design to please himself or others to get honour or gain thereby how can it be acceptable to God to whom it hath not any due regard And what action hath it for its principle or its ingredient becomes sanctified thereby in great measure pleasing and acceptable to God such is the worth and value thereof It is also the great Commandment for efficacy and influence being naturally productive of Obedience to all other Commandments especially of the most genuine and sincere Obedience no other principle being in force and activity comparable thereto fear may drive to a complyance with some and hope may draw to an observance of others but it is Love that with a kind of willing constraint and kindly violence carries on cheerfully vigorously and swiftly to the performance of all God's Commandments If any man loves me saith our Saviour he will keep my word to keep
of all our good by just correspondence all our mind and heart all our strength and endeavour are due and reasonably might he engross them to himself excluding all other beings from any share in them so that we might be obliged onely to fix our thoughts and set our affections on him onely to act directly for his honour and interest saying with the Holy Psalmist Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none in earth that I desire beside thee Yet doth he freely please to impart a share of these performances on mankind yet doth he charge us to place our affection on one another to place it there indeed in a measure so large that we can hardly imagine a greater according to a rule than which none can be devised more compleat or certain O marvellous condescension O goodness truly divine which surpasseth the nature of things which dispenseth with the highest right and forgoeth the greatest interest that can be Doth not God in a sort debase himself that he might advance us doth he not appear to wave his own due and neglect his own honour for our advantage how otherwise could the love of man be capable of any resemblance to the love of God and not stand at an infinite distance or in an extream disparity from it how otherwise could we be obliged to affect or regard any thing beside the Sovereign the onely goodness how otherwise could there be any second or like to that first that great that peerless command Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart This indeed is the highest commendation whereof any Law is capable for as to be like God is the highest praise that can be given to a person so to resemble the divinest Law of love to God is the fairest character that can be assigned of a Law the which indeed representeth it to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Saint James calleth it that is a Royal and Sovereign Law exalted above all others and bearing a sway on them Saint Paul telleth us that the end of the commandment or the main scope of the Evangelical doctrine is charity out of a pure heart and a good conscience and faith unfeigned that charity is the summe and substance of all other duties and that he that loveth another hath fulfilled the whole law that Charity is the chief of the Theological vertues and the prime fruit of the divine Spirit and the bond of perfection which combineth and consummateth all other graces and the general principle of all our doings Saint Peter enjoineth us that to all other vertues we add charity as the top and crown of them and Above all things saith he have fervent charity among your selves Saint John calleth this Law in way of excellence the commandment of God and our Lord himself claimeth it as his peculiar Precept This saith he is my commandment that ye love one another as I have loved you A new commandment I give unto you that ye love one another and maketh the observance of it the special cognizance of his followers By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples if ye love one another These indeed are lofty commendations thereof yet all of them may worthily veil to this all of them seem verified in virtue of this because God hath vouchsafed to place this command in so near adjacency to the first great Law conjoining the two Tables making Charity contiguous and as it were commensurate to Piety It is true that in many respects Charity doth resemble Piety for it is the most genuine daughter of Piety thence in complexion in features in humour much favouring its sweet mother It doth consist in like dispositions and motions of soul It doth grow from the same roots and principles of benignity ingenuity equity gratitude planted in our original constitution by the breath of God and improved in our hearts by the divine Spirit of love It produceth the like fruits of beneficence toward others and of comfort in our selves It in like manner doth assimilate us to God rendring us conformable to his nature followers of his practice and partakers of his felicity It is of like use and consequence toward the regulation of our practice and due management of our whole life In such respects I say this Law is like to the other but it is however chiefly so for that God hath pleased to lay so great stress thereon as to make it the other half of our Religion and duty or because as Saint John saith This commandment have we from him that he who loveth God love his brother also which is to his praise a most pregnant demonstration of his immense goodness toward us But no less in the very substance of this Duty will the benignity of him that prescribeth it shine forth displaying it self in the rare beauty and sweetness of it together with the vast benefit and utility which it being observed will yield to mankind which will appear by what we may discourse for pressing its observance but first let us explain it as it lyeth before us expressed in the words of the Text wherein we shall consider two Particulars observable First The Object of the Duty Secondly The Qualification annexed to it The Object of it Our Neighbour The Qualification As our selves I. The Object of Charity is our Neighbour that is it being understood as the Precept now concerneth us according to our Lord's exposition or according to his intent and the tenour of his Doctrine every man with whom we have to doe or who is capable of our love especially every Christian. The Law as it was given to God's ancient people did openly regard onely those among them who were linked together in a holy neighbourhood or Society from which all other men being excluded were deemed strangers and foreiners aliens as Saint Paul speaketh from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise for thus the Law runneth in Leviticus Thou shalt not bear any grudge against the children of thy people but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self where plainly Jews and Neighbours are terms equivalent other men being supposed to stand at distance without the fold or politick enclosure which God by several Ordinances had fenced to keep that Nation unmixt and separate nor can it be excepted against this notion that in the same Chapter it is enjoined But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you and thou shalt love him as thy self for by that stranger as the Jewish Masters well interpret it is meant a Proselyte of righteousness or one who although a stranger by birth was yet a brother in Religion having voluntarily submitted to their Law being engaged in the same Covenant and thence admitted to the same Privileges as an adopted Child of that Holy
our neighbours concerns to our accompt That this is practicable experience may confirm for we may observe that men commonly do thus appropriate the concerns of others resenting the disasters of a friend or of a relation with as sensible displeasure as they could their own and answerably finding as high a satisfaction in their good fortune Yea many persons do feel more pain by compassion for others than they could do in sustaining the same evils divers can with a stout heart undergo their own afflictions who are melted with those of a friend or brother Seeing then in true judgment humanity doth match any other relation and Christianity far doth exceed all other alliances why may we not on them ground the like affections and practices if reason hath any force or consideration can any wise sway in our practice 4. It will greatly conduce to the perfect observance of this Rule to the depression of self-love and advancement of charity to the highest pitch if we do studiously contemplate our selves strictly examining our conscience and seriously reflecting on our unworthiness and vileness the infirmities and defects of nature the corruptions and defilements of our soul the sins and miscarriages of our lives which doing we shall certainly be far from admiring or doting on our selves but rather as Job did we shall condemn and abhor our selves when we see our selves so deformed and ugly how can we be amiable in our own eyes how can we more esteem or affect our selves than others of whose unworthiness we can hardly be so conscious or sure what place can there be for that vanity and folly for that pride and arrogance for that partiality and injustice which are the sources of immoderate self-love 5. And lastly we may from many conspicuous Experiments and Examples be assur'd that such a practice of this Duty is not impossible but these I have already produced and urged in the precedent Discourse and shall not repeat them again The Fifth Sermon EPHESIANS 5. 2. And walk in love SAint Paul telleth us that the end of the commandment or the main scope of the Evangelical Doctrine is charity out of a pure heart and a good conscience and faith unfeigned that charity is a general principle of all good practice let all your things be done in charity that it is the sum and abridgment of all other duties so that he that loveth another hath fulfilled the whole law that it is the chief of the Theological vertues the prime fruit of the divine Spirit and the band of perfection which combineth and consummateth all other graces Saint Peter enjoineth us that to all other vertues we should add charity as the top and crown of them and Above all things saith he have fervent charity among your selves Saint James styleth the Law of Charity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the royal or Sovereign Law Saint John calleth it in way of excellence the commandment of God This is his commandement that we should love one another Our Lord claimeth it for his peculiar Law This is my commandment and a new commandment I give unto you that ye love one another And he maketh the observance of it the special badge and cognizance of his followers By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples if ye love one another It being therefore a duty of so grand importance it is most requisite that we should well understand it and faithfully observe it to which purposes I shall by God's assistance endeavour to confer somewhat first by explaining its Nature then by pressing the observance of it by several Inducements The nature of it will as I conceive be best understood by representing the several chief Acts which it comprizeth or implyeth as necessary prerequisites or essential ingredients or inseparable adherents to it some internally resident in the soul others discharged in external performance together with some special properties of it And such are those which follow I. Loving our neighbour doth imply that we should value and esteem him this is necessary for affection doth follow opinion so that we cannot like any thing which we do not esteem or wherein we do not apprehend some considerable good attractive of affection that is not amiable which is wholly contemptible or so far as it is such But in right judgment no man is such for the Wise man telleth us that He that despiseth his neighbour sinneth and He is void of understanding that despiseth his neighbour but no man is guilty of sin or folly for despising that which is wholly despicable It is indeed true that every man is subject to defects and to mischances apt to breed contempt especially in the minds of vulgar and weak people but no man is really despicable For Every man living hath stamped on him the venerable Image of his glorious Maker which nothing incident to him can utterly deface Every man is of a divine extraction and allied to heaven by nature and by grace as the Son of God and the Brother of God Incarnate If I did despise the cause of my man-servant or of my maid-servant when they contended with me what then shall I do when God riseth up and when he visiteth what shall I answer him Did not he that made me in the womb make him and did not one fashion us in the womb Every man is endewed with that celestial faculty of reason inspired by the Almighty for There is a spirit in man and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding and hath an immortal spirit residing in him or rather is himself an Angelical spirit dwelling in a visible tabernacle Every man was originally designed and framed for a fruition of eternal happiness Every man hath an interest in the common redemption purchased by the bloud of the Son of God who tasted death for every one Every man is capable of Sovereign bliss and hath a crown of endless glory offered to him In fine every man and all men alike antecedently to their own will and choice are the objects of his love of his care of his mercy who is loving unto every man and whose mercy is over all his works who hath made the small and the great and careth for all alike who is rich in bounty and mercy toward all that call upon him How then can any man be deemed contemptible having so noble relations capacities and privileges How a man standeth in esteem with God Elihu telleth us God saith he is mighty and despiseth not any although he be so mighty so excellent in perfection so infinitely in state exalted above all yet doth not he slight any and how can we contemn those whom the certain voucher and infallible judge of worth deigneth to value Indeed God so valued every man as to take great care to be at great cost and trouble to stoop down from heaven to assume mortal flesh
proper expression as the surest argument of our love to God shewing mercy to thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments they are joined together as terms equivalent or as inseparable companions in effect He that hath my commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me Ye are my friends that is not onely objects of my affection but actively friends bearing affection unto me if you doe whatsoever I command you saith our Saviour And whoso keepeth his word in him is the love of God truly perfected he hath the truth and sincerity he hath the integrity and consummation of love without it love is wholly false and counterfeit or very lame and imperfect so the loving and beloved Disciple teaches us For by doing thus as we signifie our esteem of God's wisedom which directeth us our dread of his power and justice that can punish us our hope in his goodness and fidelity to reward us our regard to his majesty and authority over us so especially thereby if our obedience at least be free and cheerfull we express our good will toward him shewing thereby that we are disposed to do him all the good and gratifie him all we can that his interests his honour his content are dear and precious to us And were indeed our hearts knit unto God with this bond of perfection we could not in our wills and consequently in our practice be so severed from him we should also love heartily all vertue and goodness the nearest resemblances of him and which he chiefly loves we should doe what David so oft professes himself to doe love his law and greatly delight in his commandments With our Saviour we should delight to perform his will it would as it was to him be our meat and our drink to doe it his yoke would be easie indeed and his burthen light unto us his yoke so easie that we should wear it rather as a jewel about our necks than as a yoke his burthen so light that we should not feel it as a burthen but esteem it our privilege We should not be so dull in apprehending or so slack in performing duty for this sharp-sighted affection would presently discern would readily suggest it to us by the least intimation it would perceive what pleaseth God and would snatch opportunity of doing it we should not need any arguments to persuade us nor any force to compell us love would inspire us with sufficient vigour and alacrity it would urge and stimulate us forward not onely to walk in but even as the Psalmist expresseth it to run the ways of God's commandments But let thus much serve for explication of the nature of this Duty in order as was before said to the direction of our Practice and examination thereof The particular Duties mentioned being comprehended in or appertaining to the love of God if we perceive that we practise them we may to our satisfaction and comfort infer that proportionably we are endewed with this Grace if not we have reason such as should beget remorse and pious sorrow in us to suspect we abide in a state of disaffection or of indifferency toward him If we find the former good disposition we should strive to cherish and improve it if the second bad one we should as we tender our own welfare and happiness as we would avoid utter ruine and misery endeavour to remove it II. To the effecting of which purposes I shall next propound some means conducible some in way of removing Obstacles others by immediately promoting the Duty Of the first kind are these ensuing 1. The destroying of all loves opposite to the love of God extinguishing all affection to things odious and offensive to God mortifying all corrupt and perverse all unrighteous and unholy desires It agrees with souls no less than with bodies that they cannot at once move or tend contrary ways upward and downward backward and forward at one time it is not possible we should together truly esteem earnestly desire bear sincere good will to things in nature and inclination quite repugnant each to other No man ever took him for his real friend who maintains correspondency secret or open who joins in acts of hostility with his professed enemies at least we cannot as we ought love God with our whole heart if with any part thereof we affect his enemies those which are mortally and irreconcileably so as are all iniquity and impurity all inordinate lusts both of flesh and spirit the carnal mind the minding or affecting of the flesh is Saint Paul tells us enmity toward God for 't is not subject to the law of God nor can be 't is an enemy even the worst of enemies an incorrigibly obstinate rebell against God and can we then retaining any love to God or peace with him comply and conspire therewith And The friendship of the world that is I suppose of those corrupt principles and those vitious customs which usually prevail in the world is also Saint James tells us enmity with God so that he adds if any man be a friend to the world he is thereby constituted he immediately ipso facto becomes an enemy to God Saint John affirms the same If any man love the world the love of the father is not in him explaining himself that by the world he means those things which are most generally embraced and practised therein the lust or desire of the flesh that is sensuality and intemperance the lust of the eyes that is envy covetousness vain curiosity and the like the ostentation or boasting of life that is pride ambition vain-glory arrogance qualities as irreconcileably opposite to the holy nature and will of God so altogether inconsistent with the love of him begetting in us an aversation and antipathy towards him rendring his holiness distastfull to our affections and his justice dreadfull to our consciences and himself consequently his will his law his presence hatefull to us while we take him to be our enemy and to hate us we shall certainly in like manner stand affected toward him this indeed is the main obstacle the removal of which will much facilitate the introduction of divine love it being a great step to reconciliation and friendship to be disengaged from the adverse party we should then easily discern the beauty of divine goodness and sanctity when the mists of ignorance of errour of corrupt prejudice arising from those gross carnal affections were dissipated we should better relish the sweet and savoury graces of God when the palate of our mind were purged from vitious tinctures we should be more ready to hope for peace and favour in his eyes when our consciences were freed from the sense of such provocations and defilements But 2. If we would obtain this excellent Grace we must restrain our affections toward all other things however in their nature innocent and indifferent The
direct our eyes and settle our affections upon somewhat more excellent in it self or more beneficial to us that seems better to deserve our regard and more able to supply our defects And if all other things about us appear alike deformed and deficient unworthy our affection and unable to satisfie our desires then may we be disposed to seek to find to fasten and repose our soul upon the onely proper object of our love in whom we shall obtain all that we need infallible wisedom to guide us omnipotent strength to help us infinite goodness for us to admire and enjoy These are the chief Obstacles the removing of which conduce to the begetting and increasing the love of God in us A soul so cleansed from love to bad and filthy things so emptied of affection to vain and unprofitable things so opened and dilated by excluding all conceit of all confidence in its self is a vessel proper for the divine love to be infused into into so large and pure a vacuity as finer substances are apt to flow of themselves into spaces void of grosser matter that free and movable Spirit of divine grace will be ready to succeed and therein to disperse it self As all other things in nature the cloggs being removed which hinder them do presently tend with all their force to the place of their rest and well being so would it seems our souls being loosed from baser affections obstructing them willingly incline toward God the natural centre as it were and bosome of their affection would resume as Origen speaks that natural philtre that intrinsick spring or incentive of love which all creatures have toward their creatour especially if to these we add those positive Instruments which are more immediately and directly subservient to the production of this love they are these 1. Attentive consideration of the divine Perfections with endeavour to obtain a right and clear apprehension of them 2. The consideration of God's Works and Actions his works and actions of nature of providence of grace 3. Serious regard and reflection upon the peculiar Benefits by the divine Goodness vouchsafed to our selves 4. An earnest resolution and endeavour to perform God's Commandments although upon inferiour considerations of reason upon hope fear desire to attain the benefits of Obedience to shun the mischiefs from Sin 5. Assiduous Prayer to Almighty God that he in mercy would please to bestow his love upon us and by his Grace to work it in us But I must forbear the prosecution of these things rather than farther trespass upon your patience Let us conclude all with a good Collect sometimes used by our Church O Lord who hast taught us that all our doings without charity are nothing worth send thy Holy Ghost and pour into our hearts that most excellent gift of charity the very bond of peace and of all vertues without which whosoever liveth is counted dead before thee Grant this for thine onely Son Jesus Christ his sake Amen The Second Sermon MATT. 22. 37. Jesus said unto him Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart WHich is the great Commandment was the question in answer whereto our Saviour returns this Text and that with highest reason discernible by every man for that of necessity the love of God is the principal duty we owe unto him the great duty indeed as being largest in extent and comprehending in a manner all other duties of piety as that which exceeds in proper worth and dignity employing the noblest faculties of our souls in their best operations upon the most excellent object as that which communicates vertue unto and hath a special influence upon all other duties in fine as that which is the sum the soul the spring of all other duties in discoursing whereupon I did formerly propound this method first to declare the nature thereof then to shew some means apt to beget and improve that excellent vertue in us lastly to propose some inducements to the practice thereof The first part I endeavoured to perform by describing it according to its essential properties common to love in general and more particularly to this of duly esteeming God of desiring according as we are capable to possess and enjoy him of receiving delight and satisfaction in the enjoyment of him of feeling displeasure in being deprived hereof of bearing good will unto him expressed by endeavours to please him by delighting in the advancement of his glory by grieving when he is disserved or dishonoured The next part I also entred upon and offered to consideration those means which serve chiefly to remove the impediments of our love to God which were 1. The suppressing all affections opposite to this all perverse and corrupt all unrighteous and unholy desires 2. The restraining or keeping within bounds of moderation our affections toward other things even in their nature innocent or indifferent 3. The freeing our hearts from immoderate affection toward our selves from all conceit of and confidence in any qualities or abilities of our own the diligent use of which means I did suppose would conduce much to the production and increase of divine love within us To them I shall now proceed to subjoin other Instruments more immediately and directly subservient to the same purpose whereof the first is 1. Attentive consideration upon the divine Perfections with endeavour to obtain a right and clear apprehension of them as counterfeit worth and beauty receive advantage by distance and darkness so real excellency si propius stes Te capiet magis the greater light you view it in the nearer you approach it the more strictly you examine it the more you will approve and like it so the more we think of God the better we know him the fuller and clearer conceptions we have of him the more we shall be apt to esteem and desire him the more excellent in himself the more beneficial to us he will appear Hence is the knowledge of God represented in holy Writ not onely as a main instrument of Religion but as an essential character thereof as equivalent to the being well affected toward God O continue saith the Psalmist thy loving kindness unto them that know thee that is to all religious people And This saith our Saviour is life eternal to know thee the onely true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent knowledge of them implying all good affections toward them as on the other side ignorance of God denotes disaffection or want of affection toward God Now the sons of Eli 't is said were sons of Belial they knew not the Lord And He that loveth not saith Saint John doth not know God the want of love to God is an evident sign a natural effect of ignorance concerning him indeed considering the nature of our mind and its ordinary method of operation it seems impossible that such perfection discerned should not beget answerable reverence and
a true friend to us if we be not wilfull enemies to him and desirous of our welfare if we do not perversly render our selves incapable thereof so withall jealous of his own honour resolute to maintain and vindicate his just authority carefull to uphold the interests of right and truth and to shew the distinction he makes between good and evil if we have I say such conceptions of God agreeable to what his word and his doings represent him to us how can we otherwise than bear a most high respect a most great affection unto him A Prince surely endewed with such qualities wise and powerfull good and just together tendering the good of his people yet preserving the force of his Laws designing always what is best and constantly pursuing his good intentions tempering bounty and clemency with needfull justice and severity we should all commend and extol as worthy of most affectionate veneration how much more then shall we be so affected toward him in whom we apprehend all those excellencies to concur without any imperfection or allay especially if by attention we impress those conceptions upon our hearts for how true and proper soever if they be onely slight and transient they may not suffice to this intent if they pass away as a slash they will not be able to kindle in us any strong affection But if such abstracted consideration of the divine perfections will not alone wholly avail let us add hereto as a farther help toward the production and encrease of this divine grace in us 2. The consideration of God's Works and Actions his works of nature his acts of providence his works and acts of grace the carefull meditating upon these will be apt to breed to nourish to improve and augment this affection Even the contemplation of the lower works of nature of this visible frame of things upon which indeed many perspicuous characters of divine perfection of immense power of admirable wisedom of abundant goodness are engraven hath in many minds excited a very high degree of reverence and good affection toward God the devoutest persons the holy Psalmists particularly we may observe frequent in this practice enflaming their hearts with love and elevating them in reverence toward God by surveying the common works of God by viewing and considering the magnificent vastness and variety the goodly order and beauty the constant duration and stability of those things we see in remarking the general bounty and munificence with which this great pater-familias hath provided for the necessary sustenance for the convenience for the defence for the relief for the delight and satisfaction of his creatures even in the contemplation of these things being ravished with admiration and affection how often do they thus exclaim O Lord how manifold are thy works in wisedom hast thou made them all The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord the earth O Lord is full of thy mercy Great is our Lord and of great power his understanding is infinite All thy works shall praise thee O Lord With such reflections I say upon those common yet admirable and excellent works of God which we perhaps with a regardless eye unprofitably pass over did those good men kindle and foment pious affections toward God The same effect may also the considering the very common proceedings of divine providence beget in us such as are discernible to every attentive mind both from history and daily experience considering God's admirable condescension in regarding and ordering humane affairs both for common benefit and for relief of particular necessities his supplying the general needs of men relieving the poor succouring the weak and helpless protecting and vindicating the oppressed his seasonable encouraging and rewarding the good restraining and chastising the bad Even such observations are productive of love to God in those who according to that duty intimated by the Prophet do regard thâ— works of the Lord and consider the operations of his hands They who are wise and will observe these things they aâ— the Psalmist tells shall understand thâ— loving kindness of the Lord understand it practically so as to be duly affected thereby and so accordingly we find the consideration of these things applied by the great guides and patterns of our devotion But especially the study and contemplation of those more high and rare proceedings of God in managing his gracious design of our Redemption from sin and misery wherein a wisedom so unsearchable and a goodness so astonishing declare themselves are most proper and effectual means of begetting divine love if the consideration of God's eternal care for our welfare of his descending to the lowest condition for our sake of his willingly undertaking and patiently undergoing all kinds of inconvenience of disgrace of bitter pain and sorrow for us of his freely offering us mercy and earnestly wooing us to receive it even when offenders when enemies when rebels against him of his bearing with exceeding patience all our neglects of him all our injuries towards him of his preparing a treasure of perfect and endless bliss and using all means possible to bring us unto the possession thereof if I say considering those wonderfull streins of goodness will not affect us what can do it How miserably cold and damp must our affections be if all those powerfull rays so full of heavenly light and heat shining through our minds cannot enflame them how desperately hard and tough must our hearts be if such incentives cannot soften and melt them is it not an apathy more than Stoical more than stony which can stand immovable before so mighty inducements to passion is it not a horridly prodigious insensibility to think upon such expressions of kindness without feeling affection reciprocal But if the consideration of God's general and publick beneficence will not touch us sufficiently let us farther hereto adjoin 3. Serious reflections upon the peculiar personal or private benefits by the divine goodness vouchsafed unto our selves There is I suppose scarce any man who may not if he be not very stupid and regardless have observed beside the common effects of God's universal care and bounty wherein he partakes even some particular expressions and testimonies of divine favour dispensed unto him by God's hand apt to convince him of God's especial providence care and good-will to him particularly and thereby to draw him unto God both in relation to his temporal and to his spiritual state in preventing and preserving him from mischiefs imminent in opportune relief when he was pressed with want or surprised by danger in directing him to good and diverting him from evil Every mans experience I say and suppose will inform him that he hath received many such benefits from a hand invisible indeed to sense yet easily discernible if he do attend to the circumstances wherein to the seasons when they come it is natural to every man being in distress from which he cannot by any present or visible
nature and to whose will it renders us conformable for as doing ill breeds a dislike to goodness and an aversion from him who himself is full thereof and who rigorously exacts it of us as bad conscience removes expectation of good from God and begets a suspicion of evil from him consequently stifling all kindness toward him so doing well we shall become acquainted with it and friends thereto a hearty approbation esteem and good liking thereof will ensue finding by experience that indeed the ways of wisedom vertue and piety are pleasantness and all her paths are peace that the fruits of conscientious practice are health to our body and to our soul security to our estate and to our reputation rest in our mind and comfort in our conscience goodness will become pretious in our eyes and he who commends it to us being himself essential goodness will appear most venerable and most amiable we shall then become disposed to render him what we perceive he best deserves entire reverence and affection 5. But I commend farther as a most necessary mean of attaining this disposition assiduous earnest prayer unto God that he would in mercy bestow it on us and by his grace work it in us which practice is indeed doubly conducible to this purpose both in way of impetration and by real efficacy it will not fail to obtain it as a gift from God it will help to produce it as an instrument of God's grace Upon the first accompt it is absolutely necessary for it is from God's free representation of himself as lovely to our minds and drawing our hearts unto him although ordinarily in the use of the means already mentioned or some like to them that this affection is kindled our bare consideration is too cold our rational discourse too faint we cannot sufficiently recollect our wandring thoughts we cannot strongly enough impress those proper incentives of love upon our hearts our hearts so dampt with sensual desires so clogg'd and pester'd with earthly inclinations so as to kindle in our souls this holy flame it can onely be effected by a light shining from God by a fire coming from heaven As all others so more especially this Queen of graces must proceed from the father of lights and giver of all good gifts he alone who is love can be the parent of so goodly an off-spring can beget this lively image of himself within us it is the principal fruit of God's Holy Spirit nor can it grow from any other root than from it it is called the love of the Spirit as its most signal and peculiar effect in fine the love of God as Saint Paul expresly teaches us is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit given unto us given but that not without asking without seeking a grace so excellent God we may be assured will not dispense a gift so pretious he will not bestow on them who do not care to look after it who will not vouchsafe to beg it if we are not willing to acknowledge our want thereof if we refuse to express our desire of it if we will not shew that we regard and value it if when God freely offers it and invites us to receive it he doth so by offering his holy Spirit the fountain thereof unto us we will not decently apply our selves to him for it how can we expect to obtain it God hath propounded this condition and 't is surely no hard no grievous condition if we ask we shall receive he hath expresly promised that He will give his Spirit his Spirit of love to them who ask it we may be therefore sure performing the condition duly to obtain it and as sure neglecting that we deserve to go without it Prayer then is upon this accompt a needfull means and it is a very profitable one upon the score of its own immediate energy or vertue for as by familiar converse together with the delights and advantages attending thereon other friendships are begot and nourished so even by that acquaintance as it were with God which devotion begets by experience therein how sweet and good he is this affection is produced and strengthened As want of entercourse weakens and dissolves friendship so if we seldom come at God or little converse with him it is not onely a sign but will be a cause of estrangement and disaffection toward him according to the nature of the thing prayer hath peculiar advantages above other acts of piety to this effect therein not onely as in contemplation the eye of our mind our intellectual part is directed toward God but our affections also the hand of our soul by which we embrace good the feet thereof by which we pursue it are drawn out and fixed upon him we noâ— onely therein behold his excellencies but in a manner feel them and enjoy them our hearts also being thereby softned and warmed by desire become more susceptive of love We do in the performance of this duty approach nearer to God and consequently God draws nearer to us as Saint James assures Draw near saith he unto God and he will draw near to you and thereby we partake more fully and strongly of his gracious influences therein indeed he most freely communicates his grace therein he makes us most sensible of his love to us and thereby disposeth us to love him again I add that true fervent and hearty prayer doth include and suppose some acts of love or some near tendencies thereto whence as every habit is corroborated by acts of its kind so by this practice divine love will be confirmed and increased These are the means which my meditation did suggest as conducing to the production and growth of this most excellent grace in our souls III. I should lastly propound some Inducements apt to stir us up to the endeavour of procuring it and to the exercise thereof by representing to your consideration the blessed fruits and benefits both by way of natural causality and of reward accruing from it as also the wofull consequences and mischiefs springing from the want thereof How being endewed with it perfects and advances our nature rendring it in a manner and degree divine by resemblance to God who is full thereof so full that he is called Love by approximation adherence and union in a sort unto him how it ennobles us with the most glorious alliance possible rendring us the friends and favourites of the Sovereign King and Lord of all brethren of the first-born whose names are written in heaven enriches us with a right and title to the most inestimable treasures those which eye hath not seen nor ear heard nor have entred into the heart of man to conceive which God hath prepared for them that love him a sure possession of the supreme good of all that God is able to bestow all whose wisedom and power whose counsel and care it eternally engageth for our benefit how all security and welfare all
rest and peace all joy and happiness attend upon it for that The Lord preserveth all them that love him preserveth them in the enjoyment of all good in safety from all danger and mischief and that to those who love God all things co-operate for their good how incomparable a sweetness and delight accompany the practice thereof far surpassing all other pleasures perfectly able to content our minds to sustain and comfort us even in the want of all other satisfactions yea under the pressure of whatever most grievous afflictions can befall us How contrariwise the want thereof will depress us into a state of greatest imperfection and baseness setting us at the greatest distance from God in all respects both in similitude of nature and as to all favourable regard or beneficial communication from him casting us into a wretched and disgracefull consortship with the most degenerate creatures the accursed fiends who for disaffection and enmity toward God are banished from all happiness how it extreamly impoverisheth and beggereth us devesting us of all right to any good thing rendring us incapable of any portion but that of utter darkness how it excludeth us from any safety any rest any true comfort or joy and exposeth us to all mischief and misery imaginable all that being deprived of the divine protection presence and favour being made objects of the divine anger hatred and severe justice being abandoned to the malice of hell being driven into utter darkness and eternal fire doth import or can produce I should also have commended this love to you by comparing it with other loves and shewing how far in its nature in its causes in its properties in its effects it excelleth them even so far as the object thereof in excellency doth transcend all other objects of our affection how this is grounded upon the highest and surest reason others upon accounts very low and mean commonly upon fond humour and mistake this produceth real certain immutable goods others at best terminate onely in goods apparent unstable and transitory this is most worthy of us employing all our faculties in their noblest manner of operation upon the best object others misbeseem us so that in pursuing them we disgrace our understanding misapply our desires distemper our affections mispend our endeavours I should have enlarged upon these considerations and should have adjoined some particular advantages of this grace as for instance that the procuring thereof is the most sure the most easie the most compendious way of attaining all others of sweetning and ingratiating all obedience to us of making the hardest yoke easie and the heaviest burthen light unto us In fine I should have wished you to consider that its practice is not onely a mean and way to happiness but our very formal happiness it self the real enjoyment of the best good we are capable of that in which alone heaven it self the felicity of Saints and Angels doth consist which more then comprehends in it self all the benefits of highest dignity richest plenty and sweetest pleasure But I shall forbear entring upon so ample and fruitfull subjects of meditation and conclude with that good Collect of our Church O Lord who hast prepared for them that love thee such good things as pass man's understanding pour into our hearts such love toward thee that we loving thee above all things may obtain thy promises which exceed all that we can desire through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen The Third Sermon MATT. 22. 39. And the Second is like unto it Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self THE essential goodness of God and his special benignity toward mankind are to a considering mind divers ways very apparent the frame of the world and the natural course of things do with a thousand voices loudly and clearly proclaim them to us every sense doth yield us affidavit to that speech of the Holy Psalmist The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord we see it in the glorious brightness of the skies and in the pleasant verdure of the fields we taste it in the various delicacies of food supplied by land and sea we smell it in the fragrancies of herbs and flowers we hear it in the natural musick of the woods we feel it in the comfortable warmth of heaven and in the cheering freshness of the air we continually do possess and enjoy it in the numberless accommodations of life presented to us by the bountifull hand of nature Of the same goodness we may be well assured by that common providence which continually doth uphold us in our being doth opportunely relieve our needs doth protect us in dangers and rescue us from imminent mischiefs doth comport with our infirmities and misdemeanours the which in the divine Psalmists style doth hold our soul in life and suffereth not our feet to be moved doth redeem our life from destruction doth crown us with loving-kindness and tender mercies The dispensations of grace in the revelation of heavenly truth in the overtures of mercy in the succours of our weakness in the proposal of glorious rewards in all the methods and means conducing to our salvation do afford most admirable proofs and pledges of the same immense benignity But in nothing is the divine goodness toward us more illustriously conspicuous than in the nature and tendency of those Laws which God hath been pleased for the regulation of our lives to prescribe unto us all which do palpably evidence his serious desire and provident care of our welfare so that in imposing them he plainly doth not so much exercise his Sovereignty over us as express his kindness toward us neither do they more clearly declare his will than demonstrate his good-will to us And among all divine Precepts this especially contained in my Text doth argue the wonderfull goodness of our heavenly Law-giver appearing both in the manner of the proposal and in the substance of it The Second saith our Lord is like to it that is to the Precept of loving the Lord our God with all our heart and is not this a mighty argument of immense goodness in God that he doth in such a manner commend this duty to us coupling it with our main duty toward him and requiring us with like earnestness to love our neighbour as to love himself He is transcendently amiable for the excellency of his nature he by innumerable and inestimable benefits graciously conferred on us hath deserved our utmost affection so that naturally there can be no obligation bearing any proportion or considerable semblance to that of loving him yet hath he in goodness been pleased to create one and to endew it with that privilege making the love of a man whom we cannot value but for his gifts to whom we can owe nothing but what properly we owe to him no less obligatory to declare it near as acceptable as the love of himself to whom we owe all To him as the sole authour and free donour
the highest we can that is the same as we bear to our selves for how can we love God enough or with all our soul if we do not accord with him in loving his friends and relations his servants his children with most entire affection If in God's judgment they are equal to us if in his affection and care they have an equal share if he in all his dealings is indifferent and impartial toward all how can our judgment our affection our behaviour be right if they do not conspire with him in the same measures 7. Indeed the whole tenour and Genius of our Religion do imply obligation to this pitch of charity upon various accompts It representeth all worldly goods and matters of private interest as very inconsiderable and unworthy of our affection thereby substracting the fuel of immoderate self-love It enjoineth us for all our particular concerns entirely to rely upon providence so barring solicitude for our selves and disposing an equal care for others It declareth every man so weak so vile so wretched so guilty of sin and subject to misery so for all good wholly indebted to the pure grace and mercy of God that no man can have reason to dote on himself or to prefer himself before others we need not cark or prog or scrape for our selves being assured that God sufficiently careth for us In its accompt the fruits and recompences of love to others in advantage to our selves do far surpass all present interests and enjoyments whence in effect the more or less we love others answerably the more or less we love our selves so that charity and self-love become coincident and both run together evenly in one channel It recommendeth to us the imitation of God's love and bounty which are absolutely pure without any regard any capacity of benefit redounding to himself It commandeth us heartily to love even our bitterest enemies and most cruel persecutours which cannot be performed without a proportionable abatement of self-love It chargeth us not onely freely to impart our substance but willingly to expose our lives for the good of our brethren in which case charity doth plainly match self-love for what hath a man more dear or precious than his life to lay out for himself It representeth all men considering their divine extraction and being formed after God's Image their designation for eternal glory and happiness their partaking of the common redemption by the undertakings and sufferings of Christ their being objects of God's tender affection and care so very considerable that no regard beneath the highest will befit them It also declareth us so nearly allied to them and so greatly concerned in their good we being all one in Christ and members one of another that we ought to have a perfect complacency in their welfare and a sympathy in their adversity as our own It condemneth self-love self-pleasing self-seeking as great faults which yet even in the highest excess do not seem absolutely bad or otherwise culpable than as including partiality or detracting from that equal measure of charity which we owe to others for surely we cannot love our selves too much if we love others equally with our selves we cannot seek our own good excessively if with the same earnestness we seek the good of others It exhibiteth supernatural aids of grace and conferreth that Holy Spirit of love which can serve to no meaner purposes than to quell that sorry principle of niggardly selfishness to which corrupt nature doth incline and to enlarge our hearts to this divine extent of goodness 8. Lastly many conspicuous examples proposed for our direction in this kind of practice do imply this degree of charity to be required of us It may be objected to our discourse that the duty thus understood is unpracticable nature violently swaying to those degrees of self-love which charity can no wise reach This exception would time permit I should assoil by shewing how far and by what means we may attain to such a practice how at least by aiming at this top of perfection we may ascend nearer and nearer thereto in the mean time experience doth sufficiently evince possibility and assuredly that may be done which we see done before us And so it is pure charity hath been the root of such affections and such performances recorded by indubitable testimony toward others which hardly any man can exceed in regard to himself nor indeed hath there scarce ever appeared any heroical vertue or memorable piety whereof charity overbearing selfishness and sacrificing private interest to publick benefit hath not been a main ingredient For instance then Did not Abraham even prefer the good of others before his own when he gladly did quit his countrey patrimony friends and kindred to pass his days in a wandring pilgrimage upon no other encouragement than an overture of blessing on his posterity Did not the charity of Moses stretch thus far when for the sake of his brethren he voluntarily did exchange the splendours and delights of a Court for a condition of vagrancy and servility chusing rather as the Apostle speaketh to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin did not it overstretch when although having been grievously affronted by them he wished that rather his name should be expunged from God's book than that their sin should abide unpardoned Did not Samuel exercise such a charity when being ingratefully and injuriously dismounted from his authority he did yet retain toward that people a zealous desire of their welfare not ceasing earnestly to pray for them Did not Jonathan love David equally with himself when for his sake he chose to incur the displeasure of his father and his King when for his advantage he was content to forfeit the privilege of his birth and the inheritance of a Crown when he could without envy or grudge look on the growing prosperity of his supplanter could heartily wish his safety could effectually protect it could purchase it to him with his own great danger and trouble when he that in gallantry of courage and vertue did yield to none was yet willing to become inferiour to one born his subject one raised from the dust one taken from a sheep-coat so that unrepiningly and without disclain he could say Thou shalt be King over Israel and I shall be next unto thee are not these pregnant evidences that it was truly said in the story The soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David and he loved him as his own soul Did not the Psalmist competently practise this duty when in the sickness of his ingratefull adversaries he cloathed himself with sackcloath he humbled his soul with fasting he bowed down heavily as one that mourneth for his mother Were not Elias Jeremy and other Prophets as much concerned for the good of their country-men as for their own when they took such pains when they run such
hazards when they endured such hardships not onely for them but from them being requited with hatred and misusage for endeavouring to reclaim them from sin and stop them from ruine May not the Holy Apostles seem to have loved mankind beyond themselves when for its instruction and reformation for reconciling it to God and procuring its salvation they gladly did undertake and undergo so many rough difficulties so many formidable dangers such irksome pains and troubles such extream wants and losses such grievous ignominies and disgraces slighting all concerns of their own and reliquishing whatever was most dear to them their safety their liberty their ease their estate their reputation their pleasure their very bloud and breath for the welfare of others even of those who did spitefully maligne and cruelly abuse them Survey but the Life of one among them mark the wearisome travels he underwent over all the earth the solicitous cares which did possess his mind for all the Churches the continual toils and drudgeries sustained by him in preaching by word and writing in visiting in admonishing in all pastoral employments the imprisonments the stripes the reproaches the oppositions and persecutions of every kind and from all sorts of people which he suffered the pinching wants the desperate hazards the lamentable distresses with the which he did ever conflict peruse those black catalogues of his afflictions registred by himself then tell me how much his charity was inferiour to his self-love did not at least the one vie with the other when he for the benefit of his disciples was content to be absent from the Lord or suspended from a certain fruition of glorious beatitude resting in this uncomfortable state in this fleshly tabernacle wherein he groaned being burthened and longing for enlargement did he not somewhat beyond himself love those men for whose salvation he wished himself accursed from Christ or debarred from the assured enjoyment of eternal felicity those very men by whom he had been stoned had been scourged had been often beaten to extremity from whom he had received manifold indignities and outrages Did not they love their neighbours as themselves who sold their possessions and distributed the prices of them for relief of their indigent brethren did not most of the ancient Saints and Fathers mount near the top of this duty of whom it is by unquestionable records testified that they did freely bestow all their private estate and substance on the poor devoting themselves to the service of God and edification of his people Finally Did not our Lord himself in our nature exemplifie this Duty yea by his Practice far out-doe his Precept for He who from the brightest glories from the immense riches from the ineffable joys and felicities of his celestial Kingdom did willingly stoop down to assume the garb of a servant to be cloathed with the infirmities of flesh to become a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief He who for our sake vouchsafed to live in extream penury and disgrace to feel hard want sore travel bitter persecution most grievous shame and anguish He who not onely did contentedly bear but purposely did chuse to be accused to be slandered to be reviled to be mocked to be tortured to pour forth his heart-bloud upon a cross for the sake of an unprofitable an unworthy an impious an ingratefull generation for the salvation of his open enemies of base apostates of perverse rebels of villainous traitours He who in the height of his mortal agonies did sue for the pardon of his cruel murtherers who did send his Apostles to them did cause so many wonders to be done before them did furnish all means requisite to convert and save them He that acted and suffered all this and more than can be expressed with perfect frankness and good will did he not signally love his neighbour as himself to the utmost measure did not in him vertue conquer nature and charity triumph over self-love This he did to seal and impress his Doctrine to shew us what we should doe and what we can doe by his grace to oblige us and to encourage us unto a conformity with him in this respect for Walk in love saith the Apostle as Christ hath also loved us and hath given himself for us And This saith he himself is my commandment that ye love one another as I have loved you And how can I better conclude than in the recommendation of such an Example Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God even our father who hath loved us and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace comfort your hearts and stablish you in every good word and work The Fourth Sermon MATT. 22. 39. Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self I Have formerly discoursed on these words and then shewed how they do import two observable Particulars first a Rule of our Charity or that it should be like in nature then a Measure of it or that it should be equal in degree to the love which we do bear to our selves Of this latter interpretation I did assign divers reasons urging the observance of the Precept according to that notion but one material Point scantness of time would not allow me to consider which is the removal of an Exception to which that interpretation is very liable and which is apt to discourage from a serious application to the practice of this duty so expounded If it may be said the Precept be thus understood as to oblige us to love our neighbours equally with our selves it will prove unpracticable such a charity being meerly romantick and imaginary for who doth who can love his neighbour in this degree nature powerfully doth resist common sense plainly doth forbid that we should doe so A natural instinct doth prompt us to love our selves and we are forcibly driven there to by an unavoidable sense of pleasure and pain resulting from the constitution of our body and soul so that our own least good or evil are very sensible to us whereas we have no such potent inclination to love others we have no sense or a very faint one of what another doth enjoy or endure doth not therefore nature plainly suggest that our neighbours good cannot be so considerable to us as our own especially when charity doth clash with self-love or when there is a competition between our neighbours interest and our own is it possible that we should not be partial to our own side is not therefore this Precept such as if we should be commanded to fly or to doe that which natural propension will certainly hinder In answer to this Exception I say first 1. Be it so that we can never attain to love our neighbour altogether so much as our selves yet may it be reasonable that we should be enjoined to doe so for Laws must not be depressed to our imperfection nor rules bent to our obliquity but
to endure pinching wants and sore distresses to taste death for every one We may ask with Saint Paul Why dost thou set at nought thy brother Is it for the lowness of his condition or for any misfortune that hath befallen him but are not the best men are not all men art not thou thy self obnoxious to the like hath not God declared that he hath a special regard to such and are not such things commonly disposed by his hand with a gracious intent Is it for meanness of parts or abilities or endowments but are not these the gifts of God absolutely at his disposal and arbitrarily distributed or preserved so that thou who art so wise in thy own conceit to day mayest by a disease or from a judgment deserved by thy pride become an Idiot to morrow have not many good and therefore many happy men wanted those things Is it for moral imperfections or blemishes for vicious habits or actual misdemeanours these indeed are the onely debasements and disparagements of a man yet do they not expunge the characters of Divinity impressed on his nature and he may be God's mercy recover from them And are not we our selves if grace do not uphold us liable to the same yea may we not if without partiality or flattery we examin our selves discern the same within us or other defects equivalent And however is not pity rather due to them than contempt whose character was it that they trusted they were righteous and despised others That the most palpable offender should not be quite despised God had a special care in his Law for that end moderating punishment and restraining the number of stripes If saith the Law the wicked man be worthy to be beaten the Judge shall cause him to lye down and to be beaten before his face according to his fault by a certain number forty stripes he may give him and not exceed lest if he should exceed and beat him above these with many stripes then thy brother should seem vile unto thee We may consider that the common things both good and bad wherein men agree are far more considerable than the peculiar things wherein they differ to be a Man is much beyond being a Lord or a Wit or a Philosopher to be a Christian doth infinitely surpass being an Emperour or a learned Clerk to be a Sinner is much worse than to be Begger or an Idiot The agreement of men is in the substance and body of things the difference is in a circumstance a fringe or a shadow about them so that we cannot despise another man without reflecting contempt on our selves who are so very like him and not considerably better than he or hardly can without arrogance pretend to be so We may therefore and reason doth require that we should value our neighbour and it is no impossible or unreasonable Precept which Saint Peter giveth us to Honour all men and with it a charitable mind will easily comply it ever will descry something valuable something honourable something amiable in our neighbour it will find somewhat of dignity in the meanest somewhat of worth in the basest somewhat hopefull in the most degenerate of men it therefore will not absolutely slight or scorn any man whatever looking on him as an abject or forlorn wretch unworthy of consideration It is indeed a point of charity to see more things estimable in others than in our selves or to be apprehensive of more defects meriting disesteem in our selves than in others and consequently in our opinion to prefer others before us according to those Apostolical Precepts Be kindly affected one toward another with brotherly love in honour preferring one another In lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves Be subject one to another II. Loving our neighbour doth imply a sincere and earnest desire of his welfare and good of all kinds in due proportion for it is a property of love that it would have its object most worthy of it self and consequently that it should attain the best state whereof it is capable and persist firm therein to be fair and plump to flourish and thrive without diminution or decay this is plain to experience in respect to any other thing a horse a flower a building or any such thing which we pretend to love wherefore charity should dispose us to be thus affected to our neighbour so that we do not look upon his condition or affairs with an indifferent eye or cold heart but are much concerned for him and put forth hearty wishes for his interests we should wish him adorned with all vertue and accomplished with all worthy endowments of soul we should wish him prosperous success in all his designs and a comfortable satisfaction of his desires we should wish him with alacrity of mind to reap the fruits of his industry and to enjoy the best accommodations of his life Not formally and in complement as the mode is but really and with a cordial sense upon his undertaking any enterprize we should wish him good speed upon any prosperous success of his endeavours we should bid him joy wherever he is going whatever he is doing we should wish him peace and the presence of God with him we should tender his health his safety his quiet his reputation his wealth his prosperity in all respects but especially with peculiar ardency we should desire his final welfare and the happiness of his soul that being incomparably his chief concern Hence readily should we pour forth our prayers which are the truest expressions of good desire for the welfare of our neighbour to him who is able to work and bestow it Such was the charity of Saint Paul for his Country-men signified in those words Brethren my hearts desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved such was his love to the Philippians God is my record how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Iesus Christ and this I pray that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and in all judgment Such was Saint John ' s charity to his friend Gaius to whom he said Beloved I wish above all things that thou maist prosper and be in health even as thy soul prospereth Such is the charity which we are enjoined to express toward all men by praying for all men in conformity to the charity of God who will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth Such is the charity we are commanded to use toward our enemies blessing those who curse us and praying for those who despitefully use us and persecute us the which was exemplified by our Lord by Saint Stephen by all the Holy Apostles III. Charity doth imply a complacence or delightfull satisfaction in the good of our neighbour this is consequent on the former property for that joy naturally doth result from
to see men endammage their spiritual estate to endanger the loss of their souls to discost from their happiness and run into eternal ruine by distemper of mind and an inordinate conversation this is most afflictive to a man endewed with any good degree of charity Could one see a man sprawling on the ground weltring in his bloud with gaping wounds gasping for breath without compassion And seeing the condition of him that lieth groveling in sin weltring in guilt wounded with bitter remorse and pangs of conscience nearly obnoxious to eternal death is far worse and more deplorable how can it but touch the heart of a charitable man and stir his bowels with compassionate anguish Such was the excellent charity of the Holy Psalmist signified in those ejaculations I beheld the transgressours and was grieved because they kept not thy word and Rivers of waters run down mine eyes because men keep not thy law Such was the charity of Saint Paul toward his incredulous and obdurate Country-men notwithstanding their hatred and ill treatment of himself the which he so earnestly did aver in those words I say the truth I lie not my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart for them Such was the charity of our Lord which disposed him as to a continual sense of mens evils so upon particular occasions to grieve at their sins and spiritual wants as when the Pharisees maligned him for his doing good he 't is said did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 grieve or condole for the hardness of their heart and when he saw the multitudes he was moved with compassion on them because they fainted and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepheard and when he wept over Jerusalem because it did not know in its day the things which belonged to its peace either temporal or eternal This is that charity which God himself in a wonderfull and incomprehensible manner doth exemplifie to us for he is the Father of pities 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 full of bowels his bowels are troubled and do sound when he is for upholding justice or reclaiming sinners constrained to inflict punishment of him 't is said that his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel and that he was afflicted in all the afflictions of his people So incredible miracles doth infinite charity work in God that the impassible God in a manner should suffer with us that happiness it self should partake take in our misery that grief should spring up in the fountain of joy How this can be we thoroughly cannot well apprehend but surely those expresses are used in condescension to signifie the greatly charitable benignity of God and to shew us our duty that we should be mercifull as our heavenly Father is mercifull sympathizing with the miseries and sorrows of our brethren This is that duty which is so frequently inculcated when we are charged to put on bowels of pity to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tender-hearted to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 compassionate one toward another Hence it is that good men in this world cannot live in any briskness of mirth or height of jollity their own enjoyments being tempered by the discontents of others the continual obvious spectacles of sorrow and of sin damping their pleasures and quashing excessive transports of joy for who could much enjoy himself in an hospital in a prison in a charnel V. It is generally a property of Love to appropriate its Object in apprehension and affection embracing it possessing it enjoying it as its own So charity doth make our neighbour to be ours engaging us to tender his case and his concerns as our own so that we shall exercise about them the same affections of soul the same desires the same hopes and fears the same joys and sorrows as about our own nearest and most peculiar interest so that his danger will affright us and in his security we shall find repose his profit is gain and his losses are dammages to us we do rise by his preserment and sink down by his fall his good speed is a satisfaction and his disappointment a cross to us his enjoyments afford pleasure and his sufferings bring pain to us So charity doth enlarge our minds beyond private considerations conferring on them an universal interest and reducing all the world within the verge of their affectionate care so that a mans self is a very small and inconsiderable portion of his regard whence Charity is said not to seek its own things and we are commanded not to look on our own things for that the regard which charity beareth to its own interest in comparison to that which it beareth toward the concerns of others hath the same proportion as one man hath to all men being therefore exceedingly small and as it were none at all This saith Saint Chrysostome is the Canon of most perfect Christianisme this is an exact boundary this is the highest top of it to seek things profitable to the publick And according to this rule charity doth walk it prescribeth that compass to it self it aspireth to that pitch it disposeth to act as Saint Paul did I please all men in all things not seeking mine own profit but the profit of many that they may be saved VI. It is a property of Love to affect union or the greatest approximation that can be to its Object As hatred doth set things at distance making them to shun or chase away one another so love doth attract things doth combine them doth hold them fast together every one would be embracing and enjoying what he loveth in the manner whereof it is capable So doth charity dispose a man to conjunction with others it soon will breed acquaintance kind conversation and amicable correspondence with our neighbour It would be a stranger to no man to whom by its entercourse it may yield any benefit or comfort Its arms are always open and its bosome free to receive all who do not reject or decline its amity It is most frankly accessible most affable most tractable most sociable most apt to interchange good offices most ready to oblige others and willing to be obliged by them It voideth that unreasonable suspiciousness and diffidence that timorous shieness that crafty reservedness that supercilious morosity that fastidious sullenness and the like untoward dispositions which keep men in estrangement stifling good inclinations to familiarity and friendship VII It is a property of Love to desire a reciprocal affection for that is the surest possession and firmest union which is grounded upon voluntary conspiring in affection and if we do value any person we cannot but prize his good will and esteem Charity is the mother of friendship not onely as inclining us to love others but as attracting others to love us disposing us to
affect their amity and by obliging means to procure it Hence is that Evangelical Precept so often enjoined to us of pursuing peace with all men importing that we should desire and seek by all fair means the good will of men without which peace from them cannot subsist for if they do not love us they will be infesting us with unkind words or deeds VIII Hence also Charity disposeth to please our neighbour not onely by inoffensive but by obliging demeanour by a ready complaisance and compliance with his fashion with his humour with his desire in matters lawfull or in a way consistent with duty and discretion Such charity Saint Paul did prescribe Let every one please his neighbour for his good to edification Such he practised himself Even as I please all men in all things not seeking mine own profit and I have made my self a servant to all that I might gain the more Such was the charity of our Lord for even Christ pleased not himself He indeed did stoop to converse with sorry men in their way he came when he was invited he accepted their entertainment he from the frankness of his conversation with all sorts of persons did undergo the reproach of being a wine-bibber a friend of Publicans and sinners It is the Genius and complexion of charity to affect nothing uncouth or singular in matters of indifferent nature to be candid not rigid in opinion to be pliable not stiff in humour to be smooth and gentle not rugged and peevish in behaviour It doth indeed not flatter not sooth not humour any man in bad things or in things very absurd and foolish it would rather chuse to displease and cross him than to abuse to delude to wrong or hurt him but excepting such cases it gladly pleaseth all men denying its own will and conceit to satisfie the pleasure and fancy of others practising that which Saint Peter injoined in that Precept be of one mind be compassionate love as brethren be pitifull be courteous or as Saint Paul might intend when he bid us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to gratifie to indulge one another IX Love of our neighbour doth imply readiness upon all occasions to do him good to promote and advance his benefit in all kinds It doth not rest in good opinions of mind and good affections of heart but from those roots doth put forth abundant fruits of real beneficence it will not be satisfied with faint desires or sluggish wishes but will be up and doing what it can for its neighbour Love is a busie and active a vigorous and sprightfull a couragious and industrious disposition of soul which will prompt a man and push him forward to undertake or undergo any thing to endure pains to encounter dangers to surmount difficulties for the good of its object Such is true charity it will dispose us to love as Saint John prescribeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in work and in truth not onely in mental desire but in effectual performance not onely in verbal pretence but in real effect Hence charity will render a man a General benefactour in all matters upon all occasions affording to his neighbour all kinds of assistance and relief according to his neighbours need and his own ability It will make him a bountifull dispenser of his goods to the poor a comforter of the afflicted a visiter of the sick an instructour of the ignorant an adviser of the doubtfull a protectour of the oppressed a hospitable entertainer of strangers a reconciler of differences an intercessour for offenders an advocate of those who need defence a succourer of all that want help The practice of Job describeth its nature I saith he delivered the poor that cried and the fatherless and him that had none to help him The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me and I caused the widows heart to sing for joy I was eyes to the blind and feet was I to the lame I was a father to the poor and the cause which I knew not I searched out And I brake the jaws of the wicked and plucked the spoil out of his teeth If I have held the poor from their desire or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail Or have eaten my morsel my self alone and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof If I have seen any perish for want of cloathing or any poor without covering The stranger did not lodge in the street but I opened my doors to the traveller Such is a charitable man the Sun is not more liberal of his light and warmth than he is of beneficial influence He doth not spare his substance being rich in good works ready to distribute willing to communicate And where his estate faileth yet the contribution of his endeavour will not be wanting he will be ready to draw and press others to beneficence so doing good not onely according to his power but in a manner beyond it making the ability of others to supply his own weakness and being liberal with their wealth The description of Cimon is a good character of a charitable man Nulli fides ejus nulli opera nulli res familiaris defuit Thus may the poorest men be great benefactours so the poor Apostles who had nothing yet did enrich many not onely in spiritual treasure but taking care for supply of the poor by their precepts and moving exhortations and he that had not where to lay his head was the most bountifull person that ever was for our sake he became poor that we by his poverty might be made rich In all kinds charity disposeth to further our neighbours good but especially in the concerns of his soul the which as incomparably they do surpass all others so it is the truest and noblest charity to promote them It will incline us to draw forth our soul to the hungry and to satisfie the afflicted soul to bring the poor that are cast out to our house to cover the naked to loose the bands of wickedness to undoe the heavy burthens to let the oppressed go free to break every yoke to supply any corporal indigency to relieve any temporal distress but especially it will induce to make provision for the soul to relieve the spiritual needs of our neighbour by affording him good instruction and taking care that he be informed in his duty or conducted in his way to happiness by admonition and exhortation quickning encouraging provoking spurring him to good works by resolving him in his doubts and comforting him in his troubles of conscience lifting up the hands which hang down and the feeble knees by seasonable and prudent reproof by all ways serving to convert him from the errour of his way and so saving a soul from death and hiding a multitude of sins which is the
onely obedience to God enforceth them but charity disposeth them gladly to serve us who are so much their inferiours the same charity which produceth joy in them at the conversion of a sinner This made the Son of God to descend from heaven and lay aside that glory which he had with God before the world was this made him who was so rich to become poor that we by his poverty might be enriched this made him converse and demean himself among his servants as he that ministred this made him to wash his Disciples feet thereby designing instructively to exemplifie the duty and nature of Charity for If said he I your Lord and Master have washed your feet then ye also ought to wash one anothers feet for I have given you an example that ye should do as I have done to you This maketh God himself the high and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity to condescend so far as to be continually employed in carefully watching over in providing for in protecting and assisting us vile and wretched worms for though he dwelleth on high yet humbleth he himself to behold the things that are in heaven and earth This maketh him with so much pain and patience to support our infirmities to bear with our offences to wait for our conversion according to that Protestation in the Prophet Thou hast made me to serve with thy sins thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities In conformity to this wonderfull practice whose actions are the best rules and patterns of our deportment charity should dispose us according to Saint Paul's practice by love to serve one another Indeed it will not suffer any man to look down on another with supercilious contempt or neglect as if he were unworthy or beneath our regard It will incline superiours to look on their inferiours their subjects their servants their meanest and poorest neighbours not as beasts or as slaves but as men as brethren as descending from the same stock as partakers of the common nature and reason as those who have obtained the like precious faith as heirs of the same precious promises and glorious hopes as their equals in the best things and in all considerable advantages equals in God's sight and according to our Lord's intent when he said One is your Master even Christ and all ye are brethren according to Saint Paul's exhortation to Philemon that he would receive Onesimus not now as a servant but above a servant a brother beloved in the Lord. Accordingly charity will dispose men of rank in their behaviour to be condescensive lowly meek courteous obliging and helpfull to those who in humane eye or in worldly state are most below them remembring that ordinance of our Lord charged on all his Disciples and enforced by his own pattern He that is greatest among you let him be your servant Love indeed is the great Leveller which in a manner setteth all things on even ground and reduceth to a just poise which bringeth down heaven to earth and raiseth up earth to heaven which inclineth the highest to wait upon the lowest which ingageth the strength of the mightiest to help the weakest and the wealth of the richest to supply the poorest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that there may be an equality that no where there may be an useless abundance or a helpless indigence XII Charity doth regulate our dealing our deportment our conversation toward our neighbour implying good usage and fair treatment of him on all occasions for no man doth handle that which he loveth rudely or roughly so as to endanger the loss the detriment the hurt or offence thereof Wherefore the language of charity is soft and sweet not wounding the heart not grating on the ear of any with whom a man converseth like the language of which the Wise man saith The words of the pure are pleasant words such as are sweet to the soul and health to the bones and The words of a wise mans mouth are gracious such as our Lords were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 words of grace such as the Apostle speaketh of Let your speech be always 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with grace such as may give grace to the hearers being entertained not with aversation but with favourable acceptance It s carriage is gentle courteous benign bearing in it marks of affection and kind respect Its dealing is equal moderate fair yielding no occasion of disgust or complaint not catching at or taking advantages not meting hard measure It doth not foster any bad passion or humour which may embitter or sour conversation so that it rendreth a man continually good company If a man be harsh or surly in his discourse rugged or rude in his demeanour hard and rigorous in his dealing it is a certain argument of his defect in charity for that calmeth and sweetneth the mind it quasheth keen fierce and boisterous passions it discardeth those conceits and those humours from whence such practice doth issue Charity saith Saint Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 behaveth not it self unhandsomely is not untoward unseemly uncivil or clownish in word or in carriage or in deed It is in truth the most civilizing and most polishing disposition that can be Nothing doth render a man so compleatly Gentile not in an affected or artificial way consisting in certain postures or motions of body dopping cringing c. in forms of expression or modish addresses which men learn like Parrots and vent by rote usually not meaning any thing by them often with them disguising fraud and rancour but in a real and natural manner suggested by good judgment and hearty affection A charitable man may perhaps not be guilty of courtship or may be unpractised in the modes of address but he will not be deficient in the substance of paying every man proper and due respect this indeed is true courtesie grounded on reason and proceeding from the heart which therefore is far more genuine more solid more steady than that which is built on fashion and issueth from affectation the which indeed onely doth ape or counterfeit the deportment of charity for what a charitable man truly is that a gallant would seem to be Such are the properties of Charity There be also further many particular Acts which have a very close alliance to it being ever coherent with it or springing from it which are recommended to us by precepts in the holy Scripture the which it will be convenient to mention 1. It is a proper act of Charity to forbear anger upon provocation or to repress its motions to resent injuries and discourtesies either not at all or very calmly and mildly for Charity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not easily provoked Charity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 suffereth long and is kind Charity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth endure all things Anger is a violent insurrection of the mind
discourtesie of inhumanity of baseness practised toward us A moderate respect and affection will hardly satisfie us we pretend to them in the highest degree disgusting the least appearance of disregard or disaffection we can scarce better digest indifference than hatred This evidenceth our opinion and conscience to be that we ought to pay the greatest respect and kindness to our neighbour for it is plainly unjust and ridiculously vain to require that from others which we refuse to others who may demand it upon the same title nor can we without self-condemnation practice that which we detest in others In all reason and equity if I would have another my friend I must be a friend to him if I pretend to charity from all men I must render it to all in the same kind and measure Hence is the Law of Charity well expressed in those terms of doing to others whatever we would have them do to us whereby the palpable equity of this practice is demonstrated IV. Let us consider that Charity is a right noble and worthy thing greatly perfective of our nature much dignifying and beautifying our soul. It rendreth a man truly great enlarging his mind unto a vast circumference and to a capacity near infinite so that it by a general care doth reach all things by an universal affection doth embrace and grasp the world By it our reason obtaineth a field or scope of employment worthy of it not confined to the slender interests of one person or one place but extending to the concerns of all men Charity is the imitation and copy of that immense love which is the fountain of all being and all good which made all things which preserveth the world which sustaineth every creature Nothing advanceth us so near to a resemblance of him who is essential love and goodness who freely and purely without any regard to his own advantage or capacity of finding any beneficial return doth bear and express the highest good-will with a liberal hand pouring down showers of bounty and mercy on all his creatures who daily putteth up numberless indignities and injuries upholding and maintaining those who offend and provoke him Charity rendereth us as Angels or Peers to those glorious and blessed Creatures who without receiving or expecting any requital from us do heartily desire and delight in our good are ready to promote it do willingly serve and labour for it Nothing is more amiable more admirable more venerable even in the common eye and opinion of men it hath in it a beauty and a majesty apt to ravish every heart Even a spark of it in generosity of dealing breedeth admiration a glimpse of it in formal courtesie of behaviour procureth much esteem being deemed to accomplish and adorn a man how lovely therefore and truly gallant is an entire sincere constant and uniform practice thereof issuing from pure good-will and affection Love indeed or goodness for true love is nothing else but goodness exerting it self in direction toward objects capable of its influence is the onely amiable and onely honourable thing Power and Wit may be admired by some or have some fond Idolaters but being severed from goodness or abstracted from their subserviency to it they cannot obtain real love they deserve not any esteem for the worst the most unhappy the most odious and contemptible of Beings do partake of them in a high measure The Prince of Darkness hath more power and reigneth with absolute Sovereignty over more Subjects by many than the Great Turk One Devil may have more wit than all the politick Achitophels and all the profane Hectors in the world yet with all his Power and all his Wit he is most wretched most detestable and most despicable and such in proportion is every one who partaketh in his accursed dispositions of malice and uncharitableness For On the other side Uncharitableness is a very mean and base thing It contracteth a mans soul into a narrow compass or streightneth it as it were into one point drawing all his thoughts his desires his affections into himself as to their centre so that his reason his will his activity have but one pitifull object to exercise themselves about To scrape together a little pelf to catch a vapour of fame to progg for a frivolous semblance of power or dignity to sooth the humour or pamper the sensuality of one poor worm is the ignoble subject of his busie care and endeavour By it we debase our selves into an affinity with the meanest things becoming either like Beasts or Fiends like Beasts affecting onely our own present sensible good or like Fiends designing mischief and trouble to others It is indeed hard for a man without Charity not to be worse than an innocent Beast not at least to be as a Fox or a Wolf either cunningly lurching or violently ravening for prey Love onely can restrain a man from flying at all and seising on whatever he meeteth from biting from worrying from devouring every one that is weaker than himself or who cannot defend himself from his paws and teeth V. The practice of Charity is productive of many great benefits and advantages to us so that to love our neighbour doth involve the truest love to our selves and we are not onely obliged in duty but may be encouraged by our interest thereto Beatitude is often pronounced to it or to some particular instances of it and well may it be so for it indeed will constitute a man happy producing to him manifold comforts and conveniencies of life some whereof we shall touch VI. 1. Charity doth free our souls of all those bad dispositions and passions which vex and disquiet them from those gloomy passions which cloud our mind from those keen passions which fret our heart from those tumultuous passions which ruffle us and discompose the frame of our soul. It stifleth anger that swoon of reason transporting a man out of himself for a man hardly can be incensed against those whom he tenderly loveth a petty neglect a hard word a small discourtesie will not fire a charitable soul the greatest affront or wrong can hardly kindle rage therein It banisheth envy that severely just vice which never faileth to punish it self for no man will repine at his wealth or prosperity no man will malign his worth or vertue whose good he charitably desireth and wisheth It excludeth rancour and spite those dispositions which create a hell in our soul which are directly repugnant to charity and thereby dispelled as darkness by light cold by heat It suffereth not revenge that canker of the heart to harbour in our breast for who can intend mischief to him in whose good he delighteth in whose evil he feeleth displeasure It voideth fear suspicion jealousie of mischief designed against us the which passions have torment or do punish us as Saint John saith racking us with anxious expectation of evil wherefore there is saith he no fear in
love but perfect love casteth out fear No man indeed is apt to fear him whom he loveth or is able much to love him whom he feareth for love esteemeth its object as innocent fear apprehendeth it as hurtfull love disposeth to follow and embrace fear inclineth to decline and shun To suspect a friend therefore is to disavow him for such and upon slender grounds to conceit ill of him is to deem him unworthy of our love The innocence and inoffensiveness of charity which provoketh no man to do us harm doth also breed great security and confidence any man will think he may walk unarmed and unguarded among those to whom he beareth good-will to whom he neither meaneth nor doeth any harm being guarded by a good conscience and shielded with innocence It removeth discontent or dissatisfaction in our state the which usually doth spring from ill conceits and surmises about our neighbour or from wrathfull and spitefull affections toward him for while men have good respect and kindness for their neighbours they seldom are dissatisfied in their own condition they can never want comfort or despair of succour It curbeth ambition and avarice those impetuous those insatiable those troublesome dispositions for a man will not affect to climb above those in whose honour he findeth satisfaction nor to scramble with them for the goods which he gladly would have them to enjoy a competency will satisfie him who taketh himself but for one among the rest and who can as little endure to see others want as himself who would trouble himself to get power over those to o're-top them in dignity and fame to surpass them in wealth whom he is ready to serve in the meanest offices of kindness whom he would in honour prefer to himself unto whom he will liberally communicate what he hath for his comfort and relief In the prevalence of such bad passions and dispositions of soul our misery doth most consist thence the chief troubles and inconveniencies of our life do proceed wherefore charity doth highly deserve of us in freeing us from them VII 2. It consequently doth settle our mind in a serene calm sweet and cheerfull state in an even temper and good humour and harmonious order of soul which ever will result from the evacuation of bad passions from the composure of such as are indifferent from the excitement of those which are good and pleasant The fruits of the Spirit saith Saint Paul are love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness or benignity love precedeth joy and peace follow as its constant attendants gentleness and benignity come after as its certain effects Love indeed is the sweetest of all passions ever accompanied with a secret delectation and pleasant sense whenever it is placed upon a good object when it acteth in a rational way when it is vigorous it must needs yield much joy It therefore greatly conduceth to our happiness or rather alone doth suffice to constitute us happy VIII 3. Charity will preserve us from divers external mischiefs and inconveniencies to which our life is exposed and which otherwise we shall incur If we have not charity toward men we shall have enmity with them and upon that do wait troops of mischief we shall enjoy nothing quietly or safely we shall do nothing without opposition or contention no conversation no commerce will be pleasant clamour obloquy tumult and trouble will surround us we shall live in perpetual danger the enmity of the meanest and weakest Creature being formidable But all such mischiefs charity will prevent or remove damming up the fountains or extirpating the roots of them for who will hate a person that apparently loveth him who can be so barbarous or base as to hurt that man whom he findeth ever ready to do himself good what brute what devil can find in his heart to be a foe to him who is a sure friend to all No Publican can be so wretchedly vile no sinner so destitute of goodness for If saith our Lord upon common experience you love them which love you what reward have you do not even the publicans the same and If you do good to them which do good to you what thank have you for sinners also do even the same It seemeth beyond the greatest degeneracy and corruption whereof humane nature is capable to requite charity with enmity yea not to return some kindness for it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Who saith Saint Peter is he that will do you hurt if you be followers of that which is good or imitatours of him that is good of the Sovereign goodness none surely can be so unjust or so unworthy As charity restraineth us from doing any wrong or yielding any offence to others in thought in word in deed from entertaining any bad conceits without ground from hatching any mischievous designs against our neighbour from using any harsh virulent biting language from any rugged discourteous disobliging behaviour from any wrongfull rigorous severe dealing toward him from any contemptuous pride or supercilious arrogance so it consequently will defend us from the like treatment for scarce any man is so malicious as without any provocation to do mischief no man is so incorrigibly savage as to persist in committing outrage upon perfect innocence joined with patience with meekness with courtesie Charity surely will melt the hardest heart and charm the fiercest spirit it will bind the most violent hand it will still the most obstreperous tongue it will reconcile the most offended most prejudiced heart it is the best guard that can be of our safety from assaults of our interest from dammage of our reputation from slander detraction and reproach If you would have Examples of this experience will afford many and some we have in the Sacred Records commended to our Observation Esau was a rough man and one who had been exceedingly provoked by his brother Jacob yet how did meek and respectfull demeanour overcome him so that Esau it is said in the history ran to meet him Iacob and fell on his neck and kissed him and they wept Saul was a man possessed with a furious envy and spite against David yet into what expressions did the sense of his kind dealing force him Is this thy voice my Son David Thou art more righteous than I for thou hast rewarded me good whereas I have rewarded thee evil behold I have played the fool and have erred exceedingly So doth charity subdue and triumph over the most inveterate prejudices and the most violent passions of men If peace and quiet be desirable things as certainly they are and that form implyeth when by wishing peace with men we are understood to wish all good to them it is charity onely that preserveth them which more surely than any power or policy doth quash all war and strife for war must have parties and strife implieth resistance be it the first or second blow which
maketh the fray charity will avoid it for it neither will strike the first in offence nor the second in revenge Charity therefore may well be styled the band of peace it being that onely which can knit mens souls together and keep them from breaking out into dissensions It alone is that which will prevent bickering and clashing about points of credit or interest if we love not our neighbour or tender not his good as our own we shall be ever in competition and debate with him about those things not suffering him to enjoy any thing quietly struggling to get above him scrambling with him for what is to be had IX 4. As charity preserveth from mischiefs so it procureth many sweet comforts and fair accommodations of life Friendship is a most usefull and pleasant thing and charity will conciliate good store thereof it is apt to make all men friends for love is the onely general philtre and effectual charm of souls the fire which kindleth all it toucheth and propagateth it self in every capable subject and such a subject is every man in whom humanity is not quite extinct and hardly can any such man be seeing every man hath some good humour in him some bloud some kindly juice flowing in his veins no man wholly doth consist of dusky melancholy or fiery choler whence all men may be presumed liable to the powerfull impressions of charity its mild and serene countenance its sweet and gentle speech its courteous and obliging gesture its fair dealing its benign conversation its readiness to do any good or service to any man will insinuate good-will and respect into all hearts It thence will encompass a man with friends with many guards of his safety with many supports of his fortune with many patrons of his reputation with many succourers of his necessity with many comforters of his affliction for is a charitable man in danger who will not defend him is he falling who will not uphold him is he falsly accused or aspersed who will not vindicate him is he in distress who will not pity him who will not endeavour to relieve and restore him who will insult over his calamity will it not in such cases appear a common duty a common interest to assist and countenance a common friend a common benefactour to mankind Whereas most of our life is spent in society and discourse charity is that which doth season and sweeten these rendring them gratefull to others and commodious to ones self for a charitable heart is a sweet spring from whence do issue streams of wholsome and pleasant discourse it not being troubled with any bad passion or design which may sour or foul conversation doth ever make him good company to others and rendreth them such to himself which is a mighty convenience In short a charitable man or true lover of men will saith S. Chrysostome inhabit earth as a heaven every-where carrying a serenity with him and plaiting ten thousand crowns for himself Again X. 5. Charity doth in every estate yield advantages sutable thereto bettering it and improving it to our benefit It rendreth prosperity not onely innocent and safe but usefull and fruitfull to us we then indeed enjoy it if we feel the comfort of doing good by it It solaceth adversity considering that it doth not arise as a punishment or fruit of ill-doing to others that it is not attended with the deserved ill-will of men that no man hath reason to delight for it or insult over us therein that we may probably expect commiseration and relief having been ready to shew the like to others It tempereth both states for in prosperity a man cannot be transported with immoderate joy when so many objects of pity and grief do present themselves before him which he is apt deeply to resent in prosperity he cannot be dejected with extream sorrow being refreshed by so many good successes befalling those whom he loveth One condition will not puff him up being sensible of his neighbours misery the other will not sink him down having complacence in his neighbours welfare Uncharitableness proceeding from contrary causes and producing contrary effects doth spoil all conditions rendring prosperity fruitless and adversity comfortless XI 6. We may consider that secluding the exercise of charity all the goods and advantages we have our best faculties of nature our best endowments of soul the gifts of providence and the fruits of our industry will become vain and fruitless or noxious and banefull to us for what is our reason worth what doth it signifie if it serveth onely for contriving sorry designs or transacting petty affairs about our selves what is wit good for if it must be spent onely in making sport or hatching mischief to what purpose is knowledge if it be not applied to the instruction direction admonition or consolation of others what mattereth abundance of wealth if it be to be uselesly hoarded up or vainly flung away in wicked or wanton profuseness if it be not employed in affording succour to our neighbours indigency and distress what is our credit but a meer noise or a puff of air if we do not give a solidity and substance to it by making it an engine of doing good what is our vertue it self if it be buried in obscurity or choaked with idleness yielding no benefit to others by the lustre of its example or by its real influence What is any talent if it be wrapped up in a napkin any light if it be hid under a bushel any thing private if it be not by good use spread out and improved to publick benefit If these gifts do minister onely to our own particular advantage to our personal convenience glory or pleasure how slimme things are they how inconsiderable is their worth But they being managed by charity become precious and excellent things they are great in proportion to the greatness of their use or the extent of their beneficial influence as they carry forth good to the world so they bring back various benefits to our selves they return into our bosome laden with respect and reward from God and from man they yield thanks and commendation from without they work comfort and satisfaction within Yea which is infinitely more considerable and enhanceth the price of our gifts to a vast rate they procure glory and blessing to God for hereby is God glorified if we bring forth much fruit and no good fruit can grow from any other stock than that of charity Uncharitableness therefore should be loathed and shunned by us as that which robbeth us of all our ornaments and advantages which indeed marreth and corrupteth all our good things which turneth blessings into curses and rendreth the means of our welfare to be causes of mischief to us for without charity a man can have no goods but goods worldly and temporal and such goods thence do prove impertinent baubles burthensome encumbrances dangerous snares banefull poisons
then peaceable living it being as Solomon saith an honour to a man to cease from strife and consequently also a disgrace to him to continue therein That rage and fury may be the excellencies of beasts and the exerting their natural animosity in strife and combat may become them but reason and discretion are the singular eminencies of men and the use of these the most natural and commendable method of deciding controversies among them and that it extreamly misbecomes them that are endowed with those excellent faculties so to abuse them as not to apprehend each others meanings but to ground vexatious quarrels upon the mistake of them not to be able by reasonable expedients to compound differences but with mutual dammage and inconvenience to prorogue and encrease them not to discern how exceedingly better it is to be helpfull and beneficial than to be mischievous and troublesome to one another How foolishly and unskilfully they judg that think by unkind speech and harsh dealing to allay mens distempers alter their opinions or remove their prejudices as if they should attempt to kill by ministring nourishment or to extinguish a flame by pouring oyl upon it How childish a thing it is eagerly to contend about trifles for the superiority in some impertinent contest for the satisfaction of some petty humour for the possession of some inconsiderable toy yea how barbarous and brutish a thing it is to be fierce and impetuous in the pursuit of things that please us snarling at biting and tearing all competitors of our game or opposers of our undertaking But how divine and amiable how worthy of humane nature of civil breeding of prudent consideration it is to restrain partial desires to condescend to equal terms to abate from rigorous pretences to appease discords and vanquish enmities by courtesy and discretion like the best and wisest Commanders who by skilfull conduct and patient attendance upon opportunity without striking of stroke of shedding of bloud subdue their Enemy 3. How that peace with its near alliance and concomitants its causes and effects love meekness gentleness and patience are in Sacred Writ reputed the genuine fruits of the Holy Spirit issues of Divine Grace and off-springs of heavenly Wisedom producing like themselves a goodly progeny of righteous deeds But that emulation hatred wrath variance and strife derive their extraction from fleshly lust hellish craft or beastly folly propagating themselves also into a like ugly brood of wicked works For so saith Saint James If you have bitter zeal and strife in your hearts glory not nor be deceived untruly This wisedom descendeth not from above but is earthly sensual and devilish For where emulation and strife are there is tumult and every naughty thing but the wisedom that is from above is first pure then peaceable gentle obsequious full of mercy or beneficence and of good fruits without partiality and dissimulation And the fruit of righteousness is sowed in peace to those that make peace and from whence are wars and quarrels among you Are they not hence even from your lusts that war in your members Likewise He loveth transgression that loveth strife and A fools lips enter into contention and his mouth calleth for strokes saith Solomon That the most wicked and miserable of creatures is described by titles denoting enmity and discord the hater Satan the enemy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the accuser 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the slanderer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the destroyer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the furious dragon and mischievously treacherous snake and how sad it is to imitate him in his practices to resemble him in his qualities But that the best most excellent and most happy of Beings delights to be styled and accordingly to express himself The God of love mercy and peace and his blessed Son to be called and to be the Prince of peace the great Mediatour Reconciler and Peace-maker who is also said from on high to have visited us To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death and to guide our feet in the ways of peace That lastly no devotion is pleasing no oblation acceptable to God conjoined with hatred or proceeding from an unreconciled mind For If thou bring thy gift to the altar and there remembrest that thy brother hath ought against thee Leave there thy gift before the altar and go thy way first be reconciled to thy brother and then come and offer thy gift saith our Saviour I close up all with this Corollary that if we must live lovingly and peaceably with all men then much more are we obliged to doe so with all Christians to whom by nearer and firmer bands of holy alliance we are related by more precious communions in faith and devotion we are endeared by more peculiar and powerfull obligations of divine commands sacramental vows and formal professions we are engaged Our spiritual brethren members of the same mystical body temples of the same Holy Spirit servants of the same Lord subjects of the same Prince professors of the same truth partakers of the same hope heirs of the same promise and candidates of the same everlasting happiness Now Almighty God the most good and beneficent Maker gracious Lord and mercifull preserver of all things infuse into our hearts those heavenly graces of meekness patience and benignity grant us and his whole Church and all his Creation to serve him quietly here and in a blissfull rest to praise and magnify him for ever To whom with his blessed Son the great Mediatour and Prince of peace and with his Holy Spirit the ever-flowing Spring of all love joy comfort and peace be all honour glory and praise And The peace of God which passeth all understanding keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God and of his Son Jsesus Christ our Lord And the blessing of God Almighty the Father Son and Holy Ghost be among you and remain with you for ever Amen FINIS Books writ by the Learned Dr. Isaac Barrow and printed for Brabazon Aylmer at the Three Pigeons over against the Royal Exchange in Cornhill TWelve Sermons preached upon Several Occasions In Octavo being the First Volume Ten Sermons against Evil Speaking In Octavo being the Second Volume Eight Sermons of the Love of God and our Neighbour In Octavo being the Third Volume The Duty and Reward of Bounty to the Poor In a Sermon much enlarged preached at the Spittal upon Wednesday in Easter Week Anno Dom. 1671. In Octavo A Sermon upon the Passion of our Blessed Saviour Preached at Guild-Hall Chapel on Good-Friday the 13th day of April 1677. In Octavo A Learned Treatise of the Pope's Supremacy To which is added a Disourse concerning the Unity of the Church In Quarto The said Discourse concerning the Unity of the Church is also printed alone In Octavo All the said Books of the
is always ready in our needs and at our desire to employ what is in him of ability for our good and advantage we may be said to own such a person to possess and enjoy him to be tyed as it were and joined to him as 't is said the soul of Ionathan was knit to the soul of David so that he loved him as his own soul And such a propriety in such a possession of such an alliance and conjunction to himself God vouchsafes to them who are duely qualified for so great a good He was not ashamed saith the Apostle concerning the faithfull Patriarchs to be called their God to be appropriated in a manner unto them And He that acknowledgeth the Son saith Saint John concerning good Christians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath or possesseth the Father also and to seek to find to draw near to to cleave unto to abide with to abide in and such other phrases frequently do occur in Scripture denoting that near relation which good men stand in toward God implying that he affords them a continual liberty of access and coming into his especial presence that he admits them to a kind of converse and communion with himself full of spiritual benefit and delight that bearing an especial good will and favour toward them he is disposed to exert his infinite wisedom and power in their behalf is ready to impart all needfull and convenient good unto them help in their needs supply in wants protection in dangers the direction assistance and comfort of his Holy Spirit pardon of sins and peace of conscience all the blessings of grace here and all the felicities of glory hereafter such an interest as it were in God and a title unto him such a possession and enjoyment of him we are capable of obtaining and as that enjoyment is in it self infinitely above all things desirable so if we love God we cannot surely but be earnestly desirous thereof a cold indifferency about it a faint wishing for it a slothfull tendency after it are much on this side love it will inflame our heart it will transport our mind it will beget a vigorous and lively motion of soul toward it for Love you know is commonly resembled unto yea even assumes the name of Fire for that it warms the breast agitates the spirits quickens all the powers of Soul and sets them on work in desire and pursuance of the beloved Object you may imagine as well fire without heat or activity as love without some ardency of desire Longing and thirsting of soul fainting for and panting after crying out and stretching forth the hands toward God such are the expressions signifying the good Psalmist's love by so apt and so pathetical resemblances doth he set out the vehemency of his desire to enjoy God I need not add concerning Endeavour for that by plain consequence doth necessarily follow Desire the thirsty soul will never be at rest till it have found out its convenient refreshment if we as David did do long after God we shall also with him earnestly seek God nor ever be at rest till we have found him Coherent with this is a 3. Third property of this Love that is a great Complacence Satisfaction and Delight in the Enjoyment of God in the sense of having such a propriety in him in the partaking those emanations of favour and beneficence from him and consequently in the instruments conveying in the means conducing to such enjoyment for joy and content are the natural fruits of obtaining what we love what we much value what we earnestly desire Yea what we chiefly love if we become possessed thereof we easily rest satisfied therewith although all other comforts be wanting to us The covetous person for instance who dotes upon his wealth let him be pinched with the want of conveniencies let his body be wearied with toil let his mind be distracted with care let him be surrounded with obloquy and disgrace at mihi plaudo ipse domi he nevertheless enjoys himself in beholding his beloved pelf the ambitious man likewise although his state be full of trouble and disquiet though he be the mark of common envy and hatred though he be exposed to many crosses and dangers yet while he stands in power and dignity among all those thorns of care and fear his heart enjoys much rest and pleasure In like manner we may observe those pious men whose hearts were endewed with this love by the present sense or assured hope of enjoying God supporting themselves under all wants and distresses rejoycing yea boasting and exulting in their afflictions and no wonder while they conceived themselves secure in the possession of their hearts wish of that which they incomparably valued and desired above all things which by experience they had found so comfortable and delicious O taste and see exclaims the Psalmist inspired with this passion O taste and see that the Lord is good How excellent is thy loving kindness O Lord they they who enjoy it shall be abundantly satisfyed with the fatness of thy house and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures A day in thy courts is better than a thousand my soul shall be satisfyed as with marrow and fatness so did those devout practisers of this Duty express the satisfaction they felt in God and in those things whereby he did impart the enjoyment of himself unto them So did the light of Gods countenance cheer their heart so did his loving kindness appear better than life it self unto them Hence do they so frequently enjoin and exhort us to be glad to delight our selves to glory to rejoyce continually in the Lord in the sense of his goodness in the hope of his favour the doing so being an inseparable property of love to which we adjoin another 4. The feeling much displeasure and regret in being deprived of such enjoyment in the absence or distance as it were of God from us the loss or lessening of his favour the subtraction of his gracious influences from us for surely answerable to the love we bear unto any thing will be our grief for the want or loss thereof it was a shrewd argument which the Poet used to prove that men loved their moneys better than their friends because majore tumultu plorantur nummi quà m funera they more lamented the loss of those than the death of these Indeed that which a man principally affects if he is bereaved thereof be his condition otherwise how prosperous and comfortable soever he cannot be contented all other enjoyments become unsavoury and unsatisfactory to him And so it is in our case when God although onely for trial according to his wisedom and good pleasure hides his face and withdraws his hand leaving the soul in a kind of desolation and darkness not finding that ready aid in distress not feeling that cheefull vivacity in obedience
not tasting that sweet relish of devotion which have been usually afforded thereto if love reside in the heart it will surely dispose it to a sensible grief it will inspire such exclamations as those of the Psalmist How long Lord wilt thou hide thy face hide not thy face from thy servant for I am in trouble turn unto me according to the multitude of thy tender mercies draw nigh unto my soul and redeem it Even our Saviour himself in such a case when God seemed for a time to withdraw the light of his countenance and the protection of his helpfull hand from him or to frown and lay his heavy hand upon him had his soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 extreamly grieved and full of a deadly anguish neither surely was it any other cause than excess of love which made that temporary desertion so grievous and bitter to him extorting from his most meek and patient heart that wofull complaint My God my God why hast thou forsaken me But especially when our iniquities have as the Prophet expresseth it separated between our God and us and our sins have hid his face from us when that thick cloud hath eclipsed the light of his countenance and intercepted his gracious influences when by wilfully offending we have as the Israelites are said to have done rejected our God cast him off and driven him from us so depriving our selves of propriety in him and the possession of his favour then if any love be alive in us it will prompt us with those good men in their penitential agonies to be grievously sensible of and sorely to bewail that our wretched condition there will not if we so heartily love God and value his favour as they did be any soundness in our flesh or rest in our bones our spirit will be overwhelmed within us and our heart within us desolate Our heart will be smitten and withered like grass upon the consideration and sense of so inestimable a loss Love will render such a condition very sad and uneasie to us will make all other delights insipid and distastfull all our life will become bitter and burthen some to us neither if it in any measure abides in us shall we receive content till by humble deprecation we have regained some glimpse of God's favour some hope of being reinstated in our possession of him Farther yet 5. Another property of this Love is to bear the highest good will toward God so as to wish heartily and effectually according to our power to procure all good to him and to delight in it so as to endeavour to prevent and to remove all evil if I may so speak that may befall him and to be heartily displeased therewith Although no such benefit or advantage can accrue to God which may increase his essential and indefectible happiness no harm or dammage can arrive that may impaire it for he can be neither really more or less rich or glorious or joyfull than he is neither have our desire or our fear our delight or our grief our designs or our endeavours any object any ground in those respects yet hath he declared that there be certain interests and concernments which out of his abundant goodness and condescension he doth tender and prosecute as his own as if he did really receive advantage by the good and prejudice by the bad success respectively belonging to them that he earnestly desires and is greatly delighted with some things very much dislikes and is grievously displeased with other things for instance that he bears a fatherly affection toward his creatures and earnestly desires their welfare and delights to see them enjoy the good he designed them as also dislikes the contrary events doth commiserate and condole their misery that he is consequently well pleased when piety and justice peace and order the chief means conducing to our welfare do flourish and displeased when impiety and iniquity dissension and disorder those certain sources of mischief to us do prevail that he is well satisfied with our rendring to him that obedience honour and respect which are due to him and highly offended with our injurious and disrespectfull behaviour toward him in commission of sin and violation of his most just and holy commandments so that there wants not sufficient matter of our exercising good will both in affection and action toward God we are capable both of wishing and in a manner as he will interpret and accept it of doing good to him by our concurrence with him in promoting those things which he approves and delights in and in removing the contrary And so surely shall we do if we truly love God for love as it would have the object to be its own as it tends to enjoy it so it would have it in its best state and would put it thereinto and would conserve it therein and would thence contribute all it is able to the welfare to the ornament to the pleasure and content thereof What is it saith Cicero to love but to will or desire that the person loved should receive the greatest good that can be Love also doth reconcile conform and unite the inclinations and affections of him who loves to the inclinations and affections of him who is beloved Eadem velle eadem nolle to consent in liking and disliking of things if it be not the cause if it be not the formall reason or essence as some have made it 't is at least a certain effect of love If then we truly love God we shall desire that all his designs prosper that his pleasure be fulfilled that all duty be performed all glory rendred to him we shall be grieved at the wrong the dishonour the disappointment he receives especially we shall endeavour in our own practice with Holy David to perform 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all that God wills desires or delights in to eschew whatever offends him Our desire our delight our endeavour will conspire with and be subordinate to his for it would be a strange kind of love that were consistent with the voluntary doing of that which is hurtfull injurious or offensive to that we love such actions being the proper effects the natural signs of hatred and enmity If any man say I love God and hateth his brother he is a liar saith Saint John and If any man seeth his brother need and shutteth his bowels toward him how doth the love of God abide in him He that in his affections is so unlike so contrary unto God he that is unwilling to comply with God's will in so reasonable a performance he that in a matter wherein God hath declared himself so much concerned and so affected therewith doth not care to cross him to displease and disappoint him how can he with any shew of truth or with any modesty pretend to love God Hence it is that keeping of God's Commandments is commonly represented to us as the most