to his Prince when his daily practice is to break all the Laws that ever he made And therefore hence is it that our Saviour says Ye are my Friends if ye do whatsoever I command you A readiness and willingness to perform anothers will and pleasure being the truest sign of Love and Friendship that can be so that the Apostle may very well charge that man with an Untruth who pretends to love God and yet takes no care to Oblige and Gratifie him especially to when he has but one only way of doing it viz. by Obedience too his Commands amongst all which I know none press'd more earnestly upon us then this of Loving one another And thus I have at large and in as plain terms as I could given you the meaning of the words so that I suppose by this time we may from hence conclude That where there is no true Love to our Brother there can be no true Religion towards God In the prosecution of which I shall endeavour 1. To prove that it is so 2. Shew you some hinderances of our Love to our Brethren and so consequently of our Religion towards God 3. I shall shew you how we ought to Love our Brethren And 4. Draw an Inference or two by way of Application 1. I shall endeavour to prove the Proposition and that 1. From the natural dependance of all Religion upon Love 2. From the Pernitious Nature of Envy and Hatred which is destructive to all Religion And 3. From the good Providence of God who has made the Love of our Brother to be the mark and signe of our Love to him 1. From the Natural Dependance of all Religion upon Love If we do but consider the Nature of Religion we shall find it so necessarily built upon the foundations of Love that it 's impossible for it to stand upon any other Basis nay it is so natural to it that all pretences whatsoever without it will soon vanish into ayre and nothing For as that which is not of God can never stand so that Religion which do's not abound in Love can never be from God and so can neither assure its present Truth nor its long continuance in that God is Love and that which comes naturally from him as all true Religion do's must partake of his Nature and abide in him and there 's no dwelling in God without a dwelling in Love And therefore our Saviour Christ answering that subtle Question of the Lawyer touching the first and great Commandment makes this one duty of Love to be the fulfilling of the whole Law Math. 20. â—0 On these two Commandments viz. Love to God and to our Neighbour hang all the Law and the Prophets That is whatsoever is commanded in the Old Testament by Moses or any of the rest of the Prophets is reducible hereunto and falls as so many lines into this one Centre of Love Luk. 10. Nay St. Luke relating this Discourse between our Saviour and the Lawyer makes it not only the fulfilling of the Law but even the only way of obtaining the Reward annex'd unto such an Obedience for the Question is not here set down as propounded concerning the greatness of the command but the obtaining of everlasting Salvation Master what shall I do to Inherit Eternal Life Where the Answer is the same Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart v. 25 27. with all thy Soul with all thy Mind and with all thy Strength and thy Neighbour as thy self which is indeed the sum and substance of all Religion And therefore it s this which makes the Christian Law so perfectly a Law of Liberty and recommends it to us above all other Doctrines in the World in that this do's endeavour as all Religion should to make mans Nature perfect and to restore that Image of God which was at first so unhappily defac'd for there is nothing that a man can Answer and Resemble God in so much as Love all his other Attributes of Power and Majesty Justice and Equity Purity and Holiness and whatever the Divine Nature is perfect in besides being infinitely above us but this now is as it were exactly fitted unto us for as it 's Love in him which makes his Sun and Rain to shine and fall upon the Good and Bad so it s that too which makes us Love and Pray for our Enemies and do them all the good we can By this God forgives us and we forgive one another and as this makes him give what ever we ask of him so it makes us give whatever is askt of us If we are desir'd to go a Mile this makes us go twain if to give a Coat this gives a Cloak also if to forgive one Injury this makes us to forgive even till 70 times 7 are offerd and even then too to be still ready to forgive Nay there is not a Duty which the Gospel obliges unto but it s founded upon Love Baptisme is a Covenant of Love the Lords Supper is a Feast of Love Faith must work by Love and to that and all other Graces must be added this Grace of Love as that which seasons all and is therefore called the very Bond of Perfection Col 3.14 But 2. The Truth of the Proposition will farther appear from the Pernicious Nature of Envy and Hatred which are destructive unto all Religion As there is nothing in the World more excellent and necessary than this Grace of Love so there is nothing more hurtful and dangerous than its contrary Passions of Envy and Hatred for as the one strives to make men perfectly happy so the other doth all it can to make them eternally miserable and fights neither with small nor great but with the all of mans felicity for by mixing and twining it self into our hearts it quite stifles our Religion and doth as the Old Serpent did by our first Parents Betrays us even in the midst of Paradise For whilst we pretend to be Religious and do not bridle this unruly Passion our Religion is not only vain but will be our Ruin too there being no greater affront to God in the World nor any thing more destructive to our selves then thus Presumptuously to sin both against him and our own souls by presenting our selves before him so directly contrary to his Nature and Commands for he has taken such care that his worship should be free from all such impure mixtures of Hatred and Malice that he will rather for a time dispense with his Worship it self and have it deferr'd then endure that it should be thus unduely perform'd Math. 5.23 24. For if thou bring thy gift to the Altar and there remember that thy Brother hath ought against thee leave there thy gift before the Altar first be Reconcil'd unto thy Brother and then come and offer thy gift Whereby it appears that the Performance of any outward Service unto God without Love to our Brother is very displeasing unto him who requires
a Consuming Fire Let therefore the time past of our Lives suffice that we have liv'd so directly contrary to our Interest and Duty Let the Wicked for sake his way and the Vnrighteous man his thoughts Let all sin and wickedness be banish'd both our hearts and lives Let us lay aside our former corrupt Conversations and let those Vices that do at this day rule and reign in our Nation for the future not be so much as once named amongst us as becometh Saints since whoever Indulges himself in the least sin shall never whilst he does so Inherit the Kingdom of Christ or of God and may the God of all Grace so sanctifie our hearts and lives in the ways of his Laws and in the works of his Commandements that we being cleansed from all filthiness and pollution both of Flesh and Spirit may so perfect Holiness in the fear of God that at last we may enjoy the happiness of his fight and presence for ever 1 John 4.20 21. If a Man say I Love God and Hateth his Brother he is a Lyar for he that Loveth not his Brother whom he hath seen how can he Love God whom he hath not seen And this Commandment have we from him that he who Loveth God Loves his Brother also WHoever considers the Nature of that New Commandment which our Saviour gave of Loving one another shall find it to be a Duty so rational and convenient that there cannot be any thing more becomming the Nature of a Man and more likely to win upon and prevail with him and therefore the Prophet calls the Cords of Love the Bands of a Man Hos 11.4 This Law of Love being so naturally fitted to the tempers and constitutions of men who will sooner be allur'd and drawn then forc'd and driven that even the most rude and savage tempers will be calm'd and mollified by it and made fit for Society and good Order But now when we come to consider it in its highest abstraction and take a prospect of it from that Influence it has not only upon all the actions of our Lives one towards another but even those towards God too we shall find the excellency of it to be far greater For if before it made us men it now makes us Christians and teacheth us to love our Brethren not for their own but Gods sake too since it has this excellent qualification also that hereby we are assur'd of the Truth of our Religion and the sincerity of our hearts towards God our Love to our Brethren being the mark and sigh of our love to him without which all our Religious pretences are but vain and foolish and at the best but Hypocritical and a Lye For if a Man say I love God and hateth his Brother he is a Lyar c. In which words we have a Proposition laid down and two Arguments to prove that Proposition 1. A proposition which consists of a supposition If a man say I love God and hateth his Brother and a conclusion deduc'd from thence he is a Lyar the very thing it self carrying a contradiction in its terms for he that says he loves God with all his heart and with all his soul as every Good man ought to do and yet in the mean time hates his Brother or doth not love him so well as he should however he may perswade himself to the contrary yet all his Love is but false and counterfeit and he himself without mincing the matter is no better than a Lyar which the Apostle does not only say but prove from the two following Arguments the one drawn from the Nature of Love it self the other from the effects and consequences of it 1. From the Nature of Love it self For if he doth not Love his Brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen It being more Natural to us to love those things we see and converse with then those things we only hear of and believe in that Nature is before Grace and takes the first place in us and we are more apt to love those things that are visible and affect our senses than those things that are invisible and affect only our understandings And therefore if to men with whom we converse every day and meet with such opportunities we do not express any Love what reason is there to imagine we sincerely love God when of our love to him and the sincerity of it we were never able to make those Tryals because we never saw him nor had any opportunities offer'd us of shewing any real acts of love to him Besides something may be judged from the difficulty of the thing for he that will not do a thing that 's easie will hardly be suppos'd to do a thing that 's more difficult Now it s harder to love one we never saw than one that we see every day in that fight and conversation is one Motive of Love Now we see our Brethren daily but we never saw God at any time and therefore where there is one advantage to allure our love to our Brethren which there is not to invite and oblige us to the love of God if a man fail in the one that is so Natural how can it be imagin'd that he will perform the other which is less Natural But 2. The Apostles second Argument is drawn from the effects and consequence of Love which is Obedience to the commands and will of any person whom we Love And this Commandment have we from him that he who loveth God loves his Brother also So that its evident by the command of God that we are as really oblig'd to love one another as to love him himself and therefore if we would shew any love to him we cannot do it any better way then by Obedience to his commands And thus the notion of loving God in Scripture but more especially in the New Testament seems to be taken most fitly for one most eminent act of love amongst all men viz. that of doing those things that are most acceptable and well-pleasing to the Beloved either as tending most to his good or any other way desirable unto him for this indeed is the only way of expressing our love to another all others being but the effects of love unto our selves But because God wants no Contribution of ours either to the promoting of his good or the advancing of his glory and so our only way of doing grateful things to him is our performing what he commands It necessarily follows that our Obedience to the mind and will of God in the highest and most perfect manner is styl'd the loving of him this being indeed the prime if not the only way of demonstrating our Love to him and therefore it s the greatest contradiction and absurdity in the world for a man to say he loves God when he contemns and despises his Will and Commands and is as if a man should pretend to be a Loving and Loyal Subject
their Actions and Opinions flow Nay I am verily perswaded that many times the Religion of men at least their ways of exercising of it does very much follow the Tempers and Constitutions of their Bodies He that is of a melancholly Disposition and inclined to thoughtfulness dreads Gods justice and is therefore all for mortification and the severer duties of Religion and is doubtless accepted of God Another that is of a more lively Complexion admires the goodness and love of God and from the Influence of that keeps himself innocent and cheerful too is sociable and courteous and by his active stirring may as much promote Gods glory as the other and I doubt not is as well accepted of him And therefore for us to be angry with our Brethren for not acting or thinking just as we do is as unreasonable as if we should quarrel with every man that is not of the same Age and Complexion with our selves Alas the minds of men differ many times as much as their faces and it often happens that they may as well fall out about the one as about the other and yet we have liv'd to see men divided both in Opinions and Affections too in so much that Christianity now the more 's our forrow is known by nothing more than differences and jarrs and our profession is not more adorn'd by vertues than branded by parties each one stifly defending his own opinion though many times it be so trifling that it matters not at all whether it be true or false nay though we agree in Fundamentals yet many times a few Circumstances make Christians worse Enemies to one another than they would be to a Turk or a Jew and from these arise private grudges against mens persons also and when our passions are up we will look back Twenty or Thirty years to find Crimes to upbraid them withall Certainly my Brethren these things ought not to be so Christianity is a more milde and good-Natur'd thing and was never intended to make us Ishmaels to set every mans hand against his Brother What because we differ in our Opinions must we therefore bait and worry one another out of our lives Doubtless no Opinion that do's not thwart the Fundamentals of Religion should make a separation and destroy our Love and Charity and that because we have only probable Arguments for our Opinions but we have an express command for our Love one excellent property of which is that it Beareth all things 2 Cor. 13.4 7. suffers long and is kind And indeed if we do but consider the long suffering of God towards us how much he bears with us every day we have all the reason in the World to make that excellent Character and Property ours and as much as may be to bear with one another to support and not devour the Weak to strengthen and not confound the Feeble knees to raise up and not to trample upon those that are down and by this means we may do more good than by all the Violence we can use since a gentle perswasion accompanied with kindness will reach farther than the strongest Argument urg'd with Hatred and Ill Nature Christianity should appear with all the Ornaments of a meek and quiet Spirit and shew a Love mix'd with Sorrow towards those that are Strangers or Enemies to it and this will make them esteem the Love that 's shew'd them the Persons that shew it and praise the Religion that moves them to it and sooner then any thing else perswade them to be of it 2. Another Expedient for Peace is dealing by others as we would have others deal by us When our Saviour Christ came into the World and dwelt amongst us his design was not only by suffering in our Natures to satisfie Gods justice for us but also by his Life and Doctrine to teach us how to live our selves how to do our Duty to God and Man too And therefore for the help of our memories and the information of our Understandings he Epitomizes the whole Moral Law and reduces it to this one Duty of Love to God and to our Neighbour and lest any difference should arise concerning our manner of performing this he contracts it into this single Precept namely Thou shalt Love thy Neighbour as thy self And lest this too should be mistaken he explains it by that which is absolutely the most natural and reasonable principle in the World which is to do as we would be done by Matth. 6.12 Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you do you even so unto them for this is the Law and the Prophets And indeed this alone is of Universal Influence in the whole life of a Christian and will fully direct him when all other things faile him It is not every man that can tell what 's Justice or Right in all cases but there 's no man but can tell how he would have others deal by him at all times Therefore we ought to lay aside the byass of Self-love and Interest and the rest of our Passions and put our selves in the same condition with other men and then judg if we would be so dealt withal our selves as we now deal by them certainly there 's no man in the world but would find an alteration in himself and all his affairs If this golden Rule were but observ'd amongst us it would secure Peace to the World and make all men as happy as it is possible for them to be here we should be full of mutual Goodness and Pitty a World of Benefactors a Society of Saints and Angels and instead of becoming Wolves and Beasts of Prey we should be as so many Gods to one another Let us therefore be perswaded to lay aside our Pride and Arrogance to attribute no more unto our selves then what 's our due and withall to Render to all men what belongs to them to place our selves in their Circumstances and then act accordingly and by this means all our Differences would be easily Reconcil'd at least-wife we should be more moderate in our Censures and less violent in our Actions It was for the sake of this excellent Precept that Severus the Emperor did much Reverence our Saviour Christianity it self and endeavour'd as much as he could to reduce it into his own practice and for the sake of it favour'd the Christians to whom at first he was somewhat harsh and rigid nay and had built a Temple for them if Vlpian the Lawyer and some others for some Reasons of State had not diverted him from it Let not us then by the Violation of it disturb our own Peace and the Churches too since thus we not only break the Laws of Humane Society wound our own Consciences but cast Dishonour upon Christianity it self too but let us rather as much as in us lies live by this Rule and upon all occasions ask our selves Would we that others should deal thus by us Would we be contented to be slandred and abus'd to be
Mercy rather than Sacrifice at our hands For if the gift when brought to the Altar must rather be lest there then offer'd up sure there can be no Acceptance or Reconciliation with God unless we be also Reconcil'd unto our Brother because that this must be done before the other can be begun How many then have offer'd not only Fruitless but Abominable Sacrifices unto him and instead of pacifying have but the rather provok'd him nay and have with all earnestness even besought him to Ruin and Destroy them And therefore whilst they so constantly repeat that bless'd form of Prayer which our Saviour taught his Disciples without this Grace of Love in their hearts they do even challenge the Power of God unto their own Damnation For whilst they Proportion the Absoluteness of that forgiveness which they beg of God unto that which they give to others and yet all that while are ready to do all the Mischief they can unto them what is this but to beg of God to do his worst against them and to exercise the utmost of his Power in their Everlasting Destruction and sure men in such a condition are very far from all Religion For besides the Destructive Nature of Envy and Hatred unto all humane Societies which can no longer stand where these Reign than an House divided against it self can as may be seen in many fatal instances both at home and abroad it is so contrary unto all Religion too that where-ever it s entertain'd like a little Leaven it soures the whole lump and renders all our performances fruitless and vain And then I hope there 's no man will think St John either Uncivil or Uncharitable in thus plainly giving the Lye to all pretenders to Religion towards God without Love to their Brethren too for he that says he Loves God and Hates his Brother is a Lyar. But 3. The Proposition will yet farther appear to be True from the Providence of God who has made the Love of our Brother to be the mark and sign of our Love to him If we do but consider the Nature of that Relation which we stand in one towards another we shall easily perceive that this piece of Gods providence in making the Love of our Brother to be the mark and sign of our Love to him is grounded and bottom'd upon as great Reason as any is in the World for we are all Members of that Mystical Body whereof Christ is the Head Now where there is no true Love to the Fellow-members there can be no true Love to the Head because in the same Body the Head and Members share alike If therefore the Members fall out and be at Enmity one with another they can never agree and be at peace with the Head Besides there can be no other way of shewing our Love to God than this for as our Capacities are now all others are either above us or below us we cannot be said to Love God properly and as he is because he is a Spirit and Invisible and so do's infinitely transcend our highest conceptions of him and therefore that which we call Love to him is not properly such but rather Adoration and Devotion And then seeing the Divine Nature is so far beyond the expressions of our Love we must look out some other way by which we may more clearly evidence it and that must be by somewhat of our own Nature and Condition Angels are therefore above us and all others Creatures are below us and not capable either of receiving or returning of our Love so that there is nothing else that can be the object of it but our Brethren or our selves Now self love is too narrow and scanty to have any thing of this Divine Quality in it which is of a more extensive and universal Nature Besides it s so far from testifying of our Love to God that it may as well be in a Devil as a Man as may be seen in the Case of Dives whose request to Abraham of sending Lazarus to warn his Brethren Lukâ— 16. did not proceed from any love to or care of their souls but only out of respect unto his own lest by their coming into that Place now his torments should be increas'd so that its only the Love of our Brethren that can testifie the reality of our â—ove to God because that can only prove that we do not Love in Word and in Name only but in Deed and in Truth In that in the immediate expressions of our Love to God there may be nothing more then a Complemental Hypocrisie and for that which we shew unto our selves there is too much of Interest in it to bear witness for us for self-denyal is the great Principle of Love Besides can there be a better way of shewing our Love to God than this which he himself hath taught us John 3.16 And herein was the Love of God manifest to us in that he laid down his life for us thereby doing that for us which we stood in the greatest need of and herein also should we manifest our Love to him in doing what we can even to the hazarding and laying down of our lives for him which we can never better do then in Laying of them down for the Brethren this being the only way he expects a return from us And therefore the Apostle well Argues from the Reasonableness of the thing Beloved if God so Loved us he doth not say we ought also to Love him but we ought also to Love one another our Love to one another being the best Argument of our Love to him because he which loveth him that begat loveth them also that are begotten of him Cap. 5. v. 1. there being a kind of Contradiction in the thing for a man to say he truly loves another person when he hates whatsoever belongs to him or is like him And I am sure there is nothing Resembles God so much as that which he set his own Image upon at first viz. Mankind in respect of which we being all his Off-spring ought to Love as Brethren But 2. I come now to consider the hinderances of our love to our Brethren and so consequently of our Religion towards God and they are amongst too too many others these three 1. Taking up and divulging evil Reports of them whether they be True or False 2. Harsh and unkind censuring of them and their Actions And 3. Confining of our love only to some particular persons 1. Taking up and divulging evil Reports of them whether they be True or False 1 Cor. 13.7 when the Apostle tells us that Charity believeth all things his meaning is not that it 's ready to take up every flying Report and Story that passeth up and down the World for Currant but that it 's so kind and good natur'd as to assent and give credit only to those things that are good and commendable and if it hears any thing that is otherwise not to believe it
and jovial Company and our other Graces stamp'd with Lukewarmness and Formality and withall how we may be as bad deceiv'd in others how we have thought that to be a sullen Moroseness which has only been a Retir'dness for Meditation that to be Pride and Haughtiness which has been a brave Generosity and Nobleness of Spirit that to be folly which has been the greatest Wisdome All which and many others may convince us of our weakness and want of skill in judging unless like God we could search the Heart and prie unto the secret Recesses of the Soul and may also inform us of the mischief we hereby do unto our Profession and Christian Love by our Ignorant indiscretion and ill-nature But 3. Another hindrance of our Christian Love is confining of our Love only to some particular Persons Love is of a Diffusive and spreading nature and extends it self like the influence of Heaven both far and wide and therefore when it teacheth us to be kind unto our Brethren it also makes every man our Brother nay and brings our very Enemies too into that Relation since it commands us to do good to them that hate us and Persecute us and therefore the Brother that the New Testament says we must Love is every man in the World as appears from that Parable of the man that fell among Thieves Luke 10. Indeed we may and might sometimes to put a difference between one Brother and another in the measures and degrees of our Love according to the different degrees of their deserts and the nearness of their Relation unto us but yet we must look upon all as Brethren and must not to give one a Benjamins Portion Rob all the rest of their's Thus David loved Jonathan as his own Soul and our Saviour shew'd more affection unto John then to any of the rest of his Disciples and there 's no Reasonable Man will deny but that we may shew more Kindness to our Kindred and Country-men than to meer Strangers more to just and good men then to the Profane and Wicked Gal. 6.10 for though we must do Good to all yet there 's an Especially added to those that are of the Houshold of Faith But now here is that Partiality that we must take heed of when we confine and limit our Love to these only and shew it to none but those that are of the same Society with us in the Church who think as we do and are of the same Profession with our selves when we will not be Civil and Courteous to those that differ from us in Opinion nor Relieve those Poor let their Necessitys be never so great that are not of the same Faith as we are This indeed has been the very Bane of the Churches Unity and Peace and has been the Cause of those many Divisions under which we groan at this very day insomuch that there cannot be a greater stumbling block to the Conversion of the Gentiles than this when it will be a harder task to perswade them what kind of Christians to be then to be Christians at all nay for my own part had I not something greater than the Examples of Christians yea even of those who pretend to be the best amongst us I would this very moment Renounce my Christianity for I am sure that this kind of Love can never come from God for he makes his Sun to shine upon the Evil and upon the Good Math. 5.45 and causeth his Rain to fall upon the Just and Vnjust So far is he who has greater Reason to distinguish then thou hast from making any difference and then I wonder who made thee a Judg If the Master will have the Wheat and the Tares both grow together and receive the same common influence of Sun and Rain I wonder who set thee to work before the Harvest begin Sure I am had Christ himself taken this course I know not how we had come by our Christianity Had he come only as well as first and chiefly to the lost Sheep of the House of Israel I know not how we Gentiles had come in no its true he came first unto his own People the Jews but yet he never Rejected any Gentiles that believed on him and therefore the Commission which he gave unto his Apostles was to Teach all Nations and to that end after his Assention to confirm their Commission he bestowed upon them the Gift of Tongues by which he poured out his Spirit upon all Flesh Math. 28.19 So that now a Turk or a Heathen as he is a Man has a Right to Justice and Charitable Offices as well as a Christian nay and more Right too than those that deny them since every denyal makes a forfeiture because that what every man has was bestowed on him with this Condition that as he did freely Receive so he should freely Give And again our Saviour tells us that this Universal Love is the only sign that we belong to him By this shall all Men know Joh. 13.35 that you are my Disciples not if you love this or that Person or Society but if in General you Love one another Math. 5.46 for if you Love them that Love you what Reward have you Do not even the Publicans the same But 3. I come in the next place to shew how we ought to Love our Brethren And here the Love that we must bear them must not be of an ordinary or common Nature for our Saviour tells us we ought to Love our Neighbour and sure then much more a Brother as our selves Thou shalt Love thy Neighbour as thy self Math. 22. 39. and then we may soon see how we ought to Love our Brother since every man knows how he Loves himself But yet our Saviour do's not mean there a Love of the same Equality with that which we have for our selves which would sometime or other reduce a man to a Natural Absurdity as in case of Famine and the greatest danger where without doubt I am to prefer my self first No he means only such a Love which has the nearest resemblance and likeness to that which we have for our selves which is in short To Love others as we would have others to Love us And indeed this Golden Rule of Justice in doing as we would be done by has a natural influence upon the whole life of a Christian and will fully direct him in the whole course of his Duty towards his Neighbour for there are many things in which I cannot so fully tell how I ought to do by others yet I can resolve them all by considering how I would have others deal by me And therefore here as you would not have others to raise and spread evil Reports concerning you so do not you do so by them as you would not have others to censure your Actions so do not you censure theirs And as you would be fed and cloath'd when you are Hungry and Naked so do you do the