whole substance to feed the poor and yet may perish for want of Love He may dare to dye a pretended Martyr by giving his body to be burnt And yet he may be frozen for want of Love So I collect from the Apostle 1 Cor. 13. 3. It concerns us therefore to know what love this is having seen what it is not by which a man may be known to be Christs Disciple And the shortest way to know this is to reflect a while on the Love of Christ For such as was his Love to us such must ours be to Him and to one another We have his own word for it in the verse immediatly before my Text and c. 15. v. 10 12. If ye keep my Commandements ye shall abide in my love v. 10. And this is my Commandement that ye love one another even as I have loved you v. 12. Now we know the Love of Christ was both extrensively and intensively great and proposed in both respects not more to our wonder than imitation First it was so extensively Great as that it reached to All in generall 1 Tim. 4. 10. to every man in particular Heb. 2. 9. not to a world of men onely as that may signifie a part but to all the whole world without exception 1 Ioh. 2. 2. without exception of the ungodly Rom. 5. 6. without exception of enemies Rom. 5. 10. without exception of them that perish 2 Pet. 2. 1. And so intensively great was the Love of Christ that it made him empty himself of glory and become of * no reputation †it made him a man of sorrowes and acquainted with grief indeed an intimate Acquaintance of the most heart-breaking grief that ever was suffer'd on this side Hell It put him upon the vassallage of * washing and wiping his servants feet It made him †obedient unto the Death and to seek the lives of his Enemies whilst his enemies sought his He in order to their safety as they in order to his Ruine It made him once our Priest after the order of Aaron and our Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedeck For us he descended into Hel for us he ascended into Heaven for us he maketh intercession at the right hand of God Rom. 8. 34. Thus Christ as our Master hath set us a Copy of His Love to the end that we as his Disciples might do our utmost to take it out Our Love must be so extensive that it must reach even to All not onely to all our fellow-Disciples but to all men living upon the Earth it must reach unto our Enemies and of them to all sorts too not onely to those without the pale of the Church who do us little or no hurt even Iewes Turks Infidels and Hereticks for whom we pray once a year in our English Liturgy But to our Crueller Enemies within the Church our particular Persecutors and Slanderers for whom we pray in our Liturgy three times a week Indeed the Hypocrites of the Synagogue did constraine the word Neighbour to signifie nothing but a Friend esteeming it Godlinesse and Zeal to hate an Enemy And some there are even in Christendom who feigning God from all Eternity to have hated more then he loved think they acquit themselves fairly and look upon it in themselves as a God-like property if they are much less inclinable to love then Hatred They know they need not love more then the Saviour of the world was pleas'd to dye for And easily taking it for granted that he dyed onely for some they think they need not exhibit their love to all Such men must be taught that even our Enemies are to be treated as one sort of friends and that the Scripture-word Neighbour extend's to both 't was so extended even by * Moses and so by †Solomon if by Moses and Solomon much more by Christ who having first commanded us to love our Enemies to bless them that curse us to oblige them that hate us and to pray for them that are spitefull to us give's us his reason in these words because * God also is kind to the unthankfull and to the evil Which is as much as to say that in the extension of our kindnesse we must be imitators of God For so he tells us in the very next words †be ye mercifull as your Father in Heaven is mercifull And when a Jew askt the Question * Who is my Neighbour Our Saviour answer'd him by a Parable of a Iew and a Samaritan not of a Iew and a Iew Whereby we are given to understand that all are our Neighbours who stand in Need. Let that need be what it will A need of our Pardon or our Purse we must not onely forgive them in case they reduce us to want of Bread but we must give them our †Bread too in case they want it We must pray for them and pity them and indeavour to melt them to reconcilement we must do them all the good offices within our power excepting such as are apt to hurt them we must shew them such favours as may help to raise them out of the Pit not such as may sink them the faster in we must not be so rudely civill so discourteously complaisant as to * suffer their sins to be upon them without disturbance but must rather oblige them with our †rebukes lest for want of such favours they go down quietly to destruction For so run's the precept Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart on the contrary thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy brother and shalt not suffer Sin upon him Although a man be so scandalous as to be shut out of our * company by the direction of the Apostle yet the same Apostle tells us we must not count him as an Enemy but admonish him as a brother 2 Thes. 3. 15. And from hence we are to argue à minori ad majus For if our Love must thus extend to Enemies how much more to such as are friends friends to our persons and to our God too The love of Châ—ist had degrees so must ours As the Apostle tells concerning Christ he is the Saviour of all but especially of them that believe 1 Tim. 4. 10. so the same Apostle doth also tell us of our selves we must do good unto All men but especially to them who are of the houshold of faith Gal. 6. 10. And even of those that are faithfull a primary care is to be taken for them that are of our own Country †It was not onely for Gods sake that David was kind unto Ierusalem but for his Brethren and Companions sake he prayed to God for her and did his utmost to do her good Psal. 122. 8. Our Saviour being himself an Israelite did * prefer the lost sheep of the House of Israel How kind was Moses to His Countrymen when he became for their sakes extremely cruell unto Himself
same Kingdome Our Love must imitate the manner and the Degree of Christs Love For we must venture our Lives for the good of others and even in spight of all Dangers which may happen to the Body we must own and propagate and defend the Doctrines of the Gospel which is the most we can do for the good of other mens Souls and that which makes us most like a Saviour The Gospel I may say is the Christian Scool thither it is we go to learn Christ is the Master of it in chief All Christians are Schoolfellows or Condisciples The Love I have hitherto described is the highest Lesson which there is taught Those Titular Christians who do not attain to this Love are so many Dunces and Truants fit to be turn'd out of the School It is indeed a hard Lesson for us to love one another even as Christ hath loved us a Lesson only to be found in the School of Christ But yet how Difficult soever it is not impossible to be learn't For God is faithfull and expects not to reap but after the measure that he hath sown He will not suffer us to be tempted above what we are able If there is in us a willing mind He accepts according to what we have and not according to what we have not The Grace of Christ is sufficient for us And we can do all things through him that strengthens us And therefore let us not despaire of getting the Mastery over our Lesson For we are all * {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} as St. Paul speaks to the Thessalonians immediatly taught it by God himself Now the more largely I have discovered both what it is not and what it is to love one another as Christ requires the fewer words will suffice to make it as clear as the Sun at Noon that by this we must be known to be Christs Disciples For such a Love as This is is the fulfilling of the Law So saith the Law-giver * himself Mat. 22. 40. and so his principal Apostle Rom. 13. 8 9 10. where he speaks of Love in a Christian as Demosthenes did of Pronunciation in an Orator As if it were not only the first Thing but also the second and the third and so indeed the {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the All in All of a Christian For mark the words of that Apostle whom we cannot accuse of vain or needless Repition He that loveth another hath fulfilled the Law v. 8. All the Commandments of the Law are comprehended even in this Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self v. 9. Love worketh no evil to his Neighbour therefore Love is the fulfilling of the Law v. 10. Three times in a breath without so much as a Parenthesis love is reckon'd to be the Pandect of all things requisite to make a Saint Nor let any man say within himself How can this be Since Gods word tells us that so it is And yet I think it is easie to shew you How too For the whole Body of the Law morall doth consist of ten Members which are call'd the Decalogue or ten Commandements of the Law The Lord Jesus hath reduced those Ten to these Two Thou shalt love thy God with all thy Heart And thy Neighbour as thy self On those two Hinges the very Door of Salvation doth seem to turn For on those two Precep-s hang all the Law and the Prophets Mat. 22. 40. But St. Paul hath reduced them all to One For thus he speaks to the Galatians * All the Law is fulfilled in one word even in this Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self The reason is because the Love of our Neighbour in the high Degree I here speak of doth carry along with it the Love of God Either of them saith * Austin is inferr'd by either for if we really love God we shall obey him when he commands us to love our Neighbour and if we really love our Neighbour it is for the Love which we beare to God Observe the Logick by which St. Iohn argues both backward and foreward By this we know we love the Children of God when we love God and keep his Commandements 1 Jo. 5. 2. There he argues from the first Table to the second Now observe how he argues from the second to the first and that two waies both in the Negative and the Affirmative In the Negative thus He that loveth not his Brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen 1 Jo 4. 10. He that shutteth up his Bowels of Compassion from his brother how dwelleth the Love of God in him 1 Jo. 3. 17. Again he argues it in the Affirmative We know that we have passed from death unto life if we love the brethren 1 Jo. 3. 14. Hereby we know weare of the Truth and have Confidence towards God if we keep his Commandements And this is his Commandement that we love one another v. 19. to v. 23. Hence you see it is evident There is not a clearer Demonstration of our loving God with all our hearts then the loving our Neighbour as our selves From whence it follows that every sin must needs argue some want of Love For if against the first Table it is through a want of some love to God And if against the second it must needs be for want of some love to Men Again it follows on the contrary that where Love is perfect and entire no Commandement can be broken For loving God with all our hearts we shall keep the first Table and loving our Neighbour as our selves we shall not fail to keep the second What I have shew'd in the Great I can easily shew in the Retail too to wit that Love is the fulfilling of the Law For if we love God as we ought to do we shall certainly have no God but Him Much less shall we worship a Graven Image We shall not lift up his Name in vain Nor shall we fail to keep holy his Holy Dayes And if we love our Neighbour as Christ requires we shall be sure to render to every man his Due And so by consequence we shall honour all our Parents and Superiors whether publick or private Ecclesiasticall or Civill Then for the Neighbour who is equall or in any degree inferiour to us we shall be sure not to injure him in any kind From whence it follows we shall not kill for that were to injure him in his Life Nor commit Adultry for that were to injure him in his Wife Nor steal or Plunder for that were to injure him in his Goods Nor bear false Witness for that were to injure him in his good Name And as we shall not thus injure him either in Deed or in Word so if we love him as our selves or as Christ lov'd us we shall not do him any injury no not so much as in our Thoughts we shall not covet or be desirous of any thing that is
ΦΙΛΑΛΛΗΛΙΑ OR THE Grand Characteristick VVHEREBY A MAN MAY BE KNOWN TO BE CHRIST'S DISCIPLE Delivered in a SERMON at St. Paul's before the Gentlemen of VVilts. Nov. 10. 1658. It being the day of their Yearly Feast By THOMAS PIERCE Rector of Brington Philo Iudaeus {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} p. 557. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} LONDON Printed by I. G. for R. Royston and are to be sold by Iohn Courtney Bookseller in Salisbury 1658. To all my very much Honoured Friends and Countrymen The respective Natives of the County of WILTS. More especially To those of the late Solemn-Meeting And in particular To the worthy Stewards of the Feast My Deare Countrymen I Here present you with a Discourse which by a threefold Title you may properly call Yours There having been nothing but your Intreaty which with me shall ever obtain the force of a Command in a just conformity to which it was both pen'd and preached and is now committed to the Presse too Next to the reverence which I bear to the work it self I mean The * labour of Love and the †beatifick office of making peace which cannot chuse but carry with it its own Reward I was chiefly incouraged to the enterprise in which you were pleased to engage me by your being so much at unity amongst your selves so Religiously intent on the good of others For in how many things soever there may be a * seemingness of Religion I am sure its †Purity consists in these two The Relief of the needy in their afflictions the keeping of ones self unspotted from the world For the taking of both into possession I think I cannot direct to a better course either for brevity or clearness then that we measure and deal out our Love to others by that natural proportion we commonly beare unto our selves This being the scope of that * Royal Law to which as many as are Christians must needs be subject I say they must so much the rather because †whatsoever a man soweth that shall he reap And with what measure we * mete it shall be measured to us again As t is the mercy of good men which is said to †triumph over Gods Iudgement so there is judgement * without mercy for them that shew little or none This I desire may be considered by a peculiar sort of professors who hate and persecute their Neighbours under colour of Devotion and zeal to God As if it were not sufficient simply to break Gods Commandements unless they be broken against each other For if the same God that saith Thou shalt not worship a graven Image doth also say in the same instant Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self Then sure to persecute a Neighbour in pretence of affection and love to God is to take up the second Table in anger and to dash it in pieces against the first And what is that in effect but to make the Law its own Transgressor Such men are told by an Apostle That they * deceive their own hearts and feed themselves with such hopes as will but nourish them to destruction whilest they imagine that †such Religion will ever stand them in any stead And to shew them the thickness of that Fallacy which by the Sophistry of the Flesh they are made to impose upon themselves was not the least of those ends at which I levell'd my Meditations For no sooner was I invited to entertain my dear Countrymen with the first and chiefest Course in a Feast of Love but straight I reflected upon the Character which Christ had given to his Disciples just in the Close of his Farewell * Supper which was indeed a †Love-Feast by which they might certainly be known to be truly His I knew the Character of a Christian was to be sought most fitly from Christ Himself And that Love was that Character which Christ had left upon Record Not such a Love of one another as was the * Ravenous Love of the Scribes and Pharisees wherewith they lov'd the Widows Houses so far forth as to devour them and †eat them up Nor such a * cruel kind of Love as was that of the * Canibals in Herodotus who glutted themselves with the flesh of men because they lov'd it as well as Ven'son For when professors are transported with such an unnatural kind of Love as gives them an Appetite to †bite and †devour each other as the Apostle speaks to the Ephesians or to eat up Gods people as if they would eat Bread as the * Royal Prophet thought fit to phrase it It hath a tendency to nothing but mutual Ruine Whereas the Note of distinction whereby to know a sincere and a solid Christian is such a divine kind of Love as tends to unity and peace and so by a consequence unavoidable to mutuall safety and preservation If we are †rooted and grounded in such a Love to one another as was the Love of Christ unto us all we shall be known by the * fruit web ear to have been †grafted into Him who is indeed the * true Vine We shall not only do to †no man what we would that no man should do to us which was the motto a Heathen Prince would needs have carved in all his Plate But †what we wish that All men would do to us we shall earnestly endeavour to do to all men We shall love them for Gods sake whom for their own sakes we cannot love If we are meerly weak Brethren we shall manifest by our meekness that we are not wilful And if strong we shall * bear the Infirmities of the weak We shall walk in †wisdom towards them that are without I mean the enemies of Christ both Iewes and Gentiles That we may neither be in danger of being corrupted by their secular and sensuall bairs nor heighten their prejudice to the Gospel by any matter of scandall in our Converse I shall never forget what I was told about eight years agoe by a * learned Jew That Godliness and Honesty or the Love of God and the love of men are a kind of Twin-Sisters which every Creature is to espouse who is not so wedded to the world as to admit of a * Divorce from the Caelestiall †Bridegroom It was never allow'd unto the Iewes to * abhorre an Edomite or an Aegyptian or to reckon any man as an Enemy although he were †scaling the City-Walls until he had absolutely refused their solemn offers of Reconcilement And I do now the rather take this occasion to recount the things which I have learnt both as an Instructer of the Ignorant and as an humble * Remembrancer to men of more knowledge not only to You of mine own Countrâ—y to whom I make this Dedication but to as
Lord saith he if thou wilt forgive their Sin and if not blot me I pray thee out of the book which thou hast written Exod. 32. 32. As if salvation it self could hardly please him unlesse his Countrymen might have it as well as He. Nor was the passion of St. Paul inferiour to it who for the love he bare unto His Countrymen whom he calls his brethren and kinsmen according to the flesh was ready to wish himself accursed and utterly cut off from the body of Christ Rom. 9. 2 As if he car'd not what became of him so that his Countrymen might be sav'd But many times our neerest Countrymen may become our worst Neighbours and in respect of their Religion dwell farthest off too To a man that is born in Iudea A good Samaritan ought to be dearer then a cruel Iew * St. Paul and the Christians †of Thessalonica were never used with more rigour then by the men of their own Countrey And our Saviours words are very remarkable that except it be in his own Countrey a Prophet is never without honour Mat. 13. 57. But let him be in his own Countrey and he hath no honour at all John 4. 44 Christ himself had least there and there he did the fewest Miracles but that he did not more there then in other places the only Cause was their unkindness This is therefore the firmest Bond whereby to hold us together in peace and love not that we are of one Countrey but that we are of one * Christ And can say of our selves with better reason then it was anciently said of the Lomnini That in all our bodies there is no more then one soul or to express it with St. Paul that we have all but one Faith one Baptisme one Spirit one Lord one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in us all Eph. 4. 4 5 6. If we will manifest to the world and prove convincingly to our selves that we are really the Followers and Friends of Christ It must be by a burning and shining Love A love of men and not of God only And a Love of men it must be in which the true Love of God is not excluded but presuppos'd Not a love of our selves only condemn'd so much by the * Apostle but a Love of others as our selves if not as much yet as well if not in that measure yet in the very same manner in which we are obliged to love our selves And it must be Dilectio Amoebaea a mutuall Love a giving and taking of affections Indeed rather then fail we must pledge them in Love who do begin to us in hatred But to make 〈◊〉 {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} or Love-Feast indeed such as â—ith which the blessed Apostles did once adorn both the Doctrine and the Discipleship of Christ It must be {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Love interchanged with one another The chiefest requisites of our Love must be Sincerity and Fervour As St. Paul speaks to the Romans we must be kindly affectioned one towards another so as our lovâ— may be brotherly and without dissimulation Rom. 12. 9 10. we must not be {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} double-sould men Jam. 1. 8. but must carry our meaning in our foreheads and hold our hearts in our hands Not love in word neither in Tongue but in deed and in Truth 1 John 3. 18. we must not look every man at his own things only but every man at the things of others Phil. 2. 4. If we are owners of such a love as is a Testimony and proof of our reall Discipleship under Christ The same mind will be in us which was in Christ Iesus Phil. 2. 5. And if so we shall be ready to stoop as he * did to the meanest offices of love even to wash and to wipe the very feet of our Inferiors we shall willingly bear one anothers burdens Gal. 6. 2. by love serving one another Gal. 5. 13. And in honour preferring one another Rom. 12. 10. Nay if the same mind be in us which was in Christ Jesus as the Apostle tells us it ought to be our love will be so intensive as to make us lay down our lives for the Brethren And so St. Iohn tells us we ought to do 1 Iohn 3. 16. If no diviner love of one another were meant by our Saviour in my Text then what was so frequently exacted under the paedagogie of Moses our Saviour would certainly have said An old Commandement I give unto you it having been said to them of old Thou shalt love thy Neighbor as thy self Levit. 19. 18. But here he calls it a new Commandement which we cannot imagine he would have done had there been nothing in its subject but what was old No he might very well call it a New Commandement not only for that reason which I find given by St. * Austin because it prescribes us such a love as by which we cast off the old man and put on the new but because it prescribes us such a love as never was thought upon before much lesse deliver'd under precept to any Sect or Society of Iewes or Gentiles Had his Commandement been no more then that we love one another it had been old with a witness no doubt I may say as old as Adam But because he added a Sicut Ego that we must love one another even as he hath loved us which was with such a new Love as till he came into the world was never heard of he had reason to call it a New Commandement For although St. Iohn saith Brethren I write * no New Commandement but an old Commandement which ye had from the beginning yet he meanes no more by that word then the first beginning of Christianity which was with the preaching of the Gospel by Iesus Christ Remember therefore I beseech you what Love this is which is the Badge and Cognisance of our profession the mark of difference betwixt the Sheep and the Goats and which is not exacted from Men as Men but from Christians as they are Christians We must not love as They do who * corrupt one another as S Austin speaks with a meerly seditious or schismaticall Love nor must we love as They do who only love one another for filthy Lucre much less as They do who love one another for filthy Lust Nor must we love as They do whose love consisteth only in this that they agree in the hatred of some third Party Nor must we only love as They do who love one another as they are Men only that is as they are sociable and civill Creatures But we must love one another as benig Lovers of God and as being such whom God loves as being * Children of the Highest and * younger Brothers of our Redeemer as being all made Consorts of the very same Hope and all Co-heirs of the very
many as shall not disdain to read me let their Place and their Principles be what they will if peradventure by any meanes I may * provoke to Emulation them that are mine own Flesh as the Apostle spake in another case which yet was of kin to the case in hand and become instrumental to †save some of them If in any thing I have spoken I seem to have spoken somewhat Austerely I here declare my self free from all particular Reflections upon any man's person alive or dead My Propositions are universal as well as true and my severities to sin lie all in common As many as find themselves guilty may make particular Application of my Reproofs so as they have it in their Remembrance that I have made none at all I have one thing to beg as from all my Readers in generall so in particular from you Sirs for whose particular satisfaction my work is done even that you will labour to be the better for all that is offer'd to your acceptance That * when the Lord Iesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of Iesus Christ you may be able to †stand and to appear with great boldness as wearing his Livery which is Love and as owned thereby to be his Disciples To the sure protection of whose Providence and to the wise direction of whose Grace you all are heartily commended without any Ceremony or Complement by Your affectionate Countreyman in all the services of Love and Friendship THO. PIERCE {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} OR The Grand Characteristick by which a man may be known to be Christ's Disciple JOHN 13. 35. By this shall all men know that ye are my Disciples if ye have love one to another AS the Text is part of our Saviour's last words his Farewell Sermon to his Disciples so I may say it is a part of his last Will and Testament and shewes the worth of that Legacy which he was pleas'd to bequeath them at his departure The ever blessed * Testator as the Author to the Hebrews doth fitly call him being now to take his last leave and having prepar'd them with an assurance that the time of his leaving was at hand that so they might ponder what he was speaking and lay it up as the speech of a * Dying man And being resolv'd not to leave them without some Legacy some special Token of his Solicitude both for their present Fortification and future Blisse †Peace saith he I leave with you my peace I give unto you not as the World giveth a few good words in civility or at the most a kind wish And therefore let not your heart be troubled at the sudden departure of my person for as a supplement of that I leave you my cordiall and solid Peace But knowing well that His peace could never quietly rest with them in case of Warre and Division amongst themselves and being not able to indeare them with a greater expression of His love then by obliging them strictly to the constant loving of one another He therefore bequeathed this * Royall Precept as a previous part of their Patrimony whereby to fit them for all the rest That their reciprocall kindnesse should be like His that they should all be so affected as they had Him for an †Example that just as He had been to All they should be All to one another for such are the words of the will in the verse immediatly before my Text {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} c. A new Commandement I give unto you that ye love one another even as I have loved you But then to gain their Acceptance of his Bequeast and their religious Execution of what he commanded them to observe He shew'd them the value of such a Legacy as did obligingly tye them to such a Love {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} c. By this shall all men know that ye are my Disciples if ye love one another In which words of our Saviour there are two things supposed and a third is taught First of all it is suppos'd that All to whom the words are spoken either are or ought to be Christs Disciples And that not only in profession but in singleness of heart not only verbally and by name but very really such This is easily collected from three words in the Text {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Ye are my Disciples In the second place it is suppos'd that such as are really Christs Disciples not in shew but in substance not in hypocrisie but in deed ought to endeavour to make it known to all THE WORLD that they are such Their light must shine before men by their Procope and Growth in the SCHOOL of Christ This is apparent from two words more {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} All men shall know it And were it not so in good earnest their Master would never have directed them as here he doth to the infallible meanes of its attainment For Mark attentively in the third place the most important Lesson which here is taught and which is now of all Lessons the most worth learning especially if we reflect on the Originall Occasion of this solemnity by what certain {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} or way of proof ye may make men know ye are Christs Disciples This is deliver'd in the first and the last words of the Text {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} they shall know it even by this {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} If ye beare love to one another From these three parts there are just as many Propositions into which the Text is very naturally dissolv'd The first is this That all who are Auditors of Christ or all to whom he is revealed do stand obliged by that meanes to be very really his Disciples The second this That their Discipleship if it be reall will also be eminent and exemplary so far forth as to be known and taken notice of by All The third is this That the surest Testimony and proof of sincere Discipleship under Christ and the principal Instance or effect wherein its eminence doth consist And that which by Christ is here pronounced as an unerrable mark or Criterion of it is this Divine Qualification of mutuall Love And this indeed is the proposition upon which I have fastned my Meditations because it is that which suites best with the principal end of our present meeting and that wherein is swallowed up the prime Importance of the Text Not only the prime but the whole rational Importance And I verily think you will say as much if you duly compare the Proposition with the fourfold Emphasis which is to be put upon the words For first our Saviour doth not say Men shall guesse or conjecture that ye are mine but {non-Roman}
{non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} they shal know it Nor 2ly doth he say Your Discipleship shall be known as a speciall Secret to very few but as the Sun in his Meridian {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} All men shall know it Nor thirdly doth he say All men shall know that ye seem to be by a Disguise but {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} that ye are my Disciples without a fiction Last of all he doth not say Your Discipleship shall be known by such deceiveable Tokens as your Assembling your selves in the House of Prayer your crying out * Lord Lord your doing †wonders in my name your being Orthodox in Judgement and jumping together in Opinions but by This it shall be known as by a Token which never fails {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} If ye have Love for one another I must therefore begin with That Proposition which is last in Order but first in Dignity And which being as the Heart of the whole Body of Christianity deserves to be like the Heart in the body of man {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} The first thing that lives and the last that dyes in our consideration For can there be any thing in the world of greater consequence then this which gives us a Token whereby to know we have an Interest in Christ and such a sure token too as cannot possibly deceive us yet even such is that Love with which I am now to entertain you and which if you take into your hearts as well as into your outward eares will I doubt not carry with it that peace of Conscience which is to all that feed on it a continuall * Feast But because there is hardly any word that is more equivocal than this I must needs Anticipate an Objection by shewing what Love it is which our Saviour meant when he appointed it for the measure by which his Scholars are to be scann'd And to shew you the better what it is I must first shew you what it is not For all sorts of men pretend to Love not only Christians but the professed Enemies of Christ and as well the nominall as reall Christians Nay in one kind or other they all have Love in their possession and many times the worst men in the greatest measure For greater Love then this our * Saviour tells us there is none that a man lay down his life for his friend And plentiful store of this Love we commonly find in our reading amongst the Heathen Their great †Philosophers did prescribe it and not a few of their people obey'd the Precept To save a Friend ready to perish we find Episthenes in Xenophon a ready to lay down his life And such was the love of Artapates to Cyrus Iunior that he perfectly b hated his own life as soon as Cyrus had lost His Nor c would Lucius Petronius out-live his friend d Pomponius Laetorius dyed a couple of Martyrs for Caius Gracchus And Titus e Volumnius follow'd Lucullus into his grave f Terentius preferr'd the life of Brutus by many degrees before his own And g Valerius tells us of divers servants who to preserve their masters destroy'd themselves What transcendent lovers of one another were h Menedemus and Hipsides i Cleonymus and Archidamus k Agasias and Xenophon l Bagωas and Mentωr m Hippoclides and Polystratus n Asclepiodotus and Soranus 'T were easie to name as many o more as would make you weary to hear them nam'd Nor do I speak onely of Couples but of whole Societies and Sects whose astonishing Love to one another hath rais'd them Monuments in story which will endure as long as the Sun and Moon Such as the p Cimbri and Celtiberians in Valerius Maximus The q friends of Cyrus in Xenophon The r Athenians in Thucydides The s Megalâ—politans in Polybius The men of t Saguntum and Petellia The many u Societies reckon'd up by Alexander ab Alexandro who had all things in common of every kind and as well their sufferings as their injoyments Insomuch that if one did lose a limb by any accident all the rest were to cut off theirs that in every Circumstance of Adversity they might all be equall and alike Thus there were multitudes of men who lov'd each other unto the Death And some beyond it as far as * Hell Yet very far were those Pagans from being known by such love to have been either the Disciples of Christ or Moses 'T was little better than the love of King Perus his Elephant and other generous beasts which have expos'd their own lives to save their Riders There is a †naturall kindnesse and Generosity which is common to men with the meanest Creatures and so hath nothing of affinity with what is intended in the Text Nay if we reflect upon our selves upon whom the name of Christ is called we must not imagin we have attain'd unto that excellent Love which is here requir'd because we find upon inquiry that we are loving to our friends or because we have our †solemn meetings or stand * fast to one another as drivers on of a design For as there are many sorts of Love which are not rationall and pure as not proceeding from a right principle so there are many things too which are but the Counterfeits of love and yet are call'd by that Name because they look extremely like it The Devils themselves have their combination they are still at †agreement among themselves so as Satan is never divided against Satan but 't is from a principle of Policy and not of Love Even Rebells and Schismaticks the greatest enemies of Church and state are wont to * hold altogether and keep themselves close but from a principle of Faction and not of Love We read of †Pilate and Herod that they were solemnly made friends but from a principle of Hatred to an innocent Christ not of love to one another The world is full of such Merchants as keep a good correspondence and are punctuall Dealers with one another but from a principle of Traffick and not of true Love The friends of Ceres Bacchus have their times of Feasting and Good-fellowship their times of injoying the Creature-Comforts but from a principle of loosenesse and not of Love Many love the merry meeting but not the men whom they meet Or if they are Lovers of the men 't is far from being * thank-worthy For even the Publicans and Sinners do love those that love them but from a principle of Nature and not of Grace It being a meer self-self-Love which makes them so to love others Nay farther yet A man may do the very things which are the principall offices and works of Love for which not his Love but onely his vanity is to be thankt He may bestow his
our Neighbours Thus the four Precepts of the first Table and the six Precepts of the second Or if there is any * other Precept besides these Ten they all are briefly comprehended in this one word Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self And so I hope by this time we are all of one minde as touching ths Grand Characteristick by which we are to be known to be Christ's Disciples The peculiar Note of Distinction by which we are taken from out the world as it were sever'd and set apart from all other societies and sorts of men whether their Ring-leaders and Masters are Jews or Gentiles First for the Gentiles ye may know the Disciples of Zoroastres by their belief of two gods and their incestuous wedlocks Ye may know the Disciples of the Brachmans by their unparall'd self-denials in food and rayment Ye may know the Disciples of Pythagoras by their Reverence to the numbers of four and seven And the Disciples of Plato by their fancifull Idaea's in the concave of the Moon And the Disciples of Zeno by their Dreams of Apathie and Fate And the Disciples of Mahomet as well by the filthiness of their paradise as by their desperate Tenet of God's Decrees And then for the Iews ye may know the Disciples of the Scribes by their Traditional corruptions and their expositions of the Law Ye may know the Disciples of the Pharisees by their Form of godliness and their * appearing righteous unto men Ye may know the Disciples of the Sadducees by their denial of Providence and their dis-belief of the Resurrection Ye may know the Disciples of the Esseni by their overstrict Sabbatizing And the Disciples of the Nazarites by their abstinence from the flesh of all living creatures And the Disciples of the Hemerobaptists by their every day washings from Top to Toe Ye may know the Disciples of Iohn the Baptist by their remarkable Fastings and other Austerities of Life But by this shall all men know that ye are all the Disciples of Iesus Christ If ye love one another even as Christ hath loved you Whilst I am thinking what proper Uses are to be made of this Scripture the words of St. Paul which he writ to Timothy do straight occur to my remembrance All Scripture saith he is by divine Inspiration and is profitable for Reproof for Correction for Instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be furnâ—shed unto all good works 2 Tim. 3. 16 17. Were there no other Scripture then that with which I have entertain'd you I should think it very profitable for each of those ends and esteem the preacher well furnished for every good work First it is profitable for Doctrine because it teacheth such as are ignorant the true importance of Christianity which doth not consist as some would have it in our being born of godly Parents believing the History of the Gospel making profession of zeal to Christ posting up and down from Sermon to Sermon making many and long prayers or whatsoever is comprehended under the Form of Godliness that is the Image the Picture the Counterfeit of Devotion as the word in the * Original doth very naturally import 2 Tim. 3. 5. For many profess to know God who in their works deny him †And let a mans profession be what it will yet if he act in contradiction to the Commandements of Christ that very acting is nothing better than a Denial of the Faith And so 't is call'd by the Apostle 1 Tim. 5. 8. Christianity doth not consist then in such a sanguin presumption as some call Faith in such a carnal security as some call Hope in such a parcel of * fair words as some call Charity in such a †worldly sorrow as some call Repentance But it consist's in such a Faith as * worketh by Love in such a Hope as doth * cleanse and purifie in such a Charity as worketh no ill to his neighbour but is on the contrary the †fulfilling of the Law and in such a Repentance as shew's it self by amendment and change of life bringing forth * fruits meet for Repentance Whatever some Mockers are wont to say we finde by the Tenor of the Gospel that a material part of Godliness is moral honesty The chief ingredients in a Christians life are acts of Iustice and works of Mercy than which there was nothing more conspicuous in the life of Christ The second Table is the touchstone of our obedience unto the first Our chiefest duty towards God is our duty towards our Neighbour God will have Iustice and Mercy to be performed to one another before he accept's of any sacrifice which can be offer'd unto himself For what saith our Saviour If thou bring thy gift to the Altar and there remembrest that thy Brother hath ought against thee leave there thy gift before the Altar and go thy way first be reconciled to thy Brother and then come and offer thy gift As if he should have said Get thee gone and be Honest before thou talk'st of being Godly Now together with this compare St. Iohn's way of reckoning * In this the children of God are manifest and the children of the Devil whosoever doth not righteousnesse is not of God neither he that loveth not his Brother * And we know that we have passed from Death unto Life because we love the Brethren Nor doth our Saviour say in my Text By this shall all men know that ye are my Disciples if they see ye love God But by this they shall know it if ye love one another Because our love of one another doth presuppose we love God which 't is * impossible we should doe in case we love not one another For he that hateth his Brother is a Murderer and abideth in Death 1 Joh. 3. 14 15. Thus ye see how this Scripture is profitable for Doctrin And as for Doctrin so also for Reproof Because it serves to convince us of the small proportion of Christianity which is to be found among'st men who are commonly call'd Christians How much there is of the word and how little of the thing When the son of man cometh shall he find Faith on the Earth Yes store of that Faith which will ever be common to men with * Devils But when the Son of man cometh shall he finde Iustice shall he finde Mercy shall he finde Love upon the Earth shall he finde that Faith which worketh by Love and which worketh by such a Love as is the mother of Obedience and the mother of such obedience as is impartially due to the Law of Christ Alas how frequent a thing is it for Christians to persecute their fellow-Christians and then to reckon it as the character of their Discipleship under Christ As if they read the Text backwards or understood it by an Antiphrasis supposing Christ had meant thus By this shall all men know that ye are my
Disciples if ye Hate one another Will it not be a very sad and a shamefull thing if Iewes and Gentiles shall rise in judgement against a great part of Christendom whilest Christendom shall justifie both Iewes and Gentiles First for the Jewes they are so much at unity amongst themselves that however covetous in their particulars and however cruel to us Christians yet they are kind to one another and full of good works too They suffer not the needy to goe without his relief nor the Captive without his ransom Nay the * Esseni amongst the Jewes had all things in common and living Virgins themselves bestow'd their cost and their care in breeding other folks children Then secondly for the Gentiles a Homer describes the love of Enemies The b Pythagoreans gave it in precept and c Antius Restio's brave servant reduc't the Doctrin into practise Whilest some of the Heathens do love their Enemies were it not well if some Christians would love their Friends What a scandal is it at this day to the Disciples of Mahomet that grand Impostor that the Spirit of Division should seem to reign more amongst Christians then amongst them Nay are there not many great Potentates who professe to be the followers and friends of Christ and yet are ready at any rate to buy peace of the Turk to the end that they may break it with one another Or not to go so far from home how little is there of Christianity except the syllables and the sound even in that part of Christendom where Christ is most talkt of Amongst the many who are followers of the name of Christ how few are followers of his Example how far are they from giving all to the poor who * grind their faces as it were meal and eat them up as it were * Bread how unlikely are they to iudure the bearing of the Crosse who lay it so heavily upon other mens shoulders how do they leave all and follow Christ who take away all from them that follow him How do they wrestle against powers and principalities who flatter and syncretize with every thing that is mightiest How doe they abstain from all appearance of evil who have nothing of good but in appearance Where are those pieces of Christianity which are the grand characteristicks whereby a Christian should be distinguish't from Iew and Gentile I fear the places are very few though God be thanked some there are where Christ may be known by solid Love to have real Disciples upon the earth Thus you see how this Scripture doth furnish matter for Reproof And as for Reproof so withall for correction and instruction in righteousnesse Because it serves to * reduce such as are wandering out of the way and to build up such as have begun or as it were set out in the way of righteousness Whereby it brings me neerer and neerer to the more special end of our present meeting which we are not only to celebrate as a people born in the very same County but as a people brought up too in the very same School and deservedly dear to one another not so much by being Countrey-men as Condisciples Not Disciples under the Law which was a rigid * School master to drive us on unto Christ but Disciples under Christ who was a gracious Schoolmaster to lead us on unto God You know when I entred upon my Text I told you it was a part of our Saviour's last will And I must tell you before I leave it that the will was made for the behoof as well of us and of our children upon whom the ends of the world are come as for that dozen of Disciples to whom 't was given by parole and with whom the Depositum was left in trust They were the Witnesses Overseers and Executors in chief But we the remotest of the Legataries have equal right with the most immediate For this Testament like the Sun is so communicated to All that every Christian in particular hath a full right unto the whole Will ye know the reason 't is briefly this The true intent of the Testator was to make us * rich in good works rich towards God and to one another But I may say of Right in such a Legacy what Aristotle saith of the soul of man that the whole is in the whole and the whole in every part too Nor is it left as other Legacies to be accepted or refused without offence For what is allowed to be our priviledge is also injoyned to be our duty In such a Legacy as this we are not only permitted but strictly obliged to claim our portions For so run the words A new commandement give I unto you His command of our Acceptance was one part of the Gift and made his Testament of force not only * after but before his death Thus we see our obligation to fulfill the intent of the Testator And to the end we might see it the will is registred by St. Iohn in this indelible Record It lies upon us this day to give a proof unto the world of our Discipleship under Christ As much as in us lyes through the grace of our God which is working in us we must make this an imitable and an exemplary meeting Every man must endeavour as St. Paul exhorts his son Titus to shew himself a pattern of good works Tit. 2. 7. Our love as well as our moderation * must be know unto all men Our light of love like the Sun must cast a glory round about it though not to this end that men may see us and glorifie us yet at least to this end that men may see our * good works and glorifie our Father which is in heaven Or as 't is expressed in my Text that all men may know we are Christs Disciples Let us not walk after them who open their meeting with a Sermon and shut it up with a Surfet But as we have happily begun with some Acts of sacrifice so let us end more happily in works of mercy for we are not invited to a Feast like that of Herod and the Israelites who sate down like Brutes to eat and drink and then like wantons rose up to play Exod. 32. 6. This is not {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} a Graecian Feast of good fellowship but a Christian {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} or Feast of love If you will know what that means you must consult the second Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles where you will finde in the coâ—clusion that they did not onely continue daily in the Temple but they did also break bread from house to house They did enjoy their merry meetings of love and charity for so it followes in the Text * They did eat their meat with gladness as well as with singleness of heart From whence I take out this Lesson That Christianity is not a sullen