men deceive themselves Indeed the false Mother of the Childe would have it parted between them but the true Mother would have all or none The world is content to have a corner in thy heart but God will have thy whole heart The Arke and Dagon cannot stand together in one Temple and therefore when the Arke is brought in Dagon falls down no more can God and the world in one soule and therefore if we will set up God in the throne the world must be cast down nay out The Spouse in the Canticles is said to wound Christ with one eye Quia alterum non habebat because she had no other Christ calls upon us in the Gospell to cut off one foot one hand and to pluck out one eye the heart in all languages is a Monasyllable unum uni the one heart must be dedicated to the one God In the meat offering God required all the Frankincense and in the sacrifices all the fat to teach us that the intention of our minde and affection of our heart must be wholly carryed towards God Among the Pythagoreans the Duall number was infamous sure I am the double minded man is odious to God so odious that he threatneth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to cut him asunder a punishment very sutable to his fault like that which the King of the Albines inflicted on the King of the Romans when he caused him to be tied to two horses who by drawing contrary waies tore his body in two pieces 3. Lastly How just and necessary it is to cast the love of the world out of the hearts in order to the entertaining of the love of the Father Indeed as St Gregory and Leo have both well observed The reasonable soul cannot be all together without delight and void of love Aut infimis delectatur aut summis so the one Aut Dei amator est aut mundi so the other Our delight must either ascend or descend our love must either be set upon God or the world How impossible it is for these two to dwell together you have already heard so that either we must hate the one or love the other or hold to the one and despise the other as our Saviour tells us And now as Eliah said to the Israelites If the Lord be God follow him but if Baal be God follow him so let me beseech you If the Lord be God love him if the world love it If the world have as much excellency in it as God hath if the world have as much right to you as God hath if the world can do as much for you as God can and will then love it But alas whatever good is in the world is but a ray of that Sun a drop of that Fountaine derived from and infinitely inferiour to the goodness of God in which respect saith St Austin excellently Pulcher est mundus sed pulchrior à quo factus est mundus The world is beautifull surely then he that made it so is farre more beautifull Besides The world was made for us and therefore only to be used whereas God is our Creator Master Father and therefore to be feared and honoured and loved Methinketh the Father saith to us concerning the world as Saul to his Servants concerning David Will the Son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards will or can the world do that for you which I will do give you grace and glory felicity and immortality Nay let me adde a word more The world would infect and infest us instead of doing us good bring us into temptations and snares and tell me then whither the Father be not to be preferred in our estimation and affection before the world Infine that God should have our love we cannot but acknowledge most reasonable and therefore what remaineth but that every one of us take up firme resolutions of rejecting the world love both we cannot one we will God we ought and to that end we must leave the world that we may cleave to God No doubt the world is and will be a very earnest and importunate suiter to us for our love and too often she so far prevaileth that we consent but remember I beseech you our Father forbids the banes and shall we match against our Fathers consent nay let me tell you if we marry the world the Father will disclaime and disown us as none of his Children and therefore if we call on the Father let us renounce the world Believe it an ill match is better broken then carried on and so much the rather because whatever promise we make to the world it is a breach of the first vow we made to God in our Baptism and therefore to be disannulled as inconsistent with our former obligation To end all I cannot better press this then in St Austins language who calls these words Verba extirpantia words of extirpation if you finde a weed you grub it up that you may sow good corn so must we pluck up worldly that we plant Heavenly love Vas es saith that Father si plenum effunde quod habes effunde amorem saeculi ut implearis amore Dei Thy soul is a vessell if it be full as indeed whose is not empty it poure out the love of the world that thou maist be filled with the love of God which otherwise is impossible For if any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him THE FIRST EPISTLE OF St JOHN CHAP. 2. VERS 16 17. For all that is in the world the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the Father but is of the world And the world passeth away and the lust thereof but he that doth the will of God abideth forever A Naked command from God is a sufficient ground of obedience from man no doubt St Paul so accounted it and therefore exhorting the Thessalonians to abstaine from fornication useth this as a strong inducement for this is the will of God The truth is obedience is most ingenious when least discreet it being very reasonable that we should obey God without asking a reason of his Precept It was the praise of Caesars Souldiers Quod imperium potius quam consilium sequebantur that they executed their Generalls injunctions without inquiring into his consultations It is the Character of a good Christian to believe because God asserteth and obey because he requireth But see the condescention of our mercifull God who is pleased not only to command by his authority but teach by his grace so St Paul saith The grace of God teacheth us to deny worldly lusts not only to require but to intreat so St Peter Dearly beloved I beseech you abstain from fleshly lusts Finally Not only to prescribe but perswade and therefore as he enjoyneth a duty so he adjoyneth a Motive and that drawn from the necessity equity and utility of observing the
some measure of strength to performe this command darkness is hatefull but light is lovely the darkness of sin causeth hatred but the light of grace love if the wild Beast of envy and malice range abroad in thy Conversation it is a plain argument that as yet it is might with thee For a close of this particular I have already told you that according to this sense these words true in you are to be read Affirmatively and so they are a commendation of those to whom our Apostle wrote and intimate that this command which he was to impose on them was already true in them and his designe hereby no doubt was to encourage them the more in the practice of this duty Since according to that of the Oratour Trabimur omnes laudis studio all men love to be commended and praise is a spurre to Virtue This is that policy which our blessed Saviouâ— himself is pleased to use in all his Epistles to the Asian Churches except that of Laodicea owning and praising those graces which he saw in them The like we may find practised by all the Apostles in their Epistles St Paul writing to the Corinthians Now I praise you Brethren to the Galathians you did run well St Peter Whereunto you do well that you take heed It were easie to instance in each and surely this practice is deservedly imitable by Ministers towards their People Superiours towards Inferiours Yea all men one towards another Render to all their dues honour to whom honour belongeth saith St Paul It is a breach of that justice which is due from man to man not to give due commendations Indeed flattery is abominable and therefore there must be Salt as well as Honey in our praises commendations are then commendable when they are done with fidelity and exceed not verity having just ground and ayming at a right end we may we ought to acknowledge and declare the good which we see in others as here St John doth But perhaps you will say if this were true in them already what need our Apostle write this Commandment to them is it not in vain to bid a man do that which he already doth I answer No and that upon a double account 1. That which was true must be still true and so a command may be given to enjoyn the continuance in as well as the entrance upon any duty As the Devill diverteth some from so he interrupteth others in the performance of what is good we had need to be called upon once and again least we faint in the race 2. That which was true ought to be more true in them we fulfill no command so exactly but we may complain of manifold defects nor do we ever so well but still we may do in all better the truth of Love and every grace is in whom the true light shineth and on whom regeneration is confer'd but the strength of grace may still be deficient and therefore there is continuall need of writing and Preaching this Commandment even to those who practice it To end all What remaineth but that this large and excellent Preface with which our Apostle ushereth in his discourse of love have an effectuall influence upon our hearts and lives to prepare us for the Doctrine and excite us to the practice of it It is a command and that not antiquated but still in force it was practised by Christ himself and all his holy Apostles it is most suitable to the Gospell Administration under which we live yea if we have the true light of grace in us this cannot but be in some measure exercised by us And therefore that we may obey this old and new Commandment which God hath given us that we may follow that choice and excellent pattern which Christ and his Apostles have set us that we may walk worthy of the Gospell which shineth among us Finally That we may declare our selves to be indeed what we profess brought from darkness to light let us attend to and set upon the performance of the following instruction which should now be handled but that the time prevents and therefore must be referred to another opportunity THE FIRST EPISTLE OF St JOHN CHAP. 2. VERS 9 10 11. He that saith he is in the light and hateth his Brother is in darkness even untill now He that loveth his Brother abideth in the light and there is none occasion of stumbling in him He that hateth his Brother is in darkness and walketh in darkness and knoweth not whither he goeth because the darkness hath blinded his eyes WHat humidum and calidum the naturall heat and radicall moisture are to the body that are repentance and love to the soul nor are those more necessary to the conservation of our temporall then these to the sustentation of our spirituall life Indeed the principall grace is Faith this brings as it were the copula that which knits Christ and the Christian together in Union with whom consists our life but the maintaining of this life is by the moysture of godly contrition for our sins and the warmth of holy affection towards God and Man no wonder if we find as Faith and Repentance so likewise Love frequently inculcated in holy writ upon all Christians Indeed this latter is one of the principall Subjects of this Epistle so that though our Apostle minds us of Repentance in confessing our sins and Faith in believing on the Name of Jesus Christ yet he chiefly insists on loving and that as God so our Brother which is the design of the Verses I have now read He that saith he is in the light c. Having dispatched the preamble inciting contained in the two former Verses I am now to procced to the Doctrine instructing laid down in these three for whereas before he had mentioned a Commandment concerning which he did now write to them and withall adorned it with very amiable Characters he now plainly and expresly declareth what this Commandment is Namely That of loving our Brother for so Interpreters well observe these Verses to be an Exposition of the generall commendation in those and having by his large praises endeavoured to inflame them with desires after the knowledg and practice of it he goeth on to informe them what it is and wherein it consists Nor would it be passed by that our Apostle in handling this Doctrine of Love pursueth that Metaphor which he made use of in the former Chapter where he layeth down the generall scope of his Epistle hereby no doubt intending to intimate to us that this duty of Brotherly Love is a primary step of that walking in the light which intituleth to fellowship with God and so on the contrary hatred of our Brother a chief step of that walking in darkness which depriveth us of that communion so that we are now come to the fourth step of that divine walk which St John designeth to chalke out in this Epistle The first whereof is Repentance
here especially observed is that our Apostle speaking of the love of God calls it the love of the Father nor is it without good reason and that upon a double account 1. To informe us under what notion chiefly God is the Object of love True indeed in himself he is good nay goodness which is loves Object but yet this goodness is known to us by its communication and it is good as known which causeth love so that we love God chiefly under those mercifull relations in which he stands to us nor is there any relation of greater goodness towards man then that of a Father He is our King our Master our Judge but under these notions he is especially to be feared as he is our Father principally he is to be loved 2. To insinuate how greatly we are obliged to love God rather then the world The world at the best is but a servant at the worst our enemy as our servant it is to be used not loved at least not with a choice love as our enemy it is to be not loved but hated and trampled on Now God is our Father and there is a naturall affection due from Children to their Parents whom should we love if not our Father so that to love the world before God is as if one should preferre his Servant nay his enemy before his friend his Lord his Father then which what can be more monstrous And when I find the Apostle here disswading from worldly love upon the account of its inconsistency with the love of God I am apt to believe that he purposely phraseth it the love of the Father to render the love of the world which is so repugnant to the love of God so much the more odious to us But to let go the phrase The design of this proposition is manifest there is no positive love of God in him in whom there is a Superlative love of the world he that loveth the world chiefly doth not love God truly he that is a lover of pleasure or wealth or honour more then God is not at all a lover of God Indeed a worldling may be in shew a Saint and as farre as words will go a friend of God so may an Harlot seem kinde to her Husband but as she who giveth her heart to another beareth no reall love to her Husband so he who loveth the world hath no sincere affection to God Upon which account St James calleth worldly sinners Adulterers and Adulteresses so that to speak after our Apostles phrase elsewhere He that saith he loveth the Father and yet loveth the world is a lyar and there is no truth in him It is that indeed which holds true both waies as it is with a paire of scales the one goeth up the other goeth down so it is with these two Loves 1. On the one hand The Negation holds firme the proposition being inverted If any man love the Father the love of the world is not in him Moses rod swallowed up the Magicians so doth the love of God all other loves It is observed of the Sun beames that if they shine bright and hot upon the fire they put it out so do Heavenly affections extinguish Earthly Postquam Amarillis nos tenuit Galatea reliquit When divine love enters in carnall goeth out The command of love to God is of a large extent Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart with all thy soule and with all thy might and if the love of God take up the whole there is not so much as a corner for left worldly love St Bernard commenting upon that precept thus expounds it and that aptly to our present purpose thou shalt love God withall thy heart soul might that is dulciter prudenter fortiter sweetly wisely strongly and where this love is predominant as that Father hath excellently observed there is no roome for worldly lusts he that loveth God sweetly withall his heart tasteth no sweetness in carnall things which is the lust of the flesh he that loveth God wisely with all his soul is not curicus or covetous of temporall things which is the lust of the eyes he that loveth God strongly so as to indure all things for him regards not honours which is the pride of life Nor is it less true in the direct then in the inverted notion If any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him Indeed one who hath been a lover of the world may be won to be a lover of God yea he who loveth the world in the second may love God in the first place but as St Gregory hath pithily and aptly exprest it Utraque sâ—mul aequaliter amari non possunt both cannot together be equally loved when the inferior sensitive powers of the soul are vehemently affected the superior rationall faculties are hindred in their operations so is spirituall love by carnall The trees which spread in breadth grow not in height those who extend their love to the things below ascend not in love to the things above Pharaohs leane Kine did eate up the fat so doth the pining love of the world devoure the love of God which is the Fat and Marrow of the soul It is very observable that St Paul describing the wicked conversation of false teachers brands them with these three lusts whose belly is their God the lust of the flesh who glory in their shame or as some read it whose glory is their shame the pride of life who minde earthly things the lust of the eyes to all which he opposeth that one character of himself and the rest of the teachers but our conversation is in Heaven thereby intimating that they who give themselves to worldly lusts are strangers to an Heavenly conversation and consequently to divine affection by which especially we climbe to and converse with God in Heaven To give you yet more fully the sense of this proposition if you compare it with parallel Scriptures you shall finde it will admit of a double enlargement to wit in regard of the predicate and the copula the thing denied and the manner of denying it 1. The love of the Father is not in him nay The hatred of the Father is in him so St James his assertion runs Know you not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God and that he might bring the charge home to their consciences he repeats it with the change of the Abstract into the Concrete Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is an enemy of God It is true as hath been already intimated he may be a seeming friend but he is a reall enemy and so much the worse enemy because a seeming friend I know if this Question were put to many lovers of the world Do you hate God they would say in Hazaels language Am I a dead Dog that I should do this thing I say my Prayers frequent the Church and thinke
you I hate nay do I not love God But oh vaine man do not deceive thy self whosoever is the worlds friend is at least virtually Gods enemy and so farre from loving that he doth in effect hate him and all his servioes are no better then a mocking as much as in him lieth of the sacred deity 2. The love of the Father is not nay not only is not but cannot be in him our blessed Saviour is express concerning obedience you cannot serve God and Mammon and it is no less true of love you cannot love God and the world much less the world and God The impossibility of the consistency of these two will appear if you consider 1. The nature of love It is an ingrosser appropriating the heart to the Object love saith to its beloved I am thine to wit wholly soly and therefore it cannot be anothers when the streame runs into one channell then it runs violently vehement affection admits not of division It is as possible for a direct line to terminate in two points or for one member to serve two bodies as for love intensively at once to minde two Objects 2. The contrariety of the Obiects God and the world in the very next Verse they are set one in opposition to the other The Father is above the world is below so that to use a comparison of an Ancient the same eyes may as well at the same time behold Heaven and Earth as the same affection be carried towards God and the world God is light and the world is darkness Fieri non potest saith Damascen It cannot be that divine and worldly love should cohabit no more then that light and darkness should reside together Two contrary formes may as soon at once informe one and the same matter and two contrary intense qualities meet together in the same Subject as the love of the world and the love of the Father dwell in the same heart If I love another mans enemy and that as he is his enemy I must needs be an enemy to him the worldling loveth the world not as in subordination to but competition with and therefore he can be no other then an enemy to God so true is this of our Apostle If any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him That it may yet more plainly appear that there neither is nor can be any true love of God in the worldling take notice of these ensuing particulars 1. Can there be any love of the Father in him who hath no love to his name especially his word which God hath magnified above all his name and yet this is evident in worldly lovers their lusts like thorns choak the good seed of the word that it can take no root in their hearts their proud necks will not stoop to put on this sacred yoake the voluptuous mans eare is deafe to this Heavenly charme and when the spirituall fishers would catch the covetous he slippeth with the Eele into the mud of the world and so renders all their pains useless 2. Can there be any love of the Father in him who doth not cleave to him with full purpose of heart and will renounce his Religion rather then suffer persecution If any man draw back my soul saith God shall have no pleasure in him and it is as true his soul hath no pleasure in God Now the love of the world causeth men to grow lukewarme nay at last quite cold St Paul observeth it as the ground of Demas his Apostacy he hath forsaken me and with him Christ having embraced to wit with the armes of love this present world What made Judas so frozen so false hearted to so gratious a Master but the love of money had not Moses instead of loving despised the pleasures and honours of Pharaohs Court he had left the People of God Danger and nakedness want and penury reproach and infamy will quickly affright that man from his Christian Profession in whom the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life raign 3. He that hath any true love of the Father will call the Lords day a delight loves to converse with God by Prayer and other holy ordinances but the worldly lover either wholly casts off holy duties holy daies holy things or else he takes no joy in the performance of them no time being worse spent in his esteeme then that which is in Gods courts Worldly men in Heavenly duties are like a fish upon the shoare they faint and gaspe and are never well till they returne to the muddy waters When will the Sabboath be gone that we may sell and get gaine saith the covetous that we may take our pleasure saith the voluptuous that we may pursue our politique designs saith the ambitious Nay it is not seldome seen that every one of these will not stick to fulfill their own lusts even when they should be imployed in Gods service 4. It is impossible that the love of the Father should consist with sacriledge No man ever looked upon a thief as his friend to live in any sinne much more in such a sinne as reflects upon God must needs be repugnant to the love of him Now worldly love puts men upon the commission of this great wickedness Every proud man is a sacrilegious thief robbing God of his glory which he will not give to another and it is not seldome seen that covetous and voluptuous men rob God of his Revenues Belshazzer prostitutes the vessels of the Temple to the lust of the flesh by quaffing in them Achan through the lust of the eyes alienateth the devoted gold and garment wicked worldlings will not stick to be not only sellers and buyers in but of the Temple taking the houses of God into their possession 5. Finally He that setteth up any thing in the roome of God cannot have a sincere affection towards him The cursed Idolater as much as in him lieth dethroneth the divine majesty which surely cannot consist with amity And yet it is an undoubted truth every worldling is an idolater to wit in a spirituall sense bowing down though not with his knee to an Idoll yet with his heart to the world St Paul speaking of Epicures who are given over to the lust of the flesh giveth them this brand whose belly is their God and consequently their Kitchin is their Temple Table their Altar and Cooke their Priest The same Apostle mentioning covetousness presently addeth which is Idolatry Indeed with a covetous man seulpture is his Scripture Bills and Bonds are his Bible the Exchange his Temple and Gold his God as he saith to it thou art my love so likewise thou art my hope my trust The proper acts of naturall worship which are due only to the Deity He dealeth with it as the two Giants sometime did with Mars first he looks it fast and then worships it Finally The proud man worshippeth though not images yet his
walked or else he is a lyar and saith he is what he is not In which respect Leo excellently Falsae professionis imagine utimur si cujus nomine gloriamur ejus instituta non sequamur If we conforme not to his precepts and pattern in whose name we glory and of whose relation we boast all our profession is in vain nay a meer lye To end therefore Explora teipsum infaelix qui baptisatus es in Christum whosoever thou art that being Baptised into Christ professest to put him on and calling thy self a Christian faist thou art in him try thy self by this mark dost thou walk as he walked nay rather dost thou not walk contrary to him He was holy thou art profane he was humble thou art proud he was meek thou art contentious he was charitable thou art malitious thou saist thou art in Christ and yet thou livest like a beast in sensuality nay like a Devill in hatred and envy but let no man deceive himself with such a vain profession Nec quisquam se Christianum judicet nisi qui Christi doctrinam sequitur imitatur exemplum nor let any man esteem himself a Christian who doth not resolve to follow Christs Commands and Example Indeed what Alexander said to one of his name who was a Coward Aut depone nomen aut fortiter pugna either shew thy self valorous or do not call thy self Alexander that Christ saith to all loose Christians either live according to my pattern or renounce my name let then every one that nameth the name of Christ expresse the nature and do the works of Christ Pythagoras instructing the women in a grave Oration told them that many of the Names which were given to them in their conditions both before and after Marriage were the Names of Goddesses and thence exhorted them to imitation of those Goddesses The Name beloved which we all have taken upon us is the Name of Christ and therefore let us account our selves engaged to conforme to him This This is that which will both justifie the truth of our present profession and make good our future expectation There are many as St Bernard observeth who would Christum consequi and yet not sequi be where Christ is sit down in his Throne as he is in his Fathers and yet will not go where he went and walk as he walked but alas it cannot be There is no coming to the same place but by the same path sequi servatorem est participare salutem saith Ireneus elegantly The way to partake of Salvation is to follow our Saviour and therefore he that saith he is now in Christ and hopeth hereafter to be with him must so walk as he walked In a word live as Christ lived holily justly soberly dye as Christ dyed believingly charitably patiently so shall you raign as Christ raigneth gloriously triumphantly eternally Amen THE FIRST EPISTLE OF St JOHN CHAP. 2. Verse 3. part former Hereby we know that we know him Verse 5. part latter Hereby we know that we are in him THat rule of Divines concerning Precepts Tota lex est copulativa the whole Law is copulative may no lesse truly be applied to graces which as so many links in a Chain of Gold are knit one to the other The mother and root grace of all is Faith here called Knowledg as being that which ingrafts us into Christ of whose fullness saith the Evangelist we receive grace for grace This Faith whereever it is is attended with Charity â—or Faith saith St Paul works by love This love cannot reside in any soul but it will manifest it self by Obedience So much our blessed Saviour expresseth If any man love me he will keep my Commandments This Obedience is then best performed when we are conformed to Christ in our lives and therefore calling upon us to take his yoake he biddeth us learn of him Finally by this Obedience to and imitation of Christ we gain our assurance of our interest in him whence the Apostle Peter requiring us to give diligence to make our calling and election sure presently addeth if you do these things that is practice those graces whereof Christ hath given us a pattern Thus there is not only a concomitancy but an efficiency of graces a connexion of one with but a dependance of one upon the other whilst Knowledg begets Love and Love keeping the Commandments and keeping the Commandments we walk â— Christ walked and by all these we come to know that we know him and are in him all of which are succinctly and distinctly laid down in these four Verses Hereby we know c. In these Verses there are two clauses yet remaining to be discussed the one in the beginning of the third and the other in the end of the fifth the former of which referrs to the keeping of the Commandments and the other though it may look backward yet most rationally is conceived to look forward to walking as Christ walked both for substance the same and contain in them two collaterall propositions the one whereof asserts the attaining a comfortable knowledg of our knowledg of and interest in Christ We know that we know him we know we are in him and the other an especiall means whereby that knowledg is attained Namely hereby that is by keeping his Commandments and again hereby that is by walking as he walked of both which in their order 1. St John here affirmeth of himself and other Saints We know that we know him We know that we are in him It is that indeed which not only here but elsewhere he asserts in the next Chapter We know that we are translated and again in the fourth Chapter We know that we dwell in him and in the fifth We know that we dwell in God For the better opening of it take notice of these ensuing Considerations 1. There is a threefold Object whereabout this knowledg is conversant Namely what was before all time what shall be after all time and what is in this present time This knowledg looketh backward and that as far as eternity to the decree of election which was before the foundation of the World in this respect it is St Peters advice make your election sure This knowledg looketh forward at the future estate of felicity upon which account St Paul in the name of himself and others saith We know that we have a building in the Heaven Finally This knowledg looketh upon our present estate of Vocation Justification and Sanctification our Union with and faith in Christ and of this our Apostle here speaketh to which I shall therefore confine my discourse 2. There is a double knowledg attainable by a Christian to wit direct and reflexe The direct knowledg is terminated in Christ who is its Object The reflexe in the knowledg itself which is the act both these kinds of knowledg our Apostle here expresly speaketh of when he saith we know that we
of God only but also our own souls because ye were dear unto us Thus did St Ambrose love his charge when he declareth how much he was troubled at his absence from them though upon just occasion It were easie to multiply instances of this nature Oh let all Pastors take fire at these flames and learn by these examples indeed there is no relation in which Ministers stand to their people but it cals for this duty if they look on them as their Sheep their Schollars their Children their Brethren all ingage them to Love And surely Magnes amoris amor Love is the Loadstone of Love if we love you you must love us as Brethren so did those converts who bespake the Apostles with this very title Men and Brethren Tell me I beseech you why should we be accounted as your enemies who watch for your souls If you think scorne to honour us as Fathers yet however own us as Brethren In a word Since we are Brethren let us sweetly live and love as Brethren Oh how pleasant a thing it is for Ministers and People like Brethren to dwell together in Vnity Oh that both Priest and People when any contentions arise between them or when their love to each other begins to faile in them would remember this relation so should the meditation hereof be both as water and fire as water to coole the heat of contention as fire to kindle and cherish the heat of affection 4. It is a word of dignity That he who was in the highest office belonging to the Christian Church should call the despised Christians to whom he wrote his Brethren as it is a dignation in him so it must needs be an exaltation to them The greater the Persons to whom we are related and the nearer the relation is the greater is the honour To be a Servant a Kinsman but much more to be a Brother of a Lord or Earl but much more of a King is a very great Dignity such honour have Christians they may claim Brotherhood to the goodly fellowship of the Prophets the Noble army of Martyrs the sacred Hierarchy of the Apostles yea the head of the Church Christ himself for so saith the Author to the Hebrews concerning him He is not ashamed to call us Brethren Oh let us walk worthy of these high relations which Christianity confereth upon us and so much the rather because by our unanswerable behaviour to these relations we shall not only dishonour our selves but them to whom we are related If one that is Brother to a King should make himself a companion of Thieves doth it not redown to the dishonour of the King to whom he is so nearly allyed And if we who by our Christian profession pretend at least alliance to the Apostles yea Christ himself shall live no better nay worse then Turks Pagans Infidels how must they suffer to whom we pretend so near a relation And therefore to imitate the Apostles exhortation Let our Conversation be such as becometh the Brethren of those holy Apostles who were the first Publishers of the Gospell of Christ And so much be spoken of the Compellation given to the Persons Pass we on to the commendation which our Apostle here giveth the matter whereabout he was now to write which is drawn from three heads The Authority of it as being a Precept both old and new in those words I write no new but an old Commandment c. and Again a new Commandment I write to you The Conformity of it to the Pattern which Christ hath set in those words A thing which is true in him The Congruity of it to the state of the Gospell the truth of Christianity in those words And in you because the darkness is past and the true light now shineth The Authority of that which our Apostle here commendeth is that which we are to begin with And that inasmuch as it is 1. An old Commandment This is that which is both propounded and proved the former in those words I write not a new but an old Commandment to you the latter in those Which you heard from the beginning the old Commandment is the word which you heard from the beginning 1. The proposition is set down with a great deale of Emphasis not only Positively but Oppositively Affirmatively but Negatively The Apostle doth not content himself to say I write to you an old Commandment but knowing as Calvin well noteth how suspected novelty is and deservedly hatefull and because as Didymus observeth the brand of novelty both by Jews and Pagans was cast on Christianity and withall because many things are old which yet in truth are but old Innovations as I shall hereafter discover he doth expresly vindicate his Doctrine from any such aspersion by this addition not a new but an old Commandment It is somewhat debated by Interpreters what our Apostle intends by this old Commandment whilst Some understand it generally of the whole Evangelicall Doctrine Others referre it to the preceding Verse where is a speciall command of walking as Christ walked Others to that particular command of Love which immediately followeth This last I incline to and so much the rather because I find St John himself so expounding it in the Eleventh Verse of the next Chapter wherein he cals loving one another the message from the beginning and at the Fifth Verse of the next Epistle where he saith Not as though I wrote a new Commandment and this concerning the precept of loving one another That I may the better dispatch this clause be pleased to proceed with me by these steps â— The Doctrine which our Apostle was now about to propose is called a Commandment whence observe 1. Generally That as the Law had Gospell so the Gospell hath Law in it and as it publisheth promises so it obligeth by Precepts It is the difference between promises and commands that the one importeth some good to be done for us and the other some good to be done by us the one informeth us what God will do and the other what we should do Now though the principall end of the Gospell be to declare the one yet so as that it teacheth the other For this reason it is no doubt that the Gospell is sometimes called by the name of Law as where we read of the Law of Faith and the Law of Christ and the Law of Liberty and the Law of the Spirit of Life and upon the same account the Apostle Paul cals it a Canon or a rule to which our lives must be conformed and by which our waies are to be directed and St Peter stileth it the holy Commandment from which Apostates turn and the grace of God which many interpret by a Metonymy of the Object to be the Gospell is said to teach being as well a Schoolmaster as a Comforter Finally In this respect it is that we read not only of believing the Gospell which layeth hold
1. Whither is not Neigbour to be taken in the same latitude when it is said Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as when it is said Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy Neighbour and again Thou shalt not covet thy Neighbours Wife nor his Ox nor his Ass nor any thing that is thy Neighbours If this be denied that will be enough to evince it that the particular commands of the second Table are but severall Explications of the generall command Thou shalt love thy Neighbour and therefore it is the same Neighbour to whom we must express our Love by not bearing false witness against him and the like and if it be granted then certainly Neighbour must include Stranger nay Enemy Since the Jews were not to bear false witness against their Enimies or to covet unjustly what belonged to them To this purpose is the note of a Rabbin upon these words of the Psalmist He that doth no evill to his Neighbour nor taketh up a reproach against his Neighbour understanding it of enemies as well as friends 2. When our blessed Saviour repeateth this Law of Moses whither did not Christ understand it in the same sense with Moses If he did noâ— then he affixed another sense to Moses his words then what he intended which is not to be imagined if he did then either Moses meant them universally or else Christ did not and so Christ hath added nothing in this particular to Moses As for that passage in our Saviours Sermon Thou shalt love thy neighhour and hate thine enemy it is doubtless to be understood as Abulensis hath well noted only as a Tradition of the Scribes and Pharisees Indeed St Austin and St Hilary seem to be of opinion that hatred was allowed in the Old Testament Yea Oecumenius in this place harpeth upon the same string but by the leave of those Reverend Fathers upon what ground it doth not appear since it is no where written in the whole Body of the Law Thou shalt hate thy Enemies and therefore it is well observed that our blessed Saviour doth not say You have heard that it hath been said by Moses or in the Law but You have heard that it hath been said to wit by the Scribes and Pharisees those corrupt Interpreters of the Law To all this for the further Confirmation I may add That Solomon expresly requireth in his Proverbs and St Paul from him enjoyneth in his Epistle If thine Enomy â—e hungry give him Bread to Eat And if he be thirsty give him water to drink so shalt thou heap coals of fire on his head and the Lord will reward thee That God in the Law gave strict charge concerning the beast even of our Enemy If thou meet thine Enemies Oxe or his Ass going astray thou shalt surely bring it back to him Again If thou see the Ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden and wouldest forbear to help him thou shalt surely help him And certainly he that required them to assist their Enemy in rescuing his beast did not allow them hatred and malice to his Person Nay yet once more in the forementioned place where Moses saith Thou shalt love thy Neighbour is prefixed Thou shalt not avenge nor bear grudge which refers to an Enemie that hath done one an injury As for that lex talionis Law of retaliation though as appeareth by our Saviour it was otherwise construed by the Pharisees yet doubtless it was only intended by God as a rule for the publique Magistrate in his Administrations of justice and is no less in this sense allowable now And though they were to exercise acts of Hostility towards the Nations about them in making no peace with the Ammonites casting out the Cananites and cutting off the Amalekites yet this was by a speciall command from God which both then and now may dispence with a generall Precept and withall their being the Instruments of Gods vengance upon the Heathen did not hinder but that they might be free from any private revenge and so fulfill the generall Precept as well as any Headsman who notwithstanding he is the Executor of Justice may yet love that Person whom he doth execute 2. That Love which the Law requireth may very well in some cases be raised up to that heighth of suffering death Briefly to clear which know That laying down our life in reference to our neighbour is only required in one of these two cases the one when the publique the other when the spirtuall good of others necessitateth to it To lay down a mans life for the publique good is so far from being purely Christian that even Heathens have done it and therefore is no doubt included in the Mosaicall Precept which we may the rather believe because we find himself willing to be blotted out of the Book of Life for the preservation of the People and if it be said that this is to love our Neighbour more then our selves I answer It is not if we take Neighbour Distributively and if we take it Collectively for the Generality even nature teacheth us and surely then Moses his Law did require to prefer the puhlique before the private Wellfare a Generall before a Particular good 3. But that dying which is especially an act of Love is when we are willing to lose our own temporall life for the eternall good of others An example of this we have in the Old Testament What else meant Davids wish in regard of his Son Absalom when he said Would God I had died for thee Desiring no doubt to prevent that eternall death into which he had reason to think his Son dying in Rebellion against his King his Father was now plunged by the loss of his temporary life And in truth though this be to love our Neighbours Souls better then our Body yet it is not to love our Neighbour better then our selves and therefore exceeds not the Mosaicall Precept Caeâ—eris paribus let there be an equality every way and a Christian is as much bound now to prefer himself before his Neighbour as a Jew was and in way of inequality a Jew was bound to dammage himself for his Neghbours good as well as a Christian I am not to love my Neighbours Soul more then my own Soul nor his Body more then my Body nor his Estate more then my own Christian charity in this respect as well as Jewish begins at home only when it is my Estate or Body and my Neighbours Soul which come in Competicion this must be valued above those and this is required by Moses as well as Christ In one word That addition as thy self was certainly intended not as a Limitation or Restriction but rather as an Amplification and Inlargment of this duty of love that look how dear and entire and cordiall that love is which men bear to themselves the same they ought to have towards their Neighbours And therefore I shut up this
have the light to walk in it to walk worthy of it to walk as children of it by walking in this path of love And so much for that Exposition The other interpretation renders these words assertively is true in you and expounds the darkness and light of sinne and grace an Exposition which I incline to as most rational it being very probable that our Apostle as in the following verses he useth the same metaphors so here intends the same things and that there his primary scope is to describe by darkness and light mans corrupt and regenerate estate will appear in the handling For the better prosecution of these words in this sense be pleased to proceed with me by these steps and observe 1. What is the state of all men before conversion Namely a state of darkness darkness is in our minds the darkness of ignorance and infidelity we neither do nor can know aright either God or our selves The naturall man perceiveth not the things of the Spirit of God is St Pauls generall Doctrine asserting our ignorance of God and the particular charge against Laodicea That she knew not she was wretched and miserable poor blind and naked may justly be extended to all mankind in regard of self-ignorance Indeed there is so much light left in us as may render us inexcusable but not as can lead us to Heaven we neither of our selves can find out nor yet discern divine truths though they are set before us how quick sighted soever reason may be in naturals it is dimme yea blind in spirituals and as our blessed Saviour argueth If the eye be darkness the whole body must needs be darke the eyes of our understanding being darkned no marvell if our will and affections be clouded yea a darkness of sin overrun our whole man so that what St Paul saith to the Ephesians is true of all unregenerate persons they are not only in the concrete darke but abstract darkness it self 2. What the state of all regenerate persons is The darkness is past and the true light of saving knowledg and heavenly grace shineth in their hearts Regenerate Christians are called in the new Testament new Creatures and indeed not unfitly since as it was in the old so is it in this new Creation We read in the beginning of Genesis That darkness was upon the face of the deep and God said let there be light A fit Embleme of the Spirits work in a sinners Conversion Whereas darkness covereth the soul before a glorious light ariseth in and diffuseth it self through it To this no doubt the Apostle alludeth when he saith God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts and for this reason it is that very often the turning of a sinner is set forth by this Metaphor so Pauls conversion of the Gentiles is called a turning them from darkness to light the converted Colossians are said to be delivered from the power of darkness and of the Ephesians it is said You who were sometimes darkness are now light in the Lord. Suitable to all which is this phrase in my Text The darkness is past and that true light now shineth Nor is it unworthy the observation how fitly these two clauses are ioyned together since the one cannot be without the other nay indeed one is the cause of the other In every convert there is not only a passing away of darkness but a shining of the true light yea the shining of the light is the cause of the passing away of the darkness in which respect Zanchy noteth that Conjunctio copulans pro causali posita videtur the Copulative Conjunction and is put for the Causall for This will the more appear if we consider what St Austin hath observed Namely That darkness is nothing else but the non residency of light and therefore that which expelleth darkness must needs be the presence of light thus the grace of the Spirit infused into the Soul is that which prevaileth to the expulsion of sin Look as the taking of an antidote driveth out the poyson the putting of a new Seal upon the Wax defaceth the old stampe and the return of the Sun causeth the darkness to vanish so is it the donation of the Spirit and his grace which dispossesseth Sin and Satan of the Soul Hence we may take notice what it is that maketh the difference between a Convert and a naturall Man namely the shining of the light of grace We that are converted were once involved in the same state of darkness with the rest of the world and as unable to deliver our selves from it had not Gods free grace caused the light to shine upon us which he denieth to others in which regard St Peter saith to the converted Christians to whom he wrote You are a chosen Generation a royall Priesthood an holy Nation a peculiar People that you should shew forth the praise of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light But yet it must withall be considered that the words in this sense are better read according to the Greek the darkness passeth away then that it is past since so long as we are here though our light be true yet it is not perfect but shineth more and more to the perfect day Now according to the increase of the light is the decrease of the darkness and therefore because it is not full noon perfect day whilst we are here the darkness cannot be said to be wholly past but rather is still passing if then we are sensible of the remainder of darkness in our hearts let it trouble but not too much dismay us light and darkness in remiss degrees may be together nor must we expect the darkness of sin to be wholly removed till we participate the light of Glory 3. In whomsoever the darkness passeth and the true light shineth this is true of which our Apostle here speaketh this grace and duty of love will shew it self in all regenerate persons it is a clear maxim where there is the cause there will be the effect such as is the root such will be the fruit now goodness which is a companion of love is called by the Apostle Paul A fruit of the Spirit or as some Greeke Copies read it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a fruit of light this light which here is said to shine which is no other then the grace of the Spirit no wonder if where this light shineth there this beam and fruit of it appear indeed glowe worm light and star light is such as hath no beat at all to accompany it but Sun light which is the true light expelling darkness wanteth not heat which is the Embleme of this grace of love whereby the soul is warmed yea enflamed Examine we then our selves by this Character if we be brought from darkness to light this is true in us who so experienceth this change will find
The second Obedience The third Imitation of Christ And now the fourth which we are from these verses to discourse upon is The love of our Brethren He that saith he is in the light c. In these three Verses we have two generall parts considerable A Grace proposed The Vice opposed The proposition is in the 10. Verse The opposition in the 9 and 11. Verses And inasmuch as the grace is in order of nature before the vice and according to that Geometricall maxime Rectum est Index sui obliqui the way to know when we commit the sin is to understand the nature of the grace and yet further since the opposition is intended as an amplification of the proposition I shall therefore in handling these Verses begin with the middlemost wherein is contained The Thesis or grace proposed He that loveth his Brother abideth in the light and there is no occasion of stumbling in him In the discussion whereof be pleased to observe two things the nature and the benefit of the grace the former in the Subject the latter in the praedicate of the proposition 1. The Subject of the proposition He that loveth his brother So that the grace here set before us is the love of our Brother St Austin speaking of love hath observed a foure fold Object whereabout it is conversant Quod supra nos quod nos sumus quod juxta nos quod infra nos The first above us namely God The second our Selves The third about Vs The fourth beneath us our Bodies and as he well observeth two of them are so naturall that there is no need of a Precept to wit our selves and especially our bodies and therefore the command of love is expressed in these two the Love of God and of our Neighbour the latter of which our Apostle here calls for If you look backward upon the 5. Verse of this Chapter you find the Apostle speaking of the Love of God that being indeed the primary Object of Love and here he adviseth to the love of our Brother these two being not contrary but subordinate a little after he speaketh of two Loves which are inconsistent the Love of the Father and the Love of the World but it is not so with the Love of God and our Brother nay Indeed the former is a â—ause of the latter and the latter a testimony of the former Love to our Brother is effected by our love to God and our Love to God is perfected by love to our Brother and therefore very fitly doth our Apostle here speak of the latter having before mentioned the former because he is now about to describe the word or Commandment the keeping whereof perfects that is declareth our love to God to be perfect or sincere which is no other then Brotherly love For the better unfolding of which I shall briefly resolve these two queries What that Love is which we owe to our Brother Who that Brother is whom we are so to Love Not to discourse of Love at large be pleased to know That to Love our Brother as Zanchy well defineth 't is To have our mind so inclined towards him as that we will and to the utmost of our power conferr good upon him Suitable hereunto is that description of the Philosopher Love is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To will that which is good to and as far as we are able to do that which we will for another If then you ask what is the formal act of this love I answer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 benevolence If what is the proper effect of it The answer is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 beneficence nor can love be where either of these is wanting on the one hand if there be beneficence and not benevolence it is not love When St Paul saith Though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor and have not charity it profiteth me nothing he intimateth that it is possible for a man to bestow his goods on the poor and yet want love liberality being sometimes a fruit rather of vain glory then charity On the other hand if there be benevolence and not beneficence it is not love since it is only vellâ—â—tas not voluntas a wishing and woulding not a serious willing Trahit secum animorum propensio omnem beneficentiam saith Gualter a cordial propension carrieth with it a vigorous prosecution In this respect St James chideth those who when a Brother or Sister is naked and destitute of daily bread say to them depart in peace be you warmed be you filled notwithstanding they gave them not those things which were needfull for the body that is not charity which only expresseth it self in words not works love being an emanation of the will in a way of adhaesion to its object cannot but will all good to the object loved and since the will is the Queen Regent of the whole man in which regard the actions of all the other faculties are called the imperate acts of the will commanding the execution of its inclination it must needs follow that he who seriously wills cannot but really endeavour his brothers good and therefore that velleity which like an empty cloud vanisheth away without efficacy is not an act of love in which respect some not unfitly give the sense of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to move every â—â—one and use all meanes for accomplishing the good we will only that caution according to our ability must be here inserted for as S Paul saith in this very case If there be first a willing mind it is accepted according to that a man hath and not according to that he hath not where there is want of ability benevolence though it cannot be profitable to our Brother yet is acceptable to God and ought to be to him without beneficence The one then namely a good will is absolutely and alwayes necessary The other to wit good works conditionally and with this limitation so farre as they are within the sphere of our activity and compass of our ability Besides this general definition of love it will not be amiss somewhat more particularly to enquire into the several wayes of exercising it that we may see how many lines meet in this centre of love which may both fully and briefly be delineated by a double reference 1. To the present condition of our brother who Either hath the good already and then love first blesseth God and next congâ—atulateth him rejoyceing him at the presence and willing the continuance yea encreasing of it so farre as may be good and expedient for him Or else he wants the good and is distressed by some kind of evil and then love beareth a part with him in his sufferings by sympathie wiping away his teares with the spunge of her compassion yea not only so but endeavoureth to relieve him in and deliver him out of his affliction above all praying with earnest prayer and supplication to God for
vision The understanding is that whereby we know and apprehend things intelligible it is as it were the souls window whereby it receiveth the light of knowledg 5. Finally The office of the eye is to guide the motion of the body to direct our hands in working and our feet in walking such is the office of the understanding to order the will and affections in their inclinations and aversations to teach us what to choose and what to refuse what to love and what to hate you see how fitly the understanding of the mind is compared to the eyes of the body 5. The Disease of this part here specified is blindness the worst evill that can befall the eye as rendring it altogether useless and the state of the person dangerous a dimme eye may do some service by preventing many fals but a blinde eye exposeth to continuall hazards well faith our blessed Saviour if the light meaning the eye that is in thee be darkness how great is that darkness Yet this is the state of every wicked malicious man especially his eyes are blinded his understanding darkned he knoweth nothing as he ought to know indeed his left eye is quick sighted but his right eye is starke blinde he is wise to do evill but to do good he hath no knowledg Quantum mortalia pectora caecae Noctis habent saith the Poet how darke a night of ignorance overshadoweth the minds of mortals It is not seldome that this name of foole is given in Scripture to an evill man and not without cause since he is altogether destitute of right reason the Prodigall repenting is said to come to himself whereby is intimated that whilst wandering he was besides himself thus is the sinner a foole a mad man a blinde man ignorant of the things which concern his everlasting peace And surely if blindness of the bodily eye be sad this of the spirituall is far more dolefull our bodily eye is common to us with beasts our intellectuall that where by we partake with Angels and by how much the eye of the minde is better then that of the body by so much the blindness of this is worse The bodies eye may be better spared then the souls yea the want of corporall sight may be a meanes of spirituall good but the want of spirituall sight can be no way helpfull but altogether hurtfull yea which is so much the more sad whereas the bodily blinde feeleth and acknowledgeth his want of light the spiritually blinde man thinketh that none hath clearer eyes then himself This Christ saith of the Laodicean Angell he knew not that he was blinde and this sinner in the Text saith he is in the light suam ignorans ignorantiam not knowing his want of knowledg oh learne we to be sensible of and affected with the misery of this condition to have our eyes blinded But lastly The cause of this pernicious disease would be searched into which we shall finde to arise principally from our selves it is true St Paul saith the God of this world who is the Prince of darkness blinds mens eyes but chiefly it is the darkness of wickedness within us that bringeth this evill upon us Wickedness saith the Wiseman doth alter the understanding and the bewitching of naughtiness doth obscure things that are honest to which agreeth that of St Chrysostome Sin doth so blinde the senses of the sinners that seeing not the waies of falshood they thrust themselves headlong therein The truth is as the Serpent first wrought upon the Woman and by her upon the Man so wickedness first worketh upon the affections and by that upon the understanding nor is it any wonder that when those are perverted this is blinded Who can see any thing in a troubled muddy water No more can the understanding discern aright when the affections are stirred and mudded what mists foggs are to the aire darkning it corrupt unruly passions are to the mind blinding it It were easie to instance in the severall sorts of those which the Schooles call deadly sins how raysing a commotion in the affections they obnubilate the judgment Olcot upon this account compareth the luxurious man to blind Sampson the gluttonous man to him that was born blind the sloathfull man to blind Tobias the covetous to the blind Beggars the angry to blinde Lamech the envious to blind Ely and the proud man to Senecaes blind servant who would not believe that shee was blind but the house darke certain it is all of these seating themselves in some one or other of our passions do not only reign in our mortall bodies but domineere in our immortall souls misleading its most noble faculty the judgment Oh what a slave is the minde of a covetuous luxurious malicious man to his affections it must think and plot and dictate and judge according as they please well might our Apostle say of him that hateth his Brother the darknesse blindeth his eyes Nor would it be passed by how the bad effect of this spirituall darkness exceeds that of naturall in this respect for whereas the eye of a man may be as good as strong as clear in the darke as in the light only the darkness hinders the exercise of the sight the malicious man by reason of his darkness hath the very sight of his understanding vitiated indeed whereas in naturals the sight is not blinded but the medium is darkned in spirituals the Medium which is Gods word is not at all darkned but the Organ is blinded whilst the depravation of the passion is the depravation of the understanding As therefore we desire to have our minds savingly enlightned endeavour we to have our lusts truly mortified if we would have our judgments even and upright let us not suffer them to be byased by any passion To end all What should this discription of a wicked malicious sinners misery but serve as a disswasive from this iniquity Let no violence be found in our hands nor hatred in our hearts especially considering that we say we are in the light 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith one of the Ancients it is unbeseeming those who sing the songs of Zion to barke in rage who are Gods Servants to be slaves to envious lusts I cannot expostulate better then in the words of St Cyprian Si homo lucis esse capisti quid in zeli tenebras ruis if thou art a Childe of light cast off as all so especially this work of darkeness walk no longer in this way of darkness in which if thou persist what ever thy deceitfull heart may prompt thee it will inevitably lead thee to utter darknss from which good Lord deliver us Amen THE FIRST EPISTLE OF St JOHN CHAP. 2. 12 13 14. VERS I write unto you little Children because your sins are forgiven you for his name sake I write unto you Fathers because ye have known him that is from the beginning I write unto you young Men because
men they had overcome the wicked one 4. Young men have their blood boyling in their veins their naturall heat is sprightly in them so is it with proficients in grace the supernaturall and spirituall heat of zeal is lively in their hearts whereby it is that they boyle as it were in love to God and rage against sin 5. Finally Young men are healthfull and lusty and though they fall into a disease their bodies are able to wrestle with it and nature gets the better so have spirituall proficients an healthfull frame of soul whereby it is that they seldome fall into great diseases I mean gross sins and if at any time they do fall grace struggleth with and prevaileth against corruption â— Perfecti They who are comparatively not only in respect of bad but good perfect Christians having attained large measures of grace are resembled to Fathers 1. Aged Fathers know much by their own experience so do perfect Christians they are experienced in the subtilties of Satan and dâ—ceits of their own hearts the workings of grace and stirrings of corruptions the assistances of Gods Spirit and manifestations of his Love 2. Aged Fathers know things that are done many years ago and perfect Christians according to our Apostles phrase have known him that is from the beginning converse with the Father of eternity and so far as God hath unbosomed himself in his word are acquainted with the thoughts he had from everlasting 3. Lastly Aged Fathers are usually Fathers of many Children so are perfect Christians they make it a great part of their buiâ—â—ness to admonish the negligent support the feeble reclaime the wandring comfort the drooping and by all meanes to convert and confirme their Brethren To summe it up Habent omnes virtutes suas conceptiones nativitates incunabvla aetatis incrementa saith an Ancient The virtues have their Conception Birth and Growth and that from one degree to another the seed of grace which fals upon good ground bringeth forth in some an hundred in some sixty and in some but thirty fold all the Israelites did not gather the like quantity of Manna some an Omer and some an Epha some much some little it is no less true of the spirituall Israelites in gathering grace Among the ungodly on Jacobs ladder some were above at the top and others below at the foot yet all upon the ladder the like difference there is among Christians in their spirituall ascents as in the Heavens there are stars of severall magnitudes in Schooles there are Schollars of severall so mes in Houses there are vessels of severall bigness so in the Church there are Christians of severall degrees for there are Fathers and young Men and little Children Let not then those who are Fathers grown up in Christianity disdaine the young Men who are growing nor either Fathers or young Men contemn the little Children The time was when thou who art a Father wast a young Man nay a little Childe and the time may be when they that are now little Children may come to be young Men nay Fathers he that hath mâ—st grace began with a little and those weâ—k striplings may prove strong Gyants in grace if thou hast much and others but little thankfully acknowledg thy Fathers mercy but do not proudly scorne thy Brothers infirmity Again Let not those who are as yet but little Children be discouraged at nor yet content with those small measures of grace they have attained Let them not on the one hand be too much dejected he that bids Peter feed his sheep bids him withall to feed his Lambes yea he who is himself the great Shepheard taketh care of the little Lambes as well as the grown sheep when Nicodemus came to Christ with some few sparks of desire after him our compassionate Redeemer non delebat sed alebat did not extinguish but cherish them Besides the covenant of grace is made with and the promises of mercy are made to faith not only in strength but truth A little Childe is as truly a man as a young man as an old man and a weake Christian is as truly a Christian as the most perfect Saint conclude not too harshly against thy self from the praemises of weak gracè Qui non potest volare ut aquila voleâ— ut passer if we cannot mount with the Eagle soare with the Larke let us flye with the Sparrow though we cannot with St Paul set our feet in the third Heaven yet let us lift up our hands and eyes thither In a word let us neither measure our goodness by anothers want of it nor our want of goodness by anothers abundance as if we had no grace because but little and not so great a measure as others Nor yet on the other hand let little Children or young Men be contented with what they have attained The stature which a Christian is to strive after is the stature of the fulness of Christ and therefore we must never come to our maximum quod sâ—c our full pitch There is an holy and amiable ambition in Christianity oh how good would a good heart be it looketh not only upon its sins but graces with grief and mourning as that it hath been so bad so that it is yet no better Peto ut acâ—ipiam cum acceperâ— rursus peto I aske to receive grace and when I have received I aske again Nec ille deficit in dando nec ego satior in accipiendo he is not weary of giving nor am I satisfied with receiving So St Jerome Is then the foundation of piety layed reare up the building every day higher then other till it reacheth to Heaven Is the light of grace risen in in thy soul Let it shine more and more to the perfect day Finally art thou a little Childe grow up to be a young Man yea never cease till thou comst to be a Father in Christ And so much for the Allegoricall Interpretation It is a received rule in interpreting Scripture that the litterall sence is to be adhered to as most genuine unless necessity inforce to recede from it For this cause I conceive it most congruous to embrace the plaine and proper meaning of the words as they note the ages of mens life though withall the other notion is here collaterally to be taken in those of these severall ages to whom St John writeth were converted to Christianity and proportionably no doubt as the little Children were but weak so as they grew up to be young Men and Fathers they grâ—w in grace For the better clearing of this construction you must know that Childhood Youth and old Age are the usuall distinctions of mans age I know some make as it were seaven stages of the life of man Infancy Childhood Youth Manhood midâ—le Age old Age decrepit Age others reduce the seaven to foure Childhood Youth Manhood old Age the â—â—rst whereof is reckoned to â—â—fteen the second to twenty five the thir 〈…〉
what they care not for whilest your emulations strifes quarrels are so great and fierce one with another about worldly matters it strongly argueth they have possession of your hearts she for whom the gallant adventures his life in the field is very probably concluded to be his Mistris surely the world commands thy heart when it engageth thee in litigious quarrels 6. Lastly You may very rationally judge of your affections by your actions your love by your care your delight by your service When we read that Jacob served an hard Apprentiship to Laban and that no less then fourteen years for the gaining of Rachell we may certainly infer that he loved her greatly men would never lay out their time and strength so uncessantly in the worlds drudgery were she not Mistris of their affections yea which doth the more fully proclaime their love their labour is a pleasure they are never in their element but when like the fish they are swiming in these waters or like the mole they are digging in the earth By all these considerations we may be able to discern whither our love be not inordinate towards this world and the things thereof and therefore such as we ought to be deeply sensible of affected with and humbled for And now what remaineth but that to this word of Conniction I annex a word of Dehortation that we all endeavour to wean our hearts from the love of this world Oh hearken and again I say hearken to this sprituall and Heavenly voice as it is called by St Cyprian Love not the world nor the things of the world Indeed as Seneca saith of sorrow I may say of love I do not require that you should not love it at all but I earnestly intreat take heed that you love it not too much the truth is our affections in regard of worldly matters are very prone to excess in Heavenly things it is impossible to exceed in Earthly things it is difficult not to exceed our grief quickly degenerateth into anguish our fear into trembling our desire into impatience our delight into jollity and our love into dotage Oh therefore be wise to watch the out goings of your hearts after worldly Objects and remember that as it is of the two best when brotherly kindness erreth on the right hand by louing too much so when worldly love offends on the left hand by loving too little Oecumenius upon the Text conceiveth that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Apostle writeth these things as to Children who are most apt to be taken up with ensuall Objects but doubtless as one well glâ—sseth Optimè omnibus congruit there are none of any age but stand in need of it Beware that you be not engaged and fettered with worldly love we read concerning the living Creatures mentioned by the Prophet Ezekiell that the Soles of their feet were like the soles of a Calves foot The Caldee paraphrase readeth it like round feet the feet are an emblem of our affection and it is observed of Sphaericall bodies that if you set them upon the ground they only touch it in one point so should our affections touch this world not too much cleaving to or leaning on it Dioscorides maketh mehtion of an Herh which he calleth the Indian leafe and observeth that it groweth in moorish fenny places Aquae sine ullâ radice â—nnatans swimming in the water without taking any root in the bottome Let this Herb be our emblem whilst we live in let us not love the world and though we make use of it to swim in for a time let not our hearts take root by an inordinate love The main disswasives from this sin we shall meet with in the Text only consider for the present that this worldly love is unreasonable injurious ingratefull and unchristian 1. It is unreasonable There are two eminent laws of love which are directly broken by this practice the one is simili gaudere the other is diligentem diligere like loveth like and love requireth love but alas when we love the world we love that which is unlike there being no proportion between our noble souls and this worlds good Indeed our souls were made after the divine image and similitude and therefore not made for the love of this inferiour world Besides when we love the world we love that which as it doth not give so neither can it repay love at the best it is only capable of serving not of loving us and why should we so pervert the nature of love as to love the world But further 2. It is injurious to our selves as well as incongruous to love since by loving the world it becometh our enemie it seems strange yet it is a truth the world is only a â—oe to them that love her if we use her she is an obsequious servant but if we love her she is a malicious enemy it is observed of the shadow Sequentem fugit fugientem sequitur if you follow it it flyeth from you if you flye from it it followeth after you It is proportionaby true of the world if you contemn it it will fear you if you love it it will domineer over you and that known Proverb of fire and water may justly be applied to the things of the world they are good servants but bad masters Adde to this 3. It is ingratefull to God as well as injurious to our selves all these things of the world are the largesses of Gods bounty the streames of his goodness and is it not an odious ingratitude to dote upon the gift and neglect the donor Very apposite to this purprse is St Austins similitude If an Husband being in a far Country should send a Ring to his Spouse out of his ardent affection to her would he not might he not justly take it ill at her hands if she should forget her Husband and fall in love with the token Thus do we when we cast God behind our backs and set our eyes upon this world Finally It is unchristian there being nothing more unbeseeming a Christian profession then a worldly conversation being Christians we profess the Faith and hope of a better world and shall we fall in love with this we intitle our selves the Children of God and shall we live and love as the Children of this world It is our Saviours argument to his Disciples After these things do the Gentils seek and because they do we should not at least wise not as they do it with such immoderate affection and therefore whilst Mammonists like Ravens feed on garbage like the Lapwing make their nest in order or like Beetles never sing but in a bed of dung let us have higher thoughts nobler desires purer joyes learning of this holy Apostle not to Love the world nor the things of the world THE FIRST EPISTLE OF St JOHN CHAP. 2. VERS 15 16. Love not the world neither the things that are in the world if any man love the
world the love of the Father is not in him For all that is in the world the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the Father but is of the world THe passions of the soul in their own nature are neither in their exercise are either morally good or bad Look as a Painters Colours according to the severall Pictures which they draw represent a chast Matron and a wanton Strumpet or as the winds according to the severall corners whence they blow serve to drieve the ship forward and backward so the affections according to the Object whereabout they are conversant become either helps or hinderances virtues or vices yea what the Astrologers say of the Planet Mercury in the Horoscope of mans nativity if it be in conjunction with a fortunate Planet it is the better if with an Ominous the worse is more truly affirmed of the passions when they are joyned to good Objects they advance virtue and when to bad they increase vice No wonder then if the holy Scripture take so much care about regulating our affections Indeed the Stoicks would banish and extirpate them and therefore say to them as Abimelech to Isaack Go from us for thou art much mightier then we but the Christian Religion would only confine or rather refine them by defining their proper Objects There is no need of draining up these waters only of diverting them into their right channell of plucking them up only planting them in a good soile We must not use them as Joshuah was to deale with the Amalekites wholly cut them off but as he did by the Gibeonites make them hewers of wood and drawers of water for the House of God Indeed as one wittily man fallen is the Anagram of man created his affections like letters misplaced so that there is no need of blotting them out only placing them in their right order Upon this account it was that we finde in sacred writ both precepts and prohibitions commands and caveats exhortations and dehortations in reference to the same affections sometimes in the same Verse So Christ to the Disciples Feare not but feare to the Women at the Cross Weep not but weep ofttimes in the same Chapter as in this concerning the affection of love if you cast your eyes in the foregoing Verses you shall finde those two Objects which we are to love God and our Brother and here in this Verse that single though comrehensive Object which we must not love Love not the world nor the things that are in the world c. Having dispatched the generall proposition in the begining of the fifteenth Verse we are now according to the proposed method to descend to the particular exposition as it is set down in the former part of the sixteenth All that is in the world the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life This clause which I call the Exposition you see is a distribution intended no doubt for a further and fuller explication of that prohibition but whether of the Object or the Act is somewhat questionable since on the one hand the word world refers to the Object and on the other the word lust refers to the Act. Interpreters conceive that lust is taken metonymically for the Object lusted after and so account it a distribution of the Object but withall it is of the Object in reference to the Act. And when I observe that this all is positively denied to be of the Father I thinke it more rationall to construe this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all to be every lust that is in the world and so take it as a distribution of the act discovering the severall channels in which worldly love runeth It is inquired by the Schoolmen whither this distribution do compleatly enumerate the causes of all sin and it is affirmatively resolved Calvin upon the Text conceiveth it not much materiall whether it be exact or no no doubt these are the principall and all sins may some way or other be reduced to one of these If you please take a short view of the severall references of these lusts whereby they are differenced one from another Serrarius upon the Text hath thus ranked them that good which is immoderately desired is either such as is really received into us about which is conversant the lust of the flesh or which is only transmitted by species to the sight and so the Object of the lust of the eyes or which is neither received by it self or by species into us but is altogether without us and to this tends the pride of life Alexander Hales out of St Austin goeth another and in some respect a contrary way asserting exorbitant lust to be either about bonum inferius some inferiour sensuall good which is the lust of the flesh or exterius some externall visible good which is the lust of the eyes or interius some inward opinionated good which is the pride of life Aquinas distinguisheth the inordinate appetite of man to be after good either as considered absolutely or as it is attended with difficulty the former is the inordination of that which is called the concupiscible appetite and this is either in respect of those things that please the body which is concupiscentia naturalis the naturall desire but in the excess the lust of the flesh or of those things which by sight delight the imagination which is concupiscentia animalis an animall desire and in the excess the lust of the eyes the latter is the irregularity of the irascible apetite and is the pride of life Some not unfitly allude to that distinction of sins into carnall spirituall and of a mixt nature those sins which take sensible delight in sensible Objects are purely carnall and these belong to the lust of the flesh those which take mentall delight in mentall Objects are purely spirituall sins and belong to the pride of life those which take an inward delight in outward Objects are of a mixed nature and belong to the lust of the eyes The most plain and usuall reference of them is of the lust of the flesh to sensuall pleasures of the lust of the eyes to riches and of the pride of life to honours and so the voluptuous covetous and ambitious are the sinners guilty of these lusts This Grotius looketh upon as the genuine meaning and so much the rather because he conceiveth this sentence to be borrowed from the ancient Hebrews whence Pythagoras received it and from him Clynias who mentioneth these three as the cause of that unjustice among men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 correspondent to which is that of Philo on the Decalogue asserting it is the Fountain of all wars among men to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the evill lust either of wealth or honour or pleasure But what the large extent and withall the principall intent of these
3. Be pleased then to remember what I have already told you that world may be either understood of persons or things and accordingly both constructions may here not unfitly be made use of 1. Of the world that is saith St Austin Ab hominibus mundi dilectoribus of those men who are the worlds darlings and thus these lusts are said to be of the world as a pattern or exemplary cause inasmuch as to walke in them is according to the Apostles phrase To walke according to the course of the world The truth is we are very apt to learn of and conforme to the corrupt lusts and practises of the world We do not with the Pelagians farre be it from us say that sin came in only by imitation but yet withall it is an undeniable truth that imitation is a cause of much sin that corrupt nature which is with in us rendring us prone to follow others in their evill waies This is that which those Dehortations both of St Paul and St Peter plainly intimate This I say and testifie in the Lord that ye henceforth walke not as other Gentiles walke so St Paul For the time past of our lives may it suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles So St Peter Both imply that we are very ready to walke in the way do the will of the wicked among whom we live 2. But that interpretation which I look upon as most genuine is by the world to understand the things of the world and therefore these lusts are said to be of the world because by reason of our inbred corruption these worldly things become occasions and inciters of lust To this purpose it is that St Paul calls these lusts worldly lusts not only because they are conversant about the world but because the world is in some sense a cause that is an externall moving cause of them The Father of these lusts is the Devill their Mother the flesh the world is a Midwife to bring forth and a Nurse to bring up these monstrous brats no wonder if upon this account it is reckoned as one of the three grand enemies of mans salvation Learn we then that excellent admonition of St James To keep our selves unspotted of the world The truth is mundus immundus the world is uncleane and filthy and if we take not heed it will defile and besmeare us if we be not very carefull where we tread we shall soon step into a dirty puddle if we be not very wary where we walke we shall quickly be caught in a snare Oh how hard is it to looke upon these things and not long after them to use them and not love them to have them in our eye or hand and yet keep them out of our heart Oh therefore watch and be sober so often as you are engaged about worldly things keep a godly jealousie over your hearts least they go out too much after them for the world is very insinuating and too often creepeth into our hearts the presence Chamber of the King of glory in which respects these lusts are most truly said to be of the world And so much for the two branches of this clause Absolutely considered 2. Pass we on now to a Relative view and thus it may have a double reference 1. Some conceive it as an Argument why we should not love the world and the things of it and truly whither we understand the Subject of this proposition All that is in the world is not of the Father but is of the world of the things themselves or the lust after them it will hold good 1. Love not the things of the world because these things are not of the Father but of the world Qualia sunt haec saith Zanchy aptly how low poor things are these how unworthy of a Christian love These are from an earthly extraction an inferiour principle Set your affections saith St Paul on the things that are above and not on the things that are upon the earth if you will love let it be those things above that are of the Father of a noble divine originall not these earthly things which are of the world 2. Love not the things of the world because those lusts which are conversant about those things are not of the father but of the world the strength of which argument will better appeare if we consider who they are namely Believers such as are not of the world but of the father to whom this dehortation is given it being very unreasonable that they who are not of the world but of the father should harbour those lusts which are not of the father but of the world When therefore oh Christian any desires arise in thine heart put these two questions to them whither tend they and especially whence are they if they be of the father and so consequently tending upwards embrace them but if of the world and so necessarily bending downwards refuse them 2. But though I do not reject these Interpretations yet I rather adhere to that exposition which looketh upon this clause as a reason of the reason preceding why the love of the world and the love of the Father are inconsistent and the strength of the Argument may be drawn out two waies 1. These worldly lusts are not of the Father and therefore not to the Father Things move in a circle where they begin there they end Rivers come from and return to the Sea These lusts the being not of the Father cannot be toward him nay indeed are against him and therefore cannot consist with the love of him The love of the Father carrieth the heart towards him these lusts being not of the Father turn away the heart from him how can they agree together 2. Where there is a love of the Father only that which is of the Father will finde acceptance yea whatever is not of the Father the soul that loveth him cannot choose but abhorre he that loveth God truly hath a sympathy and antipathy correspondent to his what God loveth he loveth what God hateth he hateth and therefore since these lusts are so far from being of the Father that they are of the world yea the Father instead of an Authour or an Abettour of them is an abhorer and opposer of them no wonder if there be no sincere love of the Father where the love of the world is predominant And this shall suffice to have been spoken of the first branch of the Argumentation drawn from the love of world its repugnancy to the love of God It now remaineth that we proceed to The other branch which is taken from the world it self its short continuance as it is set down in the seaventeenth Verse For the world passeth away and the lusts thereof but he that doth the will of God indureth for ever where there are two generall parts occurre to our observation to wit A Thesis or proposition For the world passeth away and the
the most part end in a shamefull sadness those in a gladsome success God many times is pleased to blast the hopes cross the desires and evacuate the hopes and endeavours of wicked men in their sinfull waies according to that threat in the Psalmes The desire of the wicked shall perish Hence it is that their desires create a great deale of sorrow and perplexity to them and who would give way to such lusts which prove so often suecessless and being disappointed end in grief and impatiency 2. They pass away that is being fulfilled they are soon glutted in this sense worldly men like Children are soon weary when they have what they desire It is an excellent saying of St Austine Laetitia seculi cum magnâ expectatione speratur ut veniat praeterit cum venerit men are big with hopes of a great deale of content and joy in the accomplishment of their desires and alas delight is no sooner come but it is gone and to the same purpose Seneca saith of worldly pleasures Fluit transit paenè antequam veniat aufertur it is of a Fluid transient nature and is taken away almost as soon as enjoyed The truth is many times whilst the things themselves stay with us our lust to love of and delight in them ceaseth in which respect the world may fitly be compared to the grass and our lust to the flower of the grass for as the flower fadeth away before the grass so our lust passeth away whilst yet the worldly Object continueth yea ofttimes our longing is turned into loathing and our love into hatred witness the story of Amnon and Thamar That observation of St Gregory is very apt to this purpose concerning the difference between corporall and spirituall delights these Cum non habentur in fastidio cum habentur in desiderio whilst we want them they are loathed when we have them they are loved but those Cum non habentur in desiderio cum habentur in fastidio whilst we want them are desired when we have them they are loathed Hence it is that as weake stomachs must have choice of diet so worldly desires call for change of Objects Why did Solomon study such variety of pleasures but because they soon satiate and the wanton appetite is still calling for a new Object Nothing more easie then to surfeit of earthly enjoyments and for those things which being absent were our earnest desire by their continued presence to become an heavy burden Oh let us learn to abhorre these lusts which will of themselves at last end in abhorring 2. Once more Whatever enjoyment we may have of or contentments in these lusts whilst we live they shall all cease when we dye When death cometh the covetous man shall graspe no more wealth the ambitious shall gape no more after honour nor the luxurious neigh after his Dalilah As there is no wisedome nor counsell so there is no desire or delight in the Grave whither we are going These lusts will leave thee when thou dyest how much better is it for thee to leave them whilst thou livest 3. There remaineth yet one branch more of the position and that is though not exprest yet implyed concerning the worldly lover himself For in the other clause the person who doth Gods will is said to abide for ever and so by way of analogie this passing away must be understood not only of the things and the lust but the person who lusts after these things Indeed we are all in this world as in a ship not only the ship it selfe moves but the passengers are carried away in it yea which is the Riddle The Passengers go faster then the ship since even whilst the world continues the inhabitants pass away Paulinus desired St Austin to write somewhat de statu humanae vitae of the state of humane life he presently corrects him telling him he should have said de cursu humanae â—itae of the course of humane life our life being a swift race to the Goale of death And well were it if we would still joyne in our meditations our own and the worlds passing away together If these things do not leave us yet we must leave them and as Esau said I dye and what good will my birthright do me so let us often thinke I must be gone and what good will my honours riches pleasures do me It is the Question and Answer of St James What is your life it is even a vapour which appeareth for a little while and then vanisheth away some Expositors observe an emphasis in the your you that are so much in love with this life and the things of it how brittle fraile and transitory are they and it Nor yet is this all that is here implyed since not only that which is common to worldlings with other men is here asserted to wit the passing away by death but such a passing away as is peculiar to him in opposition to the happy estate of them that love God and then the meaning is this he passeth away not only by a first but a second death he loseth this life so as never to enjoy another he so passeth away as to perish not by annihilation but by condemnation he passeth from the worlds joyes to Hells torments Oh the dismall change which a worldling maketh when he dyeth all his good things are taken from him and horrour anxiety despaire and everlasting misery seize upon him So true is that of an Ancient Amor mundi non solum peritorius sed peremptorius Worldly love is not only vain but deadly killing not only the body but soul of the sinner to all eternity To bring this home in a brief Applecation 1. Oh that every one of us would be convinced of the worlds instability Indeed in this as well as in many others the world is a juggler that though it be so inconstant yet it promiseth continuance Fully to this purpose St Gregory The vaine joyes of this present life Quasi manendo blandiuntur sed amatores suos citò transeundo decipiunt flatter us as if they would stay with us and on a sodain by passing away they cheat us Looke as the Sun Moon and Stars to borrow that similitude of Philo the Jew though they move with a most swift and rapid motion seem to the vulgar eye to stand still at least move slowly so do these sublunary things in a worldlings eye That rich man in the Gospell who said to himself Soul thou hast much goods laid up for many years take thine ease eate drinke and be merry is called a fool for so saying a foole he was in many respects in that he thought his soul could take any concent in his barnes in that he expected to finde ease in the things of this world which are as thornes in that he supposed those things were only given him to eate drinke and be merry with but the worst foole of all in that
he imagined he should enjoy these goods for many years Such fools were those Drunkards who say We will fill our selves with strong drinke and to morrow shall be as to day and much more abundant and those Mammonists of whom the Psalmist saith Their inward thought is that their houses shall continue for ever and their dwelling places to all generations But oh when will we believe that which we so often see and heare and acknowledg what daily experience confirmeth that this worlds goods are as they are called moveables yea all these worldly things mutable and inconstant Alas my Brethren the time will come when too late we shall see their vanity and instability Vilia sluida esse cognoscit amissa saith St Gregory quae duri aderant magna mansura videbantur When we are stripâ— of all the vain fugacity of these things which whilst we enjoy are so glorious and permanent in our eyes will appeare But oh how much better will it be for us whilst yet they are present with us to looke upon them as parting from us To this end Pray we for a spiritually enlightned minde It is the saying of Jamblicus If a man could behold this world in the light of divine knowledge he will finde it to be a vanishing shadow and Plato Etymologizing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth wisdome saith it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a due apprehension of the fluid motion of these terrene contentments oh let us implore this wisdome from above That blind man in the Gospell whose eyes Christ opened saw at first men walking like trees an argument of the weakness of his naturall sight but in a mysticall sense saith Chrysologus it argueth the strength of spirituall sight to see all the things of this world not as pillars but as trees and those not standing but walking in a continuall motion It is very observable with what a different aspect our blessed Saviour looked upon the stones of the Temple from the standers by they beheld them as goodly stones but Christ saw one stone not left upon another thus whilst these worldly Objects appeare amiable to a carnall eye the spirituall Christian beholds them as those which in a little time will perish and come to nought 2. Being throughly perswaded of this truth it will I trust make way for that which is the maine designe of our Apostle namely to disswade us from the love of the world because it passeth away It was a notable speech of Laconâ—uâ— in Plutarch when he was told of a ship richly laden that was come into the Port I am not saith he much moved with that prosperity which hangeth upon ropes Oh then why are we so much taken with this world which is so uncertaine quid strepis oh munde immunde saith St Austin oh thou filthy world what a noise dost thou make how would men dote upon thee if thou wert lasting who love thee so well though thou art fading Alas Beloved you may as well stop the running streame with your hand blow back the winde with your breath or cause the Sun to stand still as hinder the passing away of these worldly things and why will you hold that fast in affection which you cannot long in possession Swallows they say will not build their nests in an house which is ready to fall which of you if the Carpenter should tell you your house would drop down within few daies would not presently remove from it oh let us leave this world before it leave us and possesse it as though we possessed it not because ere long we shall be dispossessed of it We sometimes laugh at Children that are pleased with paper Castles which may be philipt down in a moment have we not more reason to weep over our selves who hold fast deceit and set our hearts on those things which are so easily and sodainly snatched away from us What is pleasure wealth honour but as the sand so Gregory Nyssen aptly and you know when Children have been running up and down in the sand so soon as they are gone no footsteps remaine of all their toyle The truth is how wise soever worldly lovers may account themselves they are notorious fools even upon this account that they leane upon a broken reed feed upon the winde and graspe at a shadow Let therefore the counsell of devout Anselme be acceptable to us Nolite constanter mundum diligere quando ipse quem diligitis non potest constare Incassum cor quasi manenter figitis dum fugit ipse quem diligitis Why should we so constantly love this world whenas this world which we love is so inconstant let not our foolish heart thinke to fix it selfe on that which is still ready to flye away Tell me I beseech you Would any of you weary your selves in scraping up wealth in compassing honour pursuing pleasure did you certainly know that before to morrow either you should die or those enjoyments should be taken away from you can any of you secure your selves that it shall not be so yea is there any thing more possible then that these things may presently or more certaine then that they shall ere long pass away and therefore since the world passeth away from us let us according to Leo's counsell resolutely pass by the world so as it may be only viaticum itineris non illecebra mansionis a subservient handmaid not a domineering Mistress And now that this Argument which our Apostle here useth may have the stronger influence upon us to disswade from worldly love let me intreat you seriously to ponder upon these foure particulars 1. What a disproportion there is and that upon this very account between this world and our soules It is a rule in marriage that there should be a fit proportion as in other things so in yeares between the persons how unfit then is it for thy soul to be married to this world whenas the world is transitory and thy soul is immortall canst thou be so sottish as to thinke that God did breath that immateriall spirit of thine into thee to have only the happiness of a muckworme which breedeth and feedeth in dung or at best of an Indian Emmet which glittereth in golden dust about it Dost thou imagine what that soul of thine which is glued to this world will do when this world shall be taken from it surely as Philip said to his Son Par tibi regnum quaere seek a Kingdome sutable to thy greatness so let me say to thee seeke an Object proportionable to thy soul and that cannot be the world for it passeth away 1. This world as in it selfe it is transitory so it passeth away soonest from them who set their hearts upon it I have read of certaine flitting Islands which seem continually to move in the Sea and if you saile towards them the nearer you approach to them the further they
choice setting before us vanity and verity instability and premanency nay in effect perishing misery and abiding felicity And now to use St Austins Interogation Quid vis what wilt thou Whither wilt thou love the temporals and pass away with time or not love this world and live for ever with God The truth is as that same Father elegantly Talis est quisque qualis est dilectio every man is such as his love is if he loveth earth earthly if Heaven Heavenly if the perishing world thou shalt perish if the eternall God thou shalt live eternally Love is an uniting mingling affection and according to that with which it is mingled it is either pure or impure so that look as silver if mingled with lead is debased if with gold advanced so thy soul if by love mingled with the world must perish but if united to God for ever happy Oh therefore let it be the serious purpose of every one of us from henceforth to leave the world and cleave to God to abhore the lust of the one and do the will of the other that so in the end of this life we may have the inchoation and in the end of the world the consummation of that happiness which though it have a beginning shall know no ending And thus I have at length through divine assistance finished this golden period worthy to be engraven upon the Tables of Epicures the Chests of Mammonists and the Palaces of great Ones And though I have done with handling yet I trust you will not with reading remembring and pondering it yea I would to God that every Morning before you go about your worldly affairs you would revolve this Scripture in your minde with a Prayer to God to imprint it on your hearts Love not the world neither the things that are in the world if any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him For all that is in the world the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the Father but is of the world And the world passeth away and the lusts thereof but he that doth the will of God abideth for ever THE FIRST EPISTLE OF St. JOHN CHAP. 2. 18 19. VERS Little children it is the last time and as yee have heard that Antichrist shall come even now are there many Antichrists whereby we know that it is the last time They went out from us but they were not of us for if they had been of us they would no doubt have continued with us but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us THis present World is not without just cause branded as one of the greatest enemies of our Salvation and that especially upon a double account in as much as the things of this World by alluring our wills lead us into vice and the men of this world by perverting our judgements draw us into errours Both of these are so dangerous that it is hard to determine which is the worst St. Pauls Epithites of lusts are foolish and hurtful St. Peters character of Here sie is damnable these as well as those drowning men in perdition and destruction no wonder if this holy Apostle caution those to whom he wrote of both these Rocks and as in the fore-going verses hee warneth them of being defiled with the mud of worldly lusts so in these he taketh care that they might not be infected with the venoâ—e of Antichristian doctrins Little children it is the last time c. The subsequent part of this Chapter from the eighteenth verse to the nine and twentieth hath a special reference to and dependance on the exhortation which is mentioned in verse the four and twentieth iterated verse the eight and twentieth and is in order the seventh step of that light some walk which our Apostles chief design is to delineate in this Epistle namely a stedfast perseverance in the Doctrin and faith of Christ in order to this it is that here are three things discussed 1 Periculum the great danger they were in of being with-drawn from the truth by reason of the many Antichrists which this being the last hour were now among them who taught abominable lyes denying both God and Christ and this is handled in the eighteenth nineteenth and again in the two and three and twentieth and again in the six and twentieth verse 2 Auxilium the chief help which God had afforded them against this danger that sacred unction which did inform them fully of the truth and thereby was able to preserve them from errour and this is in the twentieth and one and twentieth and again inculcated in the seven and twentieth verse 3 Motivum The strong inducements to perswade their constancy in the faith that hereby their fellowship with God and Christ might bee continued the promise of eternal life obtained and their confidence at the comming of Christ strengthened and this is enlarged in the four five and eight and twenty verses In these two verses which I have now read the scope of our Apostle is double namely To discover a danger that they might not be ensnared by To prevent a scandal that they might not he offended at those false teachers which were among them the former in the eighteenth and the latter in the nineteenth verse In handling the eighteenth verse which is the discovery of the danger that we may proceed according to the order of the words be pleased to observe these three parts An Appellation Little children An Affirmation It is the last time A Confirmation in the rest of the verse And as you have heard c. A word of the first the Appellation or Title here used Little children It is sometimes used as a word of imperfection whether in regard of age denoting such as are not come to maturity of years or in regard of grace such as are weak in faith and in this sence Beza here construeth it indeed this Caveat is very needful for such who being children are apt to bee tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrin but yet not only for such and when I finde the Apostle commending and that doubtlesse without flattery those to whom he writeth for their knowledge of the truth I cannot imagine that he intends the word Children in this notion Rather with Danaeus as I conceive Omnes cujuscunque atatis hic monet he speaketh to all of all ages in Christianity not only to children but young men and Fathers and so the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here is of the same notion with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the beginning of the Chapter Suitable whereunto it is that the Syriack useth the same word in both places and as Grotius well observeth it is blanda appellatio a word of affection by which our Apostle would let us see that Parents are not more desirous of their little childrens safety and studious of their
before If any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him it is as true the love of his Mother the Church is not in him Indeed in the Primitive times it so fell out that by reason of Persecution they could not cleave to the Church unless they were willing to leave the world and no wonder if the love of the world caused many of them to leave the Church 2 But more particularly 1 The lust of the flesh was a special cause of their Apostacy the Churches bounds were too narrow her Lawes too strict for those licentious Antichrists Indeed it is frequently observable that the great Rabbies against the Church are extraordinary Chaplaines to the Trencher St. Paul describing those false Teachers saith they were such as did serve their owne bellies nay more whose God is their belly St. Peter characterizeth them to bee such as did count it a pleasure to ryot in the day time having eyes full of adultery that cannot cease from sin such as did allure through the lust of the flesh through much wantonnesse in a word hee compareth them to Doggs and Swine and calls them the Servants of corruption Finally St. Jude affirmeth of those Separatists that they were sensual so great affinity hath Epicurisme with Antichristianisme and Sensuality with Heresie 2 The lust of the eyes and that in both notions is no less an incentive of this sinful departure For 1 Curiosity hath ever been a nurse of error Prurigo sciendi scabies ecclesiae the itch of knowing more than wee should proveth too often an Heretical scab when men are not content with truths revealed no wonder if they wander into by-paths and lose themselves in a maze of folly Melior est fidelis ignorantia quam temeraria scientia was a good saying of the Master of the Sentences a modest ignorance is better than a presumptuous knowledge as we must not be too credulous in receiving what is delivered so neither curious in prying into what is concealed it is not seldome seen that as Thales gazing on the Starres fell into a pit so men that meddle with Divine secrets fall into the pit of errour 2 But that which hath ever proved the most usual source of Apostacy is Avarice observe the Apostolical character of the Antichristian Teachers and you shall still finde this to be one they are destitute of the truth saith St. Paul to Timothy supposing that gain is godlinesse and again the love of money is the root of all evil which while some have coveted after they have erred from the faith They teach things which they ought not saith the same Apostle to Titus for filthy Lucres sake Through covetousnesse they with feigned words make Merchandize of you saith the Apostle Peter and again an heart they have exercised with covetous practices which have forsâ—â—k the right way and are gone astray following the way of Balaam the Son of Beor who loved the wages of unrighteousnesse Thus Ignatius St. Johns contemporary complained of some that they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rather Merchants of Christ than Christians indeed carrying about the name of Christ fraudulently handling the Word of Christ deceitfully mingling with smooth words poysonous errours Thus St. Cyprian accused that Apostatizing Heretick Novatus of whom he saith that hee was avaritiae inexplebili rapacitate furibundus not only covetous but ravenous and insatiably greedy of gain And Isidorus observing that the Novatians stiled themselves the pure saith Mundams se potius quam mundos vocarent they should have called themselves not Puritans but Mammonists And however the Antichristian Apostates of our age have other pretences to wit of purity and godlinesse yet who so diveth into the bottome of their departure from the Church shall finde it to be the enriching themselves especially with the Sacrilegious spoyls of her Lands and Revenues It is a notable saying of Salust concerning avarice that it subverts fidelity and honesty it teacheth men to neglect God and make sale of every thing and what he found true in the Common-wealth we may in the Church that the love of gain causeth men to renounce the faith and they stick not to sell their Religion their Consciences their Souls for money 3 Adde to the two former that which must by no means in this case be left out as having a great hand in it namely The pride of life and that double 1 An arrogant self-conceit too often causeth men to depart from the Church one sort of the Hereticks in the Apostles time were the Gnosticks who were so called from their vain affectation and opinion of their owne knowledge no wonder if St. Pauls advise is not to think of our ownselves more highly than wee ought It is the observation of the Reverend and Learned Hooker that the chief cause of those Heresies which infected the Easterne Church was the restlesse wits of the Graecians ever more proud of their owne curious and subtile inventions which having once contrived they knew how plausibly to vent and Eusebius informeth us of that fore-mentioned Heretick Novatus that he was a man blown up with pride and self-conceit and Vincentius Lyrinensis of Nestorius that such was his scelerata presumptio daring boldnesse as to boast himself the first and only man Thus doe Hereticks and Schismaticks go out from because they account themselves above others above Fathers Councils Antiquitie Authority Church Scriptures all according to that proud speech of Abailardus Omnes alii sic ego autem non sic All others think thus but I think not so 2 An haughty desire of Honour and greatnesse which because they cannot obtain in the Church they seek after by going out of it That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Eusebius calls him ring-leader of Heresy Simon Magus would bee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some great one and therefore broached those hellish doctrines Diotrephes loved the preheminence and that opens his mouth in prating against S. John It were easy to instance in Donatus Arrius and others who aspiring after dignities and being discontented the one that Cecilian Bishop of Carthage the other that Alexander Bishop of Alexandria were preferred into those seats which they aimed at did thereupon desert the Catholick Church look as through ambition it was that the Devil himself stood not in the truth so hee still carrieth his instruments to this pinacle whence hee throweth them down into errours And thus I have given you a brief portraicture both of the crime and its causes of which these Antichrists are accused They went out from us This heinous charge is that which the Papists at this day draw up against us because wee have deserted them condemning us as Hereticks Schismaticks Apostates and such as have forsaken the communion of the Christian Catholick and Apostolick Church But how causless and unjust thâ—s accusation is hath been both of old and