be fervent Away with the extended charity of the Hand the charity of Scribes and Pharisees that give onely to be seen of men who although many a poor soul may have been refreshed by their Almes clothed in their Liveries and recovered by their Physick yet at the last account they will find they had as good never have given at all as have given at the sound of a Trumpet for vain-glory and applause without any true sincere charity in their soules â—ar be it from me to speak against the poor mans interest God knowes he lives in hunger and rags notwithstanding all â—e incomes of charity yea though we take in those also which â—portunity or custome which pride or vain-glory or any other â—arisaical motives of beneficence may bring into the poor mans Store-house I onely tell the rich the best way to husband their charity and that they may at the same rate purchase to their own hearts and consciences the true satisfaction of Christian and religious benefactours as they now give to buy onely the ayre of a good name and the vain reputation of munificence It is but onely altering the disposition of the Heart the Hand hath already learn'd its duty And unlesse the heart be changed you may call it vanity and ostentation but you exceedingly wrong this sweet and spiritual grace of Christianity to call it charity And if this seems a mystery and a soloecisme against the common dialect of the World to deny almes-deeds to be charity go and learn the meaning of S. Pauls Paradox 1 Cor. 13.3 That a man may give all his goods to feed the poor and yet have no charity Judges 4. Or what think you of Jaels kindnesse to Sisera who brings her Milk and Butter in a Lordly Dâ—sh to the faint and the weary Captain and gives him house and harbour entertainment and lodging if we did not see the Nail and the Hammer we should be ready enough to call this pure compassion but when we read of the fatal effect of this kindnesse how should we wrong the integrity and simplicity of this lovely grace to give to such usages the name of charity And when I consider how many Jaels favours are bestowed in the World only upon a designe to work in Men the greater confidence of their fidelity that so they might destroy with the greater assurance and advantage I cannot but think it high time to preach up the charity of the heart and to tell you that the liberality of the hand alone is nothing but the price of hypocrisie nay perhaps it may be the very pretexts of treachery a piece of charity which the Devil practised who had good nature enough to offer Christ the glories of the world when he suffered hunger and solitude in the waste wildernesse and the same foul spirit that once thought to make Job curse God by Taking Iob 1.11 Chap. 2.5 now tryes whether he can make our Saviour blesse the Devil by Giving And even such and no other are the deceitful charities of the Hand where the Heart is not sincere and upright and thus much for reprehension Vse 2 Now in one word of Exhortation if Charity must bee fervent Bee yee then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 kindly affectioned one towards another with brotherly love Rom. 12. rest not in the cold formalities of vulgar freindship nor in the outward complements or uncertain offices of Love but let your hearts erne over your brothers necessities and fellow-feele in all their miseries doutless Religion makes Charity a very secret and mentall grace when it 's call'd in Scripture by the name of Bowels Col 3.12 Put on therefore as the elect of God holy and beloved Bowels of mercy and in another place to shew us whence every outward act of Charity should proceed the denyall of assistance to the poor and needy is called a shutting up of our Bowels 1 Joh. 3.17 Whoso hath this worlds good and seeth his brother hath need and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him how dwelleth the love of God in him the holy Ghost in this place takes no notice of any of those equivocal productions of Charity which may proceed either from custome importunity or vain-glory accounting no ourward office of Love worth naming but what proceeds from open bowels that is from a Christian tender compassion of our Brethrens needs If yee wil but change the name and call Charity Love you will soon see the necessity of the heart in this duty love being an affection ever naturally fixed and seated there and it is as improper for men to love with their hands or to love with their tongues as it is to see with their ears or hear with their eyes Which secret and sacred seat of this divine grace the holy Apostle evidently discovers 1 Tim. 1.5 Where hee calls it Charity out of a pure heart a good Conscience and faith unfained Outward offices of love where they are found alone are but Charity 's out of uncleane hands but the true Apostolical Christian Love is Charity out of a prue heart Excellently expressed by God Isa 58.10 where he calls it a drawing out of the soul to the hungry it is not so much a drawing out of our treasures our cruise and our Barrel but wee must set our souls on broach and draw out even the secret compassions and ernings of our own bowells over the necessities of our needy brethren and by this means how slender and narrow soever thy share is of the good things of this World thou shalt discover a rich fountain of Love sufficient to answer all the necessities of thy brethren for whereas treasures may bee exhausted and the cruise may fail and the barrell cease but the overflowing Fountain of Christian pitty and compassion in the good mans heart shall never bee drawn dry for so saith the Text v. 11. If thou draw out thy soul to the hungry then thou shalt bee as a spring of waters whose waters fayl not which leads us to the last construction of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 protended or lasting Charity Which is the third dimension of this grace to wit the length of it True Christian Charity to our brother doth not live and die with our own ends and interests it doth not last till our turnes are served nor cease upon any personal indignities or disobligements but it is in the Philosophers phrase pertinax bonitas Senec. a grace which as no worldly inducements wrought in us so no worldly discouragement can blast but it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lasting and perpetual Charity which construction of the word I need not crave aide of profane Authors to justifie though Suidas and others frequently use it for jugis and assiduus but I can give you express Scripture for it Act. 12.5 Peter was kept in Prison and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. it is not translated fervent prayer But Prayer without ceasing was made by the Church to God for
the end is at hand ye are not in the beginning of your journey and therefore you must not rest onely in Ceasing from sin for the end is at hand therefore you must do good and holy duties of Sobriety and Piety verse 7. Be sober and watch unto prayer of Love ver 8. Ahove all things have love or charity of Hospitality verse 9. Be harborours one to another of ministring mutual Consolation and Instruction verse 10. As every man hath received the gift so let him minister as good Stewards of the manifold grace of God and verse 11. If any speak let him speak as the Oracles of God that God in all things may be glorified of Constancy under persecutions from verse 12. to the end of the Chapter Think it not strange concerning the fiery tryal verse 16. If any man suffer as a Christian let him not be ashamed verse 17. Judgement must begin at the house of God c. And lastly of the ultimate resignation even of their soules in suffering for Gods cause verse the last Let them that suffer according to the will of God commit their soules to him in well doing as unto a faithful Creator And thus you have seen how this Chapter containes an exact platform of a Christians race in which my Text points at one of those good duties which the Apostle requires of them that are not onely to cease from sin but to work righteousness and that not of the least account neither for after duties of sobriety and piety it comes in with a But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But above all things have fervent charity among your selves Which if we may make Divisions in a Text of Love may be divided into Four Parts 1. Here is the Duty it self enjoyned and that is Love or Charity Have Charity 2. Here is the Importance of that Duty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Above all things have charity 3. Here is the Qualification or Complexion of that Duty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 translated Fervent Charity 4. Here is the Reciprocation of that Duty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Among your selves But above all things have fervent charity among your selves First the Duty it self enjoyned is Love or Charity Have Charity which is not in this place 1. That Cardinal Grace as I may so call it so highly extold by S. Paul 1 Cor. 13. which abideth in Heaven even after Tongues and Prophesies and Knowledge shall fail and which is preferr'd before Hope and Faith it self which in that place is a comprehensive name including in it the perfection of all Graces and Duties both towards God and towards our Neighbour in which respect it is said Ro. 13.10 That Love is the fulfilling of the law Neither Secondly is this Love onely and meerly a Moral Love arising from a complacency in a present good found in Heathens and Unbelievers and meer Natural Men mentioned by our Saviour Matth. 5.46 If ye love them that love you what reward have you do not even the Publicans the same which is a Natural affection and not a Christian grace a Humane passion and not a Religious duty Neither Thirdly is this Charity a bare Eleemosynary Charity of Almes and Good deeds which in a strict sense is usually called Charity by attributing the inward affection of the minde to the outward action of the hand mentioned 3 John 6. But this Charity in my Text is a Divine grace and a Religious duty whereby we are to extend our bowels of love and Christian compassion one towards another not under the narrow relations of Kindred Friends or Benefactors but unto all in the common capacity of Religion and that not upon any humane or natural designes which love is meerly a moral passion but onely for Pious and Christian ends and considerations which turns Nature into Grace and a Humane Passion into a Christian Affection Which being thus described unto us from the Original the Object and the End by treating briefly of each of them apart you will know sufficient of the whole duty it self And First for the Original of Christian love It is the grace of Gods holy Spirit Indeed Love 1. As it is a passion of the Soul ariseth meerly from Nature which is an affection placed originally in Man by the great Creator whereby he takes complacency and content in the good things of the Creature which God hath made for him without which all the blessings of this life were but in vain created and were no more delicious to Man then to a Stock or Stone That the pleasant acceptation therefore of all Gods good things might not be lost did he indue Man with this natural affection of Love But Love as it 2. is an inordinate passion ariseth not from Nature Qua talis but as corrupted and depraved by Sin whereby the soul is Praeter institutum naturae carried beyond the mediocrity of natural appetite towards the creature and created blessings While Man only loved the Creature according to the Law of Nature and God according to the Law of God then he loved it in a mean and in a moderate subordination to the love of God who was to be loved with all our Might Heart and Strength But when as by sinne Mans heart forsook his God then that earnest and zealous love Ad ultimum posse before bestowed upon the Almighty was irregularly added to that mean and moderate Fountain of love of the Creature according to the Law of Nature which great addition coming to the force of natural love makes the soules of all corrupt unregenerate men run over their old banks towards the Creature in a most inordinate measure and a most irregular manner loving the Creature from two violent inforcements one from Nature the other from Lust Wherefore to endeavour to reform this violent passion only by Precepts of Morality or Rules of Depraved Reason or the like Philosophick aides will prove as great a folly as to set obstacles in the midst of a strong torrent to prevent Inundation they may perhaps give a check for a time and make lust suspend a while the actual exercise of her inordinacy but in the mean while she gathers strength and will as soon as ever those violent restraints be remitted which cannot be perpetual overflow our soules with the greater flood of concupiscence and carry our hearts without possibility of resistance down the stream from God towards the World So that there is no means left to weaken this torrent and to keep it within its due limits but by dealing with the Fountain the Heart must be changed and renewed and the inclinations and desires of our soules must be altered which thing is neither in the power of Nature nor Reason but only of the grace of Gods Spirit to effect which is able to re-inkindle that religious love in our hearts with which Man at first loved both God and his Brother which was the ground of S. Johns exhortation 1 Ep. 4.7 8. Let us love one another for
love is of God and every one that loveth is born of God God is love ve◠8. The original then of this religious love is Gods grace which is the first part of the description Secondly consider the Object of this love which is said in the description to be extended not onely to Kindred Friends or Benefactors but unto All in the capacity and latitude of Religion The generick Object of all love is one and the same and that is a present good either real or appearing the vilest wretch yet never loved evil Sub ratione mali not as evil but at least under the appearance of good But the Specifick Objects are vastly different nay to shew the wonderful power of Grace over Nature their Objects are contrariant and directly opposite one to another Matth. 5.43 44. In old time it was thou shalt love thy Neighbour and hate thy Enemy this is the voice of Nature and of the Old Man in the old time But I say unto you verse 44. which is the voice of Grace and Christ Love your enemies blesse them that curse you and do good to them that hate you Hence is it that the Scripture makes no difference in Offices of love and mutual relief between Friend and Foe but he that in one Precept is called our Enemy in the recital of the same Precept in another place is called our Brother and both to be loved and served alike as appears Exod. 23.4 compared with Deut. 22.1 In one place it is If thine enemies Ox or his Asse go astray thou shalt surely bring it back in the other which is the recital of the same Law it is Thou shalt not see thy brothers Ox or his Asse go astray but thou shalt in any case bring him back So that whether he be Enemy or Brother it is all one in the eye of Religion and both to be alike beloved assisted and relieved Which although it be very severe to Nature yet the Christian Law of love requireth it at our hands never seeking to comply with but to over-rule all our unregenerate affections in so much that a new man at his first conversion is in nothing more an Ephraimite like a young Heifer unaccustomed and strugling under the Yoke of Grace then in respect to those impulsions and checks which Gods Spirit imposeth upon mans Affections For indeed if you observe the Law of Grace and the Gospel this contrariety is not found only in this one affection of Love but all the rest of the passions by the power and constraint of Grace are not only diverted but inverted turned cleer backward in their motions to objects diametrically opposite to their former Thus for our Hatred We must hate Father and Mother and Wife and Children and Brethren Sisters and our own lives also or we cannot be Christs Disciples Luke 14.26 Next for our Joy We must joy in persecutions reproaches calamities and be exceeding glad Mat. 5.13 Nay Leap for joy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is Christs word in S. Luke chap. 6.23 when men hate you and reproach you and so in all the rest Which although it may seem to be a very sharp usage of Nature yet is it not without sufficient reason and abundant compensation in regard that by vertue of the divine Chimistry of Grace Good even spiritual good is brought out of natural evils according to S. Pauls word of consolation Rom. 8.28 We know that all things work together for good to them that love God Even enemies reproaches and persecutions Which is a Paradox to Nature because it is beyond her Ken or Comprehension the Back cannot feel any good in cold and nakednesse nor the Belly in hunger and emptinesse and on the other side they cannot apprehend there is any Evil in food and raiment and as they judge so they love and so they hate But Grace comes and findes Wantonnesse in fulnesse of bread and Pride in gorgeous apparel and on the other side it findes Humility in rags Chastity in hunger and abstinence it findes Patience under afflictions triumphs under persecutions and thus they work together for the good of them that love God And thus much of the Object Thirdly consider the End of Christian charity which is said in the Description to be Not upon any humane or natural designe but for pious and Christian ends and considerations There are three Stages of all Mans actions Himself his Brother and his God Now 1. to love meerly for a mans own good and upon self interest is basely Carnal nay 't is Ethnick Do not even the Heathen the Publicans the same Nay 't is Brutish for the Beasts love their Feeder for his food but if he withholds his hand and hunger begins to gripe those Savages Exasperatur mitigata torvit as they flye in his face that nourished them and make a prey of their Benefactor And Secondly to love our Brother meerly for our Brothers sake at best is but moral in which respect though Man even under depravation excels the bruit Beasts whose love if I may so call it reacheth no further then the first sort loving all things as they are agreeable or serviceable to their own sensitive appetites whereas this moral love in Man admits not of such mean mercenary reflections and is bestowed upon no other considerations then the goodnesse vertue and merit of the person beloved as a debt due to his worth goodness which is the love of Philosophers and that which is called Amor Amicitiae or Benevolentiae the love of Friendship and Good-will yet is this love as far below the duty of the Text and the affection of true Christians as it is above the lust of Beasts and brutish Men. Thirdly therefore there is another sort of love which is neither for our own sakes nor our Brothers but for Gods sake and that not only in obedience to Gods Commandment of love which is the Evangelick Law and the New Command nor for the conservation of the peace of Gods Church which is fortified by love but also and principally when it is bestowed in consideration of that spiritual relation which our Brethren by grace have to God as instruments of his praise as Members or as Ministers of his Church as parts of the houshold of faith c. This is to love our Brother for Gods sake Or in our Saviours phrase when we love a Disciple in the name of a Disciple Mat. 10.41 42 and a Prophet in the name of a Prophet and a righteous Man in the name of a righteous man That is when we love them under that relation in which they stand towards God and Religion which ought to be so predominant in every good heart that it should give Law and Rule to all inferior relations whatsoever whether Natural or Moral in so much that if ever their interests stand in opposition these subordinate indeerments ought to be utterly superseded and neglected which is the reason our Saviour saith That unlesse we
solitary act but it consists in returnes and mutual commerces Let us love one another 1 John 4.7 Bee kindly affectioned one to another Rom. 12.10 This is the message that we heard from the beginning that we should love one another 1 John 3.11 and so again v. 23. and indeed where is not reciprocation required where ever the holy Ghost treats upon this subject of Love The Apostle calls it Col. 3.14 The Bond of perfection even such a bond that knits the whole world together and the world to God with whom wee cannot say wherein a reciprocation is allowable but only in Love If hee chastiseth us we are humbled and reformed if he loads us with his blessings we prayse and give thanks if hee Threatens wee tremble if he commands we obey But if he loves us he desires nothing more then that we should love him again And as is our love to God even such should bee our love to our neighbours ever answered and cherished with gratefull reciprocal returnes God hath not placed us in Societies like stones in a heap where there is nothing but reservedness and confusion but like coals upon a well-built Fire not that we should retain a churlish stupid and reserved morosity to our brethren and be no more communicative then senseless stones but the fervency of our Charity should help to enkindle the same affection in our brethren and so conspire into one glorious flame of divine love Never say that some men are not combustible by this holy fire through the churlishness of their dispositions and the uncompliance of their natures whom no kindness can win nor courtesies oblige but follow Seneca's counsell and try the event cinge ingratum Beneficiis ut quocunque se vertit memoriam tui fugiens ibi te videat besiege such a one round with favours and instances of Love if one courtesy wil not gain him try a Second and a Third and fourth till thou hast so beset him with the testimonies of thy love that hee shall bee able to turn himself no wayes from thee but even there hee shall find thee Et vincit malos pertinax bonitas and thou shalt find that a resolute obstinate goodness wil at last overcome the most perverse disposition Methinks the holy Apostle gives us the very same encouragement under the same allusion Rom. 12.20 If thy enemy hunger feed him if he thirst give him drink for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head that is in the sence of some Expositors by multiplying acts of kindness upon thy adversary thou shalt at the last enkindle in him the same kind affection towards thee as thou hast towards him and so mutually conspire in this holy flame of love But stay a while methinks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 speaks more then a bare reciprocation and rather exhorts us to an Especial and Appropriate reciprocation Before to wit in the 3. verse the Apostle spake of their conversation in times past among the Gentiles when they walked in lasciviousness lusts excess of Wine c. but here hee speaks of them as received in to the faith of Christ and admitted into the Church of God and now bee sure you have Charity among your selves Sons of the same Father members of the same Church sprinkled with the same Baptisme nurs'd by the same M nistery sucking the milke of the same Word sanctified by the same Spirit saved by the same IESUS Bee sure have Charity among your selves With the world Rom. 12.18 It comes in with an If it bee possible and as much as in you lies but as to the holy Church of God without any If 's at all bee sure and Above all things have Charity among your selves Gods Church and People next and immediately under God himself are the highest and most precious interest in the world And as for the preservation and good of the common beeing of nature the God of nature hath ordered that every single bâ—ing shall upon occasion forsake its own proper inclination for the benefit of the natural Universe so in a higher degree to shew the prerogative of the sacred body of Saints in the region of Religion God hath made even the Lawes of common Nature to bee superseded for their behoof and service Thus did hee when hee made the Rock flow the Sun return The Sea divide the fire not to burn the Lions not to devour the Viper not to sting and many instances of the like nature to shew us how even by the institution and secret instinct from God the mere sensitive and inanimate Creatures do with all readiness forsake their own natures and inclinations to love and serve the more sacred Interest of Gods Church and People And shall the Rock give water to Israel and shall wee more obdurate then Rocks deny a cup of cold water to one of Christs Disciples Shall the raging Seas bee a wall and Bulwark of protection to Gods People and shall Torrentes Belial the flood of wicked men betray overwhelm them Shal the savage Lions be a guard to Gods Daniels and shal more cruel man devour them what a strange wild savage Creature is this Beast call'd man that is less concern'd in the good and welfare of Gods Church and People then either Rocks or Seas or Lions I find St. Paul Philem. 12. call Onesimus Pbilemons servant his own Bowels and even such is every Christian to his Christian Brother in the womb of Gods Church and therefore uncharitable divisions among such brethren are no better then spiritual convulsions in our own Bowels which many times prove as mortall as painful Diseases even to the ruine of that Church that endures them I am not come hither to bee an unwelcom Prophet in a day of gladness I shall only tell you what I find in the Gospel Matt. 24.12 where one great signe of the destruction of the Temple is the coldness of Charity The love of many shall wax cold and truly I know not a more sad fatall presage of the danger of Religion and downfall of a Church then the unnatulal fomenting of Schismes Factions and animosities between Brethren of the same faith and profession when these things come to pass then down goes the Temple The sincere profession of Godliness troden under-foot and Religion made no other use of but to engage Parties and give names to factions Wherefore to conclude all if wee bear good will to Sion if wee tender the honor of God or welfare of Religion or the Peace and quiet of our own souls let us pursue with all holy and devout Zeal after this grace of Christian Charity if it bee possible with all men but above all things amongst our selves And then what ever our corporal provisions shall this day bee it is this holy Love that will bee our good Cheer Whereby our Feast wil deserve the same Encomium which Hugo de Sancto Victore gives of the Feast of a good Conscience It wil bee Titulus Religionis Templum Solomonis Ager Benedictionis Hortus deliciarum gaudium Angelorum Arca foederis Aula Dei Habitaculum Spiritus Sancti Hugo Victor de Anima lib. 3. cap. 11. It will bee as the Title and prospect of Religion the Temple of Solomon the Field of Blessing the Garden of Delights the joy of Angels the Ark of the Covenant the Court of God and the habitation of the holy Spirit unto whom with the Father and the Son bee ascribed all honor glory and Praise Obedience and adoration now and for evermore Amen FINIS Errata P. 2. l. 18. for fifth r. first Ib. l. 22. for of r. in p. 11. l. 12. for precedent r. precedence p. 14. l. 32. for when r. where p. 15. l. ult for charge r. change p. 32. l. 2. for but r. yet
hate father and mother c. we cannot be his Disciples There are but three sorts of inferior indeerments imaginable Either the natural endearments of Blood Moral of Friendship or Politick endearments of neighbourhood and commerce and as if the Holy Ghost had designed to shew at once the supremacy of this spiritual endearment of God and Religion above them all I finde all these Three expresly superseded in one verse for the Interest of Religion and Honour of God Exod. 32.27 When the people sinned in the matter of the Golden Calf Moses from God required the sons of Levi to gird every Man his sword to his side and Slay every man his Brother every man his Companion and every man his Neighbour Every Man his Brother there 's the natural endeerment of Blood every Man his Companion there 's the moral endeerment of Friendship and every Man his Neighbour there 's the polâ—tick endeerment of Neighbourhood or Commerce and all to be superseded for the interest of God and Religion Neither yet is our profession composed of such severe Precepts to be called either Cruel or Vnnatural Because this Supreme and Divine Relation doth not cancel and destroy those that are inferiour but only suspends their vertue and influence like the Star in the presence of the Sun they are though they appear not and so soon as ever this Ruling light of Religion is withdrawn and the Interest of Gods glory is not concerned to the contrary then have these lesser inducements their proper and allowable light and influence upon our affections which is the reason why that Rigid passage in S. Luke Cha. 14. v. 26 Cha. 10. v. 37. which seems to require an utter stifling of natural affection in S. Matthew pleads only for a qualifying and subjecting it to Religion and whilest Christ saith in the one Evangelist that Unlesse we Hate Father and mother c. we cannot be his Disciples he saith in the other Evangelist He that loveth father and mother more then me is not worthy of me pleading for no more but a due preference of Religion before Nature Like holy Abrahams love to his son which whether it was the love of Nature or Religion he knew not so well as he did when God put that severe command upon him of offering his dear son and by that ready submission his heart yielded to the will of God he knew assuredly he loved his childe not so much with the fondnesse of nature as with the true affection of Religion and in subordination to God and his Honour And if God at any time in mercy denies us these costly trials and will not shew us what is our love of our Children Brethren or Friends by the losse of them there is yet a lesse chargeable way to try the truth of our love and that is by our anger Doest thou conceive a Religious displeasure against thy Brother when thou seest him run into sin and dishonour God and break his Lawes even then when all other considerations hold out as amiable as ever then if thy Anger be religious it s a great signe such is thy Love also But on the contrary Art thou not more angry with him for denying thee a reasonable courtesie at thy need or for doing thee some conceived injury or revealing some intrusted secret or the like then for being drunk or profaning Gods Sabbath or blaspheming Gods Name or for violating Gods Ordinances if so it s an evident signe that this Love is but Carnal and not that heavenly and divine affection which ownes no end or consideration above that supreme end and interest of God and Religion which is the last Branch of the description of this Duty to wit the End of our Charity not for our own sakes nor for our Brothers but for Gods sake So that to reunite that description we have thus dismembred that we may see the full nature of this duty in one Prospect we learn from what hath been spoken First for the Original That true Christian Love is a stream derived not from the lower springs of Nature nor lowest of Lust but from the upper springs of Gods grace Secondly For its Object That this stream must not only water the pleasant Medows and fruitful Valleys but must also glide upon hard Rocks and barren and unsavoury Bogs For we must love our Enemies and do good to them that hate us and pray for them that despightfully use us And Thirdly for it its End we learn first That as this current of Divine Love of our Brother must have no Back Stream no Mercenary Reflections upon our own interest for this is basely Carnal And as Secondly it must not pour it self solely and finally into our Brothers bosome for his own sake for this is a Cistern of our own hewing and will hold no water when God accounts with us it being at best but moral So Thirdly we learn That as Water In tantum ascendit in quantum prius descendit it riseth exactly as high in the Conduit as it fell from the Fountain even so true Christian love as it is a stream derived from Gods grace so it must end in Gods glory and for Gods sake which is the full nature of Christian Love the Duty it self enjoyned in this Text Above all things have charity But Secondly it is not more lovely and heavenly in its Nature then considerable in its Importance for so saith the Text Above all things have charity Whether we consider it in its Precedence or Preheminence both evidently intimated from the difference between the Latine and English in the translation of the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ante omnia saith the Latine Before all things have charity There 's the Precedent of the Duty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Above all things saith the English there 's the Preheminence both speak the importance of it First 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Before all things have charity The love of our Brethren is a precedent and preparatory Grace that puts the Heart into a fit temper to receive all other graces and instilments of Gods Spirit and also to perform all other Duties and offices of Religion Tria sunt omnia these All things here of a Christians duty are either such as relate to our selves or such as relate to our God or such as relate to our Neighbour there cannot be named a Fourth comprehended under the three titles of Sobriety Piety and Charity Titus 2.12 The Apostle exhorts to the practice of the two first Duties in the 7. verse Be sober watch unto prayer but by a religious 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if he had forgot himself he seems to correct his mistake with a But as in the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But before sobriety and Piety that is Before all things have charity First Before Sobriety We cannot perform our duties to our own selves as we ought nor acquire nor preserve that Christian calme temperature and due consistence of our own
this diffusive ointment saith he is the love and unity of Brethren which gives a tincture to all the parts of Aaron to the whole body of Gods worship and service in all the duties of the same not only to the participation of the great mysteries of our salvation in the Sacraments which is the Head of Aaron but also to every quotidian meditation upon God to every frequent admonition of our Brother the skirts of Aaron even all must smell of this precious ointment of charity wherefore it is above all others thirdly in the universality of its Influence Fourthly In the Duration of its being 1 Cor. 13.8 Charity never faileth but whether there be prophesies they shal fail whether there be tongues they shall cease whether there be knowledge it shall vanish away All other both Gifts and Graces must suffer a kinde of dissolution before we can enter heaven but charity never dies continuing as immortal as the soul that bears it Indeed we may say of the duration of all other graces as S. Paul spake of Mans Mortality 1 Cor. 15.51 They shall not all die but they shall be changed Faith shall be changed into vision and Hope into fruition Patience into triumph Penitence into praise c. But Charity shall not so much as undergo this change for it shall be the same in its kinde though greater in its degree in Heaven as it was on the Earth so that it is a grace that receives Enochs Translation without S. Pauls Mutation passing into Heaven with us and that without a change no other graces do the like and therefore above all others lastly in the Duration of its being You have seen the Precedence and also the Preheminence of charity and in both the Importance which is the second part of the Text from these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Before or above all things have charity Come we now to the Third part to wit from the Importance to the Complexion or Temperature of the duty in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 translated fervent charity It is not every flash of friendship nor formal fit of courtship that is the charity extold by the Apostle but it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fervent charity which if we will take the advantages of the original without restraining our selves to the translation we shall finde it as fit a word for our purpose as can be found in the whole treasury of the Greek tongue For it is one word which in the force of the several constructions it usually bears gives us all the most requisite Dimensions or Admeasurements of Christian charity to wit both the Extension Intention and protension 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being used frequently in all three sences as you shall see in the pursuit of each particular 1. It intimates that Christian charity must be an extended charity towards all for the Bredth of it 2. That it must be an Intended or intense or fervent charity proceeding from the sincerity of the heart for the depth of it 3. That it must be also a protended i. e. a lasting a continued charity not discouraged by any personal disobligements whatsoever for the Length of it as if Providence had fitted it only for this place as if it were an Adjective made on purpose for this substantive First if our charity must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then it must be an extended and an enlarged charity even unto all which we must needs confesse is the native and most literal construction of the word which is originally compounded of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying literally to Extend or enlarge in breadth or to stretch forth to a great distance in this sence is it used by S. Luke Acts 26.1 Then Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stretched forth the hand and answered for himself so is it likewise used by S. Matth. 14.31 suddenly Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stretching forth his hand c. saved Peter from sinking Answerably therefore if true charity is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it must be a stretched forth and an enlarged charity True Christian charity therefore enjoyned in this Apostolick precept is not a limited nor inclosed affection impaled onely within the bounds of narrow relations either natural or contracted as of Countrey Friends Benefactors Kindred or the like but it is a Campaigne and a Common Grace knowing no other bounds or limits but the universal relation in which all men stand towards God who is the common cause in whom all concenter and agree and this is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 extended charity practised to the full by our Saviour Christ who set us copies as well as imposed precepts and taught us by his Example as well as by his Doctrine in whose life I know not any generation of people whom he excluded from the charity of his miracles The Centurion a Roman the Woman at the Well-head a Samaritan the Woman that interceded for her Daughter a Dog a Syrophenician the churlish Gadarene the scandalous Publican the Lepers the Demonaick the Deaf the Dumb the Blinde the Lame the Sick and the Dead all nations sexes conditions and ages of Men did partake of the benefit of his extended love giving in these outward Evidences Symbols of the love of Christ spiritually to mankinde in the salvation of their souls Tit. 2.11 The love of God hath appeared unto all men and Chap. 3. verse 4. The love of Christ towards Man appeared he was as Themistius saith a good King should be neither 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not a friend onely to the house of David nor yet to the house of Abraham not to the Jewes his Brethren after the flesh these are too narrow relations for such a boundlesse charity but his Love towards Man appeared which is a specifick denomination applicable to Turks to Negroes to Indians to all that own the title of Reasonable Creatures even to all the Genealogies of our Ancestors from Adam to this Age Rev. 1.4 that now lie buried in the land of forgetfulnesse for Christ is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the God that was to all that now breathe upon the face of Gods earth for Christ is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the God that is and to all that ever shall be to the last dissolution for he is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the God that is to come But Secondly his precept of Love is as large as his practise It s true the tenor of the Law in S. Luke 10.27 is Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self as if Strangers and Enemies were excluded from the Obligation of this Precept but S. Paul the best Interpreter of Christs Doctrine rehearsing the same Law Rom. 13.8 saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that loveth another hath fulfilled the Law it is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not our Friend our Companion or Familiar but he
or opportunity or provocation enough to blow up the fiery combustions of wrath and revenges And yet with shame we may speak it if we look into City and Countrey we shall finde this degree of charity to be all that is practised in obedience to the whole precept of love Nothing but a bare Non-enmity and a Negative friendship not fighting not revenging not provoking not injuring and this is all which is a disposition that gives to Man but one remove from Wolves and Beares for we cannot love one minute or scruple lesse then this degree but we must degenerate into plain Savages and exercise profest acts of cruelty and hostility one against another And yet we think if we can speak in the Pharisees dialect Not an Extortioner not a Murderer not an Enemy we shall be justified in this law of love and that we are friends sufficient to our Brethren Which is the more to be lamented because it seems to be not onely a defect in our practice but also an error of our judgements as appears by our behaviour in most solemn and sacred severities to wit in those great administrations of Religion which call for an exact view and examination of every Mans soul such as are the holy Sacraments Wherein Men do imploy all their spiritual labour to approve their Faith to be lively and efficacious and their repentance to be truly contrite and humble their mortifications to be truly mental in subduing their lusts and not only in disfiguring their faces and using corporal severities But in this spiritual surveigh when they consider themselves in this duty of charity perhaps if they are at open defiance and professed variance with any Man they will think it fit to skin over this festering sore with a false formal reconciliation but if you examine their charity as to the rest of their Brethren they 'l say They bear them no ill will they never did them any injuries or wrongs either in person goods or good names they never medled nor made with them and they are enemies to no Man living and this is the cold negative account they give of their duty towards their Brother whom God commands them to love with as fervent an affection as they love themselves whereas if they should be thus negative in the accounts of their other graces instead of coming with their wedding garments to Gods Table they would come stark naked If thy Faith should be onely a belief that thou shouldest be saved not by Baal not by the Idols of the Heathen not by the Turks Mahomet not by the Jewes Talmud not by the Papists Legends and Traditions And thy Repentance should be only a temporary forbearance of the acts of sin a not being drunk or not swearing or not stealing or the like But whilest thou art sufficiently convinced in thy judgement that thy faith should be positive and lively and a firm belief that Jesus Christ is thy Saviour relying with a bold and lively affiance of thy heart upon his promises for life and salvation and also that thy repentance should be truly humble and contrite both a compunction and sorrow of soul for sins past and a pious purpose of the heart never to commit the like sins again yet in this fervent duty of charity if thou canst say I have done no Man wrong and bear them no ill will and am an enemy to no man living thou thinkest in thy own judgement that thou hast said enough we may call this indeed a putting off of malice and professed enmity But it is not as the Apostle requires Col. 3.14 A putting on of charity but it is a miserable and a forlorn denudation of the soul and a stripping it stark naked whereas charity if it be well put on is a Garment that keeps him warm that wears it that heart shall never feel the chilnesse of negative friendships that is truly furnished with the grace of fervent charity Secondly away with the false and deceitful charity of the Tongue practised in Court and Countrey by all who are more liberal of good words then either of good wishes or good deeds who when their brethrens necessities require either their purse counsel favour or interest to help them out of their present distresse presently in the Apostles phrase they fall to tuning their tinkling Cymbals 1. Cor. 13.1 and give them a liberal acknowledgement of all former favours and how joyful they should be to make a grateful return of so much kindnesse and professe their readinesse to do them any service that lies within the compasse of their powers with much more of this French charity But when it comes to the point of assistance they begin to bewail their unhappinesse that they are not able to serve them in this one request either their money is out of the way or their favour is eclipsed and interest abated or twenty pretended occasions of importance draw them another way and thus they stretch out the expectation of their needy brethren with nothing but the winde of fair words and leave them as helplesse as they found them Nay perhaps at that very time are contriving and meditating secret stratagems how to over-reach or undermine them in those very affairs in which they craved their assistance which is no new piece of Courtship among great ones that use more flatteries to their friends then Fucasses to their faces whereas indeed the one can be call'd no more true charity then the other true beauty Holy David was troubled with such Courtiers Psal 55.13 Mine equal my guide my acquaintance His words were smoother then butter and softer then oyl when war was in his heart verse 21. Which practice is so far from fervent charity that 't is fervent malice and fervent envy Others there are guilty of a more harmlesse sort of charity that will give nothing but the cheap almes of good words to him that asks needs out of the chargeableness of the duty like S. James's Eleemosynaries James 2.16 that say to the naked and to the hungry be ye warmed and be ye filled but neither give food nor raiment alasse what do words profit them Breath indeed is a cheap dole but 't is cold and comfortlesse it may cool the naked but it cannot clothe him and winde may swell the hungry with a false expectation but it cannot feed him There are no words that perform the ends of charity but his who spake the word and Israel had bread from Heaven and garments that were not old by wearing even the word of him that feeds the Ravens and clothes the Lilies by whose Word we live more then by our own bread Matth. 4.4 Let us therefore love not in word nor in tongue but in deed and in truth 1 John 3.18 In deed that our charity may be profitable and in truth that our charity may be sincere and fervent Therefore away in the second place with the comfortlesse charity of the Tongue Thirdly if true charity must
him and if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bee Prayer without ceasing surely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may bee translated as well Charity without ceasing not concluded by our own interests or our Brothers discourtesies but it ought to bee a perpetual and a durable duty like our Saviours who when he loves us once hee loves us unto the end Ioh. 13.10 The cause of all the dissolutions or corruptions of natural bodies ariseth from the fighting and victory of contrary principles which is the reason we say in Philosophy That God who is a simple being must needs be Eternal Now though natural charity like natural bodies is destroy'd by contraries by an unworthy reproach or an ungrateful return or an uncivil affront or any other personal injury yet that charity which is a Christian grace is exercis'd and improv'd by such tryals it can take pleasure in reproaches and joy in persecutions it can love enemies and blesse persecutors and pray for the spightful and malicious 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and therefore the next word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 13.7 8. It suffereth All things it endureth All things and therefore it followes Charity never faileth and how can we imagine that any thing can destroy that which even Enemies improve But secondly God and Nature seem to have conspired to make this grace perpetuall In differences of Religions we say Nulli sunt taliter discrepantes c. No Men are of such different opinions but they agree in some common principles out of which arguments may be drawn to bring all at last to unity of judgement in the same truth Thus the Christian and the Atheist agree in the Book of Nature the Christian and the Jew in the Old Testament and the Reformed Christian and the Papist in the New Testament and so long as there is a Third thing wherein they agree there is at least a possibility of union Even after the same manner hath God provided for the working and perpetuating the unity of affections by this grace of charity in as much as there cannot be any sort of people of such an alienated estate from us but there is some Relation in which they agree with us and so long as any relation continues even so long our love must endure But thou wilt say 't is true such or such an one was once my Brother in sincere and holy profession but now he hath broke that relation and turned prophane and dissolute yet love him still for he is thy Brother-Protestant Nay but he hath further Apostatiz'd even to Papal superstition and so hath broken that Relation also yes love him still for he is yet thy Brother-Christian Nay but he is as bad as bad may be he is degenerated into plain Atheism and so hath violated all Relations yes love him still for he is yet thy Brother-Creature nay thy Brother-Man and hath more of the lineaments and image of God in him then all the unreasonable creatures of the world besides and whatsoever is of God in him even in that he is thy Brother and in that the fit Object of thy charity This argument is excellently pursued by the Stoick 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as every thing so every person hath two handles or two capacities and if thy charity cannot lay hold on the one yet may it easily on the other as for instance saith he Thy Brother hath injured thee in this case do not take him in that relation as he hath wronged thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for thus as we say in our English phrase thou takest the Pitcher by the wrong ear thy Brother in that capacity in which thou canst not bear him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but rather under this relation as he is thy Brother born of the same Mother nursed with the same Milk disciplined in the same family 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. and so shalt thou receive him in that capacity in which thy charity will well bear him But Thirdly true charity is durable because it hath the discerning faculty to distinguish between the person and the fact so that all disobligements that are committed against love are received not as the effects of the person but of his evil disposition and proceeding not from his nature but from the corruption of his nature By which meanes all the provocations offered against the endeerments of charity are received as extrinsick to that relation in which we love our Brother and therefore can do no prejudice nor offer any violence to the integrity or constancy of this affection Marc. Anton. 18. Sect. 11. Which was a consideration that served to pacifie the passions of a Heathen Emperour under the ungrateful and perverse usages of evil Men when he considered that they had such depraved apprehensions of good and evil of pleasures and grief of honour and ignominy of life and death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I shall not wonder saith he nor think it a strange thing if such a man commits such evil actions to wit of injustice or violence of intemperance or riot of indulgence or pusillanimity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It s a shame for a man to be affected with wonder and amazement to see a Fig-tree bring forth figs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 't is no lesse shame for a Physician or a Pilot to be amazed when the one meets with Feavours and the other with stormes And even thus if we do but consider that the disobligements of charity are no other then the necessary effects of Mens evil dispositions and that such corrupt affections do as naturally bring forth such fruit as the Fig-tree doth Figs we shall finde little cause to be angry with our Brother But like good Physicians we shall respect and love the person whilest we seek to cure his disease and like good Pilots in a Tempest we shall not fret at the cause but shall consider how to bear up our selves with meeknesse wisdom and security under it and by this meanes our charity towards our Brethren will become very constant and durable Which is much according to our Saviours doctrine Luke 17.4 who teacheth us that though our Brothers behaviour be never so unworthy towards us yet we must continue to love and forgive even as often as he offends But if we once begin to stint our affection and come to S. Peters seven times Matth. 18.21 it is an evident signe that our love is but moral or rather base and mercenary and not that noble free and generous grace of Christian charity in the Text for that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a protended and a durable Grace And thus have we finished the Third part of our Text the Qualification of the duty shewing you out of this one word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both the extension intension and protension of Christian Charity The Fourth and Last particular is the Reciprocation of the duty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Among your selves The Love of Gods children is no single