Selected quad for the lemma: love_n
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A35539
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Gospel-love, heart-purity, and the flourishing of the righteous being the last sermon of the late reverend Mr. Joseph Caryl.
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Caryl, Joseph, 1602-1673.
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1675
(1675)
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Wing C777A; ESTC R25968
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43,184
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138
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with his so theâ— here 's the conclusion so then they that are in the flesh they cannot please God every action which comes up to the fulfilling of the Commandment is pleasing to God but saith he they that are in the flesh they cannot please God they that are in the flesh what 's that surely not that which two Popes as Infallible as they Judge themselves to be thought to be the meaning they thought that by being in the flesh was meant being in a marriage State But by being in the flesh the Apostle means being in a natural that is being in an unregenerate State they cannot please God and such do not only not please God when they do that which is evil but they do not please God when they do that which is good for the very Sacrifices of the wicked are an abomination to him Prov. 15. 8. and therefore the Apople says of all men in their natural capacity or State there is none that doth good no not one in Rom. 3. 12. Why none do good because none of them have a principle they have not a spring though the matter they do may be good and though possibly they have some good end in doing it yet they not having a principle there is none of them that doth good that is a compleat good no not one there 's no exceptions I need not labour further in the proof of the point but I would make some use of it and I would make a threefold use out Use The first may be for our Information If those good works both to God and Man which are the fulfilling of the Commandment must flow from a Gratious principle then we are Instructed by this truth how to Judge of their best works who still abide in the State of nature having neither a pure heart nor a good Conscience nor Faith unfeigned Why what Judgement are we to make of their works why surely they are not the end of the Commandment they are not the fulfilling of the Commandment the works of such even their works of charity of love of temperance Patience of Justice were call'd by some of the godly learned Antients shining sins and why we may not call them so now I know no reason That 's the Judgement they give of such mens good actions for as Christ tells the Pharisees Luke 16. 15. that which is highly esteemed among men is an Abomination unto God Why because it wants this principle And to be sure though their box of ointment I mean the good things done by Persons who have not these principles I say though their box of ointment may have a fragrant smell among many men yet there are many dead flies in it especially one great one call'd unbelief which makes their whole box of ointment very unsavory in the nostrils of God for so saith the Apostle Heb. 11. 6. without faith it is Impossible to please God And that 's one of the springs expresly spoken of in the text Gospel charity is of a nobler extract than to be found in the whole compass of nature and Godliness moves in a higher sphere than the best dress that the gayest Moralist ever reacht unto In Matth. 5. 20. Except your Righteousness exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no wise enter into the Kingdom of God That 's a word for Information Use 2. Now upon that let me take up a second use by way of Lamentation If this be a truth then 't is to be Lamented that the Religious duties and charitable Acts of many who bear the name of Christ flow meerly from a natural principle and doing so they are not the fulfilling of the Commandment The most of men Love one another with affection no more spiritual than Damon and Pithius and Pilades and Orestes or any other who are most memorised or admired among the Heathens for Love Yea I may say they worship God and Jesus Christ with a devotion no more raised and spiritual than the old Romans did worship their Jupiter or the Ephesians their great Godess Diana And surely this is to be Lamented that Christian Acts should be done and not from a principle spiritual or not from a Christian principle It is very possible and very ordinary to follow Christ yea to call upon Christ meerly with human affections with Carnal affections Jesus Christ did find it so In John 6. 26. Ye seek me saith he not because ye saw the Miracles but because ye did eat of the loves and were filled To follow Christ was an excellent work but they did it meerly upon a humane principle Yea that prayer of theirs in Verse 34. may well be Judged to come meerly from a carnal spirit When Christ had discourse of the bread that came down from Heaven and giveth life into the World say they Lord evermore give us of this bread and yet this was but from a Carnal desire not knowing what that bread meant spiritually And it appears clearly to be so for in the close of the Chapter many of his Hearers went quite away they forsook him Now certainly to do these excellent things and to do them but with Carnal principles this is a thing to be Lamented Solomon doth report it as a thing to be lamented that often in this world it is done to good men according to the works of the wicked and it 's done to wicked men according to the works of the righteous Eccles 8. 14. This is a thing to be lamented but I now shall shew you two sights more much more to be lamented First 'T is a very lamentable thing to see good men do according to the works of the wicked Thus did David in the matter of Uriah 2 Sam. 11. Thus did Solomon when his heart went after strange Gods and he built High Places to their Abominations 1 Kings 11. 4 5. Thus did Asa a good King when he imprisoned the Prophet and in his disease sought to the Physitians and not to God 2 Chron. 16. 10 12. Yea thus did St. Peter that holy Apostle when he denyed yea forswore his Master in Matth. 26. 72 74. And thus have many other godly men done under the pressures of Temptation and Corruption And is not this a sad sight to see one professing Godliliness yea one that is really godly act thus like a wicked man This is to act as I have sometimes exprest it the old Creatures part in the new Creatures state This is a very sad thing I but now I have another sight to shew you according to the Tenure of this Text and Doctrine which is very sad also And what 's that Why to see bad men do according to the works of good men still continuing in their bad state They plod on and go on doing good things but never mind to become good themselves And so bad men do according to the works of the righteous I say This is a sad sight And thus did Saul when he was among
it is that we drive at and in that sense 't is well said That the desire of the end is endless that is men Appâ—titus fiâ—is est infinicus will never end their desirings till they have attained their desired end namely that which is the scope and Aim which they have set up to themselves in any undertaking the end of a thing is the Aim or the scope of it Thirdly End is taken in this notion It notes the accomplishment or the fulfilling and Compleating of a thing and in that sense it is used in Rom. 10. 4. Christ saith the Apostle is the end of the Law for Righteousness The end of the Law he hath brought the Law to its end what end why to its accomplishment to its fulfilling so that we are not to seek for righteousness by the Law for our Justification for Christ hath made an end of the Law or accomplished the Law as to that point for righteousness Christ hath fulfilled the Law both in doing the precepts of it and he hath fulfilled the Law by enduring the penalty of it and so he is the end of the Law the fulfilling end of the Law It hath no more to require than that we obey the precept or endure the penalty of it and both these Christ hath fully done and so he hath fulfilled the whole Law and Indeed Christ having done so in his own person having been the end of the Law in his obedience both active and passive I may say He is the Abolishing end of the Law he hath taken it away as to that use for Justification by our own works the Law is quite out of doors as to that point Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness and no more are we to seek for righteousness by the Law Why now in the text the word end when 't is said that the end of the Commandment is charity the word end is to be taken in the two latter senses First charity is that which the Law aims at 't is the scope of the Law to bring us into a Love one to another and that we may walk in Love that 's the business of the Commandments of God the Aim the Scope of them And then secondly charity is the end of the Law that is 't is the fulfilling of the Law 't is the accomplishing end of the Law the Law is fulfilled in Love take it in two Scriptures Rom. 13. 10. Love is the fulfilling of the Law Love it is the Accomplishing end of the Law as in Gal. 5. 14. The whole Law is fulfilled in one word that 's a good word Indeed what is that one word by which the whole Law is fulfilled 't is fulfilled in one word even in this thou shalt love they Neighbour as they self to them the end here is to be taken in that sense charity it is the accomplishing 't is the fulfilling of the Law Thirdly One step farther what is that charity which is the end of the Commandment both the Final end and the fulfilling end of it What is this charity Charity is taken two ways in Scripture 1. More strictly as it consists in the relieving of those that are poor and in the comforting of those that are sorrowful this is charity to relieve the poor to comfort the sorrowful But secondly charity is taken in a more large sense 't is taken for Love in General and so some translate this text the end of the Commandment is Love For charity is a word of a narrower sense than Love is The end of the Commandment is Love and the truth is the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we rendeâ— in the text charity doth Indifferently signifie and is Indifferently translated Love or charity all the New Testament over I need not stay to quote places This word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies Love to God Love to Man Q well but what is Indeed the Charity or Love here Intended in the Scripture A. I answer first I conceive the Love here Intended Is not love to God though that is Love above all things and the most excellent end of the Commandment yet I conceive in this place 't is Charity or Love to Man which is here meant And my Reason is this why I restrain it here to the Love of Man because the Apostle speaks of charity in opposition to those Fables and questions which false teachers were like to raise up in the Church The end of the Commandment is charity that all may be peaceable and quiet among the Brethren and he saith at verse 7. From which some having swerved from charity shot quite beside it saith he they are turned aside unto vain Jangling so that if we consider either the Antecedents of the text or the consequents it seems he confines charity or Love here spoken of to that love or charity which is among men among Brethren that 's one thing Secondly Charity here with respect to Brethren is not that charity which doth consist in opening our hand to relieve the poor though that is a most excellent piece of charity and I pray Remember it to open your hand to the relieving of the poor yet I conceive that 's not the charity here meant but the charity here meant is charity in the uniting our hearts and in the closing of our affections one with another and then Thirdly The charity here intended or the Love is not a lazy habit for one to say I have a love for God I and there it lyes and doth nothing I say the charity here intended is not a lazy habit but 't is that which is put forth by vigorous and lively actings and so some expound this Text Charity is to be taken Metonymically Charity for all the offices and duties of charity which we owe one to another 4. Lastly As 't is an Acting and an active charity which is here spoken of so it is not every kind of charity how vigorously soever acted which is the end of the Commandment but 't is the charity that flows out from and is fed by those three springs spoken of in the close of the Verse Namely 't is a charity flowing out of a pure heart a good conscience and faith unfeigned I cannot stay now to discover those springs to you for that would take up too much of the time Indeed it may take up all the time to make a little discovery of those springs All that I shall say at present is only this That the charity which issues out of these springs that 's the charity in the Text and that 's the charity which is the fulfilling of the Commandment So that here we have the Genealogy as I may call it the Pedegree the Parentage of Gospel charity Or to keep to the former Metaphor here we have the spring of that blessed River called charity the streams whereof like the streams of the River spoken of in Psal 46. 4. which is the favour of God to his people