Selected quad for the lemma: love_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
love_n	beget_v	love_v	only_a	2,697	5	6.4558	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A49801	Theo-politica, or, A body of divinity containing the rules of the special government of God, according to which, he orders the immortal and intellectual creatures, angels, and men, to their final and eternal estate : being a method of those saving truths, which are contained in the Canon of the Holy Scripture, and abridged in those words of our Saviour Jesus Christ, which were the ground and foundation of those apostolical creeds and forms of confessions, related by the ancients, and, in particular, by Irenæus, and Tertullian / by George Lawson ...	Lawson, George, d. 1678.	1659 (1659)	Wing L712; ESTC R17886	441,775	362

too For he doth not say to our first Parents Go ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels But you shall suffer Temporal punishments yet so that through my Grace and sanctifying Spirit they shall be Corrections and Chassisements for Humiliation Mortification and Reformation and you shall be banished out of Earthly Paradise and from this Tree of Life that you may more earnestly long after and seek the Paradise and Tree of Life in Heaven For you shall know that it 's a bitter thing to forsake your God and disobey his Command Yet this was the great punishment that the Spirit of Sanctification and Comfort was departed and no ways to be recovered but by Jesus Christ the great Redeemer as a gift of Free-grace And now consider all Mankind in Adam as innocent and obedient they are innocent and obedient Consider them in him as sinful guilty convicted they are sinful miserable convicted and in a lost condition Consider them in him as receiving the Promise of Christ they are in a possibility of Salvation and Deliverance And all such as are born in the Bosome of the Church and under the means of Conversion are in a better condition then such as are strangers from the Covenants of Promise as all Children or Apostlates are Yet we must understand and take special notice of it that after the Fall there is not any thing in man tending either to holiness or happiness or the abatement of sin or misery but from the mere mercy of God which doth shine forth most clearly in two things The first is the giving of Christ or the Promise to give him and this was not upon any merit no nor of Christ himself And howsoever all other Spiritual Mercies may be promised and given for and in respect of the satisfaction and merit of Christ yet the gift of Christ was from purest love without any respect to any merit at all The second is in calling wherein he prevents both by giving the means of Conversion and the grace of his Spirit to make them effectual Therefore the Scripture so much magnifies God's abundant love and free grace manifested in both 1. For the first it 's said God so loved the World that he gave his onely begotten Son Joh. 3. 16. And God commendeth his love towards us in that Christ died for us while we were yet sinners Rom. 5. 8. And in this was manifested the love of God towards us because that God sent his onely Begotten Son into the World that we should live by him Herein is love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the Propitiation for our sins 1 Joh. 4. 9 10. For some mercies we receive from God loving us before we love him as these two Some after we begin to love him 2. For the second we read that God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in sins hath quickned us together with Christ by grace we are saved and hath raised us up together and made us sit together with Christ Jesus in Heavenly places Eph. 2. 4 5 6. Yet this latter is merited by Christ. Besides the manifestation of these Attributes it 's remarkable that God exercised his transcendent and absolute power above his Law For to reverse the Law of Works to require and accept satisfaction and the same made by another even Christ and not the Delinquents and thereupon to promise Pardon and Eternal Life upon condition of Faith were acts of Him as above his Law and dispensing with it in his judicial proceedings For if he had according to his ordinary power made the Law of Works requiring perfect and perpetuall obedience as the onely condition of life the rule of judgment he could have done none of the fore-mentioned Acts but must have condemned man unto Death and punished him according to the demerit of his sin which if he had done neither Adam nor any Son of Adam could have had the least possibility of Salvation So that in this Judgment the Foundation of the second Government of greatest mercy was laid and then even then God began to constitute another Form of Government over Man and to administer the same And the former continued but a little while and the latter hath continued long and shall be An everlasting Kingdom The Second Scheme Acquired by the Word made Flesh by His Conception Birth Anointed King Priest Prophet in His Humiliation taking upon Him the form of a servant being obedient unto Death which presupposing His former Holiness and Obedience was an act of Obedience unto the great Command of His Father accepting Him as the Surety and Hostage of Mankind laying on Him the iniquities of us all a Sacrifice offered to God as Supream Judge to expiate the sin of Man and being accepted did satisfie Divine Iustice offended merit for Himself Eternal Glory and Power sinful Man immediately the Abrogation of the Law of Works Covenant of Grace Power of the Spirit to enable Him to keep it These Effects formally include exclude no person mediately upon the Covenant observed Iustification Glorification Exercised in the Constitution which determines the Sovereign God-Redeemer Administrator-General Christ at the right hand of God Enemies Devils Men Rebels Apostates Subjects men who being reduced by Vocation according to Predestination do voluntarily submit and that sincerely to God-Redeemer their Soveraign Administration considered in general according to the degrees alterations from the time of Adam till the Commencement of that glorious Reign wherein God shall be all in all special in giving Laws which being Moral considered as given to Adam Innocent continued to Gentiles Iews Christians with the different Obligations thereof determines man's duty to God Creator Redeemer Man Positive in Ceremonies especially Sacrifices Ilastical Eucharistical Sacraments of the Law extraordinary ordinary Gospel Baptism Eucharist an Examination by whom to whom How these may be admi●● are a rule of Man's duty in Precepts Prohibitions God's judgment in Promises Threatnings Iudgment particular in Punishments Temporal Spiritual in this life upon single persons Societies Ecclesiastical Civil after Death before the Resurrection Rewards Temporal Spiritual in this life Conversion Iustification begun continued in the state thereof after Death before the Resurrection Universal determining and rendring the Eternal Punishments Rewards of Men Angels THE DOCTRINE OF The Kingdom of God OR The Government of God-Redeemer The Second BOOK CHAP. I. Concerning the Power of God-Redeemer and by whom it was acquired WHen the first Government did determine § I the second did begin For after the Fall of two of God's most noble Creatures there followed a great alteration in the World and such that if God had followed strictly the Rules of his former Government all Mankind must needs have perished But this his Mercy could not suffer therefore his Divine Wisdom contriveth a way how to recover Man f●llen and began to govern him according

the form of an Art or Science as some use to speak They determine the Subject of it to be Man Quatenus Beatificabilis as capable of Spiritual and Eternal Happiness The Object of it must be Deus quatenus Beatificans God as the Fountain and Cause of Eternal Bliss And the end is to direct the Spiritual Acts and Operations of the Immortal Soul so that by them well regulated and fixed upon their due Object man may tend unto and in the end attain the full fruition of that Eternal Being in whom he shall be for ever blessed According to this determination some reduce the Doctrine of the Scriptures to Truths Promises Duties yet this is imperfect Others make three Heads of this Doctrine 1. The first is the Being and Perfection of God in himself 2. The second the Works of God 3. The third His Commands Yet this as the former proves defective and no ways exact Others tell us that the Scriptures represent God to us 1. As to be known And 2. As to be worshipped And so make the Parts of this Divine Doctrine to be 1. Knowledge 2. The Worship of God And this hath much affinity with that Distribution of Theologie into Faith and Obedience that is the Rule of Faith and Obedience These conceive all things in the Scripture especially conducing to Salvation to be credenda or agenda The things to be believed the Object of Faith the things to be done and performed the Object of Obedience For this they think that they have a sufficient ground in the Mandate and Commission of our Blessed Saviour Go and teach all Nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you Math. 28. 19 20. And that of the Apostle seems to confirm this Hold fast the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me in faith and love 2 Tim. 1. 13. I will not examine these distinctions now but onely say this much That Faith and Obedience or Observancy as some call it according to the intended sense of these two places are onely Duties to be performed by sinful man Redeemed and Called according to the Commands of their God-Redeemer and so do not reach the utmost bounds of this Heavenly Doctrine And even in this respect they refer to Government and belong onely to that One Head and part thereof The Commands and Laws of God Redeemer requiring obedience And Faith it self is but one part of this obedience as it is a Duty So that these things may be some ways true but no ways accurate and perfect And if they may be allowed mine intended method I hope may pass without any harsh censure For I know no reason to the contrary seeing it's evident that the Principal if not the adaequat subject of the Holy Scriptures is the Kingdom and Government of God The Doctrine whereof is methodically contracted in ancient Creeds and Confessions which take in the Agenda or things to be practised as well as the Credenda things to be believed Of these ancient Confessions it may be observed that 1. Though they differ in words and expressions § II as may appear by the several forms thereof some more brief some more large especially in Irenaeus and Tertullian yet they agree in the matter and the principal method 2. That divers of the Ancients inform us that the first Planted Churches received the Forms of Confession though different in some words and expressions yet the same for matter and the general and principal method from the Apostles the Apostles from Christ Christ from God Thus amongst others Tertullian 3. They were received from Christ 1. In that Mandate and Commission to the Apostles Go and teach all Nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost 2. By Inspiration of the Holy Ghost 4. In those Words we have 1. God the Father Almighty making Heaven and Earth by his Word 2. This Word and Son made flesh redeeming sinful man 3. The Holy Ghost by whom Christ was conceived and anointed the Prophets inspired the Church sanctified unto Eternal Glory For so the Ancients understood it being directed by the Apostles 5. This Form thus understood was 1. A Tradition unwritten and of Divine Authority as taught by Christ and his Apostles before it was written But 2. Being written and more fully explained in the Canon of the New Testament it can be no longer an unwritten Tradition And whosoever reading the New Testament doth not find and that in several places both the matter and method of the ancient Confessions understands little 6. No particular form of Confession considered as a Tradition of the Church since the time of the Apostles can be of equal authority with the Scriptures 7. That which we call the Apostles Creed which we find in the Works of Cyprian and Russinus with an Exposition is no more nor so much the Apostles Creed as some ancient Creeds in form differing from it 8. Those words of our Saviour and his Rule of Doctrine concerning the Father Son and Holy Ghost with the three glorious Works of Creation Redemption Sanctification is a divine and wonderful Abridgment of all the Doctrine of the Scripture especially of that which is necessary to Salvation The Confession and Creed of the Patriarchs § III in particular of Enoch was thus God is and he is a Rewarder of them who diligently seek him Heb. 11. 6. For they believed That there was one God most glorious and blessed in Himself who by his Wisdome and Power made preserved and governed the World and especially Mankind For to Reward is an act of judgment Judgment presupposeth Laws Laws a Governour a Governour Subjects made and to be governed So that in their ancient Creed we have God considered 1. In Himself 2. As a Governour of the World made by him and especially of Men and Angels and that by Laws and Judgments The obedience to these Laws is to seek God diligently according to the direction of those Laws and the reward of this Obe●ience is Eternal Life as the punishment of Disobedience is Eternal Death And after the Fall of Man no man in himself was capable of this Eternal Li●● because all were guilty Therefore they sought this glorious Reward by Ch●i●● to come whom all their Ilastical Sacrifices did typifie as they sought their God by Him The ordinary Analysis of that which we call § IV The Apostles Creed as delivered by more understanding Catechists and Authors of Theological Systems is this God being the Subject of that Confession is considered 1. In himself as God the Father Son and Holy Ghost 2. As in his Works 1. Of Creation 2. Of Providence Providence preserves and governs all things created especially Man Man made righteous holy happy 1. Falls 2. Is restored He is restored by Redemption and the Application of it The Redeemer for Person is the

kind of magnetical and attractive Power By this we discern good and evil and according to the Representation made the Will is affected or disaffected For upon a simple Apprehension of a thing as good or bad follows naturally and necessarily a Complacency or Displicency though not a real and effectual prosecution It hath also an Executive and Productive Power to work according to the knowledge of the Understanding and Determination of the Will and can imitate the Works of God though at a great distance As it is ingenuous in the imitation of Nature so it models States and Kingdoms and resembles God who hath given it so rare an active power and a principle of its own Actions within it self without any necessary direction or determinati●n from any Creature without This active vigour doth declare the curious and excellent frame thereof which if we understood well and truly we might from thence conclude that it is a Spiritual and Immortal Substance and in some sense a Ray of Eternal Light The Perfection of this Soul and Body § XV which both make up the Being of a man is this that he was made in the Image and Likeness of God For GOD created Man in his own Image in the Image of God created he him Gen. 1. 27. This Image was the Habit of Righteousness and Holiness arising from the Spirit of God sanctifying him The Perfection of his Understanding was this That he knew his God and many things else even all things needful for his Happiness without any Errour The Perfection of his Will was the integrity thereof whereby he was inclined to an Universal Obedience unto all God's Commands and to love that which was just and good and hate that which was evil as he had a power truly and certainly to know them The Perfection of both in respect of the Body was this that he had a perfect Dominion over it and the sensitive Appetite and there was no distemper and disorder in the body to incline it unto evil contrary to the direction and command of the Soul Neither was it apt to rebel against the Counsels thereof as now sometimes it is so that both Soul and Body stood in a direct posture looking and moving towards God as just and holy and was capable of Eternal Felicity Yet this Harmony and Integrity of Body and Soul at first were not such as that man was indeclinably fixt upon that which was truly good either by Nature or extrinsecal Confirmation as one day he shall be but there was a Possibility to sin and dye To be essentially and necessarily holy and happy is proper unto God To be confirmed in Righteousness upon Obedience by prevention of all sin is a priviledge of the Holy Angels and in the end shall be the happiness of true and sincere Believers This Integrity is that whereby Man is so like unto God who is essentially holy and just This is that Image which shall be restored and renewed upon the merit of Christ by the operation of the Spirit which Adam had in the day of Creation The Spirit wrote in his heart the Precepts of the Moral Law as purely Moral yet this Perfection was not Essential but Accidental because Man continued Man after he had lost it Besides the Parts and Perfections of man § XVI so noble a Creature a third thing is to be considered and that is the Sex which was neither the of Essence of nor proper to man but to all Sensitive Creatures The end of it was Multiplication by Generation For though all the Angels were created as so many Individuals at first and never shall increase or decrease yet it seemed good in the Divine Wisdom to make of one bloud all Nations of men for to dwell on the face of the Earth Act. 17. 26. And therefore he first makes onely one man and out of him and of one of his Ribs Woman and of them all Mankind Therefore is it said Male and Female created he them Gen. 1. 27. So that we have 1. The Creation of their Being 2. The Image of God stamped upon them 3. The Sex So that if we examine the Original of Man we find him 1. Nothing 2. Dust. 3. Man without any Woman 4. Woman of Man without any Mother 5. Man of man and Woman 6. Christ of Woman without any Man Woman was made after man of man for man Therefore man by Creation had the Excellency Priority and Superiority Yet Woman in respect of her body was of the same Dust and Mould though not immediately and of the same Model and had a reasonable Soul and the same immortal was stamped with the Image of God in the same Spiri●ual condition subject to the same Lord bound to same Laws capable of the same Felicity and if she sinned with him liable to the same punishments She differs onely in this that she is a Woman the Female and he the Male. He must beget she must conceive bear bring forth give suck and so both joyntly must propagate Mankind She was made of a Rib of man to signifie how near she is to man and how as they were one flesh at first so upon Marriage they were made one again And the Society of Man and Wife is the nearest in the World and requireth the dearest love and should be the sweetest comfort And this was the end why God created Woman not onely Generation but mutuall Society Help and Comfort For God saw that it was not good that man should be alone Gen. 2. 18. Man did no ways actually concur to the Creation of Woman he was merely Passive God took a Rib from man without doing the least harm yet of this Rib none but God could make so excellent a Creature which was animated by a reasonable and immortal Soul and beautified with his Image In this great Work of Creation finished we may observe three things The first proper to man The second to him and the Sensitive generative Creatures The third common to all The First Proper to Man was the Dominion over the Creatures of the Lower Part of the World For he was made Lord over them and the Earth Therefore God said Subdue the Earth and have Dominion over the Fish of the Sea and over the Fowls of the Ayr and ever every living thing that moveth upon the Earth Gen. 1. 28. And he made him little lower then the Angels and crowned him with glory and honour He made him to have Dominion over the Works of his hands He put all things under his feet c. Psal. 8. 5 6. And though this same be in a special manner applyed to the Humiliation and Glorification of Christ Heb. 2. 6. yet it did agree to man in the first Creation The reason of this Dominion was because man was a more noble and excellent Creature was endued with Wisdom and Power to subdue and order them They were made for his preservation service use God gave them into his hands And such was the

5. 26. As there cannot be two Kings in full power in one Kingdome So there cannot be two Gods in one heart at one time To us Christians who make the Gospel the rule of our Worship it 's not sufficient to acknowledge God as Creatour Preserver and Governour of the World For so Turks Mahumetans and Jews do we sin if we do not acknowledge him and Him alone as our Redeemer by Christ exhibited and glorified Therefore to deny Christ thus represented unto us or to acknowledge another Christ with him or besides him or to give any expiating power to any Sacrifice but his or make any other Sacrafice the same or equall with his or to make any other our Advocate in Heaven and the propitiation of our sins is against this law evangelically understood For to us Christians there is but one God the Father of whom are all things and we in him and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him 1 Cor. 8. 6. Neither is there Salvation in any other For there is none other name under Heaven given among men whereby we can be saved Act. 4. 12. In this respect all Jewes and Mahumetans and such as Worship God and not by Christ are offenders Yet not onely they but all such to whom the Gospel is preached and yet receive not Jesus Christ for their Lord and Saviour or receive him and pro●esse him and not fully and sincerely with their whole heart as God requireth are guilty and can in no wise be excused from the Transgression of this Commandement Hitherto is to be referred all Positive unbelief of those to whom Christ hath been sufficiently manifested by the light of the Gospel For he that receives not Christ and refuseth to submit unto him refuseth to receive and submit to that God who sent him Impenitency as it is an obstinate continuance in sin against the meanes and Motives to repentance is reducible to this head Because all such impenitents deny to return unto their God as mercifull in Christ. These are Enemyes and Rebels against the Supreme Monarch The Idolatry of such as depend upon or have compliance with or give any Honour to the Devil is most heynous § VII Because he not onely is no God but the grand enemy unto God There●ore Charmers Sorcerers Wizards and especially Witches and Conjurors who have familiar Spirits and contract with them must needs be great Transgressours And such as seek unto them or depend upon them cannot be innocent Of this sin of worshipping Devils the Idolatrous Gentiles were guilty For the things they sacrificed they sacrificed to Devills and not to God 1 Cor. 10. 20. The Apostate Jewes also sacrificed their Sons and Daughters unto Devills Psal. 106. 37. And so in one Act made themselves guilty not onely of Idolatry but unnatural murther Apostacy whether from God the Creatour once acknowledged or from Jesus Christ once received comes in here And such Apostates as turn Persecutors are the most to be abhorred of all others Under these two heads of Atheism and Idolatry all Pride Prophane contempt or neglect of the Divine Majesty distrust disobedience are concluded And the habitual predominancy of any one sin is inconsistent with the Evangelical obedience unto this Commandement The Affirmative part of this Commandement presupposeth § VIII or rather pre-re-quireth a Knowledge and belief of one onely supreme Lord and Soveraign God Blessed for evermore And the principall dutyes are 1. An acknowledgement of him as such against Atheism and subjection to him alone as our Supreme and onely Lord. And though we be subject unto him and depend upon him though we should never thus voluntarily submit yet by this Voluntary submission we freely yield our selves unto him as his Servants and his Vassals This is the great law of Fealty and Allegiance which is first promised and after that really and continually to be performed In performance of this duty we wholly give and resign up our selves even our very hear●s unto him so that we are nothing in our selves all in him And we who are Christians must subject our selves unto him not onely as Creatour but Redeemer Therefore that faith whereby we so receive Christ as our onely Redeemer so that we are ready to forsake all things to gain him is reducible to this Commandement as Evangelically understood This subjection includes and implyes many dutyes more particular § IX The object and ground of it is his supreme power or dominion which presupposeth many yea all his perfections and also many of his glorious Works His truth revealed requires assent and belief His goodnesse and love manifested requires love His Lawes obedience His dignity and excellency Adoration with humility and Reverence His Benefits thankfulnesse His threatnings of temporall and eternall punishments fear His glorious perfections of Wisdome Power Justice c manifested Praise His promises hope Prayer confidence and desire His communication of himself unto us in mercyes and blessings for our safety deliverance happinesse joy So in other respects other dutyes are to be performed Without all these as occasion requireth this subjection is imperfect Yet this is so to be understood that we may Believe Love Fear Worship Obey others by commission from him as they shall some wayes represent Him or derive some Particle of power or excellency from him And all these are to be performed to him 1. As supreme 2. In the highest degree 3. To him alone as supreme in the Highest degree He is the highest and most excellent object of all our powers and facultyes and the ultimate end of all our Operations This Commandement is purely and primarily moral and must be observed in Heaven And all other vertues and acts required in other Commandements are so far just as they do agree with this Love of Father Mother Dearest relation Life it self if once they come in competition with this are no dutyes are unjust We may exceed in the love of any thing but in the love of Him we cannot He deserves infinit Love yet he alone can infinitely love himself Therefore though he deserve it as infinite yet he requireth it not of his Creature which being finit cannot love infinitely To love him in the Highest degree and above all is sincerity yet not perfection For though we may love him above all yet we may and must love him more But love him so perfectly as this law requires we cannot till we see him face to face know him fully and are fully sanctified Yet the highest degree of love in Angels and the glorified Saints is but finite To conclude the explication of this Precept we must know that not onely the highest degree but all Honour Service Subjection is due onely unto God ●n proper and strict sense For in respect of him Men and Angells are equa●● and but ●ellow Subjects one with another And to them as such no Subjection Honour Service can be due Yet seeing by Commission from God some of them may

unto our Neighbours as our selves or any degree thereof is here prohibited From all this it 's evident that the principal thing commanded and required in this Commandement is the love of our Neighbours as our selves So to do as we would be done unto For the more full understanding of this we must observe and consider some things concerning 1. Love in general 2. Our Neighbour as the Object of this Love here required 3. The measure and quality of it 4. The end whereat it aims 1. Love is of persons or of things This is a love of persons And it presupposeth a Knowledge antecedent to direct it The act of it is to wish well desire intend the good of the person beloved and therefore is called Amor Benevolentiae the love of good-will There is indeed a love of others for our own ends advantage interest but this is either Lust and not Love or love of our selves not of our Neighbours As this Love wisheth and desireth the good of another so the good is either Temporal or Spiritual and Eternal For the good desired by this Love here commanded is any kind of good whereof he is capable which may conduce unto his happiness Therefore the principal thing desired is Eternal Life as it is an Estate of perfect Holiness and Happiness And it 's such a love and so vigorous as it will stir us up effectually to use all means to procure this good 2. As the Object of the highest degree of our love is God § VI so the Object of this love required in this last Commandement is our Neighbour This our Neighbour is 1. All Mankind so far as capable of our love 2. Some part of Mankind and so our Neighbour is either publike or private Publike is either Civil or Ecclesiastical the State or Church whereof we are members and in both first the Superiours and publike and most eminent persons Our private Neighbours are not onely Father and Mother Wife Children Friends Servants Benefactors but also strangers yea and Enemies as God in his Divine Providence shall make them immediate Subjects in particular of our love 3. The quality and measure of our love § VII is implyed in these words As thy self It 's not said as God for that 's too high Nor before or more than our selves for that 's too much So that in these words we have both the quality and the quantity or measure of this love determined For the quality it must be real hearty and sincere for so we love our selves It must be real for in some Cases we must hazard yea lay down our lives and give our goods for to save relieve and help our Brethren in their miseries wants extremities We must lay down the lives of our Bodies for the Salvation of their Souls and with the Widow cast in all that we have into the Treasury This love must be without dissimulation Rom. 12. 9. And we must not love in word neither in tongue but in deed and in truth 1 Joh. 3. 18. Yet this love of our selves cannot be a Rule of the love of our Neighbours except it be regular For it may be fond foolish vain irregular and inordinate Therefore it must be regulated by the Word of God issue from Faith in Christ and our love of God in Christ and we must love in obedience to his Commandement and aym at His Glory and seek the true especially the spirituall and eternall good of our brethren And if we thus love our selves then we may make this love of our selves the measure of our love to others The measure and quantity of this love is also here implied in the foresaid words For we must love God more then any thing more then any person more then our selves and the more wee love God the more we love our selves in God Therefore because we must love our selves lesse then God we must love our Neighbours lesse then him otherwise our love will prove inordinate In loving others we may love our selves first and in that respect more then our neighbours And in this love of our neighbours there be degrees to be observed For we must love our Country under what form of Government so ever it be before any particular person the Whole more then the Part the publick more then the private and because we our selves are but private Persons and a part therefore we must love the whole State in some cases more then our selves And in the State we must love and seek the good of such persons upon whom the safety and peace publique much depends more then others We must also love the Church more then the State and our brethren in Christ more then any particular persons in the world In the fourth place § VIII the End of this love is that we may do as we would be done unto For as we love or hate others so we do unto them so we deal with them well or ill If we love our selves aright and love others as our selves we will neither think nor devise nor intend nor endeavou● to do him any evill but we will desire devise intend endeavour his reall good And as we would have others to do all things so as that they may tend unto our Temporall peace and spirituall Welfare so we must do all things so as to design their perfect happinesse so well as our own And as we desire that others may do nothing prejudiciall to our joy comfort happinesse so we must do nothing that may tend unto or end in our neighbours hurt so as to make them either sinfull or miserable All obedience without this love is but a carkeise Therefore though the heathens did the things conteined in this Law yet because they were devoid of the Love of God and this love of our Neighbours issuing from the love of God and faith in Christ their obedience was not sincere and such as this Law required To give all our goods unto the poor and our bodies to be burned and not out of love is nothing This love will think well wish well do well speak well It will be patient and long-suffering yea it will be kind unto enemies and such as hate us and if they thirst will give them drink if they hunger feed them and in their miseries relieve them It will blesse them that curse us and pray for them that hate us and despightfully abuse us It will return blessing for cursing do good for evill and seek to overcome evill with good It 's an evidence of a sincere faith a confirmation of our union with and interest in Christ it 's the character of a reall Christian and a proof that we are passed from death to life By it we resemble God who is love by it we imitate Christ by it we are cemented together amongst our selves by it we rejoyce with them that rejoyce and mourn with them that mourn it makes all men one and every man part of ourselves it 's the union of Souls the