corrupt affections from every evil habit that is contrary to his Holy nature to his most pure and righteous Law that you may serve and worship him with some degrees of knowledge and with a sincere and perfect heart then you may assure your self that you are worthy to receive that your Devotion will be accepted and your Offering rewarded that you shall have Grace and assistance from above to grow better and better till you come to be perfect in Christ Jesus The sum of all is this the Minister by the command and in the name of God exhibits and offers the blessings of the Gospel to the Communicants and they by receiving the outward signs thereof profess themselves the Disciples of our Lord that they believe his Doctrine trust in his Mediation hope in his Promises and are resolved to live according to his Laws He then who is sincere in these his professions and resolutions receives worthily and he who presents himself in such a solemn manner at the Holy Sacrament making and being understood to make profession of his Christian Faith and a solemn dedication of himself to the obedience thereof for ever when at the same time he neither understands it regards it or designs to practise it is an Hypocrite a Prophaner 1 Cor. â— 27 a Blasphemer of God and therefore eats and drinks damnation to himself incurs the high displeasure of God and may therefore expect that the Judgments of God should follow him For for this cause many are sick and weak among you and many are fallen asleep as S. Paul interprets the damnation spoken of before v. 30. Par. Sir I thank you with all mine heart and if I be not too tedious to you give me leave to ask you one question more before I go Min. Pray ask me what you will for I assure you I am mightily pleas'd to find you so inquisitive Par. What is the reason then since as I understand by you a disposition to every Christian Grace is requisite in a worthy Communicant that the Rubrick â—re the â—â—munâ—ice and all Divines insist in a particular manner upon Love and Charity reconciling and being reconciled to our enemies Min. It is well observed they do so yet not as exclusive of any other duties But indeed there is all the reason in the world to remind our Communicants in a more particular manner of the duties of Love and universal Charity First Because the Religion of our Blessed Saviour which we here so solemnly profess is founded in Love and Mercy in the most perfect and ineffable goodness which moved Almighty God by the mediation of our Blessed Saviour to offer easie terms of Pardon Peace assistance and eternal Life to all that should embrace them 1 Joh. â— 10 Joh. 3 1â— Rom. 5. â— For He loved us when we were yet his enemies and sent his only begotten son into the world that whosoever would but believe in him should not perish but have everlasting life And therefore malice hatred envy and evil will are dispositions radically contrary to Christianity such as render us utterly unfit to have any thing to do with the solemn rites of this Religion Moreover secondly The Religion it self that Christian Law which we here profess to embrace and resolve to practise is a Law of Love Universal Charity is the principle and life of our Religion which influences the whole and mingles it self with every part thereof insomuch that it is distinguished and describ'd by this single Grace of Love â—om 13.9 â—al 5.14 â—att 22 â—9 â— Joh. 3.9.23 For love is the fulfilling of the law saith S. Paul And Hereby sayes S. John speaking of Love we know that we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before him And this is his commandment that we believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another as he gave us Commandment So that all our professions of Faith and Obedience at the Holy Table are a prophanation of the name of God and wholly ineffectual to us so long as the temper of our minds and the dispositions of our Souls are contrary to the Religion we profess For unless Christ be in us Cor. 13. says S. Paul that is the Spirit of Christ the Goodness Love Meekness Compassion Patience Forbearance Condescension of Him and his Religion We are reprobates Malice indeed is an indication of a Diabolick Nature of a mind throughly vicious and degenerate It is a temper wholly inconsistent with a true principle of Christianity For in this the children of God are manifest 1 Joh. 3 10. and the Children of the Devil whosoever doth not Righteousness is not of God neither he that loveth not his Brother Again There is a particular fitness and congruity in forgiving injuries and reconciling enemies to the tenor and intention of the Holy Sacrament God is there exhibited as willing to be reconciled to repenting sinners He there renews and revives his Covenant of Grace and Mercy to us Does not reason then that is to say the Law of our Nature and the eternal immutable Law of reasonable Beings require of us that we in our capacity should do the same How can we expect that from another which in the change of circumstances we are not willing to do Therefore Matt. 7.12 if thou bring thy gift to the Altar and there remembrest that thy brother hath ought against thee leave there thy gift before the altar and go thy way first be reconciled to thy brother and then come and offer thy gift Which words though they are spoken by our Saviour with immediate respect to the Peace-Offerings for the Atonement of sins yet the reason holds in all our addresses to God for pardon and has been generally applied by Divines to the Holy Sacrament Here in especial manner we pray for and expect his Mercy But is it reasonable to hope for such a favour at the hands of God unless we are willing to give satisfaction to our power for the injuries we have done to others and are ready to forgive offences against our selves Our very nature will rebuke such a vain presumption And our Saviour has expresly taught us in the Parable of the Lord and his steward that a readiness to forgive our enemies is indispensably necessary in order to the pardon of our own miscarriages The Lord forgave his steward a vast debt but he forgetting the goodness of his Lord to him sues and seizes his debtors and fellow servants for trivial sums Wherefore his Lord was wroth Matt. 18. ult and delivered him to the tormentors till he should pay all that was due unto him So likewise says our Saviour shall my heavenly father do to you if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses Nay he has taught us to acknowledge the reasonableness of it in our daily prayer Matt. 6. Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us He
agreeable passion of love is too often exercised upon unworthy objects pursued and enjoyed after an unreasonable manner But notwithstanding that whether the object be wisely chosen or foolishly whether the beauty apprehended be real or imaginary wheresoever delight and desire are there beauty or goodness in the object is however apprehended and supposed And from this general account of the nature and Principles of Love we may most firmly establish the notion of Love to God Wherefore then to Love the Lord our God is so to apprehend the excellencies of the Divine nature his absolute perfections in themselves and his infinite grace and goodness towards us as that we most sincerely and heartily admire and adore his Majesty and earnestly desire the most intimate enjoyment of Him and the most perfect union with Him that we are capable of This is the nature of the Duty in the general And the Qualifications with which it ought to be exercised are three with all thine Heart and with all thy Soul and with all thy Mind The Text is taken out of Deut. 6.5 Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine Heart and with all thy Soul and with all thy Might St. Mark Luke 10.27 and St. Luke express it with all thy Strength And because of this indifferent variation of the phrase and because the same thing is sometimes expressed by one of these phrases only as with all thy Heart 1 Sam. 7.3 Sometimes the Heart and Soul without the Mind or Strength as in the 2 Kings 23.3 Therefore some Expositors consider the Heart the Soul and Mind as words of the same or of equal signification accumulated only to press and inculcate the duty more effectually upon us but not as a Climax of perfection in the practice of it But because we may observe a real and material difference in the common use and acceptation of the words expressing the degrees of Intention and desire in the acts and operations of the Soul and because it will very much administer to the just explication of the duty therefore I shall presume and with good authority to consider the Heart the Soul and Mind as qualifications of gradual Excellency as a Scale of Perfection in the practice and exercise of Love to God And first With all thy Heart By the Heart according to the usual signification of that Metaphor we understand Integrity Sincerity of affection Ye have obeyed from the heart Rom. 6.17 the form of doctrine that was delivered you that is sincerely and without hypocrisie And innumerable other places Secondly with all thy Soul that is with Understanding and Knowledge that our Love of God be not only Sincere but grounded well proceeding from Causes proper and considered not with Passion only but with Judgment The Soul here may be understood of Reason and Discretion whereby we distinguish of Good and Evil base and worthy and to whose determinations the Will Desires and instruments of Action are obedient Thirdly with all thy Mind By the Mind may be understood the more Spiritual Principle in Man whereby he feels and enjoys the truth of such Propositions as Reason by comparing one thing with another shall discover Reason is as it were an Artificial Mechanical deduction of Conclusions from Premises but the Mind enjoys them really by an intire agreement with the Proposition And upon this account the wicked in Scripture are said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as are able to collect the truths of Religion or any other Propositions by Scholastick inference but the Pious and Regenerate have an inward sensation of things Intellectual and Divine and are therefore called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to whose Body and Soul is added Mind or Spirit Wherefore then to Love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart and with all thy Soul and with all thy Mind is sincerely to Adore and Delight in God from a distinct perception from an inward sensation as well of his absolute Perfections in themselves as of His infinite Bounty and Goodness towards us And thus I have explained the Terms and stated the Nature of the duty in general I proceed as I proposed in the second place to consider the particular parts the necessary acts and exercises of Love to God First with all our Heart and with all our Soul Secondly with all our Mind And First the particular acts implyed in the Love of God with all the Heart and with all the Soul are chiefly these First the Preference of God to all other objects whatsoever He that loves with Judgment esteems and values according to weight and measure according to the degrees of beauty and excellence in the object As he readily acknowledges whatsoever worth or goodness he any where discerns so he suffers not his Passion and desire to go before his understanding But God is a Being that exists of himself in whom is implied whatsoever can be supposed to be and in whom all being is resolved as into its proper and most perfect cause Defect supposes impotence and controul but Omnipotence implies the most absolute perfection Desire of Good when known is necessary But can any instance of goodness or perfection be hid from his knowledge or kept from his possession who is the cause of all things Wherefore then since all perfections are essential to this first and Original Good one of the necessary acts of Love to such a being is the preference of him to all other Beings whatsoever If our Love of God be with all the Soul with judgment and understanding then we know that there is none in heaven but God and none upon earth to be desired in comparison of Him That he is the fountain of all the imperfect excellencies of all created Beings that he is the most constant and the most potent friend and benefactor who made us by his Power and sustains us by his Providence guides us by his Council assists us by his Spirit pities our Weakness pardons our Sins and is ready at last to receive us into Glory Wheresoever therefore He is understood all other objects habits and desires will necessarily fall before him For whatsoever beauty or goodness may be found in any other object they are all derived from God in whom all fullness dwells That is the first The Second particular implyed in the Love of God with all the Heart and with all the Soul is a stedfast Faith in whatsoever he reveals A sincere affection is apt in its nature to beget an unreasonable credulity It is very difficult to perswade our selves that our friend whose happiness we know is our greatest pleasure should abuse our Passion by deceit and guile to sport or private ends and therefore notwithstanding all the infirmities of humane Nature all the insincerities which may proceed from wicked dispositions and violent temptations yet Love creates an intire and perfect confidence in one another How much more if our Love of God be with all our Heart and Soul shall we
believe his Word and rely upon his Promises because he is Truth it self and cannot be deceived he is Wisdom it self and cannot propose or promise at adventure he is Power it self and can bring into act whatsoever he decrees He is Goodness it self and neither can nor will deceive us If therefore our Love of God be sincere and with understanding the most intire and perfect confidence in his Word and Promises are necessary We shall inquire into his Will study his Laws submit our apprehensions to his determinations and stedfastly believe whatsoever he reveals If there arise among you a Prophet or a dreamer of dreams Deut. 13.1 2 3. and giveth you a sign or a wonder and the sign or wonder come to pass whereof he spake unto thee saying go after other gods which thou hast not known and serve them thou shalt not hearken to that Prophet or that dreamer of dreams for the Lord thy God proveth thee to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul The adhering firmly to the Word of God though a Wonder should be wrought in confirmation of a contrary doctrine is made a test of our Love of God by God himself That is the Second The Third particular implied in the Love of God with all the heart and with all the Soul is such an imitation of the Divine Perfections as our present state and capacity will permit Self-love or a desire of being happy and perfect in the kind is the necessary inclination or the first principle of every being And therefore whatsoever Good or excellence we clearly understand as essential to or perfective of our being or conducible to the ease and convenience of our life we cannot chuse but desire the possession of it It is not so properly an act of reason as an instinct of nature But if we love the Lord our God with all our Heart and Soul with sincerity and understanding we shall discern the beauty capacity and perfection of our own nature in the Qualities and the life of the first and most perfect of rational Beings and shall therefore necessarily desire to imitate those Divine vertues which we so adore and love The abstracted essence of God is impossible to be comprehended by a finite understanding but we judge of the Divinity as of all things else by effects and operations by his works of Creation and Providence by his Universal righteousness wisdom purity and goodness so visible in the government of the World If we therefore apprehend and admire these glorious Attributes of God we shall endeavour to transcribe his Copy and model our Souls according to this Exemplar because the resolution of the mind that such a quality is worthy and excellent includes desire and imitation we shall endeavour to be holy as God is holy in all our conversation that as he is so we may be in the World wise in the management of our ends just in our dealings merciful to the distressed ready to forgive our enemies in all things aspiring after the Divine perfections and setting the Life of God before us as the Rule of our Conversation That 's the Third The fourth particular implied in the Love of God with all the Heart and with all the Soul is a constant uniform Obedience to his Will What a chearful flexibility what a readiness to do any thing that may be grateful and pleasant to each other may be observed in the love of equals If therefore love has such a power where the authority is precarious only and by consent how much more will the Love of God oblige us to the most diligent observance of His will forasmuch as the love of our Superiors includes obedience in its nature No man can intirely love a Prince or a Father that does not approve and obey his Precepts and therefore St. John defines the Love of God by keeping his Commandments 1 Joh. 5.3 This is the Love of God that we keep his Commandments We cannot add to infinite perfection we cannot oblige Him in any real services who is already Lord of all there remains therefore no possible testimony of our Love to God without the resignation of our opinions desires and actions to his will This is all we have to offer If a man Love me says our Saviour he will keep my words Joh. 14.23 and he that hath my Commandments and doth them he it is that loves me Would it not be the greatest solecism in love if our friend should prescribe us a method of happiness promise his assistance assure us of success and we should receive it civilly applaud his judgment believe all he says but never proceed to accomplish the methods he proposes Hence those who live in disobedience to the Laws of God are said to hate Him Exod. 20.6 Indeed if we have any true conceptions of the Divine perfections which love supposes we know that God is infinite in wisdom to direct and guide us infinite in goodness and will suit his commands to our abilities full of mercy and compassion and will pity our weakness and pardon our failings If therefore love wheresoever it is sincere is apt to create an extravagant desire of pleasing the object even with the utmost hazard and sometimes by unlawful practices by humouring vices flattering deformities serving the basest ends any thing indeed that they think may gratifie the person How much more will the love of God oblige us to the strictest care and observance of His will because we know that His will is perfect He can command us nothing nor can he be pleased with any thing that is not truly Good He cannot be giddy and inconstant frequish and uncertain humorsome and hard to be pleased as imperfect objects are but He will receive our addresses and accept our services He will enable us to obey him and make the best construction of all our sincere endeavours and at last compleat our love in the everlasting enjoyment of Himself That 's the 4th The last particular implyed in the Love of God with all the heart and with all the Soul is the most hearty sorrow whensoever we shall offend him with an earnest desire to be reconciled Whosoever loves will endeavour to recommend himself by an obliging deportment to the good opinion of the object pursues a kind acceptance waits a sutable return and expects at length the enjoyment of his hopes If therefore he has given any just occasion of Offence by omitting what was necessary to be done or by doing any thing that was contrary to his Pretensions or inconsistent with his Love it must needs affect him with indignation against himself that he should bring his own sincerity into question injure the person whose happiness is his greatest Joy retard his progress towards that end he chiefly aims at and superinduce a Cloud upon that Sun by whose influence he lives Thus also in respect of God if we love him with Understanding we cannot but
such as these no blessing can be compared with a clear revelation without distinct and certain knowledge of our duty because we then are free from anxious fears and doubts about the nature of Religion We aim at a steddy end without the mazes and uncertain wandrings of Imagination We run within the lines the ground is set out and the Goal is before our eyes Our whole intention may be taken up in accomplishing our minds with the love of God and Man the rode to happiness is plain and easie This is the Law and the Prophets And O! that we could be perswaded to lay aside all false opinions of Religion and believe our Saviour and accept him upon his own conditions that we would pursue the favour of God and everlasting happiness in the way of universal Charity For believe it no Faith no Creed no Church-Communion no outward Sanctimony no external Piety without the Love of God and Man will avail us any thing in the Day of Judgment No though we should be honoured with the power of working Miracles and should cast out Devils in the Name of Christ yet unless we cloath the Naked visit the Sick assist whom we may and pity all we shall surely be shut out with Depart from me I know ye not Matt. 7. ult Let us therefore be perswaded since so much depends upon it to set our selves industriously upon the practice of these Duties that we may procure to our selves universal love and peace the good will of God and Man in this present life and everlasting Glory in the World to come To which God of his mercy bring us all for Jesus Christ his sake the Righteous to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all Honour Glory Praise and Love now and for evermore Amen Rom. xii 21. Be not overcome of evil but overcome evil with good TO gratifie the present passion or desire by fraud by force or by any means whatsoever without respect to right or wrong to good or evil is the essential difference of irrational brutal Nature But to look before us to act for the sake of ends to do or to forbear as the event and consequence of the thing shall appear to be good or evil to us is the distinction the property indeed the definition of reasonable creatures But because the reasonable faculty in man who is the most imperfect in the kind is obscur'd and prejudic'd by the unaccountable union of the Soul and Body in our present state therefore God who is Wisdom it self has at several times but at last and especially by his Son in that most perfect institution of Reason as well as of Religion contain'd in his holy Gospel assisted our weakness clear'd our notions drawn out and set on work those eternal principles of Truth and Goodness which may be undiscern'd but can never be separated from our own minds And amongst all the excellent rules of Wisdom and Practice therein contained there is none of so high so exalted a nature as the love of Enemies for this alone is proposed under the style and character of Divine Perfection Be ye therefore perfect as your father which is in heaven is perfect S. Matth. 5. ult A Precept which through the prejudice of our passion and the depth of its reason is not easily understood hardly received more hardly practised yet in truth it is every way our interest as well as an indispensable duty and therefore if thine enemy hunger V. 20 feed him if he thirst give him drink for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head Be not overcome of evil but overcome evil with good The Judaizing Christians Eus l. 2. c. 12. Meg. Eccles His Cent. 1. l. 2. c. 5. and the Gnosticks had extremely perverted the Christian Religion by asserting the obligation of the Ceremonial Law the lawfulness of a dissembled Apostasie and a liberty of indulging any Lust or Vice we shall be addicted to Now to hinder the spreading of these pernicious Doctrines and to assert the Truth and Purity of the Christian Religion against those false and spurious accounts which they had given of it S. Paul insinuates is his chief design in this his Epistle to the Romans Ch. 1.16 And First he shews that the Ceremonial Law was but a type or shadow of a more perfect institution of Religion which in after time should be established Ch. 2. That that time is now accomplish'd and the Ceremonial Law abolished and that therefore we are now obliged to those more perfect and substantial duties which were signified and represented under the Types and Figures of the Law Ch. 8. Finally That Christianity consists in the reformation of our lives in rectifying the evil dispositions of our Souls in conforming our affections desires and actions to the most pure and perfect Laws thereof And therefore as the use of the whole Discourse I beseech you Brethren by the mercies of God Ch. 12.1 That ye present your bodies all your bodily corrupt affections and desires a Living Sacrifice a whole burnt-offering to God That ye intirely resign your selves and suffer your Religion to have its last design and end upon you V. 2. And be not conformed to this World for so the Apostle proceeds to particulars But be ye transform'd by the renewing of your minds with fervent Piety and Devotion towards God V. 11. with sincere and universal Charity towards Men extending even to the love of Enemies in the words of my Text For if thine enemy hunger feed him if he thirst give him drink c. Be not overcome of evil but overcome evil with good These words are a Precept of universal obligation which concerns our behaviour under injuries received Be not overcome of evil and our deportment to wards those who injure us but overcome evil with good And first we are instructed how to behave our selves under injuries received Be not overcome of evil We are not obliged to a Stoical insensibility To destroy our Passions is no perfection but a debility and sickness of the mind but to command them to keep them within their bounds to exercise them upon proper Objects and to a just degree is the honour of a Man and the duty of a Christian The Command it self Be not overcome of evil supposes and allows a sense of the injury but obliges us to govern our resentments by the rules of reason to mold our spirits into a temper of meekness kindness and condescension that we may be then most pleasant to our selves when we stand in the greatest need of counsel and advice that no provocation may be able to discompose our minds or transport us into frequish indecent words or actions much less into meditations of Revenge But that we receive the injury with Patience consider it sedately construe it fairly excuse it ingenuously or if the malice be too plain to be hid then to refer the Judgment of your cause to God Be not overcome of
do with me whatsoever pleases Thee Though Thou shouldst slay me yet will I trust in Thee I throw my self into the Arms of Thy mercy beseeching Thee to lay no more upon me than Thou shalt enable me to bear 1 Cor. 10.13 and all I beg upon the alone Account of the Merits and Mediation of Jesus Christ my Lord and only Saviour Amen A Prayer for Protection with Thanksgiving O Eternal God! Thou art the Almighty Father of the world I was created by thy Power and am preserved by thy Wisdom and Goodness I am truly sensible of Thy particular Grace and favour towards me in all the periods and states of life thro' which I have passed * Mention here the particular blessings of your condition whether in pious Parents or in hopeful Children prosperous estate faithful friends bountiful benefactors good busband discreet or virtuoâ— wife c. O blessed God affect my mind as it ought to be with a sense of thy bounty and beneficence that I may rely upon Thy Providence for the time to come that I may be wholly resign'd to Thy most blessed Will and fully satisfied under all Thy dispensations towards me Endue me O Lord with all those gifts and graces that may enable me to acquit my self as I ought to do in all the conditions of life which thou shalt be pleased to call me to open mine understanding rectifie mine errors quicken my diligence strengthen my faith and with my capacities inlarge my Charity that Thou mayst still continue to be gracious to me to direct my Counsel to preserve my health to guide my hand and to bless me in all my ways and works thro' Jesus Christ our Lord in whose most holy name and words I conclude mine imperfect prayers saying Our Father c. THE END Matth. xxii 37 38 39. Jesus said unto him Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind This is the first and great Commandment And the second is like unto it Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self THE Immortality of the Soul and a future state of Bliss or Misery according as our actions in the flesh have been good or evil are the common Notions the indeleble Opinions the universal expectation of Mankind And therefore a distinct and perfect knowledge of Religion or of such an Institution of Faith and Manners as will certainly be accepted of God procure his favour here and everlasting blessedness in the Life to come is a matter of the highest concernment to us No reasonable Man that believes a future Judgment with the consequent Rewards and Punishments can find any peace or contentment in his Mind till by a clear understanding of his duty and a firm resolution to fulfil it he has founded to himself a rational hope of a happy life in the other World But though the thing it self has been always steddily believed yet a consistent regular account of this future Life was never stated nor the methods by which it might certainly be obtained which so much concerns us discovered to the World till the light of the Gentiles and the glory of Israel appeared to give us the knowledge of Salvation Even the Jews had no distinct and clear conception of the Life to come The opinions of the Pharisees themselves concerning it who were the most zealous assertors of it were very absurd and sensual insomuch that Josephus compares the heaven of the Phanisees to that of the Greeks who dream'd of fortunate Islands replenished with all imaginable delights of the Body quick and more curious appetites and more perfect objects of satisfaction But by the Ministry of our Blessed Saviour Life and Immortality are brought to light proposed intelligibly and asserted with Divine Authority Hence the Pharisees having heard of the Wisdom of our Saviour that he had put the Sadducees to silence cleared the Doctrine of the Resurrection and was able to answer all the doubts and questions concerning the life to come sent a Lawyer from amongst themselves V. 35. to make an experiment of his Judgment who enquires of our Saviour under the style of Master Which is the great Commandment Jesus said unto him Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind and thy neighbour as thy self The Text is a general Account of the way and method whereby we may attain everlasting life of such a conversation and course of action here as will procure to us everlasting blessedness in the world to come And all the Duties Qualities and Habits which are required of us as conditions of Eternal life are comprehended by our Saviour under these Two Heads The first respects our duty towards God Thou shalt love the Lord thy God c. The second respects our duty towards our Neighbour Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self I begin with the first of these which respects our Duty towards God Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine Heart and with all thy Soul and with all thy Mind This is the first and great Commandment And in the handling of this copious Argument I shall confine my thoughts to this following Method First I shall explain the terms and give you a more general account of the nature of the duty and the Principles into which it is resolved Secondly I shall consider the particular parts the necessary acts and exercises of Love to God First With all the Heart and with all the Soul And Secondly With all the Mind Thirdly I shall consider upon what Accounts the Love of God with all the Heart and with all the Soul and with all the Mind may be said to be the First and Great Commandment Fourthly I shall perswade and encourage you to the practice of this duty and the pursuit of this habit of Love to God by several motives couched and implied in this one word Thou shalt love the Lord thy God Fifthly and Lastly I shall make Application of the whole I begin with the first of these the Explication of the terms and the consideration of the nature of the duty in the general and the Principles into which it is resolved Thou shalt love the Lord thy God To Love is to take delight and pleasure in the Object with a desire of such an enjoyment of it as the nature of the thing will bear and Reason will permit and the causes or reasons of such Delight and Desire are only two however various the objects about which they are exercised may be namely an opinion of personal excellency in the object it self or a sense of kindness or benefits received from it These are the onely Principles of Love these are the onely causes of all the delight and desire in the world that is voluntary and chosen Persons 't is true may be and very frequently are mistaken in their apprehensions of beauty and goodness whereby this best and most
pursue his favour and most earnestly desire to be loved again because we know that our Love of God if it be sincere and pure will be returned in the most ravishing delights we know that his Love is Life that it is not an empty Passion but exerted in the most substantial effects and happy instances And therefore that we should have sinned against him must needs be the most insupportable affliction because in proportion to the nature of our offence our chief design of obtaining his favour and the light of his countenance will be hindred and all our work of so great importance may be to begin again And as we shall be deeply sensible of our offence so shall we also be very sollicitous to be reconciled One of the most essential acts of Love is a desire of the good opinion of the object nor is any thing more directly contrary to that Passion than stoutness and indifference No man can sit down and be satisfied under the displeasure of his friend till he has acknowledged his offence dimulced his anger by sutable mediations and all such other acts as reason in his case will suggest unto him Thus as our Love of God will make us very careful to obtain and preserve his favour so shall we also be extremely solicitous in case of offences to be reconciled If our love of God was ever real it can never be withdrawn when once we have understood and have been warmed with the love of God it is not possible in the nature of the thing that we should ever be reduced to indifference for the glory of God is immutable and his Beauty perfect which where they are understood will of necessity both attract and continue Desire and Love as being the only object that can fully delight and satisfie the faculty Neither is this all but we know moreover that we cannot be happy without his Love if He hide his face we are wretched and undone that Impartial Justice towards offenders is as certain an Attribute of God as Infinite Goodness Nothing therefore can discourage us we shall never give over our Confessions and Tears our Vows and Resolutions and the tender of all such satisfactions as are possible for us to make till we have reason to hope that our sins are pardoned and our persons are again received into his favour These are the essential parts the necessary acts of Love to God viz. That we prefer Him to all other objects whatsoever believe his Word and rely upon his Promises imitate his Life and obey his Laws be deeply sorrowful whensoever we offend him and earnestly endeavour to be reconciled All these several expressions are of the essence of Love and flow from the nature of the thing And so I proceed as I proposed in the second place to consider the more perfect exercises of Love to God with all thy Mind Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy Mind In the explication of the Words it has been already noted that the Love of God with all the soul is such an adoration of God as proceeds from a sense of the Glories and excellencies of His Being as they are apprehended by reason and inferr'd from his Definition Nature and Operations but the Love of God with all the mind is with a more quick and sensible perception of the Divine perfections with reason improved into a more lively apprehension of the object A young Philosopher shall acknowledge the benefits of frugality suppose or of any other Vertue and shall be able himself to deduce the advantages of it by the rules of Logic and shall believe his deductions to be regular and true But a man of Age and Experience besides what reason suggests from causes to effects has a sense and feeling of the thing he is affected with it it has seized and taken possession of him he is one with the Notion Thus Reason infers the Perfections of God from necessary Principles the Judgment is satisfied and the Will performs such acts as are sutable and consonant to such opinions and apprehensions of the Soul But he whose knowledge has affected his mind not only knows believes and acts accordingly but he has also a more quick and sensible perception and enjoyment of the Divine Perfections by an inexplicable agreement harmony and delight he is one with them ravished and overcome of Desire and Love And the particular acts implied in the Love of God with all the Mind are chiefly Three The first is frequent Meditation and a due intention of the Mind upon the beauty and excellencies of the object This is both an act and a cause of the love of God with all the Mind Where our affections are fixed there all our faculties will be employed Love therefore will provoke us to the meditation of God and Meditation will improve our Knowledge and perfect our Love For since it is impossible to discover a blemish in absolute perfection the more we pry into Him the more of necessity we shall love him Whosoever then is affected sensibly and in his Mind with the love of God will separate considerable portions of his time for the contemplation of the Divine Perfections He will abstract his mind from sensible things that it may be purer and more free more apt to apprehend more easily impressed by objects Divine and Spiritual Nothing hinders our clearer Knowledge and more ardent love of God but the prepossession of our affections by the beauty and goodness of the World These we converse with these we admire and court but as for the infinite perfections of God we believe them as the Doctrine of the Church and hope to enjoy them through the merits of Christ according to the Tradition of the Fathers We resolve that God is incomprehensible as indeed He is and therefore we never endeavour to find out so much of his beauty as by a due disposition of Soul without revelation or ecstasie we might Whereas if our lives were more retired castigate and sober our spirits would be purer our minds more quick and vigorous objects Divine and Spiritual would be more agreeable more easily felt and enjoyed by us It were easie to consider particulars and show how a due intention of mind upon the attributes of God will more sensibly affect us Do we adore Him for so much of his Infinite Goodness as appears at the first view in the general or towards our selves How much more should we be affected if we look it round and consider throughly this perfection of the will of God That God who is Omnipotent and under no controle should be bounded in his Will by the Laws of Goodness Righteousness and Mercy That He should vouchsafe to communicate his own likeness and subject the whole Creation to the use and convenience of Man that He should love us when we were his enemies and restore our corrupted nature to its first integrity by the passion of his only Son That He should still follow us
with kindness wait to be gracious not easily provoked longer before He punishes That his love to Man should be equal and universal but managed with the most perfect wisdom diffused more warm and lively where it is necessary withdrawn and eclips'd as the temper of the subject may require it and all this without any cause or motive from without himself but it is the pure effort and energy of his own nature no sudden passion to beget it no slight mistaken injury no pride or envy to withdraw it but goodness sincere and pure equal and impartial exerted with the most perfect wisdom towards the whole Creation from the beginning of the world till time shall be no more O the depth of the riches both of the Wisdom and Goodness of God! These depths and these riches of his goodness are not to be understood but by a due intention of the mind But whosoever thus exerts his Mind his utmost self in the contemplation of God will love Him with his Mind too because Desire and Love are always equal to our knowledge That is the First The Second particular implied in the Love of God with all our Mind is the Highest and most extreme Delight in such conversation with Him and enjoyment of Him as is sutable to our present state Desire of conversation with the object is a necessary act of Love The nearer we approach it the more we expect to be pleased and when once we have attained to an intimate conversation then all our previous passion and desire is perfected We now enjoy the object in continual assurances of mutual affection we communicate our hopes and fears our Joys and griefs we consult advise and assist each other and this indeed was the end at first proposed Thus also in respect of God wheresoever the Glories of his nature are apprehended there the humble profession of our Love the desire of his acceptance the discovery of our needs the opening of our hearts the imploring his assistance the expression of our passion in Hallelujahs and Songs of Praise will follow of necessity Where these are wanting there can be no opinion of the Goodness and Omniscience of the Wisdom and Power of God But if our love of God be with all the Mind with a more quick sensation of these perfections acts of Religion will be our greatest pleasure our most ravishing Delight For by these we converse with that invisible Majesty we adore receive returns and pledges of his love assurances of his favour and encouragement in our choice That 's the Second The last particular act implied in the love of God with all the Mind is a fervent desire of perfect union with Him and the Everlasting Fruition of Him Desire of the most intimate union according as the object is capable of being enjoyed is a necessary part of love And in respect of God there is no one thing that the Scriptures do more plainly assert and inculcate than the union of pious Men with God Good men are said to be joyned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 glued to the Lord and to be one spirit to dwell in Christ to put on Christ to be as closely united as the Vine and branches as husband and wife as the foundation and the building as the Soul and body Finally as God and our blessed Saviour for so our Saviour prays Joh 17.21 that those whom thou hast given me may be One as thou Father art in me and I in Thee that they also may be one in us May be one in us not essentially or hypostatically but in the consent of their will in likeness of disposition temper and design as if they were acted by the same Principle and in this the proper unity of Souls consists And thus our Saviour explains the Unity of Believers with himself by bringing forth the fruits of righteousness John 15.15 Indeed the effects of this Union the delights and pleasures which fill the minds of those who are thus united to God are ineffable and therefore according to S. Paul Eph. 5.32 it is a great mystery Whosoever therefore loves the Lord his God with all his mind with clearer knowledge and more pure desire will be impatient of a perfect Vnion of the most full and satisfying fruition of God in Heaven The more we know of God the more our Souls will desire him because he is absolutly perfect and therefore we are sure to be for ever entertained with fresh discoveries of Beauty and Glory Enjoyment will inflame our desire till our Souls shall be wholly resolved into the object O how despicable will all the World appear even Lise it self in comparison of a more perfect participation of the Divine Nature How earnestly shall we expect till our Knowledge shall be improved into its utmost capacity that we may see him face to face How shall we long for such a compleat enjoyment as shall not be allayed by infirmities and sins by temptations and despondencies by natural corruptions and impure affections but continue for ever vigorous and fruitful constant and indissoluble And as these higher and more perfect degrees of Knowledge and desire ought to be pursued as a duty so they are sometimes bestowed upon the diligent and sincere as a reward God is pleased to manifest himself unto them to raise their desires and refresh them with returns of his Love and cause them to drink of the rivers of His pleasure But if we never attain to this more spiritual frame if our minds through worldly impediments shall never be improved into a distinct and clear perception of the Attributes of God Yet if our love of God be with competent knowledge and great sincerity if it be fruitful in the necessary acts of Imitation Faith Obedience and the rest it will be rewarded and made perfect hereafter though it never arrive at the more perfect Knowledge and Desire of God here And thus I have considered the particular parts the necessary acts and exercises of love to God First with all thy Heart and with all thy Soul secondly with all thy Mind And the duty so particularly stated and examined we may easily discern the reason of that primacy and precedency which our Saviour ascribes to this above all the Commands of God This is the first and great Commandment And this was the Third head of discourse proposed It is first in the disposition of God himself He begins his Instituion of Laws with Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart and with all thy Soul and with all thy Mind Deut. 6.5 It is first in the order of Nature it is the root the principle and reason of all other duties whatsoever It is first in respect of the Object end or final resolution of the Duty being chiefly exercised upon the Majesty of God himself It is first in respect of Amplitude and Capacity forasmuch as all the other duties of Religion have a necessary dependance upon it and relation to it And the
to those on a level with him ready to support the weak and assist the needy And as he is kind to all so he is not easily provoked into displeasure against any man He is not quick and forward to discern the injuries and ingratitude of brutish people he is not apt to aggravate but excuse a fault he is ready to believe that it proceeded of mistake of rashness or inadvertency rather than of malice or evil will For so says the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 v. 4. Love is of a gentle easie disposition believeth hopeth all things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he is not presently in a flame or feaver but resents an injury with a calm and steddy mind and studies no revenge for Charity will cover the multitude of sins Pro. 10 12. Pet. 4.8 Thirdly To love our Neighbour as our selves implies a regard to his Fame and Reputation A good name is better than life it self says Solomon We prefer it to all other interests whatsoever by the instincts of our very Nature No man can endure to be represented ill because it is the parent of contempt and neglect which of all other things is the most abhorr'd And therefore a man of universal Charity will be tender of his Neighbours Credit He heartily wishes that all men would behave themselves as they ought to do and live with decency and honour in the World Charity rejoyceth not in the wickedness of the wicked but rejoyceth in the truth that is in the upright conversation of men so Grotius upon the place He is more ready to discern the vertues and excellencies of others than his own He chearfully acknowledges worth and allows sufficient praise wheresoever it is due He puts the best interpretation upon any action that the nature of the thing will bear He judgeth no man till he understands the course of his Conversation nor any particular action till he knows the circumstances and affections of it Affectus tuus imponit nomen operi tuo as S. Ambrose speaks de offic He follows the rule of Epictetus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ench. does any man drink much wine say not that he drinks to a debauch but simply that he uses to drink much because the same action may proceed from a good as well as from an evil cause He that strikes another as Simplicius in his Exposition of the place may do him good and he that feeds him may be his enemy He that steals as the case may be may do no ill and he that relieves another may do unjustly And therefore a charitable man is ever slow and sparing of his censures 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he hopeth all things and is willing to believe the best His Ears are shut to idle tales and evil reflections upon any man or if he is forced to hear them he endeavours to stifle the report and clear the imputation that if it be possible it may stop with him He is troubled for so much of it as he finds to be true and with an angry countenance he drives away the back biters tongue saith Solomon as the North wind driveth away rain Pro. 25.23 And thus by covering a transgression he seeketh love Prov. 17.9 Fourthly and Lastly As the result of all these instances of universal Charity a man that is really a friend to all will be courteous and easie gentle and civil in his outward conversation and deportment Haughtiness or elation of mind proceeds from an undue account a distinct unreasonable opinion of our selves above our Neighbours And all morose and supercilious conversation are the effects of conceitedness and pride of discontent and jealousie that we are not valued according to the price we have set upon our selves But a man that is frank and ingenuous that loves his Neighbour as himself treats and uses every man with the chearfulness and civility of a friend His own desires and expectations from his betters are the measure of his deportment towards those below him He then that loves his Neighbour as himself will be easie of access courteous and sincere in speech civil and obliging in all his conversation with him Since he is a friend to all he will not ruffle provoke or discourage any man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Charity is benign yielding and complaisant knows no supercilium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he is not full of himself V. 4. he is not puffed up This is to love our Neighbour as our selves as we understand it of loving him in all the several instances wherein we love our selves comprehended chiefly under his Soul his Life his Estate and Reputation But Secondly the Duty Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self not only obliges us to have a true respect to all his interests but to love him also after the same manner that we love our selves to pursue his good with the same affections and dispositions of mind which we find in our selves in the prosecution of our own It is always to be supposed that the Rule or Exemplar is more excellent than the Copy The love of a Man to himself is so unmixt and pure the unity so perfect that it is not possible he should confer it upon another in the same degree unless he could really and naturally unite him to himself Thus God Almighty is proposed to us the most imperfect of rational Beings as the Pattern of our Vertue Be ye Holy as God is Holy 1 Pet. 1.24 says St. Peter Be ye perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect St. Matt. 5. ult But in these and several other places we must not understand the Particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as denoting an exact Identity but only that our Principle be sincere our vertue true though far inferiour in degree Wherefore in our present case the qualification of the duty as thy self though it may not import an equality of love which is impossible yet at least it signifies that we love our Neighbour with the same kind of affections and dispositions of mind with which we love our selves and therefore Erasmus expounds the words by perinde ac teipsum in like manner as thou lovest thy self First With the greatest Tenderness and Sense every Man is affected intimately with his own affairs he feels every motion that concerns them because he knows he must enjoy or endure the event of his designs And thus we are enjoyn'd to love our Neighbour as our selves Not only to do him no hurt in any interest neither yet to do him service only but to be inwardly moved and affected with his case that we be Men of Bowels 1 Pet. 1.22 apt to be wrought into pity compassion and desire to do him good into Joy and delight at any prosperous event Secondly We love and pursue our own particular happiness with solicitude and diligence Our sensible apprehension and innate desire of good provoke and encourage our most earnest endeavours according to our knowledge to promote it No Man is indifferent