lovely but loathsom too when abstracted from the part which is immaterial and for this reason it is that the zealousest Lover of what is worldly and who hath nothing in him of Christ whereby to qualifie and inable him for Spiritual love He I say would not be able to love the Body above the Soul if the Beauty of the Soul did not shine through the Body And if we do not only hear this but lay it up in our Hearts too nor only assent to it as True but consider it also as useful it will be sure of great moment first for the raising of our Thoughts and after that of our Affections from the things that are seen which are temporal to the things that are not seen which are eternal And then believing with S. Paul for without such Belief no such love can be imagin'd That our Life is hid with Christ in God we shall be still making thither to find it out Our Love of Christ will not leave him for being but gon out of our sight but will rather soar up in pursuit of him as far as Heaven and find him out pleading for us at the right hand of God And there beholding him as he is full of Grace and Truth and unimaginable Glory such as eye hath not seen nor Ear heard nor hath ever enter'd into the heart of man to conceive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What Loves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What Longings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Plotinus what Exiliencyes of Soul will then transport us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with what weightiness of Bliss shall we then be smitten whilst we love him as he is Good we shall desire him as he is lovely and never cease from desiring till we enjoy him as he is Blessed I mean as the Fountain of Bliss and Glory If any man shall here ask by what means he may behold the unspeakable Beauty which is above that so beholding he may be ravish't with the sweet violence of its Attractions the answer to it may be had from the same Plotinus No man saith he can see true Beauty but by casting the sight of his eyes behind him And again saith that learned and pious Heathen we are to fly from those Pleasures which are but common to us with Brutes as once Ulysses from the charms of Circe and Calypso which if he had not wisely don he had never gone back to his native Countrey And we must do exactly like him if we are bound for that Countrey from whence we came and would fain see the place of our first extraction Now what but Heaven is our Countrey there dwels our Father from thence we came and what we commonly call our life is indeed our Pilgrimage For in the words of the Psalmist we are but strangers upon Earth So as the way to go thither from whence we came in a kind of Exile is to leave both our Horses and Feet behind us saith the Platonist And swiftly mounting up ourselves on the wings of Love and Desire guide we our course with those Eyes which are not without us but within us and with which if any of us are not accustomed to see it is not because we want such Eyes but only because we will not use them Unless we are got into their Classis in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds in which case only our eyes are darkned that we not only will not but cannot use them But this is so wilful a Disability that whatsoever are the occasions we ourselves are the Causes of it For when a people are abandon'd to vile affections and severely given over to a reprobate mind it is because of their refusing the fear of the Lord and because of their not liking to retain God in their Knowledge Rom. 1. 26 28. where S. Paul's expression is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They did not think good to have God in their acknowledgment But till then the Apostle tells us the invisible things of God are clearly seen v. 20. not indeed with those eyes we carry outwardly in our Heads but with those other more Angelical which we have inwardly in our Hearts To sum up all in a word Our affections in themselves are indifferent things apt to be cleaving to any object whether evil or good as they shall happen to be directed by carnal Appetite or Reason And if it were not in our power to set our love upon the world in despight of God's Grace or to take it from off the world by making use of its assistance the Apostle would never have exhorted us with so much earnestness as he does To love neither the world nor the things in the world To set our Affections on things above and not to set them on things below To mortifie in our selves our earthly members To cast off the old man to put on the new To cloath our selves with Love as with the bond of Perfection To let the Peace of God reign in our Hearts To afford the word of God an Habitation and Dwelling within our selves From all which together 't is very natural to inferr that if we have not yet wasted the Talent of Grace which God hath given us which undoubtedly of itself is sufficient for us and does competently arm us with Ghostly strength we can see and we can love and can delight in the Lord Jesus and by consequence if we will we can escape the sad effects of being Anathema Maranatha But now 't is time that after the first we put in practice a second instrument whereby to raise up our Love to the Lord Iesus Christ. That is as much as in us lyes we must provoke our selves to jealousie and a religious Aemulation by considering how others have lov'd our Saviour to whom he could not be a Saviour with more obligingness than he is ours We find S. Paul was so inflam'd with the love of Christ who yet a little while before had been a virulent Blasphemer and Hater of him and did so long after a time of being admitted into his presence that in comparison of Christ he counted all things but loss and all things Gain on the contrary which might any way help him in his approach That though there is nothing in the world which Nature hates more than the terrible Face of a Dissolution yet there was nothing which that Apostle did so much long for Not at all for the love of a Dissolution which he detested in one sense whilst he desir'd it in another but for the love of that Christ from whom he was absent in the Body and could not so well be present with as by the favourable Help of a Dissolution That indeed was his Cordolium There it was his shoo pinch't him 'T was his most passionate aspiring to be with Christ which made him groan so very earnestly under the Burden of
he was purged from his old Sins v. 9. Which is as much as to say that the keeping of the Commandments is all in all for if we keep them we are happy and if we break them we are undon I say we are happy in case we keep them because by keeping them we make our Election sure I do not say we make our selves infallibly sure of our Election and that by ordinary means too without immediate Revelation as an Assembly of Divines have made profession of their Belief For as Faith is a good man's so infallible assurance is God's peculiar And it implyes a contradiction to say a man may be infallible in what he does but yet believe For as infallibity implyes a knowledge in perfection so belief implyes strongly a knowledge only in part that is in some measure a want of knowledge Which infers a fallibility in him that wants it When we say we do believe we shall never fall and that we do believe we are vessels of Election our meaning is we do not doubt it not at all that we cannot or may not err When Adam stood in a state of Innocence he did believe without doubt he should so continue When Lucifer stood in a state of Glory he did not doubt in the least of his being safe But the event does shew plainly in Him and Adam the possibility of their falling before they fell So as long as we stand in a state of Grace and do so love our Saviour as to keep his Commandments we have reason to be confident of our Election but not infallibly assur'd because we are not omniscient yea do not know our own Hearts and cannot tell what a Day or what an hour may bring forth Whilst we are militant here on Earth we do Hope for Heaven but shall then only be sure when we shall take it into possession They who urge S. Peter's words for an infallible assurance 2 Epist. chap. 1. ver 10. where the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and notes the sureness of the Election not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 implying assurance in the Elect do prove no more from that Text than that they quite mistake its meaning Not through an Ignorance of the original but a forgetfulness to consult it It may suffice for our comfort that God himself is infallible though we may err And though we know not what we are much less what we shall be yet this we know surely That all the paths of the Lord are Mercy and Truth unto such as keep his Covenant and his Testimonies Psal. 25. 10. We are infallible in our knowledge that God is faithful so as he cannot fail possibly to make good his promise if we shall manfully persevere in our performance of the condition And sure the sum of the Condition is briefly this that we love him so farr as to keep his Comandments Again that this is the Test of our Love to Christ and the means whereby to make our Election sure may be as easily collected from Heb. 6. 10 11 12. Where the Apostle having premis'd the work and labour of their love which they had shew'd to Christ's Name in their ministring to the Saints v. 10. He does immediately desire them to shew the same diligence to the full assurance of Hope unto the end v. 11. And not to be slothful but followers of them who through Faith and Patience inherit the promises v. 12. From which words of the Apostle we are to gather four things First that he does not say infallible but full assurance of Hope Nor is it He but our Translation which saith so much For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is but a fulness of Hope not at all a full assurance unless by full assurance is mean't a fulness and nothing else Next a diligence is requir'd for the attainment of this Hope and this must be unto the end The promise that we shall reap is on condition that we faint not We must therefore so run that we may obtain Thirdly Our diligence must be shew'd too that men may see it and be the better and glorifie God in our behalf It must be shew'd in a laborious and working Love a Love exhibited to Christ by being employ'd upon his Members The Love of Christ if it is true will be shew'd in this that instead of being idle or empty-handed it hath its work and its labour is ever diligent and industrious in the keeping of his Commands Lastly the promises are not inherited through Faith alone which S. Iames calls a dead and a worthless Faith but through Faith mixt with patience which is not a barren but a fruitful not an idle but working Faith Such as worketh by Love impartial obedience to the Commandments And such as worketh by patience with perseverance unto the end Thus we prove by our obedience the real solidity of our Love and by our Permanency in both make our Calling and Election sure It were easie for me to argue from a very great number of such like Topicks of which the old and new Testament afford much plenty But that the proof of this Doctrin may not keep us too long from the Application I shall conclude with what I find in the 8 th chapter to the Romans And thence the Point I am upon may be irrefragably evicted For they are true lovers of Christ and real vessels of Election to whom there is no condemnation There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Iesus v. 1. They alone are in Him who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit And what other can they be than such as keep his Commandments That this indeed is the evidence of our being in Christ does farther appear by the three Ifs in the 10 11 and 13 verses of that chapter If Christ be in you the Body is dead because of sin but the Spirit is life because of Righteousness And if the Spirit of Him who raised up Iesus from the Dead dwell in you he also shall quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit which dwelleth in you And if ye live after the Flesh ye shall dye but if through the Spirit ye mortifie the Deeds of the Body ye shall live Now by the Deeds of the Body are meant the Breaches of the Commandments And how are they mortified but by obedience We have the same in S. Iohn but a little more plainly Hereby we know that we know him even by keeping his word 1 John 2. 5. He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also to walk even as he walked v. 6. Now we know that Christ Jesus was so subjected to the Law that that was constantly the Path wherein he walked And when 't is said by S. Paul that the end of the Commandment is charity out of a pure heart and of a good Conscience and Faith unfeigned The Heart is imply'd to be impure the Conscience evil and the Faith but hypocritical which is not
47. ever attended with obedience 49 50 c. A fire 54. and is according to the fewel on which it feeds 55 56 c. it s proper Touchstone 65 66 c. 71 72 c. more worthy than Faith and hope 85 86. it s other Prerogatives 87 88. in what degree it is due to Christ 93 94. the several means of attaining that pitch of Love to Christ Iesus which is required 108 109 c. examples of it in Paul and Magdalene 113 114 115. in God himself 116 117. what begins in the flesh may be perfected in the spirit 125. unites and inebriates 127 128 129. of man to man 131 132 c. 141 c. M Magdalen her love to Christ 114 115 c. Man as man does love vertue 8 9. Martyrdom how it may stand with prosperity 97. Mercy how it yields the most profit to shew it unto others 34 35. Method of great Moment in Christian practice 107 108 109. N Nature its good inclinations even in its state of depravation 8. how far it is able to work with grace 104 105 106 107. O Obedience pleasant and a reward unto it self 18 19 20 c. 't was every thing to David by which he could be made happy 21 22. c. the great condition on which the promises are made 25 c. the one infallible proof of Love 38 39 c. 73 74. the art of getting it 80 81. it must be Impartial and Universal 82 94 95. Orthodoxy nothing worth without obedience 73 74 95. P Perseverance its necessity 76 77. Persecution how to sweeten it 82 83. how it reigns amongst Christians 156 157. Pleasures the greatest are the most innocent 19 20 62 63 64. Poverty a Preference due to it 163 164 165. Prayer how to make it most infallibly effectual 25 26 c. 124. Preaching to whom of no use 102 103. to whom useful 104 105. Promises the greatest that Christ could make 26 27. not absolute but conditional 28 29 77. Prosperity how reconcilable with sufferings 97. 98. R Rebellion the greatest Tyrant 23. Redemption universal 141. 142. S Salvation its Requisites 1 Introd Sect. 2. p. 10. 75. 76. Security the disease of most Christians 1 Introd Sect. 1. its danger 69. 70. 102. 103. Self-love its mischievous effects 57. how commonly more than our Love to God 125. 126. Self-denial how to be learnt 60. 61. c. how â—… supplies the place of Martyrdom 97. 98. Shame how subservient to Love p. 3. 4. c. 9. 47. 48. 60. 115. 118. 119. 120. 126. Sin what pains we take to make it seem lovely 56. 57. Sincerity the great Requisite of Love 146. V Virtue of greatest Sensuality 19. 61. 62. c. W Will how God works on it not as on agents meerly Natural 43. 44. c. How it works with God 104. 105. 106. 107. 124. World how to wean our selves from it 59. 60. 61. 108. 109. c. Imprimatur Tho. Tomkyns R. Rmo. in Christo Patri ac Domino Dno Gilberto divinâ Providentiâ Archi-Episc Cantuar. à sac dom Ex Aedib Lambethanis Martii 13. 1669. THE INTRODUCTION TO The First Part. Sect. 1. AS nothing is easier to a Christian than the gross knowledge of his Duty so there is nothing more difficult than a just Decorum in the Performance And this is certainly the reason that though the Kingdom of Grace hath been found by many who never sought it yet the Kingdom of Glory hath been sought by more who never found it It being the custom of most Professors in their Spiritual Travels only to gaze with greedy eyes on their Iourneys end without Employing their Indeavonrs to hit the way Like some of Those under the Pole in an half years night who have in storie been so blinded at the return of the Sun as not to see their way towards him we behold the glorious Promises of our exalted Sun of Righteousness with both our eyes but are so dazl'd with their Brightness as in comparison of Them to have scarce a glimmering of his Precepts We look on the other side our Work we are so Partially Supinely taken up with our Wages and do so sasten our Sanguin memories upon Christs love to us that we forget the great Requisites of ours to Him Whilst God is speaking from mount Gerizim we listen to him with willing Ears But are as deaf as any Adders when he calls to us from mount Sinai Our Saviour is welcom to us still in his Priestly office which is to Bless us but in his Kingly which is to Rule us he finds a different entertainment Every man hath his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or naked Appetite of the End but cares not greatly for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Consultation about the Means We would arrive at our Haven but not encounter with the Tempest preserve our Vessel but not cast away our Fraught pass over into Canaan but not through the Wilderness or the Red-sea Dye the Death of the Righteous we would all by all means but without either the care or the pains to live like him And would gladly ly with Lazarus in Abraham's bosom but are contented that the Dogs should have the licking of his Sores We love to put a misconstruction on several Articles of our Creed and take the Captain of our Salvation to have sinally so subdued our Ghostly enemy as to have left for his Souldiers no harder Task than the easy Injoyment of the Spoyl As if the Apostle had exhorted us to follow Christ without the Camp not to Fight but Triumph not to strive for the Masterie but supinely to receive it Sect. 2. Whereas it ought to be remember'd that as the way which leads to Heaven is both narrow and Incumber'd which the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 does well import So the Gate that opens to it is Low and streight And being so it admits not of all Promiscuous comers but as Low of such as are Lowly and as streight of such as are Slender The Ambitious man therefore has too much stature and the Worldling has too much Bulk Through the one they are too high and through the other too unweildy They would Both enter in but upon their own Termes For the first would not be Lower nor the second Less Not at all laying to heart what our Lord himself has told us in his Sermon upon the Mount that Bliss and Glory are for the Meek and the Poor in Spirit for them that mourn and are merciful for them that make Peace and are Pure in heart for them that even hunger and thirst after Righteousness and for them that suffer hardship for Righteousness sake that is to say in fewer words for them alone that Love Christ and that keep his Commandments When he compares the Kingdom of Heaven unto a Treasure hid in a Field though perhaps it may be found for little or no Cost at all yet he
that we find him breaking out into this petition I am a stranger upon Earth O hide not thy Commandments from me As if he should have said in plainer terms O my God since I am friendless and in a very strange Countrey and am to take a great Iourney through all the difficulties and Horrors of an Inhospitable desert wherein are many salvage Beasts to be encountred in the way O do not take away my staff deprive me not of my Provision do not bereave me of my guide let not thy Commandments be kept from mine eyes For without the Refreshment and help of Them what can accompany and conduct me into the land of the living whatsoever thou dost unto me give me not over to disobedience or whatsoever thou hidest from me O hide not thy Commandments Take away any thing rather than Them That is so terrible a divorce as I am not able to indure For I am taught by my experience that thy Commandments have been my comfort in my trouble And but for the Anchor I took in them the waters of the deep had gon over my soul and a sea of afflictions had overwhelm'd me Sect. 7. Again the keeping of the Commandments was Davids wisdom For no sooner had he said I have more knowledge than my Teachers but straight he added this Reason because I keep thy Commandments His Teachers were such fools as to keep the statutes of Omri to wit the wide and broad way by which they were led unto Destruction But 't was the Policy of David to keep the statutes of his Creator to wit the streight and narrow way which leads directly unto life The Fool is He who proudly walks upon a Precipice but the meek man is wise because he walks in plain ground And as the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom so the keeping of his Precepts is its perfection Sect. 8. Thirdly the keeping of the Commandments was Davids Pleasure and Sensuality He had as much delight in them as in all manner of riches Yea his soul was ready to break for the longing he had to the Commandments He was passionately in love with the law of God all the day long was his study in it And as Darius being in love is said to have gaped upon Apame with open mouth 1 Esdras 4. 31. so we are told by King David that he open'd his mouth and panted for the ardent desire which he had to the Commandments Nay though trouble and anguish took hold upon him yet the Commandments even then were his great Delight Sect. 9. Again the keeping of the Commandments was Davids project of Advantage He seiz'd upon them as his heritage for ever and such an Heritage too as was the joy of his heart He rejoyc'd in them as one that findeth great spoyles The law of his God was dearer to him than were thousands of Gold and silver The only Trade which he did drive was to negotiate thus with Heaven and he found it even here the most thriving course Sect. 10. Fifthly the keeping of the Commandments was Davids honour Let my heart be sound in thy statutes that I be not asham'd So in one place he prays And he professeth in another that he had rather be a Door-keeper in the house of the Lord than to dwell in the Courts of Princes For he that keeps closest to the Commandments of God does hold the highest Rank in the Court of Heaven An honour every way adequate to the most infinite Ambition Sect. 11. Lastly the keeping of the Commandments was Davids liberty and freedom I shall run the way of thy Commandments when thou hast set my heart at liberty Agreeable to that of our blessed Saviour henceforth I call you not servants but Friends Ioh. 15. 15. and we know the word Friend does import a Freedom But because the word Commandment implyes a Master and a Servant or else a Soveraign and a Subject whilst Friendship by Philosophers is said to be amongst equals we must therefore distinguish betwixt liberty and looseness betwixt a Free-subject and a Rebellious one betwixt a servant set free and freeing himself before his time Rebellion is to be reckon'd the greatest Tyrant in the world as enslaving us to the meanness of being Rebels The truest liberty of the Subject consists in loyalty and obedience to just Authority and Command not as of necessity but out of choice The Prison makes me no prisoner whilst I choose the confinement which men inflict Else a Prince would be a Prisoner whensoever he pleaseth to be retir'd Alexander the great was the greatest Prisoner when he childishly wept for a second world For as we measure any mans neediness not by the littleness of his Possessions but by the greatness of his Desires so a Prisoner is one who does want more room who thinks his House is too little and his Territories too narrow and therefore labours at least to enlarge his Borders But the Commandments of Christ do try us up to Contentment in which is the Absence of all Desire and in this is perfect freedom For when the thing which is commanded is to be absolutely free especially from the Tyranny and yoke of Sin we cannot be the less free by being obligingly commanded There cannot sure be any servitude in our being oblig'd to be happy For then the Angels that never fell would be enslav'd by their confirmation No our Servitude does consist in our being over-rul'd to contrive our misery not in our being only commanded to seek our Bliss Suppose a Master commands his Servant even to go whether he pleases and to do what he lists that is in effect to be a very free-man We cannot say he is enslav'd because commanded to be at liberty For a man to be commanded to use his freedom hath nothing in it of Impropriety but to be free and yet enslav'd imply's a flat contradiction It was not by exemption from Gods Commands but in regard of his rigid obedience to them that Abraham was called the Friend of God And our Saviour would have us rise from the lowness of Servants unto the Dignity of Friends not by being familiar with him but by doing and suffering whatsoever he does command us The degrees of our obedience may fitly be call'd the stairs of honour by which we climb up into an intimate Friendship with our Redeemer yea which is more to be admir'd into a mutual Inherence and Cohabitation For S. Iohn tells us expresly that he who keepeth the Commandments of Christ dwelleth in Christ and Christ in him Sect. 12. And this does lead me from the first to the second Topick which I propos'd from Davids experience attested to us in the Psalms to the promise of Christ the son of David in the two next verses before my Text. A signal promise repeated twice in a Breath as 't were on purpose to rouze up our drowzy souls and to
so it was in his Accompt their withdrawing themselves from publick Business and refusing the honours of the Court or the Commonwealth Origen answers that they did it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as keeping themselves for a diviner and a more honourable employment For seeing Christ was the Master whom 't was their Pride and their Glory and their Happiness to serve they were most ambitious of that Quality which made them fittest for their obedience Sect. 25. Thus have I shew'd in some particulars how the Goodness of every Action is very sufficient for the Reward too And how obedience to the Commandments were it not itself an abundant Recompense hath enough of Heaven in it to give us happiness without one In so much that our Saviour might well have said not if ye love me but If ye love your own selves keep my Commandments even because the keeping of them can add no otherwise to His than as it makes for Our advantage And having hitherto consider'd our Saviours Precept touching the keeping of his Commandments as the greatest expression of his love to us I am next to consider the keeping of them as the greatest expression of ours to Him And so by consequence am to proceed to the third Inference I propos'd CHAP. III. That as the greatest expression of Christ's Love to us is his taking it as a kindness that we be kind unto ourselves so the greatest expression of ours to him is to do those things which he enjoyn's us Sect. 1. ANd sure the Truth of this Inference will not need much labour to make it evident For all expressions of our Love however many or great in point of number or degree are comprehensively reducible unto one of these Heads either Formal or Real In shew or in substance in word or deed And in respect of these two our Blessed Saviour does distinguish betwixt his flatterers and his Friends We have an example of the former Luke 6. 46. Why call ye me Lord Lord and do not the things that I say We have an example of the later 1 Iohn 15. 14. Ye are my Friends if ye do whatsoever I command you And an example of both together Mat. 21. 28 29 30 31. Where the servant that said he would not go but went is more justified than the other who said he would but went not Our Saviour's flatterers then are they who make Profession of their Love who give him very good words who in their Prayers and Predications breath out nothing less than kindness and Admiration but not proceeding any farther than the bare wording and professing and breathing out of their Affection they cannot challenge a better character than that they love him from the teeth outwards and this because their Expressions are meerly verbal Whereas the Friends of Christ are they who add the Proof of Love to the due Profession study to live by his Example and in obedience to his Commands espowse a Fellowship with his Death and a conformity to his Sufferings are rather for Christ though at the Barr than for a Pilate though on the Bench very much rather for the oppressed than for the persecuting side Which evinceth that their Love must needs be Real and from the Heart because they are sturdily at the cost and the pains to prove it Sect. 2. That this indeed is the difference betwixt the flatterers and Friends of Christ as betwixt a meer verbal and Real Love we have a full confirmation from the words of S. Iohn My little children saith he Let us not love in word neither in Tongue but in Deed and in Truth That is let our Love be without dissimulation let it be legible in our Actions not only audible in our Voice Let us demonstrate our love to Christ by shewing our love unto his Members Nor that by speaking them fair and paying Civility to persons But by opening the Bowels of our compassion to their needs S. Iames in his Epistle hath set it out to the life If a brother or sister saith he be naked and destitute of daily food and one of you say unto him depart in peace be ye warmed and filled but ye give him not those things which are needful to the Body what doth it profit There we have in S. Iames by way of Instance what we found in S. Iohn by way of Advice and Exhortation For he that saith go in Peace be ye Warm or full he expressly is the man that loves in word and in tongue But he that gives those things which are needful to the Body he is properly the man that loves in Deed and in Truth Sect. 3. Now that which is the greatest proof of our Love to Christs Members does carry with it the greatest Proof of our Love to Christ. Who what is don unto his Members does take as don unto Himself He that persecutes and plunders his Fellow-Christian does persecute and plunder his Master Christ. And Christ hath said what he will say to such as these in the Day of Judgment In as much as ye have don it unto one of the least of these ye have don it unto me Mat. 25. 40. So that the reason is very evident why S. Paul sets out our Love as the fulfilling of the Law And summ's up all the Commandments into this one Precept Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self Because the Proof of our obedience to the Commandments of the Law is our doing unto others in Acts of Justice and works of Mercy as we would that others should do to us In a word so very strict is the Connexion betwixt the Love we have to God and our love to one another as well as betwixt the Love of Both and the keeping of the Commandments that S. Iohn sets them down as the Marks and Tokens of one another 1 Iohn 5. 1 2 3. The Love of our Neighbour is a sign of our Love to God v. 1. Our Love to God is a sign that we love our Neighbour v. 2. And our keeping his Commandments is the clearest Diagnostick and Sign of Both. v. 3. Sect. 4. To make it yet more apparent that our Obedience is the best Argument and highest Expression of our Love let us compare the way of reckoning by our Saviour in the Text with that most general way of reckoning which we observe amongst our selves Do we not ever reckon Him the lovingst Subject to his Soveraign whom we find the most exact in keeping the Oath of his Allegiance And who in reverence to his Loyalty despiseth his Livelihood and his Life too Do we not worthily reckon Him the lovingst Son unto his Parents who obey's them in all things without Exception And conforms to their will however cross unto his own Do we not justly reckon Him the lovingst Servant to his Master who goes as soon as he is sent and comes as soon as he is call'd and does exactly as he is bid And does not our Saviour in the Text take the
that which is True The vulgar sort of professed Christians who are the speculative Solifidians will not submit to any Tryal unless their own Fansie may sit as Iudge And being destitute of obedience to the Commandments of Christ which should be a witness from without of the love they bear to him whereby they might prove it to other men they appeal to the strength of their own perswasion call'd a witness from within of their Love to Christ and whereby they pretend to prove it inwardly to themselves But this is an Error so full of danger and indeed so void of sense that I know not if I may judge it more extravagant in itself or more pernicious in its effects For 't is apt to place presumption on the right hand of Faith and does make the sanguin'sts Hypocrites to pass in disguise for the holiest men Mistake's a callous and a sear'd for a quiet Conscience and sets up every mans heart as the great Touchstone of his Affections though itself needs a Touchstone the most of any For what saith God by the Prophet Ieremie The Heart of man is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it Touching our heads and our hands and other parts of our composition we may be easily supposed to have some knowledge But God alone is the searcher of all our hearts Ier. 17. 10. And are not they in a goodly way of being rectified in judgment both concerning themselves and their love to Christ who take their measures from the Fountain of all deceit God was never more angry in the Times of the Law than with them who were Prophets of the deceit of their own Heart Ier. 23. 25. Those Plaisterers of Satan whose custom 't was to dawb with untemperd morter and to heal the wounds of the people slightly speaking peace to their Consciences before their Consciences had Peace with God And t is as evident from the words of the wise King Solomon Prov. 24. 24. that nothing but Woes and Imprecations belong to those Temporizing and Popular Teachers who do nourish themselves with the peoples Favour by nourishing the people with their deceits For there is no higher way whereby to gratifie the Devil and make him glad than by lulling poor souls into carnal security Nor can a speedier course be taken to make them carnally secure than by making them believe that let their Sins be what they can be they may be lovers of Christ and vessels of absolute Election and can never fall totally much less finally from Grace and that for this reason because they think so because they are inwardly perswaded because 't is set upon their Hearts as they use to word it because they take it for granted and do not make the least doubt A way of reasoning I cannot tell whether more common or more irrational For to say they are assured because they stedfastly believe or that they know they shall be sav'd because they are strongly perswaded of it is to argue that they know even because they know not For Faith and Knowledge in the proper acception of the words cannot be conversant at once about the very same object And that men may take that for the voice of Conscience or else for the whisper of God within them which yet is nothing in the world but either a forgerie of the Head or a Deceitfulness of the Heart is very evident from the Scriptures both of the Old and New Testament For there we read of a Generation who are pure in their own eyes yet are not washed from their filthiness Who bless themselves in their own Hearts saying we shall have peace even whilst they persevere in adding Drunkenness to Thirst. We read of the Hypocrites having an Hope but we read too that it shall perish We read of Priests teaching for hire and Magistrates judging for reward whilst yet they lean upon the Lord and say is not the Lord among us none evil can come upon us Many will plead their great merit who yet shall be damn'd in the day of Judgment Matth. 7. 22 23. And even the children of the Devil may think that God is their only Father Ioh. 8. 11. All which being consider'd I cannot approve of their skill or kindness whereof we have an account in Print who taught an horrible Malefactor to please himself with this Syllogism after his sentence of Condemnation for wilful murder God hath said whosoever repenteth and believeth shall find mercy and be saved My Conscience telleth me and witnesseth to me that I repent and believe and am one of those whosoever therefore Christ is mine I shall find mercy and be saved Now admit that this Murderer was in a very safe state yet sure he took not the way to prove it but only the way that he had been taught For what he took to be the dictate or suggestion of his Conscience might be possibly nothing more than the delusion of his Phansie or the pleasant deceit of his Imagination And this is certain that unless by Repentance he meant Amendment which he could not well discover as he was hastening to the Gallows and unless by believing he meant an Operative Faith such as worketh by love and by such a love too as is the fulfilling of the law which he could not well be sure of as he was going into his Grave there was not so much as a possibility that he should prove himself sure of having an interest in Christ. The murderer should therefore have argued thus Whosoever believeth and repenteth and does both sincerely so as to lead a new life and to bring forth fruits meet for Repentance He hath an interest in Christ and is in a state of Salvation But I believe and repent and I hope sincerely and also hope that if I live I shall lead a new life therefore I humbly hope I have an interest in Christ and in consequence of that am in a state of Salvation In the mean time he should have pray'd and his Teachers should have helpt him both by their Prayers and their advice that God would deliver him from the danger of being deceived by his own Heart into security and presumption which would only have betray'd him into a mischievous consolation he having deserved by his Impieties to be one of their number who are delivered up unto strong delusions and wholly left to believe a lye This I say should have been don because there is nothing more agreeable to the condition of such a Penitent as had been lately by his Confession at once a Robber and a cheat a fornicator and a blasphemer and even a murderer of his brother sleeping innocently by him in the very same bed than to mingle his Faith with pious Fear and his Hope with that holy trembling wherewith we all are to work out our own Salvation Now having hitherto made an Amulet for the contagion of the Times by the negative part
That God in Christ may be All in All which how can he be saith the holy Father if any thing of man be left in man If the Souls of the just are not drown'd and drunk up in the fathomless Sea of Aeternal light If humane affections do not dissolve and melt away from themselves and become so transfus'd into the sole will of God as to be like a drop of water in a great quantity of wine wherein departing from it self it wholly puts on the colour and taste of wine or as an Iron red-hot does make a defection from itself by putting on the whole Nature and Form of fire if I say it is not thus after the general Resurrection in what sense can it be said and said it is by S. Paul that God in that day shall be All in All But in the place before cited from 1 Cor. 6. 17. S. Paul does not speak however S. Bernard apply's his words touching the union we shall injoy after the general Resurrection through the perfection of our love to the Lord Iesus Christ. For when he saith he that cleaveth to the Lord is one spirit he seems to mean no other cleaving than was commanded even by Moses Deut. 10. 20. where to * fear and * serve God is to cleave unto him And so we are properly said to cleave unto the Lord Iesus Christ when the Caement of our union is an indissoluble Affection and such an obstinate Resolution not to depart from his Commandments that Death it self cannot seperate 'twixt us and them This alone is the Love which Saints are capable of on Earth and here is exacted under the penalty of Anathema Maranatha The other is competent to none but Saints Beatified in Heaven Sic affici Deificari est in the bold Dialect of S. Bernard This Love is our Duty whereof that other is our Reward And therefore this is commanded but that is promised For this we are prays'd for that admir'd This is difficultly had in a state of Grace whilst that we cannot but have in a state of Glory For as this does not expire but rather is perfected into that so by the Tenor of the New Covenant it does entitle us to its Fruition And therefore stoutly let us resolve so to cleave in our Affection to the Lord Iesus Christ and so to express our cleaving to him by keeping close to his Commandments as that before we have possession we may not fail to have a Right to the Tree of Life That in the day when the Lord Iesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire when the Elements shall melt with fervent heat and the Heavens be shrunk up like a scrowl of Parchment when every Valley shall be filled up and every Mountain brought low we may be able to appear before the Judge with great boldness and whilst they that would not love the Lord Iesus in sincerity shall send forth weepings and wailings and gnashings of Teeth all alluded to in the sentence of Anathema Maranatha we may be called to bear a part in the quire of Angels and with the ten thousand times ten thousand which are round about the Throne of the Lord Iesus Christ who hath redeemed us to God unto whom he hath made us both Kings and Priests we may never rest from singing with unimaginable delight Blessing Honour Glory and Power to Him that liveth forevermore THE INTRODUCTION TO The Third Part. WHAT hath hitherto been praemis'd touching Christ's Love to us and ours to Him cannot better be succeeded in point of pertinence or use than by that which now follows touching our Love to one another A subject which is the rather to have its place in this Volume because our Love to one another is recommended to us in Scripture as much as God's love to us and ours to God And as that which does make us most like our Maker 'T was recommended to us by Christ in his last Will and Testament and that as one of the richest Legacyes that he was able to bequeath us The ever-blessed Testator as the Author to the Hebrews does fitly call him being to take his last leave in a farewel Sermon to his Disciples and having prepar'd them with an assurance that the time of his leaving them was at hand to make them 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 Consolation and future Bliss Peace saith he I leave with you my peace I give unto you not as the world 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 cordial and solid Peace But knowing well that His peaee could never quietly rest with them in case of War and Division amongst themselves and being not able to indear them with a greater Testimony of His love than by obliging them strictly to the constant loving of one another He therefore bequeathed this Royal Precept as a previous part of their Patrimony whereby to fit them for all the rest That their reciprocal kindness 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 so runs the Instrument whereby he convey'd his good Pleasure to them a new Commandment I give unto you that ye love one another even as I have loved you But then to gain their Acceptance of his Bequest and their religious Execution of what he commanded them to observe He shew'd them the value of such a Legacy as did accordingly tye them to such a Love 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. By this all men shall know ye are my Disciples if ye love one another In which words of our Saviour there are two things suppos'd 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ye are my Disciples It is secondly suppos'd that such as are really Christs Disciples not in hypocrisy 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All men shall know it And were it not so in good earnest the Master would never have directed them as here he does to the infallible means of it's attainment For We
are thirdly to observe the important Lesson which here is Taught and which is now of all Lessons the most worth learning especially if we reflect on the Times we live in by what certain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or way of proof we may make men to know we are Christs Disciples This is deliver'd in the first and last words of the Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they shall know it even by this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If ye bear love to one another From these three parts there are as many Propositions into which the whole Text is very naturally resolv'd That all who are Auditors of Christ or all to whom he is reveal'd do stand oblig'd by that means to be really his Disciples That their Discipleship if it be real will be eminent also and exemplary so far forth as to be known and taken notice of by All. 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 mutual Love And this alone must be the Subject upon which I am to fasten the following part of my Design because it seems to comprehend I say not only the prime but whole Importance of the Text as we may judge by comparing the proposition with the fourfold Emphasis which may be put upon the words For first our Saviour does not say Men shall guess or conjecture that ye are mine but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they shall know it Nor secondly does he say Your Discipleship shall be known as a special Secret to very few but as the Sun in his Meridian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All men shall know it Nor thirdly does he say All men shall know ye seem to be by a Disguise but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that ye are my Disciples without a fiction Last of all he does not say Your Discipleship shall be known by such deceivable Tokens as your Assembling your selves in the House of Prayer your crying Lord Lord your doing wonders in my name your being Orthodox in Judgment and jumping together in Opinions but by This it shall be known as by a Token which never fails 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If ye have Love for one another CHAP. I. Sect. 1. THE Proposition to be consider'd though last in order is first in dignity And being as the Heart of the whole Body of Christianity deserves to be like the Heart in the body of man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 than 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 of which I am now about to treat and which if we take into our hearts as well as into our memories It will I doubt not carry with it that peace of Conscience which is to all that feed on it an endless Feast Sect. 2. But since there is hardly any word that is more equivocal than this I must 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 Sect. 3. And to shew the better what it is I must first shew what it is not For all sorts of men pretend to Love not only Christians but the professed Enemies of Christ and the nominal as well as real Christians Nay in one kind or other they all have Love in their possession and many times the worst in the greatest measure For greater Love than 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 obeyâ—…d the Precept Sect. 4. To save a Friend ready to perish we find Episthenes in Xenophon ready to lay down his life And such was the love of Artapates to Cyrus Iunior that he perfectly hated his own life as soon as Cyrus had quitted His. Nor would Lucius Petâ—…onius out-live his friend Pomponius Laetorius dyed a couple of Martyrs for Caius Graâ—…chus And Titus Volumnius followed Lucullus into his grave Terentius preferrâ—…d the life of Brutus by many degrees before his own And Valerius tells us of divers servants who for the saving of their Masters destroyed themselves What transcendent lovers of one another were Menedemus and Hipsides Cleonymus and Archidâ—…mus Agasias and Xenophon Bagooâ—… and Mentâ—…k Hippoclides and Polystratus Asclâ—…piodotus and Soranus 'T were easie to name as many more as would make a man weary to heart them nam'd Nor do I speak only of Couples but of Societies and Sects whose astonishing Love to one another hath rais'd them Monuments in story will last as long as the Sun and Moon Such as the Cimbri and Celtiberians in Valerius Maximus the friends of Cyrus in Xenophon the Athonians in Thucydides the Megalopolitans in Polybius the men of Saguntum and Petellia the many 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 Sect. 25. 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 Porus his Elephant and other generous beasts which have expos'd their own lives to save their Rider's There is a natural kindness and Generosity which is common to men with the meanest Creatures and so hath nothing of affinity with what is intended in the Text. Sect. 6. Nay if we reflect upon our selves upon whom the name of Christ is call'd 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 often 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 rational 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 are still
are to argue à minori ad majus For if our Love must extend thus to Enemies how much more to such as are friends friends to our Persons and to our God too The love of Christ had degrees and so must ours As the Apostle tells us of Christ he is the Saviour of all but especially of them that believe so the very same Apostle does also tell us of our selves we must do good unto all men but especially to them who are of the houshold of faith And even of those that are faithful a primary care is to be taken for them that are of our own Countrey It was not only 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 Countreymen when he became for their sakes extremely cruel unto Himself 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 unless his Countreymen might have it as well as He. Nor was the passion of S. Paul inferiour to it who for the love he bare unto His Countreymen whom he calls his brethren and kinsmen according to the flesh was ready to wish himself accursed and utterly c̄ut off from the body of Christ. Rom. 9. 2. As if he car'd not what became of him so that his Countreymen might be sav'd Sect. 12. But many times our neerest Countreymen may become our worst Neighbors and in respect of their Religion dwell farthest off too To a man born in Iudaea a good Samaritan ought to be dearer than an hard-hearted Iew. S. Paul and the Christians of Thessalonica were never us'd with more rigour than 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 Matt. 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 than in other places the only Cause was their unkindness Sect. 13. 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 than it was anciently said of the Lomnini that in all our bodies there is no more than one soul or to express it with S. Paul that we have all but one Faith one Baptism 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 mutual Love a giving and taking of affections Indeed rather than fail we must pledge them in Love who do begin to us in hatred But to make up such a Love as is especially here requir'd such as with which the blessed Apostles did once adorn both the Doctrin and the Discipleship of Christ It must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Love interchanged with one another For in how many things soever there may be a seemingness of Religion S. Iames assures us that it's Purity does consist in these two the relief of the needy in their Afflictions and the keeping our selves unspotted from the world Nor can we be told a better course either for brevity or clearness whereby to be possessed of both together than that of measuring and dealing our love to others by such a natural proportion as we have commonly for ourselves For this is perfectly the scope of that Law to which as Christians we must be subject I say we must so much the rather because what soever a man soweth that shall he reap And with what measure we mete it shall be measur'd to us again As 't is the mercy of good men which is said to triumph over Gods Iudgment so there is Iudgment without mercy for them that shew little or none Sect. 14. The chiefest requisites of our Love must be Sincerity and Fervour As S. Paul speaks to the Romans we must be kindly affectioned one towards another so as our love may be brotherly and without dissimulation Rom. 12. 9 10. we must not be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 double-sould men Jam. 1. 8. but 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 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 real 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 S. Paul 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 S. Iohn tells us we ought to do 1 Iohn 3. 16. Sect. 15. If no diviner love of one another were meant by our Saviour under the Gospel then what was so frequently exacted under the paedagogie of Moses our Saviour certainly would have said An Old Commandment I give unto you it having been said to them of old Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self Levit. 19. 18. But here he calls it a New Commandment which we cannot imagin he would have don had there been nothing in its subject but what was old No he might very well call it a New Commandment not only for that reason which I find given by S. 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
evidenc'd by charity and the keeping of the Commandments All agreeable to the words of our Blessed Saviour that men do not gather grapes from Thorns and every Tree is known by its fruit But the fruit of all Graces is the keeping of the Commandments and therefore by that we may know them all Now then let us consider that if the keeping of the Commandments is the true Touchstone of our Love whereby alone we may prove it to be sincere and withal the great Requisite for the making of our Callling and Election sure then is the keeping of the Commandments the sum and upshot of all that is call'd Duty So that when Solomon being penitent turned his Throne into a Pulpit and of a King became a Preacher He was not able with all his wisdom either to teach or to learn either a plainer or higher lesson than Fear God and keep his Commandments For this saith he in the next words is the whole Duty of Man Men may spend their whole lives in inventing Sermons and Systems and other discourses of Divinity both from the Pulpit and from the Press But the sum and conclusion of all is This Fear God and keep his Commandments It concerns us therefore extreamly to make a strict examination whether we find within our selves such a sincere love of Christ as does not only shew it self in our mouths and fancies but especially in our Hearts and our Conversations Such a love as carries with it a ready obedience to his Commands and does by consequence amount unto the whole Duty of Man It being so natural for a Lover to seek the benefit or pleasure and satisfaction of his Beloved by doing that which he desires that obedience and love disobedience and hatred are promiscuously used in holy Scripture For what S. Paul expresseth thus in his Epistle to the Corinthians Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing but the keeping of the Commandments the same S. Paul expresseth thus in his Epistle to the Galatians Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing but Faith which worketh by Love So that Faith is all in all as it worketh by Love And Love is all in all as it brings forth Obedience to the Commandments of Christ. But obedience to his Commandments is all in all as including and supposing both Faith and Love Christianity it self is nothing worth without Faith nor Faith it self without Love nor Love it self without obedience to the Commandments of Christ. For being not kept they must needs be broken And they that break his Commandments are said to hate him as they that keep them are said to love him Exod. 20. 5 6. So the carnal mind of man is called enmity to God Rom. 8. 7. And that for this very reason in the next words following Because it is not subject to the law of God And This may prompt us to descend unto a second consideration that seeing love and obedience disobedience and hatred are terms equivalent put the one for the other in holy Writ then as we hope not to be reckoned amongst the enemies and haters of God in Christ we must employ our utmost study upon the keeping of his Commandments And keep them we must with the greater care because like Porcellane they are of very great worth and the soonest broken Besides which they have a property of being so wholsom or so destructive that whilst we keep them intire they keep us too in our integrity and if we customarily break them they grind us certainly to powder The Prophet David had so smarted by having broken two of the number the one with Bathshebah and the other against Uriah as to have made a new Covenant with God Almighty that if he would teach him once more the way of his statutes he would not fail for the future to keep them whole unto the end And to the end he might keep them the more exactly he laid them up in a sure place wherein the serpents piercing eye should not be able to find them out He lock't them up in a Cabinet of which God only could keep the key For so we have him speaking to God himself Psal. 119. 11. Thy word have I hid within my heart that I might not sin against thee Exactly so did blessed Mary by the sayings of Christ her Son and Lord too which she kept saith the Text and laid them up in her heart After the very same manner let us manifest the love which we bear to Christ and demonstrate the esteem which we pretend to his Commandments first by keeping them in our eyes that we may evermore see and be mindful of them next by fixing them in our Heads that we may rightly apprehend them lastly by hiding them in our Hearts that no thievish lust may deprive us of them Let our love be the ingraver to carve his Commandments in our Souls to carve them in such deep and indelible characters as no kind of Engin or Tool of Satan may be able to efface them or raze them out Are not they bold people who dare be damn'd who take the confidence to sleep amidst the breaches of the Commandments whilst their Calling and Election are not only not ensur'd but even neglected and undervalued as if so cheap and so easie as to be got only by gaping that is by saying Lord Lord or upon any cheaper terms than those of keeping his Commandments Let us religiously beware that we be none of their number And because S. Iames tells us that whosoever will be a Friend of this present world is not only not the Friend but the Enemie of God Tremble we most at those Felicities which are most generally courted Take we heed of nothing more than of our living too much at ease If we are serious lovers of Christ let us not laugh and be merry with them that hate him but rather shut up ourselves in such a solitude and silence as in which we may enjoy him without disturbance or interruption Whenever we suffer in his behalf from our selves or others let this be one of our Rewards that he tells our sighs and counts the number of our attritions puts our Tears into his Bottle and enters our sorrows into his Book Let our Ambition be to please him by all means possible by observing his precepts by accusing our selves before him for any precept unobserv'd by importuning him incessantly for ghostly strength and by thanking him for that which we now injoy by hating our Rebellions already pass't and by making him vowes of new obedience Which Vowes having made let us not fail to pay them all how deerly soever they may cost us Let 's not reckon it enough to be almost-Christians with King Agrippa nor yet with King Saul to give God the Refuse of what we owe him But as we are debtors to him for all so let us not niggardly withhold the least things from him which he expects much