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
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
PEACE AND LOVE Recommended and Perswaded IN TWO SERMONS PREACHED At BRISTOL January the 31. 167 4 5 By Tho. Jekyll A. M. and Vicar of Rowd in the County of Wilts LONDON Printed by Thomas Milbourn for Dorman Newman at the Kings-Arms in the Poultry and the Ship and Ankor without the Bridg-Gate on Southwark-side 1675. To the READER Reader IN Obedience to the Commands of a Person to whom I am beholden for a very Liberal Education and a great deal more too it has been my Vsual Custom ever since I liv'd in these Parts to Preach twice every Year at Bristol and being there lately as at other times before upon the like Occasion I was in a very rude manner Clamour'd against and both my Sermons Arraign'd and Condemn'd before either of us came to a Tryal Nay before I was out of the Church it was earnestly press'd by one that Pretends to understand the Law that I should be Secur'd and so far did his Opinion for the sake of his Gown prevail that I was sent for before the Mayor and accus'd of such Crimes as had they been true would have taken away my Life in the most Ignominous manner and affix'd a perpetual Odium upon my Name and Memory but thanks be to God they are as much abhorred by me as they were falsly charg'd against me and therefore to Vindicate my Reputation which ought to be as dear as Life it self to a Clergy man I have ventur'd to put my self upon the Tryal of my Country by whom though I may justly expect to be cast for weakness and insufficiency yet I have Reason to hope that I shall be acquit from those Infamous Aspersions that were cast upon me by mine Accusers And then King Reader for the former I heartily beg thine and the Worlds Pardon and have only this to say for my self that nothing but the latter should have forc'd any thing of mine into the Press upon which account I think I am rather to be Pittied then Condemn'd there being but few Persons that would care to have their Private Studies and Discourses intended only for the Pulpit expos'd unto the publick view especially too upon such an Occasion as this when the Printing must not in the least differ from the Preaching of them as I do assure thee these Sermons of mine do not Farewel and live Peaceably T. Jekyll Rowd Feb. 18th 167 4 5 PEACE and LOVE Recommended and Perswaded Heb. 12.14 Follow Peace with all Men and Holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. OF all the Doctrines that were ever deliver'd unto the World those that are comprehended within the compass of our Saviours Sermons and Discourses do without all Controversie deserve the highest place in our esteem and to be the first of all reduc'd into our Practice being of such a Nature as afford the Obserservers of them not only the greatest satisfaction and delight from themselves but do also render them accepted of God and approved of Men in that they tend not only to the making of us Good Men and Good Christians but also good Neighbours good Magistrates and good Subjects too and therefore whoever they are that under the gay Pretences of Advancing the Glory of God and the good of his Church have learnt to be Ill-Natur'd and Troublesome let them know that they have not so learned Christ who not only sent but came himself down from Heaven that both by Precept and Example he might Teach us better Principles and Practices And therefore whoever looks into the Gospel that Perfect Law of Liberty shall soon find that it was never intended to set men together by the Ears to give them a Licence to fall foul upon and to ruin one another and that many times for Trifles and Circumstances not fit to be mention'd the same year with our Christian Peace It 's true our Saviour tells us Math. 10.34 That He came not to send Peace but a Sword But what Sword was it Not the Sword of War or Persecution amongst Christians one against another not the Sword of Friends but of Enemies viz. Those that were Enemies to Christianity it self and such too as no tyes of Nature or Humanity could Reconcile And therefore since these things are said to happen not as the Design but only as the Consequence of the Gospel and that Non ex suâ naturâ sed aliorum vitio Not of its own Malicious Nature but rather from the deprav'd Dispositions of men What may we hence conclude but that we are strangely Degenerated from the true Gospel Temper whilst we increase and foment those Differences and Animosities that are amongst us about matters of no weight or moment at all As if our Saviours Prophecying of these things were a sufficient Warrant for us to bring them to pass No certainly that which falls out per Accidens praeter Intentionem Christi can never become Decus Officium Christiani Those evils that he only Prophesied of but never intended can never become our Duty or Priviledg to bring about His Design and Endeavour was to Reconcile God and Man Jew and Gentile and and to bring all the world too if it were possible into one Community He was therefore Usher'd into the World with a Proclamation of Peace and when he left it he Bequeath'd a Legacy of Peace nay all along through the whole course of his Life in all the Circumstances of it from his Cradle to his Grave we shall find him so far from sowing any Seeds of Contention that he would rather lose his Right yea and his Life too then give the least Occasion of Offence to any It s true there was one sort of War and Contention that he Intended and that was a War against our selves and not our Neighbours against our Lusts and not our Brethren against our Sins and Corruptions and not for our Fancies and Opinions And in this warfare he himself becomes our Captain and whoever would be accounted a good Souldier of his must deny himself and take up his Cross that is he must Mortifie all his Earthly members be Crucified to the World and get the World Crucified to him and then and not till then shall he be able to follow him And therefore as the best security of our Christian Peace we are requir'd to Engage in this Holy War against our Lusts Whence says St. James in the 4th chap. of his Ep. v. 1. Come Wars and Fightings amongst you Come they not hence even of your Lusts which War in your Members Yes certainly these blow the coals of all that fire of Contention which has hitherto flam'd so high amongst us So that were it not for the Covetousness of some the Pride and Ambition of others the Ignorance and Self-conceitedness of too too many more all our Differences might easily be Reconcil'd If the Pride and Conceitedness of mens minds were but chang'd into Meekness and Humility and all their Heats and Passions cool'd by Patience and Moderation
and if that necessary Duty of Love and Charity the Badg and Glory of a Christian were but more seen amongst us we should never have so many Sects and Parties or at leastwise not so much Hatred and Emulation since that would teach us to bear with one anothers Infirmities and if we cannot all agree in Judgment to agree at least in Holiness of Life which is the best Evidence of the Honesty of any mans Conscience in matters of Religion And therefore the Apostle St. Paul for I take him to be the Author of this Epistle to the Hebrews knowing how destructive all sin and wickedness was to the Peace of the Church and by consequence to the very Being of the Church it self he do's in several places of this and the rest of his Epistles press Christians to an eager Pursuit after Holiness as the chiefest Security of the Churches Peace 1 Tim. 4.7 8. Refuse profane and old Wives Fables and Exercise thy self rather unto Godliness for bodily Exercise profiteth little but Godliness is profitable unto all things having a promise of the Life that now is and of that which is to come And so 2 Tim. 2.22 Flee youthful Lusts but follow Righteousness Faith Charity Peace they being the greatest hinderances of these and so here in the Text he adds both together in the same Exhortation Follow Peace with all men and Holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. In which words we have an Exhortation and a Motive to back that Exhortation 1. Here is an Exhortation to the pursuit of Peace and to the practice of Holiness two things that are of exceeding great worth and vallue honour'd and esteem'd of all though seen in and practic'd but by few What he here means by Peace may be seen from the like expression else-where Rom. 14.19 Let us therefore follow after the things that make for Peace and things wherewith one may edifie another That is as the Context fully proves Let us not put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in our Brothers way by wrangling over-eagerly for those things that may as well be let alone as us'd but rather let us walk more according to Charity and not for meats and drinks or other trifles to destroy him for whom Christ dyed for says he v. 17. The Kingdom of God is not Meat Drink but Righteousness and Peace and joy in the Holy Ghost these being the things whereby we may best edifie and profit one another Therefore says he also Rom. 12.18 If it be possible as much as lyeth in you live peaceably with all men i. e. not only avoid giving of offence but taking of it too therefore says he v. 17. Recompence no man Evil for Evil Though thy Christian Peace be struck at yet let it not be broken rather bear with an Injury then Revenge it it 's the second blow that begets the Quarrel therefore be not by any means overcome of Evil but overcome Evil with Good v. 21. And to this our Apostle adds Holiness because of its neer Relation to and necessary dependance upon the former it being impossible to enjoy perfect Peace without it There is no peace saith my God unto the Wicked Isa 48.22 2. Here is also a Motive to back that Exhortation Without which no man shall see the Lord. Without which that is without either nay without both for though the Greek Particle seems to relate unto the latter only viz. Holiness yet they being both of absolute necessity in order to the obtaining of Everlasting Salvation though it be a strain upon Grammer yet it may I think without any prejudice to sound Doctrine be apply'd also to the former viz. Peace especially since our Saviour has pronounc'd the same Blessedness unto both Math. 5.8 9. Blessed are the pure in Heart for they shall see God Blessed are the Peace-makers for they shall be called the Children of God Where though the Phrases vary yet the sense is the same the sight or enjoyment of God being only the Inheritance Priviledg of his Children No Man shall see the Lord that is shall dwell in the sight and presence of God shall ever enjoy his favour and love and that either upon Earth in those duties of his Worship and Service in which he is pleas'd to manifest much of his Divine Excellencies to holy and good men or shall not enjoy his everlasting presence in Heaven In whose presence there is fulness of joy and at whose Right-hand there are pleasures for ever-more Such as are not only above others in their ravishing delights but also infinitely beyond others in their Everlasting duration and continuance being such as none can take away or interrupt So that from hence we may with the Apostle observe That without true Love and Charity in our hearts towards one another and without true Piety in our Lives towards God its impossible for us ever to be truly happy And since the Apostle has said it it will not misbecome us to examine how far forth his assertion may be made good now it will appear to be so if we consider 1. The nature of God himself who is infinitely merciful and Holy and delights in none but those that are so 2. The nature of true happiness it self which consists chiefly in these two things viz. Peace and Holiness 3. The nature of these excellent Duties themselves which are here pressed upon us in the Text which are not only the Pre-requisite qualifications in order to the obtaining of true happiness but are also a chief part of that happiness it self The Proposition will appear to be true from the nature of God himself And here if we do but consider the several circumstances of the humane nature we shall soon find that the enjoyment of God is the only thing that can make it truly happy and therefore whilst others are seeking for Good elsewhere the good man's desire is always towards him Psal 4.6 There be many that say who will shew us any good Lord lift thou up the light of thy Countenance upon us Now ther 's nothing can procure this happiness for any but only the pursuit and practice of those things that please him nor can any thing render us acceptable in his sight but only those things that are agreeable to his Nature and Commands for you know the only way of pleasing another is by doing those things that are answerable to his Mind and Will Now there is nothing that God has more earnestly commanded nor is there any thing that we can more nearly resemble him in than Peace and Holiness He has sufficiently Demonstrated his love too and desire of Peace in sending of his Son into the World to be the Blessed Peace-maker betwixt himself and us And the Prophet Hab. gives us this account of his Holiness Hab. 1.13 that he is of purer eyes then to behold the least sin When Moses desir'd to see the Glory of God to gratifie his request God
such excellent Council and Advice especially too since the enjoyments of this life and our hopes of happiness in another do so necessarily depend upon it All which since I have I hope clearly and fully prov'd that which remains is to excite you to and direct you in the practice of this Duty First Then see here the excellency of the Christian Religion in general it requires nothing at our hands but what tends to the improving of our natures into an absolute Perfection all its Laws are wholesome and good and such as a wise man would choose to be guided by Deut. 4.6 Moses tells the Children of Israel that the Observation of those Laws that he taught them would be their Wisdome and their understanding in the sight of the Nations who would be ready to give this Character of them that they were above all others a wise and understanding People And if the Law of God were so excellent then what is it now since it has been improv'd by the Gospel and illustrated by our Saviours admirable exposition upon on it in the Mount Certainly there is nothing in the World more sweet and taking nothing that comes so near the Reason and the Interest of Mankind nay even the severest duties of it which seem the most contrary to our natural Tempers and Constitutions such as are Meekness and Humility Repentance and self-denyal Mortification of our Lusts and passions and the like yet even this if we look well into them will appear not only reasonable in themselves but upon several accounts very much for our interest and advantage tending all along to the perfect quiet and settlement of our minds here and to our everlasting happiness and peace hereafter And as for that peculiar Law of Christianity which forbids Revenge and commands us to love our Enemies and to forgive Injuries though it may seem harsh and grievous at the first yet no man can think it so that compares the restless Torment and continual slavery of a malicious and revengeful Spirit with the delights and sweetness of Love and the glorious victory of overcoming evil with good whereby a man conquers both his Enemy and himself 2. See here the necessity of these two excellent Duties in particular viz. peace and holiness 1. For that of peace which the Apostle requires should be universal follow peace with all men which precept of his doth very well agree with the New Testament notion of a Brother which is indeed every man in the World as appears from the parable of the man that fell among Thieves whereby not only our kindred and acquaintance but even strangers and our very Enemies too are brought into that Relation upon which account this becomes as necessary a duty as it is an excellent grace and commends us unto God beyond all other duties of Religion nay it 's that which gives being to Religion it self and is the very Life and Soul of all true Devotion For indeed what is Christianity it self but the highest Demonstration of the greatest love that ever was And why is it so cleerly Revealed unto us but only to excite us to the like practices one towards another And therefore at the last day this is the main thing that we shall be accountable for so that if there be any thing more necessary than other in order to the obtaining of everlasting Salvation it must certainly be this hatred and malice being of all other things the most odious in the sight of God as being so directly contrary to the daily methods of his providence yea to his very nature and commands tearing in pieces not only his seamless Coat but his Body and rendering frustrate the very expence of his blood in so much that he will sooner pass by all our other Immortalities than this which therefore that we may avoid there be three things which if they were Reduc'd into our practice would very much contribute to our peace 1. Bearing with one anothers Infirmities 2. Dealing by others as we would have others deal by us 3. A sincere and earnest endeavour after holiness all which if they were but laid to heart and practic'd would certainly restore our peace as at the first and our prosperity as at the beginning 1. Bearing with one anothers Infirmities Though it be the design of the Christian Religion to make us holier than others and to improve our minds and practices beyond the common Rate of Men yet it was never intended to make us therefore keep our distance and to stand off from all that are not arriv'd to as high a pitch as our selves no the higher the true Christian is in Gods account the lower he is always in his own The more experience he has had of Gods goodness unto him the more pitiful and courteous he is to others It was this that made St. Paul become all things to all men that is so far to condescend to the weakness but not the wickedness of any as to deny himself that Christian liberty which otherwise he might have taken which was doutless that holy guile wherewith he caught so many upon which account he recommends the same practice unto us Rom. 15.1 we then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please our selves which advice of his is as necessary as it is excellent and would well become all Christians in general but more especially the Ministers of the Gospel who should be men of gentle and peaceable Dispositions rather composing differences than fomenting of them Therefore says the Apostle 2 Tim. 2.24 25. The servant of the Lord must not strive but be gentle unto all men apt to teach patient in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves by which proceedings he shall obtain that which the same Apostle requires in a good Bishop 1 Tim. 4.7 A good report of them that are without by which means not only more Credit and Reputation but more Proselytes and Converts too are to be gain'd than by all the unnatural Methods of force and violence For I know not what it is in mens natures that so inclines them but certainly most have this principle in them that they hate to be forc'd though it be even to goodness and vertue and will discard piety it self and Heaven too rather than be threatned thither whereas on the other hand the most refractory and stubborn Spirits whom force cannot prevail upon will be supple and pliant when reproofs and zeal come cloathed with love when they see Tears shed for them and their own interest more look'd after by others than themselves when they see they are rather pittied than hated and are notwithstanding all their obstinacy and wilfulness woo'd both by God and Men to accept of happiness and an Heaven Besides let us remember the best of men whilst they are here on Earth need a great many Grains of allowance The Education Tempers and Constitutions of men are to be consider'd from whence the greatest part both of
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
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
without great care and Caution nor even then to spread it farther but as much as may be unless it be too notorious indeed to conceal it because Charity beareth all things before it believeth them and when it cannot choose but believe them yet even then it hopes better and therefore it endureth all things too You know what mischief the evil Report that was brought upon Canaan did how it shut both them that rais'd Numb 14.29 30 31. and them that entertain'd it too out of the Land and instead thereof led them a tedious march through a troublesome Wilderness nor shall they fare better who are thus guilty in this matter amongst us A Tale-bearer and a busie-body being no small troubler of this our Israel too and therefore such as these the Apostle justly condemns as having cast off their first love 2 Tim. 5.12 13. by making contrary to their Duty and Faith given to the Church such Rents and Divisions in it as they by such unchristian carriage did where you may farther observe that the Apostle doth not call them Slanderers but Tatlers and busie bodies such as do not invent but divulge Stories which things indeed differ but very little and no more then the Receiver doth from the Thief For let the Report be either true or false the spreading of it may very justly be condemned for if it be False then thou hast made a wound in thy Neighbours Credit and if it be True then thou hast made the wound wider both which are very prejudicial to Christianity And indeed this unchristian Temper is a very great cause of that general uncharitableness that is amongst us for if we hear any thing against a Friend a cleer Demonstration will hardly convince us nay and even then we 'll do all we can to smother it whereas if we can but get a story by the end against one we care not for how ready are we to declare and divulge it nay and even rejoyce and make sport at the relating of it too and if this partiality be not vile and Abominable and contrary to the Rules of Charity I know not what is Is this to help an Enemies Oxe or Ass out of a Pit when we endeavour all we can to plunge him into a Deeper Is this to do like that good Samaritan whom our Saviour has propounded for our Pattern and example when instead of Relieving we wound our Neighbour and instead of Wine and Oyl we pour Vinegar and Gall into the wounds of his Reputation No sure this is so gross a piece of ill nature that it looks rather like a maxime of Hell than a precept of Christianity since none but the Devils rejoyce at the falls and miscarriages of Men And therefore for men to deal thus unnaturally with one another is to list themselves amongst that Infernal Crew before their time and to turn Devils before they can get to Hell you know whose work it is to be the Accuser of the Brethren but to Accuse them falsly and to add Perjury to Lying is of all other things highly uncharitable 2. Another hindrance of our Christian Peace is harsh and unkind censuring of men and their Actions And indeed this is such an ill nature Temper that were there no such thing in the World as Christianity to be disturb'd by it yet common Reason and an ordinary Ingenuity might one would think make any Rational man loath and detest it and yet there is nothing more frequently acted amongst us to the shame of our natures and scandal of our Religion for this will oftentimes put the worst Constructions upon the best Actions and condemn a man the severest for those things for which he deserves the highest commendation and Reward This makes a man that 's Devout and Zealous towards his God to be looked upon as an Hypocrite before men and altogether to want the power of Godliness because he makes use of a Devouter form of it And can there be a greater hindrance of our love than this when we shall thus rashly deprive one another of our nearest and dearest concern This is to have an evil eye of our own because our Brother has a good one and not only to rob God of his Honour but of those that Honour him too whilst thereby we many times make Devils even of his best Saints This is to lay the greatest matter oftentimes to the charge of Gods Elect whom he has justified and to condemn those for whom Christ has dyed yea rather for whom upon that very account he is risen again and sure he that 's guilty of this can pretend to but very little of Brotherly love Censoriousness and that being as contrary as Light and Darkness And therefore Charity accounts every man honest till he be disprov'd and will not so much as think evil against any whereas censure and worldly policy deals with every man as if he were a Knave nay and will endeavour to make a man bad before he be so and will sooner take notice of one bad Action than an Hundred good ones He that loves another will wink at his faults and endeavour to hide them from others too whereas envy and hatred will pass censure upon Vertues and Arraign even a mans best Actions And here I would not be understood as if I did condemn all Admonitions and Reproofs all observation of other mens Actions for then I should be at present silent my self no I mean only such as pass unkind Interpretations upon them when there is as fair a way made for a good Construction as for a bad one when men tell a mans faults not privately to himself but to others too if not to every body that knows or has but heard of him and that not with a design to admonish and reclaim him but to expose and upbraid him It 's such only that I here speak of for it 's the greatest piece of love and kindness that can be kindly to admonish and advise and therefore to have a Friend that 's always flattering and is either afraid or unwilling to Reprove or chide when there is cause is to meet with such a Friend as wounds deeper than an Enemy and is such a piece of Friendship as I pray God send I may never meet with It 's therefore unkind Censuring and not Counselling and advising that I here speak of as the great hindrance of our Christian love and indeed if we did but consider the faults we have of our own and did but as clearly see the Beam in our eye as we do the mote in our Brothers and withall how unable we are to judg of our selves and how often we have been deceiv'd and cheated in both we should quickly have enough of this unnatural Temper how our own goodness has had a mixture of the Leaven of Hypocrisie our Charity a Tincture of vain glory and a desire to be seen of Men our Repentance only a melancholly fit and lost in the next merry