frailty and infirmities of nature even because of that perfect love to men and perfect obedience to God with which they stood accompanied and directed even so is each one in degree innocent according to that degree of love and obedience they bear towards their brethren and to him their head And indeed none speaks so home herein as our Saviour himself both to make love the fulfilling of the law and also to make obedience our secure direction herein for in three several places Matth. 19.19 Mark 10.19 Luke 18.20 being recorded to give the summ of the Commandments to be observed by him that should inherit eternal life he puts the command honour thy Father and Mother as a complement to the other particular precepts And farther to banish that pharisaical error of Corban whereby religious pretences had usually been made a cloak to disobedience he mentions in none of those places any of these four precepts which we onely attribute to be written in the first Table but puts this command of obedience to Parents last least it should be taken but as equal and part of the number of the other six Not improbably inferring it to belong to the first Table by which means they may be presumed to be by us respected under their proper relation of Gods and not in the equality of Neighbours to be loved but secondarily to our selves And then this command being set downe as last of the first Table it must be supposed put for the rest implying that our love and honor to God himself now absent is best discovered in what we do to these his deputies present amongst us And take it as of the first or second Table yet his words are express for making this obedience the fulfilling of the law Matth. 19.19 Honour thy Father and thy Mother and thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self shewing thereby as heretofore noted that the precepts of Do as thou wouldest be done unto and love thy Neighbour as thy self can never have right proportion and valew without the authority and coynage of a just and common superiour to us both by the standard of whose precepts it is to be impartially estimated For Christ had before recited the particular precepts of our love to our Neighbour but now he summs them up to be perfected and fulfilled in love even as that love is to be compleated and directed by obedience to superiours Else when we think our selves least biassed with self respect and do most really examine our thoughts before we act how that they are none other but what with like circumstances we would be content to have received from him or others we might yet be deceived For since first all the intervening circumstances could not be by us throughly considered nor what measure of concern they had unto that person and me and all other parties besides it cannot be avoided but that taking the judgment upon mine owne score herein I must have failed in doing through ignorance and mistake wrong to my self to that my Neighbour or to some other For although I have but don as I would be done unto as to my judgment did appear yet when it must fall out that no one man can foresee and state all other mens concerns fully it must follow that judging upon wrong evidence he hath made wrong judgement and so not loved his Neighbour as himself And therefore all innocence must proceed from obedience for at the last judgment when all things shall be truly stated and laid open and it shall be made appear how in this or that particular I did to my self or some other an evil which I thought not of it will not be a sufficient excuse for me that took upon me to judge herein to say I was not aware thereof or that I was ignorant it was at all or in such measure any harm or that such persons were therein at all or so much concerned For since every one is to be alike loved as my Neighbour my intent of loving and regarding some one or few herein as my self will not though rightly done assoyle me of such failings and dangers as must hereby happen to others also by whom when it comes to be truly stated I must acknowledge I have not done as I would be done unto for I would be loath that another should injure me under colour of doing right to another And therefore that admonition of Saint James is to be carefully remembred by all Subjects that in their deportments towards others would keep themselves unblameable My Brethren be not many Masters knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation clearly evincing that guilt sticks so close to all our commerce with others that so far as it is not authorised by direction or permission of a lawful superiour it cannot be warrantable who also cannot be excused of partiality and guilt otherwise then as having whole and entire interest deputed unto him from God whereupon there are not to be many Masters as heretofore noted And therefore was it not sin in the Israelites according to the words of Moses to borrow of their Neighbours with an intent to deceive them because he that commanded it had from God by his office perfect propriety in the dispose of their actions For though it might be objected that they would not have been to dealt withall by the Egyptians themselves this was true as to the usage of the thing considered separate from that authority by which it was done but not in relation to their equal obligation to superiours in matters of obedience For although they would not themselves have been content to have been so deceived yet in obeying a superiours command they did but unto him as they would be done unto had they been in his case For he having whole interest is thereupon to be wholly looked on as in relation to the performance of the divine precept of do as thou wouldest be done unto For as it is easy so alwayes just for a man to distribute and give to others of those things that are all his owne Whereas he that hath but an uncertain share and that mingled with many must in his decision through partial and uncertain interest give a partial and uncertain judgement and so many times falls short of the rules of charity and loving others as our selves when he most intends it Nay if our Saviours words be well weighed who gave us this rule we shall finde publike allowance appointed to be our guidance therein and that the usage of others was not left to each ones private judgement For although men of late out of arrogance and to valew their single judgments have put it into the singular number of do as thou wouldest be done unto yet from the beginning it was not so But when it was set downe as a rule for fulfilling the law and the Prophets it was put in the plural number whatsoevey ye would that men should do unto you do ye
even so to them c. plainly shewing that no man had warrant from hence to act any kind of wickedness if he could gaine a third persons consent but the words men and them must imply publick approbation or that persons approbation that hath publike charge When the precept of love is set downe it being each mans duty to be affected therewith and ready to perform to the utmost of his power it is therefore commanded in the singular number thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self For this being not onely in the first place necessary as the root of that tree on which our outward charitable works must grow but being also hidden in our hearts where none on earth can have cognisance it could not refer to the approbation of others But because in the outward exercise of this love I might transgress in quantity and so as heretofore shewed do otherwise to some of my Neighbours then I would be done unto my self even whilst I am vehemently loving others as my self therefore am I not to act by private light and as a single man in this case but as having direction or leave from that publike person that hath common interest For although this root of love be onely or chiefly to be watered by the dew of heaven as having its formal seed from thence alone yet is the plant it self of that nature as without the culture of the gardner not onely to become barren or adulterate in its fruit but also by its manner of growth to disorder and overshadow the rest of the trees of the same garden Every man therefore is to love every man as himself as they are to be considered in their general equallity of men but since under policy and government we cannot be externally separate from those different relations which the rule of that polity hath submitted us unto therefore is the guidance of private mens actions in these different relations to be regulated by him that hath the charge of the whole Kingdome who is to order every one under him as the general Oeconomy thereof shall require and who according to their joynt and common relations unto him as subjects may do to men as he in his publike capacity would have men do to him And if we do not interpret the meaning of this rule against private judging we make it destructive and contradictory to the Antecedent and consequent discourses used by Saint Matthew and Saint Luke of mens taking on them to judge one another and to spye the moats in their brothers eye the which things are plainly in those places set downe as bringing condemnation and not innocence The which innocence by the precedent context in Saint Matthew is placed on implicite reliance and obedience to those above us for that which we would have done unto us So that because we are to relye upon the greatness of the knowledg and care of God our Fathers in the flesh therefore no man should presume to be wiser then they nor by judging others without their leave to do by them otherwise then he would be done unto Wherefore without this interpretation I see not how the coherence of therefore in Saint Matthew can be made good And although Saint Matthew have the instance from reliance on God most especially Saint Luke hath it for submission to humane authority for we cannot think Christians obliged to give to other askers or stand still to their smiters then what are warranted by authority as elsewhere noted And if we mark the subsequent texts they will clearly inform us against mens reliance on the obliquity or variety of their owne guidance by bidding us enter in at the strait gate meaning that of obedience and avoid that broad gate and wide way of morality which men are subject to enter at when they are to act any thing And so Saint Matthew goes on to warn men against these false Prophets that shall hereafter be so prone to seduce us by their specious precepts to innocence by reliance on doctrines by themselves brought in who are to be known by the fruits of dissention and civil war even because none but such fruits can be expected to come from a Tree whose root is not love to their brother and obedience to Christ. Nay implicite obedience too for though they should Prophesie or work miracles in his name yet since these might have been done but out of self likeing and regard onely there is nothing but founding obedience on him as on a rock that can secure our foundation For we are to know that since Christ the master of the house is now risen up and hath finished legal and moral righteousness and hath shut to the dore that is bound up the law and the testimony and their meaning among his Disciples it is not then for men to knock more at that dore of entrance But if their works were not done in obedience to him as Lord they were workers of iniquity though they called him so when they did them neither communion with him in the visible Church nor hearing his Gospel can excuse them Again the subsequent text in Saint Luke joyned thereunto for if ye love them that love you what thank have you for sinners also love those that love them doth plainly also shew that mens private wills and judgements were not to be relyed upon for performance of that precept tending to love whose performance that way could render men but still sinners But we must be made capable of loving our enemies as our friends by submitting our wills to the will of a publike person unto whom they are of equal concern with our selves and so doing by him as we would be done unto we shall do by all others as we would be done unto also Else if we blindly act by our owne judgements and singly lead one another by our private lights we shall both fall into the ditch And therefore we can then onely safely reckon our selves innocent as before noted whilst obeying our Superious direction in commands and prohibitions and in case none appear we are to guide our selves the best we may by applying the said Maxim between our Neighbour and our selves Which truly done our failings are to be excused upon our Superiours permission given us herein as having to the best of our consciences and judgements loved and done as we would be loved and done unto both in relation to our Neighbours owne interest and also in the upright managing that trust of impartial dealing by God or our Superiour committed unto us And this because his authority is equal in both and the same to permit as enjoyn For where authority leaves any thing to be ruled by my conscience and discretion it is the same as if he had commanded me to order them after the same manner and it shall thereupon follow that I performing my utmost devoire therein am in my actings to remain still innocent as having but obeyed my Superiour
the government and for the present to bring our selves into such confusion as what or who to obey is uncertain then onely I suppose enquiry is to be made what direction for well settled obedience can follow this disorder In which case as men must be first presumed to have forsaken the command of God and King and all that hath power above them so being now to be supposed to have no other then the guide of nature and self-interest to follow it might be by some thought that what was before shewed as allowable in nature in the dealings of each man towards other in order to self-defence and security should be warrantable to each faction during their contest as supposing them to be as so many single men united by their distinct interests Whereupon they might argue that as each one is by nature or reason directed and warranted to secure it self to the utmost against fear and the quantity of that fear and the security thereupon to be taken being left to his judgement also it will follow that any faction may herein proceed even to the death or other overthrow of its opposers and enemies if in its judgement his own preservation so require For in doing otherwise and out of pitty onely sparing it would be to transgress the Law of Nature and Reason and to prefer the sence of anothers preservation before its own Therefore each party being diversly affected and so looking upon each other as enemies they must consequently be each of them intent to provide for their own securities and whether they put it to the issue of war or not the weaker is necessarily at the discretion of the stronger even so that what of liberty or property is remaining he is bound in gratitude to the other as of a free gift But in this case there is great disparity for the single man had a separate will and understanding by nature implanted for his own guide and security even as all other natural agents but we cannot say that nature hath so united a multitude of any sort nor can we pick out any example amongst creatures where by joynt understanding and will multitudes did command multitudes nor can they so do with any colour of right otherwise then as they are now Monarchical and under one man or were made an independent community by their Prince And therefore I should rather think that the most rational course that in this case can be taken to recover their former happiness and peace I am sure that most Religious and conscientious it is that they return to the same form of government and obedience under which they formerly enjoyed them For although it might seem for the present tollerable for each faction to stand upon tearms of safety and defence against the other yet since the destruction of their former government must be acknowledged unlawful they are to consider that till they return to that form again they are in no true political way but do altogether depend upon the natural way of continual force And that though for the present what they do as men and in order to their securities might be allowable yet looking on themselves as Christians they must make what hast they can to be settled in the onely commended and right form again as knowing their present actions have no ground in true Religion For though it might be in meer nature allowable for their whole body supposed as one man as aforesaid to impose on the other yet since they can never be truely one in interest whilst not acting by one mans command it will still fall out that several parties of them will impose too then which nothing more unreasonable No nor unjust it being plain partiality thus to prosecute the designs and interest of one party to the overthrow of another For although self-love be natural and just as heretofore noted in which regard any one man on either side might warrantably act his designs to the prejudice of any one on the other yet since none of the particular parties can have an entire interest it must therefore follow that in acting all the other interests of the rest of the faction to the overthrow of others equally his neighbor he is partial and unjust having in nature no warrant to love one man better then another This injustice being onely avoided in that party that adheres to a Monarch or Prince and so joyning with him in his entire interest and claim do all of them act but as one person Whereas else that different degree of love or hatred or interest which each person on the one side bears to each one on the other must make them unequal and unjust prosecuters So that although in case of self-defence against an unlawful invasion or in some cases of acquisition and gain it may be for the present allowable for men in this sort to unite and act without a joynt supreme authority especially where it cannot for the present be had yet in case of government wherein a constant and settled way of managery of this common security and stock of riches is required the case will be otherwise For in the first condition each one may be supposed firmly and uniformly united and equally acting his own interest both in relation to self-defence and gain even because each one seeking these things in the highest measure he can doth thereupon equally consider each one on the opposing side as an enemy to himself nor doth look on those of his fellows but as equally his friends Whereas on the other side when places of honor and command tending to common security or the common revenew and stock of a Nation come to be divided or assertained amongst the subjects themselves in these cases there being a differing enmity and competition necessarily to arise about the distribution and managery of these offices and proprieties between party and party in the same association it cannot be avoided but that the unequal ambition and covetousness residing in the several persons must make them without a common united head unequal and unjust guides and distributors of those things wherein they must constantly have such partial and unequal respect to one another Therefore I conclude that true natural reason or justice no more warrants them to continue and exercise this kinde of authority in shew of a lawful government then Scripture and nature warranted them in remove of their old So that now out of a conscientious prudence they should have a fellow feeling of each others sufferings and not continue perpetual judges over such as they can have no jurisdiction upon They are not now to think they have right to continue this their present tyranny over their fellows For none other it is when government is exercised by any persons or orders of men but such as have by their offices power from God which since these cannot have as heretofore noted It is not their specious and formal way of proceeding can make their actings to the
so we again having no other direct outward precept from God or Christ himself are through faith and by our ready obedience to him actually performed to his Church in his stead as having the word of reconciliation committed unto them acquitted in all we do but if done otherwise we forfeit thereby the whole condition and as again obliged and culpable for the breach of the whole law nothing but read mission into the Covenant of Innonency by repentance can secure us from damnation CHAP. IV. Of each particular Church and its power HAving hitherto spoken of the Reason and Foundation of the Church in general and of the necessity of our participation of her communion so now again it will be necessary to speak of each particular Church and its jurisdiction For since we cannot otherwise attain to be members of this Catholick body then as being first members of some particular Church it will therefore follow that as the necessary observation of the law of providence which we could not explicitely and perfectly do upon our owne abilities was the cause Christ became obedient to God for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him so there lies upon each member a duty of conformity and obedience to their particular Churches that thereby being made conformable to the image of his Son they may also be restored to the image of God And therefore although the Catholick Church cannot be aggregate or represented der any single head or rule but of Christ himself yet since it is integrated and by parts made up of particular Churches and in these Christs power being to be represented by other Christs or anointeds under him it will follow that our obedience to this Church and the head thereof must have of us all that obedience which unto the other we cannot give else would that precept of obedience to the Church come to nothing as indeed for the most part is intended by such as would have the Writers of their owne mind to be held for the Catholick Church onely Therefore now being to consider the Christian Church as an assembly of Believers separate from other for Gods more immediate honour and worship we cannot well appropriate this phrase to that part of the Catholick which is past and unconversant with men nor for the present to that part of it which is yet to suceeed although both the one and the other have done or are to do their personal parts herein but must interpret that notion of Catholick Church used either when those duties are in general given which are fit for the Church to observe in obedience to Christ or when againe given for her members to observe to her to intend that part of Christs body which shall be successively militant on earth to whom alone these instructions can be necessary and useful in both kinds But then again as this general duly of praising God before men can onely be performed by the visible Church because she hath onely power and opportunity therein yet since this power here on earth is subsistant by the separate jurisdiction of those particular Churches which constitute her Catholick body and she can in no other sence be termed Catholick with reference to any other head then of Christ himself it must be therefore granted that all those precepts for general obedience to the Church must be meant of every Church in particular as having onely use of jurisdiction to this purpose And as having besides according to the several inclinations of their owne people and the known affections of those of the world amongst whom they live the best and onely ability to know and command what is fittest to be done for advancing Gods glory according to the exigence of their particulars which otherwise in the strange mixture of Christianity with other religions throughout the world were not possible to be comprised under one certain or equal rule or to be known and executed by one single persons power And that the Church and civil jurisdiction of each place signifie the same and that by obedience to the Church obedience to the particular Church is ment will appear by that of our Saviour Mat. 18. where controversies are if not decideable by umperage to be told to the Church Under which name must be comprehended the present particular authority of that place because else how shall they go to it And it must be the civil as well as ecclesiastical authority also as having them conjoined because it determines particular personal injuries where brother offends against brother and one servant takes another by the throate saying pay what thou owest as the parable denotes But the conclusion is that the supream jurisdiction whilst it is Christian is the very Church we are to submit unto And those that will not hear the Church are to be unto us as Heathens and Publicans that is such as have renounced Christ by this their renoucing the Image of his authority the Christian Church whose definition and power be the thing of never so civil nature makes the breach of it a sin as on the contrary our obedience to them acquits us of guilt For it is from Christ they have this power that Whatsoever is bound on Earth shall be bound in Heaven and whatsoever they shall loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven So that Christ having now blotted out that hand writing of Iewish Ordinances which was against us and released them from their litteral strictness to the extent of rational and natural laws and having also answered to God for the large morallity of the whole rule of providence leaving Christians at large in all things wherein their reason or Christian precept is not transgressed and lastly having left the charge for custody and enforcing these Christian precepts to every Christian Church who are thereupon to answer to him for the faults of the people the advantage that Christians have of living in a state of innocence is unquestionable and immoveable while they contiune obedient And therefore Christs Gospel might well be called Glad tytings and we may find that our Saviour made his general encouragement to the entertainment of him and his doctrine because his yoke was easy and his burthen light Insomuch that when he came in particlar to be asked what it was he answered in one command for both Tables thou shalt love c. including under the precept of love to God and our Neighbour all the law and the Prophets that is all things of faith and charity or of faith and obedience which is charities support First for our faith and its fundamental object life eternal is to know God and Iesus whom he hath sent he is the way the truth and the life the Authour and finisher of our faith on whom whosoever believeth hath everlasting life and on him that believeth not the wrath of God abideth Which one article comes therefore to be eminently necessary
because it is the onely foundation for other foundation then this can no man lay and this foundation every man must lay or else all the faith and obedience to be framed thereupon will come to nothing For although their be other articles as depending on this and incident to our Christian profession which ought to be believed also even as all things by God proposed as truths are yet to add them as of themselves necessary to salvation it is to Christ and Christian faith as high derogation as to add circumcision or other observations as necessary to salvation in our Christian obedience And as for our obedience outward we are freed from those many rites ceremonies and observations of the Jewes which God in particular favour of the Jewish Nation had appointed most of them being but shadows of Christ himself and of that great and plain way which by the Gospel should be revealed Nay the very judicial part though instituted by God himself for that government bindes us not as positive laws but as useful presidents upon like occasion that is to say where their and our causes were alike which is not binding as such or such laws formerly made and authorised by God but as parts of the general law of reason For as unto them God was immediate lawgiver and being given before Kings was both God and King so was the litteral observation of them in both respects necessary that is as religious and as civil duties also For both were the same to them because God at that time undertaking the managery of the Civil as well as Ecclesiastical Estate made both one then no otherwise then his remitting both to the Prince makes both of one sort now that is under the same chief relation to duty and obedience namely that of conscience But because of Gods express undertaking herein to them it was do this and live but unto us for whom those directions were not particularly made by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified As Gods rule to them was outward and litteral so were his promises and threats for performance temporal and respecting this life onely Wherein they failed as needs they must their failing was expiated by sacrifice pointing at a Saviour to come to fulfill these things for them but Christ being now come and having fulfilled all righteousness the observation of the letter is released as to direct divine authority and we Christians standing bound but to the general precept of love and charity are referred for our particular managery and guidance therein to the higher powers whom we are to obey not onely for wrath but also for conscience sake not onely for fear of that present temporal punishment they may infflict as meer men in authority but out of conscience also of preservation of our owne innocence in preservation of our obedience to God in them All which in the Epistle to the Hebrews is plainly signified where God is brought in speaking of the difference of the Jewish and Christian Covenant and obedience according to the many Prophesies to that purpose and saying Not according to the Covenant that I made with their Fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt that is not like as it was whilst I gave them particular precepts for all their outward duties and did lead them in all their affairs my self as if I should have taken them by the hand But this course God now changeth because they continued not in my Covenant and I regarded them not saith the Lord that is because I found humane frailty so great that these litterall commands could not be kept therefore now I will put my laws into their minde and write them in their hearts and I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a people And they shall not teach every man his Neighbour and every man his brother saying know the Lord for all shall know me even from the least to the greatest that is by the love of God shed abroad in our hearts all shall be taught of God and by his Spirit led into all fundamental and saving truth so that by being all taught of God to love one another which is the life and soul of the moral law they shal by keeping that one precept of love keep the whole law But for our direction outward therein we are not come unto a mount that might not be touched and that burned with fire nor unto blackness and darkness and tempests that is to hear them from such a mountain which was made inaccessible through these terrible apparitions that accompanied Gods presence thereon and the sound of a Trumpet and the voice of words which voice they that heard entreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more for they could not endure that which was commanded That is neither are we now to be terrified as by hearing God speaking with his owne voice to our outward ears but we for our outward direction are come unto mount Sion and unto the City of the living God the Heavenly Jurusalem and to an innumerable company of Angels that is to the present Church militant and to such as do therein instruct us as Gods Messengers by their Angelical doctrine And to the general assembly and Church of the first born which are written in Heaven and to God the judge of all and to the spirits of just men made perfect that is unto the Catholick doctrine of the Church assisted by God the judge of all and attested by those many Martyrs which like their Captain are made perfeâ—t by suffering And then that both these may be made beneficial to us and to our salvation we are come to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things then the blood of Abel And these Gospel duties of love and obedience we shall find to be the verry errand also of him that was to conclude the Law and the Prophets and to be Christs forerunner as it is most fully though mystically expressed by the Prophet Malachy and also by Saint Luke in their descriptions of Iohn the Baptist his office and message The first of these duties is couched in these words He shall turn the hearts of the Father to the Children that is he shall prepare them to entertain the loving of one another in as high degree as the Father doth his Child And then secondly for performance of the duty of obedience whereby to make this love to be advantagious it is added by Malachy and the heart of the children to their Fathers the which Saint Luke expounding to mean the disobedient to the wisdome of the just doth plainly shew that the preparation of the Gospel of peace and the way to make ready a people prepared for the Lord was by bringing them into such a state of
women but because these little ones or these least in the Kingdome of heaven have as elsewhere shewed received from Christ the honour and trust of binding and loosing which Iohn had not therefore were they greater then he And so again when Christ brings in himself speaking at the last judgement he useth the like expressions Inasmuch as ye have done it or not done it unto one of the least of these my brethren ye have done it or not done it unto me By one of the least we are to understand such a single person to be meant as more eminently representing Christ may through obedience to him in Christs stead make charity extensive and useful to all occasions and not think that Christ made that charity best which was done but to any one ordinary man or that the particular works there mentioned were all that needed But rather that here as elsewhere these additions of least and little are added in the singular number to Children and Bretâ—ren that together with the distinction of them from other children and brethren he might both set forth that extraordinary humility that should be in all governours and might also relate litterally to that mean estate of his Disciples the Churches present governours who being probably to be most persecuted of any other therefore are those instances of charity brought in which become men in that condition That these Epithetes of little and least when added to children do both signifie persons substituted in Christs authority and was also given to teach humility and love especially one toward another will lastly appear by those passages discribed by the other Evangelist Saint Iohn because spoken while Christ is deligating his Apostles as is related in the 13 chapter and afterward For in these chapters his speech of little children cannot be taken otherwise then as a proper address to them By which and by that fact of washing their feet we may finde how desirous he is that that great power he had given them should not exalt them above one another but make them ready by that his example to do all loving offices one towards another since none of them could be so great over one another as he that had so done was over them all But although here as elsewhere he is most copious in putting them in mind of that duty of meekness and humility which becometh their large power yet that a great power was delegated unto them appeares in the beginning of the Chapter Now when Iesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father that is knowing he himself could be no longer the living light or guide of the world he therefore thought now time to delegate his own which were in the world and whom for that service he had chosen out of the world And therefore Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands and that he was come from God and went to God that is knowing he had finished the work he had to do and being to return to him that gave him this mission and authority he then thinks it time to take care of his Churches charge in his absence and to go on with his mission of others in his name as he had been before sent in his fathers name This in the other Evangelists runs As my Father sent me so send I you and whosoever heareth you heareth me and the like but this beloved Disciple after his usual manner coucheth all under the notion of love And therefore their power or mission is amongst other things parabolically set downe As my Father hath loved me so have I loved you continue in my love that is as I have power had from God the Father as his beloved son so shall you from me as my beloved Disciples And this his deputation or mission thus given them he more clearly expresseth in his prayer As thou hast sent me into the world even so have I also sent them into the world All which and other considerations before spoken of in confirming the Churches power under her owne Ministers should methinks be sufficient to stop the haste of such as do so headily obtrude their owne private interpretation of Scripture against that which is publike and made by lawful authority For unless they can make some extraordinary mission appear whereby God hath something to say by them not said before why should men be so beguiled as to think them not subject to like passions and infirmities with those that have the interpretation of Gods word already And truly their crying out for obedience to Gods word onely and yet proposing it as such when guided according to their sence onely imports none other then an ayme thereby to engross all honour and authority to themselves only And therefore that command appears at this time extreamly necessary to put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers to obey Magistrates to be ready to every good work to speak evil of no man to be no brawlers but gentle shewing meekness to all men And a greater truth cannot be spoken nor a moâ—e seasonable admonition given then to mark them that cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which they have learned and to avoid them for they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ but their owne belly and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple For so long as the foundation is not destroyed so long as Christ is not deceived but our faith is entire in him the prosecution of particular sects under that of Paul Apollo or Cephas and our hatred varience emulations wrath strife seditions envyings murthers c. are works of the flesh not of the spirit and are because we are carnal and walk as men But yet because we are to know that it is not faith alone that is our duty and can secure our salvation but faith and love or faith that worketh holy love we will now speak more fully of that grace of love or charity which must be joyned to keep us innocent and also of that other grace of obedience which is requisite to make charity effectual CHAP. VII Of love and obedience and of our state of innocence thereby TO be sensible of good or happiness is to be living and to be the more hereof sensible is to be more living For as there is a positive dignity by sensation it self that is of sensitive above Inanimates so is there a comparative exellence therein again arising from degree thereof Whereby each thing stands in degree of happiness and excellence differenced by that degree of vigour and intensness in apprehension and also by degree of steadiness and continuance in possession Now as experience in the natural course of things doth inform that in all progression there must be a perfection and summety so in this case
course is to confess we know him not having indeed no warrantable rule for our direction herein but what God himself hath of himself in the holy Scripture set downe The which had it not stiled the second person the the Image of the invisible God the brighâ—ness of his fathers glory and the express Image of his persons And so leading us to conceive of the procession of the holy Ghost I see not how the true personal existence of those three that bear record in heaven could have been apprehended As for that hypostatical union of the two natures in that one person of our Saviour a mystery also necessary in some sort to be comprehended and believed it is learnedly done by others especially by the pen of Judicious Hooker and is not to our present occasion so proper But so much I thought necessary to premise in this place for the better conception of the personal subsistance of deity by way of supply to what was briefly spoken of the unity thereof and its operations in the entrance of the first book and what shall be spoken thereof in the last chapter of this book this being as necessary to be known to state us Christians as that was to remove us from Atheism and also for the better understanding the original and nature of love it self whereof we are now to treat For hence we may perceive how God himself is said to be love as being the foundation thereof and that also if we love one another God dwelleth in us and his love is made perfect in us The which is not onely true in the natural state wherein all creatures had existence and perfection from the love of God manifested in Christ by whom he made the world and had that thereby also recourse back towards God again by occasion of those natural propensions to mutual love and beneficence seated in men and other things by means of that blessed spirit which moved upon the waters but also true in the state of grace and regeneration wherein God the Father was pleased to love men again as in his beloved Son when they had now lost that Image and likeness wherein they stood lovely as his creatures before even by the love of God shed abroad â—n our hearts by the holy Ghost which is given us By whose blessed influence we are not onely holpen and directed in our love and obedience upward whereby to meet the God of love more directly even to the degree of a miracle-working faith where it is strong enough but also stand inwardly affâ—cted towards the assisting him in his course of providence by love to those his Images now presâ—nt amongst us men being not otherwise capeable of approving themselves to be Godly or God-like then by the expression of this their love according to such rules of obedience as Christ himself hath appointed and in Scripture plainly set down For as we are inwardly made preceptive and participant of this love by the grace of faith even by having our understandings cleared concerning the reallity of God and his goodness and of the communication thereof unto us of which we have spoken in this last discourse so again do we stand outwardly confirmed and conformable herein by the grace of obedience even by signal testification of our true love to him by our ready and conformable expression of it according to his direction of which we shall now speak in that which follows As the general praise of love is most plainly and largly discoursed of by Saint John so is he most of all copious to shew how love and charity being the general precept for Christians are the fulfilling of the law and how they secure us in a state of innocence And therefore commending love to us he saith I write no new Commandment unto you but that which ye have heard from the beginning meaning from Christ himself who had shewed that this precept of charity or love was as hath been hitherto shewed the sum and scope of all the Law and the Prophets that is of those particular precepts set down in the Law Again saith he a new Commandment I write unto you which things is true in him and in you because the darkness is past and the true light shineth That is true in him that hath thus rid us of strict legal observance and from the darkness and multitude of litteral precepts and hath enlightened us with so much supernatural wisdome as to see this one performance of love to be the summ of their meaning they without it not being able to state us innocent For he that saith he is in the light and hateth his Brother is in darkness even until now but he that loveth his brother abideth in the light and there is no occasion of stumbling in him Which last words point plainly to the stating of our condition of innocence by love he concluding all Christian foundation and commandment in these words That we should believe the name of Christ Jesus and love one another And therefore is this Gospel single light hinted unto us as a single eye which enlighteneth the whole body This state of innocence through love may be also compared unto the strait Gate both for its singleness of precept in regard of those many precepts formerly given us and for its difficult too as for loving of Enemies and the like This is that wedding garment which whilst we have on we need not doubt our selves true members of and truly fitted for Christs Church and kingdome but if wanting it we are then to be rejected and cast out For without this roab of charity we shall be ready to devide this his kingdome against it self by breach of peace and order this being the leaven that must season all we do This is that rock on which we founding our Christian duties through faith in Christ they shall stand unmoveable against the stormes and tempests of the world whereas else prophesie miracles mighty works though done in Christs name and with never so religious pretences shall not make him owne us without its being their ground work And to this purpose he saith If ye keep my Commandments ye shall abide in my love even as I have kept my Fathers Commandments and abide in his love and then he ads this is my Commandment that ye love one another as I have loved you And least any one should think that this Commandment was but a single precept and not general and including all the rest of his Commandments he farther adds these things I Commanded you that ye love one another Where the command of love is put in the plural number as the sum of all the Commands we are to keep as truly his So that then no love to Christ without keeping his Commandments no keeping his Commandments without loving one another For as Christ in his actions stood excepted from sin notwithstanding his likeness to us in the
should through subtilty be beguiled as the Serpent beguiled Eve from the simplicity that was in Christ. That is least as Eve in a desire and presumption of farther knowledg was by the Serpent tempted to disobey God so they by listening to such superstructures as were taught by others might be drawn to neglect those Fundamentall directions which he as their Master-builder had laid and wherewith he had espoused them to Christ and so suffer themselves to be brought into bondage by relying on the wisdomes of such false Apostles and deceitfull workers as transforming themselves into the Apostles of Christ would under colour of Mission and authority immediately received from God be directing men in their Christian Morall duties contrary or above the direction of their own generall and authorized head who must now be in danger to be accounted as a fool in comparison of these transformed Angels of light and Ministers of righteousness To warn us against which seduction and to shew that the interpretation of Divine rules and precepts were by God and Christ now referred to that person who was next representing them it is observable that whensoever Christ is urged with the text of the Law or when himself is expounding it he always makes the sense thereof other then was formerly received releasing it to the generall law of reason or morality and not tying himself to the Letter as it was particularly morall to the Jews as by making Murther and Adultery to be inward and releasing by his Power sometimes the outward acts as by dispencing with that strict precept of the Sabbath and other instances may appear These precepts binding the Jews as Divinely Morall but Christians no farther then as rationally or politically so And St Paul having thus largely in the fore-recited and in the next Chapter spoken to the Colossians of our participation of God through â—hrist and of Christ through Christian obedience in this precept of love he then particularly instances how this love is to be outwardly stated and made perfect by obedience to rightfull Superiours in Christ naming such Masters in the flesh as were then Christians and saying Whatever yee doe doe it heartily as to the Lord And not unto men Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of his inheritance for we serve the Lord Christ that is we serve him by these in his stead But he that doth wrong that is disobeys or serves him according to his own will which must cause wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done and there is no respect of persons Clergy and Laâ—ety high and low are made culpable by disobedience And in the next Epistle being the first to the Thessalonians having set down some particular commands for them to follow saying Yee know what Commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus he after adds He that despiseth despiseth not man but God who hath also given to us his holy spirit meaning this authority which he might be bold in as the Apostle of Christ. And this he doth as presuming them inwardly guided and instructed from God himself in the generall precept of love saying but as touching brotherly Love ye need not that I write unto you for your selves are taught of God to love one another Meaning that this precept onely is of immediate Divine direction and injunction being able if rightly performed to estate us innocent according as he noted in his former prayer for them saying The Lord make you to increase and abound in love one towards another and towards all men even as we doe towards you to the end he may establish your hearts unblamable in holiness before God even our Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his Saints At which time it will be found that Charity shall cover the multitude of sins or make us innocent And so far would he have them seek Peace the fruit of this love That they should study to be quiet and to doe their own business not taking upon them to censure the actions of others especially of those that are their Superiors And the means to accomplish and perfect this he after sets down We beseech you Brethren to know them which labour among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you and to esteem them very highly in love for their works sake That is count them directors of your love so far as it is operative and be at Peace among your selves Which is the same with the precept of study to be quiet Because being obedient to them we shall be at peace with one another but if we follow and beleeve them not in the manner how Christ is to be served and this our love to be exercised outwardly as well as we have already believed that these things are to be inwardly embraced it will follow that our private Will-worships to him and private apprehensions of love to our Brother will by their Crossings and thwartings one upon another prove to be their mutuall subversion and upon occasion of division and discontent hereabouts rankor and malice will break in to the reall overthrow of both true Faith and Charity It being impossible that any voluntary particular act of my love to any Neighbor can be so great and extensive as that more generall good to all which obedience must produce Whereupon follow directions both to Superiors and others for effecting it Warn them that are unruly comfort the feeble minded support the weak be patient towards all men that is see that no man render evill for evill unto any man or take upon him to avenge his own wrong but ever follow that which is good both among your selves and to all men That is let your Obedience be continuall that your Charity may be Universall For if you should be so unruly as to raise Civill commotions and quarrels upon the score of your own particular enmity and revenge how would this confused return of evil for evil by the severall Members of a Kingdom one against another dissolve all bonds of Peace and Charity whilst every man should be both persecuting and persecuted Whereas by a joynt submission and acknowledgment of them that are over them in the Lord and acquiescence to them in their publick Charge and Trust all rankor will cease and generall Amity be preserved And these two fundamentall precepts of Faith and Love wrought by God in the Thessalonians he again mentions in his second Epistle to them as he had done in his former Epistle for as there he thanks God alwayes for them in his prayers remembring without ceasing their work of faith and labor of love So here he saith We are bound to thank God always for you Brethren as it is meet because that your faith groweth exceedingly and the Charity of every one of you all towards each other aboundeth So that we our selâ—es glory for you in the Church
that Antichristianism is not onely denial of Christ as God but also the denial of him or his power in the flesh that is as before shewed denying of dignities and fleshly power under him we will note a little of Saint Johns other description of him Every spirit saith he that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God and the same is the spirit of Antichrist And again he saith Many deceivers are entred into the world who confess not that Iesus Christ is come in the flesh He saith not was come in the flesh but in the present tense is come in the flesh and therefore cannot mean Jews or Infidels or such as openly professed denyal to Christian Doctrine in matters of Faith but such as professing the Doctrine of Jesus Christ did overthrow it by consequent especially in matters of Charity and to endanger the loâ—s of that full reward which this Doctrine of Christ or Doctrine of love by practise of charitable submission to our masters in the flesh would bring When at the last day men shall have sentence according to the charitable Offices one towards another and in justification of those that have been obedient to Christ in the flesh he as King shall answer and say unto them Verily say unto you inasmuch as you have done it to one of the least of these my brethren ye have done it unto me Under which notion of King he taking upon him to vindicate the Authority of such as he had deputed in the exercise of his Kingship amongst us until himself shall come in his glory with all the holy Angels and shall sit upon the Throne of his glory makes it farther manifest that the very title of Kingship was to be the most usual and eminent stile of his Deputy And therefore under the expression of the least of these my brethren distinguishing these his brethren from other his Christian brethren as heretofore noted he makes the exercise and expression of our love or Charity which should be performed to him or his body the Church to take measure and estimation according to extent of that respect and obedience which we have done to these For they being made instrumental in the day of Christs earthly power as well to make Sion or the Church the rod of Christs strength whereby to rule in the midst of his enemies as to settle his Worship in the beauties of holiness it will therefore come to pass that as to be against them is to be against him so also it must be granted that what we have done by their direction in matters of love and obedience is as if we had done it by his For if we cannot otherwise litterally conceive that to do these things to the least Christian or but to one were in themselves such high services unto him otherwise then as that one and that least were the Representatives of many or all even so understanding those particulars of Charity or love there set down to stand for the whole duty of love the which these Deputies of Christ were to make useful to all in general and each one in particular by being our directors according to that Talent in power and trust which their proportionable charge in each Church did require we may then well conceive how as Christ is not to be wronged but by his Members so then most when the wrong is done against such as being more neerly his their wrong must be more neerly said to be his and so reputed Antichristianism And although the ordinary rank of believers be not in this place distinguished from his Deputies under the notion of Citizens as they are by St. Luke which might have regard to the Jewish Nation who more generally were to refuse the Authority of his substitutes which the Gentiles should be but partly guilty of and partly not yet may we discern a distinction made by their separate sentence beginning with his servants that had Talents of great trust first before the general judgement of the rest And we may observe also that in approving or condemning them under the notions of sheep and goats the one a Creature full of inward love and innocence and therewithal most tractable and obedient to their shepherd whereas the other was contrary that as well the necessity of outward obedience as inward love was intended And therefore whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the Doctrine of Christ that is obeyeth him not here as King as well as hopeth in him as Saviour hath not God but he that abideth in the Doctrine of Christ he hath both the Father and the Son That is he that acknowledgeth the power of the son as to that end anointed from the Father doth therewith acknowledge the Fathers power also but he that denyeth him that is sent denyeth also him that sent him even as denyal or overthrow of Kingship is to our power to overthrow the King of kings power also who gave them these their Offices And farther to shew that Antichristianism here meant is not opposition to Christian Doctrine as such they are called deceivers that is such as did make profession that way for how else could an open enemy deceive Appearing yet more plainly to be such by St. Iohns former description they went out from us c. meaning they had been of the same outward profession And that Antichristianism is opposition to the precepts of love and not matters of Faith appears also by St. Iohns former description where the spirit of Antichrist being said not to be of God he afterwards makes Antichristianism to consist in disobedience he that is not of God heareth not us hereby know we the spirit of truth and the spirit of error And then goes on with the description of who is of God beloved let us love one another for love is of God and every one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God he that loveth not knoweth not God for God is love Which last words do knit up the mystical perfection of Charity and shew how from that all things are united and take place For from the love of God his Creation and benificence to Creatures did proceed and through the inward plantation of Charity and love in Creatures providence towards them had its being also And again all Creatures according to its measure in themselves received from God came to be more or less participant or resembling of him that is God-like And therefore if God so loved us as not onely to estate us happy but to restore us fallen we ought also to love one another For since no wan hath seen God at any time that is cannot personally requite him if we love one another that is his next image in our brother God dwelleth in us and his love is perfect in us for he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him And then follows our innocence thereupon herein is
till some maturity neither when we must presume each thing necessarily imbued before with the relish of its own race But were any creature from the time of its birth brought to herd amongst those of another sort there is no doubt but that creature at years of full growth and perfection would have had its spirits so assimulated to those of that herd as to choose congression there before any of its own kind which it did but newly or suddenly meet with Although therein again some allay and impediment must be supposed from that aversion which each one of that herd would bear towards this single creature from that greater familiarity and converse they have one towards another Not but that as there are degrees of likeness of flesh and humors in the several kinds of creatures one to another and so consequently of that steam or spirit thence generated and issuing out of the nostrils or pores even so also are we to conceive that each thing is soonest won to the liking of that which is most near to its own kind As the Ass a Creature that is more subject to stray then herd is to choose a Mare whereas she again that is used more to heard with those of her own kind yields not but upon force or necessity Upon which score and also for that all Creatures both in the Nest and Litter and from Conversation and Nourishment by their Dam are possessed with an early tincture they do ordinarily come to receive a greater impression towards the future liking of one another in the same kind then can be afterwards dileted or taken off without a very long tract of time As for distinction and choice of Sex it proceeds from precedent discourses or practical experiment and not from natural instinct or knowledge For two Dogs or other Creatures will in their play while they are mutually more affected by the nearness and heat of each others breath be ready to ride one another till experience have told them their mistake Not but that as there are times of maturity in Vegitables and Fruits so in Sensitives also at which time no doubt two individuals in a herd or the like will have degree of perception and inclination towards each other as to knowledge of natural ripeness and perfection from that degree of quantity and fervor of vapour and spirits reciprocally emitted In which case a short experience in so plain a difference may teach the male who is commonly the assailant and chooser easily to distinguish that female from the rest which is fittest for him even by his sense of smelling Nay as nature hath furnished us with a sense of tasting proper for our stomacks even so may we observe all sorts of Sensitives to be saluting each other with billing smelling or the like whereby as by a natural way of complement a farther tryal might be made of that liking and agreement which was already induced by the eye Now although mankind stands not so wholly obnoxious to be captivated by these affections which are induced from the sense of smelling only even because he hath affections stirred up in him from other senses also which are likewise prevalent in his actions yet that naturally and as men and sensitive agents we come to be hereby also provoked and swayed is not to be doubted But true it is that in us these affecting vapours do make their entrance more imperceptibly because of that weakness of our smelling faculty caused through rawness and indigestion in the stomack whereby the same foulness and crudity that doth make a stinking breath is also thereby hindred from the smell of that or any thing else which is not very strong which yet doth not hinder the receipt of those insinuating vapours whereby the humours and habits of the body may come by degrees to be embued and affected From what hath been hitherto spoken we may also know how to put a difference between those two several affections which use to pass under the same notion of Love For that appetite before spoken of may more properly be called natural lust or desire and being more sensual is not proper to man as man but affects him as a Sensitive Whereas the other taking its rise and ground from figure and impression in the fancy as all sorts of knowledge doth it may be called Noble as to its beginning as well as Heroick and Divine as to its aim and end And although it be true that they are usually heightned by each other as to particular application yet may they be one without another For I may love like a man without lustful thought and lustful thoughts may again sway me beyond personal liking neither of them being to be known as to perfection but when they are alone for that love is but small that must be enlivened from thought of sex or continued by youth only and as great a defect in nature it must also argue to acquiess but to an eminent beauty As both these affections take their rise and growth from generals so have they general and specifical aim and intention in the eye of providence and nature but when they come to be reduced into act they have in us personal inducement and design at which time those affections that were amassed from many cannot shew their proficience and full strength but to one at once And therefore to keep them from being destructive to their first end they ought in men especially so far as they are sociable to be bridled and guided by reason In which doing that more rational and noble affection of love is to precede and give direction to the other as to the person with respect had to Law and Charity Which Love again although as in it self considered it cannot be too high to any one yet for fear least that general duty of Love and Charity which we owe towards all should by too great intention towards this one come to be diverted or neglected we are both to take our own reason along with us and also that of the publike as heretofore noted And farther also for fear least too great sense of contrariety and difference from those we so entirely love should besides the espousal of personal quarrels and injuries contract in us a consequential hatred and dis-affection towards others we are in this case also to take to our guidance the rules of Religion also whereby we are taught to love all alike And indeed more controversies quarrels and publike disturbances do arise from too great fondness and indulgence then any thing else When as through too great love and care to provide for those that have relation to us by family or friendship others come to be neglected or injuriously dealt with who otherwise would still have been looked upon as friends there being more hatreds and discontents raised upon second and relative considerations then from any primary difference which the parties have to one another in reference to themselves apart or to the rules of
of greatest mischief From the food with which our bodies are nourished do we contract the most of our diseases nay from those sorts of it which are best too do we by intemperance draw on those maladies which are most desperate and deadly From that very root of Love and desire of beneficence and thirst of Honor ingraffed for mutual comfort and assistance do we daily finde contrary effects to be produced when by too strict and irregular fixation and use thereof according to the particular interest and guidance of our private appetite and discretions we are led into Faction and Civil war And so lastly from that course of prevention and restraint which by divine appointment was setled amongst us as the onely Soveraign remedy and cure of these exorbitances namely the constitution and power of Monarchical government even this doth together with the cure make us lyable and obnoxious to those fatal mischiefs of Tyranny and Oppression also Against which as we have neither reasonable or lawful remedy but that of Patience so shall we finde it a true remedy indeed and to usher us into an habitation and Kingdom where neither a natural distemper nor a civil distraction shall any more afflict us No no all cause of fear either of loss or punishment is now banished our obedience is become all love here for a full comprehension of the pleasure of our present Soveraign together with a full assurance of his continual ready acceptance as well as of our own continual ready ability of performance shall make all apprehension of power stand as it were forgotten in that of goodness And whereas we now know neither our own duties nor Gods love and acceptance but in part seeing them as through a glass darkly then shall we know him as to his Will and good pleasure even as we are known of him as to our hearty desire of serving and honoring him and this face to face We shall not longer wait on tedious Inductions and Observations for some slender and fallible comprehension of these things but at such time as Charity shall make up our Obedience our knowledge shall be inherent arising from presence and intuition There is no such opacity here as to necessitate us to rays of light to discover at most but skin-deep into the qualities of things no then the true Nature of things shall be as soon known as their names and their inward as their outward form And therefore what cause then of fear that any thing should separate us from the love of God our present Soveraign Where there shall not be so much as a false accuser left to appear in that Kingdom whereby to disturb us in our civil life more then a disease to disturb us in our natural The life and health of our then refined bodies shall no more run the hazard of either famine or surfeit by relying on such food as could not nourish us until dead nor but bring death by nourishment Our then no longer sickly nor mortal bodies shall now have their more spiritual life and perfection secured and encreased from a food far more spiritual and perfect then our selves In this true Paradise shall we finde the true tree of life it self that bread of life that once came down from Heaven cloathed with our nature that we might be made capable and Participant of his With this food shall we be always delightfully fed never full always satisfied never satiate As thus to our selves so to our present society instead of those thwartings and injuries which used to come from the hands of competitors or enemies we shall on all hands be saluted with the ready Offices of complacency and love for how can envy or malice have either Author or Object where encrease of eminence or property cannot be so much as wisht for Our enjoyments then shall not be purchased or endeared at the price of want and difficulty for fruition shall here antecede appetite even so as there shall not be so much as time or room left for a wish And whilst thou shalt be thus steadily compleat with happiness in thy self so as neither to have cause to hope more nor fear worsâ— and that through the gift and participation of divine love so shalt thou finde this love so much refined also as to be universally and reciprocally efficacious not onely to procure the possession against fear of intrusion through others wants but to encrease it through consensation of like benefit in them Each one that could not as one contain more content shall by this union contain all We shall not then know one another by our old dividing relations of consanguinity or friendship whereby petty unions were made destructive of the common and introductive of general disagreement No every one is lookt upon with the heightened affection of a brother by means of that more close tye and relation to be derived from that Our father which is in Heaven Hath any one been so heroick as but to taste what it is to be truely in love with any person here Let him then think that every one now shall be that he or that she but withour thought of a he or a she Not so hazardously now beloved as to relye on the courtesie of a Idea from the intent observation of whose perfection in our conceit the imperfections of the original might come to be clouded No as we shall no longer depend on the help of deceiveable notions nor Affections or Passions for our comprehension and understanding so shall we not be in danger to be captivated with the glance of a single sense and that from an outward perishing and deceiveable figure Our Understanding and intuistive knowledge shall now make way for our will it shall not stand to the issue of two contending passions here Where nothing is farther to be hoped for or feared all such composition must cease We shall not in this place love at the hazard of our discretions nor endanger the loss of our selves by the love of another for in this society every other shall be truely known to be an other self even so much thy self that thou shalt not be to thy self but in that self for we shall be so like and so much one another as not to know distinction or separation but what number must make Oh that happy practice of love below that prepared thee for this blessed enjoyment of love above Oh that happy performance of Obedience to thy former Fathers in the flesh although unto death that hath now redeemed thee from death and fitted thee for this subjection unto the Father of Spirits unto life Oh happy participation in a Cross that makes thee now a sharer with thy Saviour in his Crown Thy former bread of affliction and tears of sorrow shall be by thy blessed Savior here turned into wine of comfort and food of life not to be now tasted in a Sacramental sip or broken piece and then onely in a topick Communion but in this