ISAACUS BARROW S.T.P. REG. MATI. A SACRIS COLL. S.S. TRINI CANTAB PRAEFEC NEC NON ACAD EIUSDEM PROCANC 1676. OF THE LOVE of GOD AND OUR NEIGHBOUR In Several SERMONS By ISAAC BARROW D. D. Late Master of Trinity College in Cambridge and one of His MAJESTY'S Chaplains in Ordinary The Third Volume LONDON Printed by Miles Flesher for Brabazon Aylmer at the Three Pigeons over against the Royal Exchange in Cornhill 1680. TO The Right Honourable HENEAGE Lord FINCH Baron of DAVENTRY Lord High CHANCELLOUR OF ENGLAND AND One of His MAJESTY'S most Honourable Privy Council THOMAS BARROW the Authour's Father Humbly Dedicateth these SERMONS THE CONTENTS SERMON I and II. S. Matthew 22. 37. Iesus said unto him Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart SERMON III and IV. S. Matthew 22. 39. And the Second is like unto it Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self SERMON V. Ephesians 5. 2. And walk in love SERMON VI. Hebrews 10. 24. Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works SERMON VII and VIII Romans 12. 18. If it be possible as much as lieth in you live peaceably with all men The First Sermon MATT. 22. 37. Jesus said unto him Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart THIS Text is produced by our Saviour out of Moses his Law in answer to a question wherewith a learned Pharisee thought to pose or puzzle him the question was which was the great and first commandment in the Law a question which it seems had been examined and determined among the Doctours in the Schools of those days for in Saint Luke to the like question intimated by our Saviour another Lawyer readily yields the same answer and is therefore commended by our Saviour with a rectè respondisti thou hast answered rightly so that had our Saviour answered otherwise he had we may suppose been taxed of ignorance and unskilfulness perhaps also of errour and heterodoxie to convict him of which seems to have been the design of this Jewish trier or tempter for he is said to ask 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 trying or tempting him But our Saviour defeats his captious intent by answering not onely according to truth and the reason of the thing but agreeably to the doctrine then current and as the Lawyer himself out of his memory and learning would have resolved it and no wonder since common sense dictates that the Law enjoyning sincere and entire love toward God is necessarily the first and chief or the most fundamental Law of all Religion for that whosoever doth believe the being of God according to the most common notion that Name bears must needs discern himself obliged first and chiefly to perform those acts of mind and will toward him which most true and earnest love do imply different expressions of love may be prescribed peculiar grounds of love may be declared in several ways of Religion but in the general and main substance of the duty all will conspire all will acknowledge readily that it is love we chiefly owe to God the duty which he may most justly require of us and which will be most acceptable to him It was then indeed the great commandment of the old or rather of the young and less perfect Religion of the Jews and it is no less of the more adult and improved Religion which the Son of God did institute and teach the difference onely is that Christianity declares more fully how we should exercise it and more highly engages us to observe it requires more proper and more substantial expressions thereof extends our obligation as to the matter and intends it as to the degree thereof for as it represents Almighty God in his nature and in his doings more lovely than any other way of Religion either natural or instituted hath done or could doe so it proportionably raises our obligation to love him it is as S. Paul speaketh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the last drift or the supreme pitch of the Evangelical profession and institution to Love to love God first and then our neighbour out of a pure heart and good conscience and faith unfeigned it is the bond or knot of that perfection which the Gospel injoins us to aspire to 't is the first and principall of those goodly fruits which the Holy Spirit of Christ produceth in good Christians It is therefore plainly with us also the great Commandment and chief Duty chiefly great in its extent in its worth in its efficacy and influence most great it is in that it doth eminently at least or virtually contain all other Laws and Duties of Piety they being all as Branches making up its Body or growing out of it as their Root Saint Paul saith of the love toward our neighbour that it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a full performance of the laws concerning him and that all commandments 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are recapitulated or summ'd up in this one saying Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self and by like or greater reason are all the Duties of Piety comprised in the Love of God which is the chief of those two hinges upon which as our Saviour here subjoins the whole law and the prophets do hang. So great is this Duty in extent and it is no less in proper worth both as it immediately respects the most excellent and most necessary performances of Duty employing our highest faculties in their best operations and as it imparts vertue and value to all other acts of Duty for no Sacrifice is acceptable which is not kindled by this heavenly Fire no Offering sweet and pure which is not seasoned by this holy Salt no Action is truly good or commendable which is not conjoined with or doth not proceed from the Love of God that is not performed with a design to please God or at least with an opinion that we shall do so thereby If a man perform any good work not out of love to God but from any other principle or for any other design to please himself or others to get honour or gain thereby how can it be acceptable to God to whom it hath not any due regard And what action hath it for its principle or its ingredient becomes sanctified thereby in great measure pleasing and acceptable to God such is the worth and value thereof It is also the great Commandment for efficacy and influence being naturally productive of Obedience to all other Commandments especially of the most genuine and sincere Obedience no other principle being in force and activity comparable thereto fear may drive to a complyance with some and hope may draw to an observance of others but it is Love that with a kind of willing constraint and kindly violence carries on cheerfully vigorously and swiftly to the performance of all God's Commandments If any man loves me saith our Saviour he will keep my word to keep
not tasting that sweet relish of devotion which have been usually afforded thereto if love reside in the heart it will surely dispose it to a sensible grief it will inspire such exclamations as those of the Psalmist How long Lord wilt thou hide thy face hide not thy face from thy servant for I am in trouble turn unto me according to the multitude of thy tender mercies draw nigh unto my soul and redeem it Even our Saviour himself in such a case when God seemed for a time to withdraw the light of his countenance and the protection of his helpfull hand from him or to frown and lay his heavy hand upon him had his soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 extreamly grieved and full of a deadly anguish neither surely was it any other cause than excess of love which made that temporary desertion so grievous and bitter to him extorting from his most meek and patient heart that wofull complaint My God my God why hast thou forsaken me But especially when our iniquities have as the Prophet expresseth it separated between our God and us and our sins have hid his face from us when that thick cloud hath eclipsed the light of his countenance and intercepted his gracious influences when by wilfully offending we have as the Israelites are said to have done rejected our God cast him off and driven him from us so depriving our selves of propriety in him and the possession of his favour then if any love be alive in us it will prompt us with those good men in their penitential agonies to be grievously sensible of and sorely to bewail that our wretched condition there will not if we so heartily love God and value his favour as they did be any soundness in our flesh or rest in our bones our spirit will be overwhelmed within us and our heart within us desolate Our heart will be smitten and withered like grass upon the consideration and sense of so inestimable a loss Love will render such a condition very sad and uneasie to us will make all other delights insipid and distastfull all our life will become bitter and burthen some to us neither if it in any measure abides in us shall we receive content till by humble deprecation we have regained some glimpse of God's favour some hope of being reinstated in our possession of him Farther yet 5. Another property of this Love is to bear the highest good will toward God so as to wish heartily and effectually according to our power to procure all good to him and to delight in it so as to endeavour to prevent and to remove all evil if I may so speak that may befall him and to be heartily displeased therewith Although no such benefit or advantage can accrue to God which may increase his essential and indefectible happiness no harm or dammage can arrive that may impaire it for he can be neither really more or less rich or glorious or joyfull than he is neither have our desire or our fear our delight or our grief our designs or our endeavours any object any ground in those respects yet hath he declared that there be certain interests and concernments which out of his abundant goodness and condescension he doth tender and prosecute as his own as if he did really receive advantage by the good and prejudice by the bad success respectively belonging to them that he earnestly desires and is greatly delighted with some things very much dislikes and is grievously displeased with other things for instance that he bears a fatherly affection toward his creatures and earnestly desires their welfare and delights to see them enjoy the good he designed them as also dislikes the contrary events doth commiserate and condole their misery that he is consequently well pleased when piety and justice peace and order the chief means conducing to our welfare do flourish and displeased when impiety and iniquity dissension and disorder those certain sources of mischief to us do prevail that he is well satisfied with our rendring to him that obedience honour and respect which are due to him and highly offended with our injurious and disrespectfull behaviour toward him in commission of sin and violation of his most just and holy commandments so that there wants not sufficient matter of our exercising good will both in affection and action toward God we are capable both of wishing and in a manner as he will interpret and accept it of doing good to him by our concurrence with him in promoting those things which he approves and delights in and in removing the contrary And so surely shall we do if we truly love God for love as it would have the object to be its own as it tends to enjoy it so it would have it in its best state and would put it thereinto and would conserve it therein and would thence contribute all it is able to the welfare to the ornament to the pleasure and content thereof What is it saith Cicero to love but to will or desire that the person loved should receive the greatest good that can be Love also doth reconcile conform and unite the inclinations and affections of him who loves to the inclinations and affections of him who is beloved Eadem velle eadem nolle to consent in liking and disliking of things if it be not the cause if it be not the formall reason or essence as some have made it 't is at least a certain effect of love If then we truly love God we shall desire that all his designs prosper that his pleasure be fulfilled that all duty be performed all glory rendred to him we shall be grieved at the wrong the dishonour the disappointment he receives especially we shall endeavour in our own practice with Holy David to perform 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all that God wills desires or delights in to eschew whatever offends him Our desire our delight our endeavour will conspire with and be subordinate to his for it would be a strange kind of love that were consistent with the voluntary doing of that which is hurtfull injurious or offensive to that we love such actions being the proper effects the natural signs of hatred and enmity If any man say I love God and hateth his brother he is a liar saith Saint John and If any man seeth his brother need and shutteth his bowels toward him how doth the love of God abide in him He that in his affections is so unlike so contrary unto God he that is unwilling to comply with God's will in so reasonable a performance he that in a matter wherein God hath declared himself so much concerned and so affected therewith doth not care to cross him to displease and disappoint him how can he with any shew of truth or with any modesty pretend to love God Hence it is that keeping of God's Commandments is commonly represented to us as the most
his word is a natural and necessary result of love to him this is the love of God saith Saint John that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not grievous 't is the nature of that Love to beget a free and delightfull Obedience Such then is the Subject of our Discourse even the sum the soul the spring of all our Religion and Duty And because it is requisite both for our direction how to doe and the examination of our selves whether we doe as we ought that we should understand what we are thus so far obliged to that we may be able to perform it and that we be effectually disposed thereto I shall use this method I will first endeavour to Explain the nature of this Love commanded us then to shew some Means of Attaining it lastly to propound some Inducements to the Purchase and Practice thereof I. For the first part we may describe Love in general for it seems not so easy to define it exactly to be an Affection or Inclination of the Soul toward an Object proceeding from an Apprehension and Esteem of some Excellency or some Conveniency therein its Beauty Worth or Usefulness producing thereupon if the Object be absent or wanting a proportionable desire and consequently an endeavour to obtain such a propriety therein such a possession thereof such an approximation or union thereto as the thing is capable of also a regret and displeasure in the failing so to obtain it or in the want absence and loss thereof likewise begetting a complacence satisfaction and delight in its presence possession or enjoyment which is moreover attended with a good-will thereto sutable to its nature that is with a desire that it should arrive unto and continue in its best state with a delight to perceive it so to thrive and flourish with a displeasure to see it suffer or decay in any wise with a consequent endeavour to advance it in all good and preserve it from all evil Which Description containing the chief Properties of Love in common do in some sort not to insist upon abstracted Notions or in Examples remote from our purpose all of them well agree to that Love which we owe to God according to the tenour of this Law and in the degree therein expressed that is in the best manner and highest degree for even of this Divine Love the chief Properties prerequisite thereto or intimately conjoined therewith or naturally resulting from it I conceive are these 1. A right apprehension and firm persuasion concerning God and consequently a high esteem of him as most excellent in himself and most beneficial to us for such is the frame of our Soul that the perceptive part doth always go before the appetitive that affection follows opinion that no object otherwise moves our desire then as represented by reason or by fancy good unto us what effect will the goodliest beauty or the sweetest harmony have upon him who wants sense to discern or judgment to prize them This is our natural way of acting and according to it that we may in due measure love God He must appear proportionably amiable and desirable to us we must entertain worthy thoughts of him as full of all Perfection in himself as the Fountain of all Good as the sole Author of all that Happiness we can hope for or receive as He in possession of whom we shall possess all things desirable in effect and vertue all riches all honours all pleasure all good that we are capable of and without whom we can enjoy no real Good or true Content Which Esteem of him how can it otherwise then beget Affection toward him If the faint resemblances or the slender participations of such Excellencies of that incomprehensible Wisedom that uncontrollable Power that unconfined Bounty that unblemished Purity which are united in him and shine from him with a perfect lustre if I say the very faint resemblances and imperfect participations of these Excellencies discerned in other things are apt to raise our Admiration and allure our Affection toward them if the glimmering of some small inconsiderable benefit the shadow of real profit discovered in these inferiour empty things is able so strongly to attract our eyes and fix our hearts upon them why should not from a like but so much greater Cause the like Effect proceed whence can it be that the apprehension of an Object so infinitely lovely so incomparably beneficial if not passing cursorily through our fancy but deeply impressed upon our mind should not proportionably affect and incline us toward Him with all that desire that delight that good will which are proper to Love If we think as the Psalmist did that there is none in heaven or in earth comparable to God comparable in essential Perfection comparable in beneficial Influence why should we not be disposed also to say with him Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee Such a reverent Esteem is the proper foundation upon which true Love is built and which upholds it whence as the Love of God doth commonly denote all the Duties of Religion so doth Fear or Reverence to him likewise in Scripture style comprehend and express them all it being the Root from whence Love doth sprout and by which it is nourished it being the beginning of that true Wisedom by which we embrace and fasten our affection upon the Sovereign Good Hence we may observe that those devout persons whose hearts were fullest of this Love their minds were most employed in meditation upon the Divine Excellencies and upon the beneficial Emanations from them in Bounty and Mercy upon the Creatures their Tongues being tuned by their Thoughts and their inward Esteem breaking forth into Praise Every day all the day long at all times did they bless God praise his name speak of his righteousness shew forth his salvation as the Psalmist expresses his practice arising from Love enlivened by the esteem of God and the apprehension of his excellent Goodness from whence also that strong Faith that constant Hope that cheerful Confidence they reposed in him that hearty Approbation of all his Counsels and Purposes that full Acquiescence of Mind in his Proceedings that entire Submission of their Understanding to his Discipline and Resignation of their Will to his good pleasure that yielding up themselves their Souls and Bodies their Lives and Goods to his disposal with all the like high effects and pregnant signs of Love did flow but 2. Another property of this Love is an earnest desire of obtaining a Propriety in God of possessing him in a manner and enjoying him of approaching him and being so far as may be united to him When we stand upon such terms with any person that we have a free access unto and a familiar entercourse with him that his conversation is profitable and delightfull to us that we can upon all occasions have his advice and assistance that he
proper expression as the surest argument of our love to God shewing mercy to thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments they are joined together as terms equivalent or as inseparable companions in effect He that hath my commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me Ye are my friends that is not onely objects of my affection but actively friends bearing affection unto me if you doe whatsoever I command you saith our Saviour And whoso keepeth his word in him is the love of God truly perfected he hath the truth and sincerity he hath the integrity and consummation of love without it love is wholly false and counterfeit or very lame and imperfect so the loving and beloved Disciple teaches us For by doing thus as we signifie our esteem of God's wisedom which directeth us our dread of his power and justice that can punish us our hope in his goodness and fidelity to reward us our regard to his majesty and authority over us so especially thereby if our obedience at least be free and cheerfull we express our good will toward him shewing thereby that we are disposed to do him all the good and gratifie him all we can that his interests his honour his content are dear and precious to us And were indeed our hearts knit unto God with this bond of perfection we could not in our wills and consequently in our practice be so severed from him we should also love heartily all vertue and goodness the nearest resemblances of him and which he chiefly loves we should doe what David so oft professes himself to doe love his law and greatly delight in his commandments With our Saviour we should delight to perform his will it would as it was to him be our meat and our drink to doe it his yoke would be easie indeed and his burthen light unto us his yoke so easie that we should wear it rather as a jewel about our necks than as a yoke his burthen so light that we should not feel it as a burthen but esteem it our privilege We should not be so dull in apprehending or so slack in performing duty for this sharp-sighted affection would presently discern would readily suggest it to us by the least intimation it would perceive what pleaseth God and would snatch opportunity of doing it we should not need any arguments to persuade us nor any force to compell us love would inspire us with sufficient vigour and alacrity it would urge and stimulate us forward not onely to walk in but even as the Psalmist expresseth it to run the ways of God's commandments But let thus much serve for explication of the nature of this Duty in order as was before said to the direction of our Practice and examination thereof The particular Duties mentioned being comprehended in or appertaining to the love of God if we perceive that we practise them we may to our satisfaction and comfort infer that proportionably we are endewed with this Grace if not we have reason such as should beget remorse and pious sorrow in us to suspect we abide in a state of disaffection or of indifferency toward him If we find the former good disposition we should strive to cherish and improve it if the second bad one we should as we tender our own welfare and happiness as we would avoid utter ruine and misery endeavour to remove it II. To the effecting of which purposes I shall next propound some means conducible some in way of removing Obstacles others by immediately promoting the Duty Of the first kind are these ensuing 1. The destroying of all loves opposite to the love of God extinguishing all affection to things odious and offensive to God mortifying all corrupt and perverse all unrighteous and unholy desires It agrees with souls no less than with bodies that they cannot at once move or tend contrary ways upward and downward backward and forward at one time it is not possible we should together truly esteem earnestly desire bear sincere good will to things in nature and inclination quite repugnant each to other No man ever took him for his real friend who maintains correspondency secret or open who joins in acts of hostility with his professed enemies at least we cannot as we ought love God with our whole heart if with any part thereof we affect his enemies those which are mortally and irreconcileably so as are all iniquity and impurity all inordinate lusts both of flesh and spirit the carnal mind the minding or affecting of the flesh is Saint Paul tells us enmity toward God for 't is not subject to the law of God nor can be 't is an enemy even the worst of enemies an incorrigibly obstinate rebell against God and can we then retaining any love to God or peace with him comply and conspire therewith And The friendship of the world that is I suppose of those corrupt principles and those vitious customs which usually prevail in the world is also Saint James tells us enmity with God so that he adds if any man be a friend to the world he is thereby constituted he immediately ipso facto becomes an enemy to God Saint John affirms the same If any man love the world the love of the father is not in him explaining himself that by the world he means those things which are most generally embraced and practised therein the lust or desire of the flesh that is sensuality and intemperance the lust of the eyes that is envy covetousness vain curiosity and the like the ostentation or boasting of life that is pride ambition vain-glory arrogance qualities as irreconcileably opposite to the holy nature and will of God so altogether inconsistent with the love of him begetting in us an aversation and antipathy towards him rendring his holiness distastfull to our affections and his justice dreadfull to our consciences and himself consequently his will his law his presence hatefull to us while we take him to be our enemy and to hate us we shall certainly in like manner stand affected toward him this indeed is the main obstacle the removal of which will much facilitate the introduction of divine love it being a great step to reconciliation and friendship to be disengaged from the adverse party we should then easily discern the beauty of divine goodness and sanctity when the mists of ignorance of errour of corrupt prejudice arising from those gross carnal affections were dissipated we should better relish the sweet and savoury graces of God when the palate of our mind were purged from vitious tinctures we should be more ready to hope for peace and favour in his eyes when our consciences were freed from the sense of such provocations and defilements But 2. If we would obtain this excellent Grace we must restrain our affections toward all other things however in their nature innocent and indifferent The
direct our eyes and settle our affections upon somewhat more excellent in it self or more beneficial to us that seems better to deserve our regard and more able to supply our defects And if all other things about us appear alike deformed and deficient unworthy our affection and unable to satisfie our desires then may we be disposed to seek to find to fasten and repose our soul upon the onely proper object of our love in whom we shall obtain all that we need infallible wisedom to guide us omnipotent strength to help us infinite goodness for us to admire and enjoy These are the chief Obstacles the removing of which conduce to the begetting and increasing the love of God in us A soul so cleansed from love to bad and filthy things so emptied of affection to vain and unprofitable things so opened and dilated by excluding all conceit of all confidence in its self is a vessel proper for the divine love to be infused into into so large and pure a vacuity as finer substances are apt to flow of themselves into spaces void of grosser matter that free and movable Spirit of divine grace will be ready to succeed and therein to disperse it self As all other things in nature the cloggs being removed which hinder them do presently tend with all their force to the place of their rest and well being so would it seems our souls being loosed from baser affections obstructing them willingly incline toward God the natural centre as it were and bosome of their affection would resume as Origen speaks that natural philtre that intrinsick spring or incentive of love which all creatures have toward their creatour especially if to these we add those positive Instruments which are more immediately and directly subservient to the production of this love they are these 1. Attentive consideration of the divine Perfections with endeavour to obtain a right and clear apprehension of them 2. The consideration of God's Works and Actions his works and actions of nature of providence of grace 3. Serious regard and reflection upon the peculiar Benefits by the divine Goodness vouchsafed to our selves 4. An earnest resolution and endeavour to perform God's Commandments although upon inferiour considerations of reason upon hope fear desire to attain the benefits of Obedience to shun the mischiefs from Sin 5. Assiduous Prayer to Almighty God that he in mercy would please to bestow his love upon us and by his Grace to work it in us But I must forbear the prosecution of these things rather than farther trespass upon your patience Let us conclude all with a good Collect sometimes used by our Church O Lord who hast taught us that all our doings without charity are nothing worth send thy Holy Ghost and pour into our hearts that most excellent gift of charity the very bond of peace and of all vertues without which whosoever liveth is counted dead before thee Grant this for thine onely Son Jesus Christ his sake Amen The Second Sermon MATT. 22. 37. Jesus said unto him Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart WHich is the great Commandment was the question in answer whereto our Saviour returns this Text and that with highest reason discernible by every man for that of necessity the love of God is the principal duty we owe unto him the great duty indeed as being largest in extent and comprehending in a manner all other duties of piety as that which exceeds in proper worth and dignity employing the noblest faculties of our souls in their best operations upon the most excellent object as that which communicates vertue unto and hath a special influence upon all other duties in fine as that which is the sum the soul the spring of all other duties in discoursing whereupon I did formerly propound this method first to declare the nature thereof then to shew some means apt to beget and improve that excellent vertue in us lastly to propose some inducements to the practice thereof The first part I endeavoured to perform by describing it according to its essential properties common to love in general and more particularly to this of duly esteeming God of desiring according as we are capable to possess and enjoy him of receiving delight and satisfaction in the enjoyment of him of feeling displeasure in being deprived hereof of bearing good will unto him expressed by endeavours to please him by delighting in the advancement of his glory by grieving when he is disserved or dishonoured The next part I also entred upon and offered to consideration those means which serve chiefly to remove the impediments of our love to God which were 1. The suppressing all affections opposite to this all perverse and corrupt all unrighteous and unholy desires 2. The restraining or keeping within bounds of moderation our affections toward other things even in their nature innocent or indifferent 3. The freeing our hearts from immoderate affection toward our selves from all conceit of and confidence in any qualities or abilities of our own the diligent use of which means I did suppose would conduce much to the production and increase of divine love within us To them I shall now proceed to subjoin other Instruments more immediately and directly subservient to the same purpose whereof the first is 1. Attentive consideration upon the divine Perfections with endeavour to obtain a right and clear apprehension of them as counterfeit worth and beauty receive advantage by distance and darkness so real excellency si propius stes Te capiet magis the greater light you view it in the nearer you approach it the more strictly you examine it the more you will approve and like it so the more we think of God the better we know him the fuller and clearer conceptions we have of him the more we shall be apt to esteem and desire him the more excellent in himself the more beneficial to us he will appear Hence is the knowledge of God represented in holy Writ not onely as a main instrument of Religion but as an essential character thereof as equivalent to the being well affected toward God O continue saith the Psalmist thy loving kindness unto them that know thee that is to all religious people And This saith our Saviour is life eternal to know thee the onely true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent knowledge of them implying all good affections toward them as on the other side ignorance of God denotes disaffection or want of affection toward God Now the sons of Eli 't is said were sons of Belial they knew not the Lord And He that loveth not saith Saint John doth not know God the want of love to God is an evident sign a natural effect of ignorance concerning him indeed considering the nature of our mind and its ordinary method of operation it seems impossible that such perfection discerned should not beget answerable reverence and
then peaceable living it being as Solomon saith an honour to a man to cease from strife and consequently also a disgrace to him to continue therein That rage and fury may be the excellencies of beasts and the exerting their natural animosity in strife and combat may become them but reason and discretion are the singular eminencies of men and the use of these the most natural and commendable method of deciding controversies among them and that it extreamly misbecomes them that are endowed with those excellent faculties so to abuse them as not to apprehend each others meanings but to ground vexatious quarrels upon the mistake of them not to be able by reasonable expedients to compound differences but with mutual dammage and inconvenience to prorogue and encrease them not to discern how exceedingly better it is to be helpfull and beneficial than to be mischievous and troublesome to one another How foolishly and unskilfully they judg that think by unkind speech and harsh dealing to allay mens distempers alter their opinions or remove their prejudices as if they should attempt to kill by ministring nourishment or to extinguish a flame by pouring oyl upon it How childish a thing it is eagerly to contend about trifles for the superiority in some impertinent contest for the satisfaction of some petty humour for the possession of some inconsiderable toy yea how barbarous and brutish a thing it is to be fierce and impetuous in the pursuit of things that please us snarling at biting and tearing all competitors of our game or opposers of our undertaking But how divine and amiable how worthy of humane nature of civil breeding of prudent consideration it is to restrain partial desires to condescend to equal terms to abate from rigorous pretences to appease discords and vanquish enmities by courtesy and discretion like the best and wisest Commanders who by skilfull conduct and patient attendance upon opportunity without striking of stroke of shedding of bloud subdue their Enemy 3. How that peace with its near alliance and concomitants its causes and effects love meekness gentleness and patience are in Sacred Writ reputed the genuine fruits of the Holy Spirit issues of Divine Grace and off-springs of heavenly Wisedom producing like themselves a goodly progeny of righteous deeds But that emulation hatred wrath variance and strife derive their extraction from fleshly lust hellish craft or beastly folly propagating themselves also into a like ugly brood of wicked works For so saith Saint James If you have bitter zeal and strife in your hearts glory not nor be deceived untruly This wisedom descendeth not from above but is earthly sensual and devilish For where emulation and strife are there is tumult and every naughty thing but the wisedom that is from above is first pure then peaceable gentle obsequious full of mercy or beneficence and of good fruits without partiality and dissimulation And the fruit of righteousness is sowed in peace to those that make peace and from whence are wars and quarrels among you Are they not hence even from your lusts that war in your members Likewise He loveth transgression that loveth strife and A fools lips enter into contention and his mouth calleth for strokes saith Solomon That the most wicked and miserable of creatures is described by titles denoting enmity and discord the hater Satan the enemy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the accuser 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the slanderer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the destroyer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the furious dragon and mischievously treacherous snake and how sad it is to imitate him in his practices to resemble him in his qualities But that the best most excellent and most happy of Beings delights to be styled and accordingly to express himself The God of love mercy and peace and his blessed Son to be called and to be the Prince of peace the great Mediatour Reconciler and Peace-maker who is also said from on high to have visited us To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death and to guide our feet in the ways of peace That lastly no devotion is pleasing no oblation acceptable to God conjoined with hatred or proceeding from an unreconciled mind For If thou bring thy gift to the altar and there remembrest that thy brother hath ought against thee Leave there thy gift before the altar and go thy way first be reconciled to thy brother and then come and offer thy gift saith our Saviour I close up all with this Corollary that if we must live lovingly and peaceably with all men then much more are we obliged to doe so with all Christians to whom by nearer and firmer bands of holy alliance we are related by more precious communions in faith and devotion we are endeared by more peculiar and powerfull obligations of divine commands sacramental vows and formal professions we are engaged Our spiritual brethren members of the same mystical body temples of the same Holy Spirit servants of the same Lord subjects of the same Prince professors of the same truth partakers of the same hope heirs of the same promise and candidates of the same everlasting happiness Now Almighty God the most good and beneficent Maker gracious Lord and mercifull preserver of all things infuse into our hearts those heavenly graces of meekness patience and benignity grant us and his whole Church and all his Creation to serve him quietly here and in a blissfull rest to praise and magnify him for ever To whom with his blessed Son the great Mediatour and Prince of peace and with his Holy Spirit the ever-flowing Spring of all love joy comfort and peace be all honour glory and praise And The peace of God which passeth all understanding keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God and of his Son Jsesus Christ our Lord And the blessing of God Almighty the Father Son and Holy Ghost be among you and remain with you for ever Amen FINIS Books writ by the Learned Dr. Isaac Barrow and printed for Brabazon Aylmer at the Three Pigeons over against the Royal Exchange in Cornhill TWelve Sermons preached upon Several Occasions In Octavo being the First Volume Ten Sermons against Evil Speaking In Octavo being the Second Volume Eight Sermons of the Love of God and our Neighbour In Octavo being the Third Volume The Duty and Reward of Bounty to the Poor In a Sermon much enlarged preached at the Spittal upon Wednesday in Easter Week Anno Dom. 1671. In Octavo A Sermon upon the Passion of our Blessed Saviour Preached at Guild-Hall Chapel on Good-Friday the 13th day of April 1677. In Octavo A Learned Treatise of the Pope's Supremacy To which is added a Disourse concerning the Unity of the Church In Quarto The said Discourse concerning the Unity of the Church is also printed alone In Octavo All the said Books of the
a true friend to us if we be not wilfull enemies to him and desirous of our welfare if we do not perversly render our selves incapable thereof so withall jealous of his own honour resolute to maintain and vindicate his just authority carefull to uphold the interests of right and truth and to shew the distinction he makes between good and evil if we have I say such conceptions of God agreeable to what his word and his doings represent him to us how can we otherwise than bear a most high respect a most great affection unto him A Prince surely endewed with such qualities wise and powerfull good and just together tendering the good of his people yet preserving the force of his Laws designing always what is best and constantly pursuing his good intentions tempering bounty and clemency with needfull justice and severity we should all commend and extol as worthy of most affectionate veneration how much more then shall we be so affected toward him in whom we apprehend all those excellencies to concur without any imperfection or allay especially if by attention we impress those conceptions upon our hearts for how true and proper soever if they be onely slight and transient they may not suffice to this intent if they pass away as a slash they will not be able to kindle in us any strong affection But if such abstracted consideration of the divine perfections will not alone wholly avail let us add hereto as a farther help toward the production and encrease of this divine grace in us 2. The consideration of God's Works and Actions his works of nature his acts of providence his works and acts of grace the carefull meditating upon these will be apt to breed to nourish to improve and augment this affection Even the contemplation of the lower works of nature of this visible frame of things upon which indeed many perspicuous characters of divine perfection of immense power of admirable wisedom of abundant goodness are engraven hath in many minds excited a very high degree of reverence and good affection toward God the devoutest persons the holy Psalmists particularly we may observe frequent in this practice enflaming their hearts with love and elevating them in reverence toward God by surveying the common works of God by viewing and considering the magnificent vastness and variety the goodly order and beauty the constant duration and stability of those things we see in remarking the general bounty and munificence with which this great pater-familias hath provided for the necessary sustenance for the convenience for the defence for the relief for the delight and satisfaction of his creatures even in the contemplation of these things being ravished with admiration and affection how often do they thus exclaim O Lord how manifold are thy works in wisedom hast thou made them all The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord the earth O Lord is full of thy mercy Great is our Lord and of great power his understanding is infinite All thy works shall praise thee O Lord With such reflections I say upon those common yet admirable and excellent works of God which we perhaps with a regardless eye unprofitably pass over did those good men kindle and foment pious affections toward God The same effect may also the considering the very common proceedings of divine providence beget in us such as are discernible to every attentive mind both from history and daily experience considering God's admirable condescension in regarding and ordering humane affairs both for common benefit and for relief of particular necessities his supplying the general needs of men relieving the poor succouring the weak and helpless protecting and vindicating the oppressed his seasonable encouraging and rewarding the good restraining and chastising the bad Even such observations are productive of love to God in those who according to that duty intimated by the Prophet do regard thâ— works of the Lord and consider the operations of his hands They who are wise and will observe these things they aâ— the Psalmist tells shall understand thâ— loving kindness of the Lord understand it practically so as to be duly affected thereby and so accordingly we find the consideration of these things applied by the great guides and patterns of our devotion But especially the study and contemplation of those more high and rare proceedings of God in managing his gracious design of our Redemption from sin and misery wherein a wisedom so unsearchable and a goodness so astonishing declare themselves are most proper and effectual means of begetting divine love if the consideration of God's eternal care for our welfare of his descending to the lowest condition for our sake of his willingly undertaking and patiently undergoing all kinds of inconvenience of disgrace of bitter pain and sorrow for us of his freely offering us mercy and earnestly wooing us to receive it even when offenders when enemies when rebels against him of his bearing with exceeding patience all our neglects of him all our injuries towards him of his preparing a treasure of perfect and endless bliss and using all means possible to bring us unto the possession thereof if I say considering those wonderfull streins of goodness will not affect us what can do it How miserably cold and damp must our affections be if all those powerfull rays so full of heavenly light and heat shining through our minds cannot enflame them how desperately hard and tough must our hearts be if such incentives cannot soften and melt them is it not an apathy more than Stoical more than stony which can stand immovable before so mighty inducements to passion is it not a horridly prodigious insensibility to think upon such expressions of kindness without feeling affection reciprocal But if the consideration of God's general and publick beneficence will not touch us sufficiently let us farther hereto adjoin 3. Serious reflections upon the peculiar personal or private benefits by the divine goodness vouchsafed unto our selves There is I suppose scarce any man who may not if he be not very stupid and regardless have observed beside the common effects of God's universal care and bounty wherein he partakes even some particular expressions and testimonies of divine favour dispensed unto him by God's hand apt to convince him of God's especial providence care and good-will to him particularly and thereby to draw him unto God both in relation to his temporal and to his spiritual state in preventing and preserving him from mischiefs imminent in opportune relief when he was pressed with want or surprised by danger in directing him to good and diverting him from evil Every mans experience I say and suppose will inform him that he hath received many such benefits from a hand invisible indeed to sense yet easily discernible if he do attend to the circumstances wherein to the seasons when they come it is natural to every man being in distress from which he cannot by any present or visible
nature and to whose will it renders us conformable for as doing ill breeds a dislike to goodness and an aversion from him who himself is full thereof and who rigorously exacts it of us as bad conscience removes expectation of good from God and begets a suspicion of evil from him consequently stifling all kindness toward him so doing well we shall become acquainted with it and friends thereto a hearty approbation esteem and good liking thereof will ensue finding by experience that indeed the ways of wisedom vertue and piety are pleasantness and all her paths are peace that the fruits of conscientious practice are health to our body and to our soul security to our estate and to our reputation rest in our mind and comfort in our conscience goodness will become pretious in our eyes and he who commends it to us being himself essential goodness will appear most venerable and most amiable we shall then become disposed to render him what we perceive he best deserves entire reverence and affection 5. But I commend farther as a most necessary mean of attaining this disposition assiduous earnest prayer unto God that he would in mercy bestow it on us and by his grace work it in us which practice is indeed doubly conducible to this purpose both in way of impetration and by real efficacy it will not fail to obtain it as a gift from God it will help to produce it as an instrument of God's grace Upon the first accompt it is absolutely necessary for it is from God's free representation of himself as lovely to our minds and drawing our hearts unto him although ordinarily in the use of the means already mentioned or some like to them that this affection is kindled our bare consideration is too cold our rational discourse too faint we cannot sufficiently recollect our wandring thoughts we cannot strongly enough impress those proper incentives of love upon our hearts our hearts so dampt with sensual desires so clogg'd and pester'd with earthly inclinations so as to kindle in our souls this holy flame it can onely be effected by a light shining from God by a fire coming from heaven As all others so more especially this Queen of graces must proceed from the father of lights and giver of all good gifts he alone who is love can be the parent of so goodly an off-spring can beget this lively image of himself within us it is the principal fruit of God's Holy Spirit nor can it grow from any other root than from it it is called the love of the Spirit as its most signal and peculiar effect in fine the love of God as Saint Paul expresly teaches us is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit given unto us given but that not without asking without seeking a grace so excellent God we may be assured will not dispense a gift so pretious he will not bestow on them who do not care to look after it who will not vouchsafe to beg it if we are not willing to acknowledge our want thereof if we refuse to express our desire of it if we will not shew that we regard and value it if when God freely offers it and invites us to receive it he doth so by offering his holy Spirit the fountain thereof unto us we will not decently apply our selves to him for it how can we expect to obtain it God hath propounded this condition and 't is surely no hard no grievous condition if we ask we shall receive he hath expresly promised that He will give his Spirit his Spirit of love to them who ask it we may be therefore sure performing the condition duly to obtain it and as sure neglecting that we deserve to go without it Prayer then is upon this accompt a needfull means and it is a very profitable one upon the score of its own immediate energy or vertue for as by familiar converse together with the delights and advantages attending thereon other friendships are begot and nourished so even by that acquaintance as it were with God which devotion begets by experience therein how sweet and good he is this affection is produced and strengthened As want of entercourse weakens and dissolves friendship so if we seldom come at God or little converse with him it is not onely a sign but will be a cause of estrangement and disaffection toward him according to the nature of the thing prayer hath peculiar advantages above other acts of piety to this effect therein not onely as in contemplation the eye of our mind our intellectual part is directed toward God but our affections also the hand of our soul by which we embrace good the feet thereof by which we pursue it are drawn out and fixed upon him we noâ— onely therein behold his excellencies but in a manner feel them and enjoy them our hearts also being thereby softned and warmed by desire become more susceptive of love We do in the performance of this duty approach nearer to God and consequently God draws nearer to us as Saint James assures Draw near saith he unto God and he will draw near to you and thereby we partake more fully and strongly of his gracious influences therein indeed he most freely communicates his grace therein he makes us most sensible of his love to us and thereby disposeth us to love him again I add that true fervent and hearty prayer doth include and suppose some acts of love or some near tendencies thereto whence as every habit is corroborated by acts of its kind so by this practice divine love will be confirmed and increased These are the means which my meditation did suggest as conducing to the production and growth of this most excellent grace in our souls III. I should lastly propound some Inducements apt to stir us up to the endeavour of procuring it and to the exercise thereof by representing to your consideration the blessed fruits and benefits both by way of natural causality and of reward accruing from it as also the wofull consequences and mischiefs springing from the want thereof How being endewed with it perfects and advances our nature rendring it in a manner and degree divine by resemblance to God who is full thereof so full that he is called Love by approximation adherence and union in a sort unto him how it ennobles us with the most glorious alliance possible rendring us the friends and favourites of the Sovereign King and Lord of all brethren of the first-born whose names are written in heaven enriches us with a right and title to the most inestimable treasures those which eye hath not seen nor ear heard nor have entred into the heart of man to conceive which God hath prepared for them that love him a sure possession of the supreme good of all that God is able to bestow all whose wisedom and power whose counsel and care it eternally engageth for our benefit how all security and welfare all
rest and peace all joy and happiness attend upon it for that The Lord preserveth all them that love him preserveth them in the enjoyment of all good in safety from all danger and mischief and that to those who love God all things co-operate for their good how incomparable a sweetness and delight accompany the practice thereof far surpassing all other pleasures perfectly able to content our minds to sustain and comfort us even in the want of all other satisfactions yea under the pressure of whatever most grievous afflictions can befall us How contrariwise the want thereof will depress us into a state of greatest imperfection and baseness setting us at the greatest distance from God in all respects both in similitude of nature and as to all favourable regard or beneficial communication from him casting us into a wretched and disgracefull consortship with the most degenerate creatures the accursed fiends who for disaffection and enmity toward God are banished from all happiness how it extreamly impoverisheth and beggereth us devesting us of all right to any good thing rendring us incapable of any portion but that of utter darkness how it excludeth us from any safety any rest any true comfort or joy and exposeth us to all mischief and misery imaginable all that being deprived of the divine protection presence and favour being made objects of the divine anger hatred and severe justice being abandoned to the malice of hell being driven into utter darkness and eternal fire doth import or can produce I should also have commended this love to you by comparing it with other loves and shewing how far in its nature in its causes in its properties in its effects it excelleth them even so far as the object thereof in excellency doth transcend all other objects of our affection how this is grounded upon the highest and surest reason others upon accounts very low and mean commonly upon fond humour and mistake this produceth real certain immutable goods others at best terminate onely in goods apparent unstable and transitory this is most worthy of us employing all our faculties in their noblest manner of operation upon the best object others misbeseem us so that in pursuing them we disgrace our understanding misapply our desires distemper our affections mispend our endeavours I should have enlarged upon these considerations and should have adjoined some particular advantages of this grace as for instance that the procuring thereof is the most sure the most easie the most compendious way of attaining all others of sweetning and ingratiating all obedience to us of making the hardest yoke easie and the heaviest burthen light unto us In fine I should have wished you to consider that its practice is not onely a mean and way to happiness but our very formal happiness it self the real enjoyment of the best good we are capable of that in which alone heaven it self the felicity of Saints and Angels doth consist which more then comprehends in it self all the benefits of highest dignity richest plenty and sweetest pleasure But I shall forbear entring upon so ample and fruitfull subjects of meditation and conclude with that good Collect of our Church O Lord who hast prepared for them that love thee such good things as pass man's understanding pour into our hearts such love toward thee that we loving thee above all things may obtain thy promises which exceed all that we can desire through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen The Third Sermon MATT. 22. 39. And the Second is like unto it Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self THE essential goodness of God and his special benignity toward mankind are to a considering mind divers ways very apparent the frame of the world and the natural course of things do with a thousand voices loudly and clearly proclaim them to us every sense doth yield us affidavit to that speech of the Holy Psalmist The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord we see it in the glorious brightness of the skies and in the pleasant verdure of the fields we taste it in the various delicacies of food supplied by land and sea we smell it in the fragrancies of herbs and flowers we hear it in the natural musick of the woods we feel it in the comfortable warmth of heaven and in the cheering freshness of the air we continually do possess and enjoy it in the numberless accommodations of life presented to us by the bountifull hand of nature Of the same goodness we may be well assured by that common providence which continually doth uphold us in our being doth opportunely relieve our needs doth protect us in dangers and rescue us from imminent mischiefs doth comport with our infirmities and misdemeanours the which in the divine Psalmists style doth hold our soul in life and suffereth not our feet to be moved doth redeem our life from destruction doth crown us with loving-kindness and tender mercies The dispensations of grace in the revelation of heavenly truth in the overtures of mercy in the succours of our weakness in the proposal of glorious rewards in all the methods and means conducing to our salvation do afford most admirable proofs and pledges of the same immense benignity But in nothing is the divine goodness toward us more illustriously conspicuous than in the nature and tendency of those Laws which God hath been pleased for the regulation of our lives to prescribe unto us all which do palpably evidence his serious desire and provident care of our welfare so that in imposing them he plainly doth not so much exercise his Sovereignty over us as express his kindness toward us neither do they more clearly declare his will than demonstrate his good-will to us And among all divine Precepts this especially contained in my Text doth argue the wonderfull goodness of our heavenly Law-giver appearing both in the manner of the proposal and in the substance of it The Second saith our Lord is like to it that is to the Precept of loving the Lord our God with all our heart and is not this a mighty argument of immense goodness in God that he doth in such a manner commend this duty to us coupling it with our main duty toward him and requiring us with like earnestness to love our neighbour as to love himself He is transcendently amiable for the excellency of his nature he by innumerable and inestimable benefits graciously conferred on us hath deserved our utmost affection so that naturally there can be no obligation bearing any proportion or considerable semblance to that of loving him yet hath he in goodness been pleased to create one and to endew it with that privilege making the love of a man whom we cannot value but for his gifts to whom we can owe nothing but what properly we owe to him no less obligatory to declare it near as acceptable as the love of himself to whom we owe all To him as the sole authour and free donour
Family But now such distinctions of men being voided and that wall of partition demolished all the world is become one people subject to the Laws of one common Lord and capable of the mercies purchased by one Redeemer God's love to mankind did move him to send our Lord into the world to assume humane nature and therein to become a Mediatour between God and Men. Our Lord's kindness to all his brethren disposed him to undertake their salvation and to expiate their sins and to taste death for every man the effect whereof is an universal reconciliation of God to the world and an union of men together Now the bloud of Christ hath cemented mankind the favour of God embracing all hath approximated and combined all together so that now every man is our brother not onely by nature as derived from the same stock but by grace as partaker of the common redemption Now God desiring the salvation of all men and inviting all men to mercy our duty must be coextended with God's grace and our charity must follow that of our Saviour We are therefore now to all men that which one Jew was to another yea more than such our Christianity having induced much higher obligations stricter alliances and stronger endearments than were those whereby Judaism did engage its followers to mutual amity The duties of common humanity to which our natural frame and sense do incline us which Philosophy recommendeth and natural Religion doth prescribe being grounded upon our community of nature and cognation of bloud upon apparent equity upon general convenience and utility our Religion doth not onely enforce and confirm but enhance and improve superadding higher instances and faster tyes of spiritual relation reaching in a sort to all men as being in duty in design in remote capacity our spiritual brethren but in especial manner to all Christians who actually are fellow members of the same holy fraternity contracted by spiritual regeneration from one heavenly seed supported by a common faith and hope strengthened by communion in acts of devotion and charity Hereon therefore are grounded those Evangelical commands explicatory of this Law as it now standeth in force that as we have opportunity we should do good unto all men especially unto them who are of the houshold of faith that we should abound in love one toward another and towards all men that we should glorifie God in our professed subjection unto the Gospel of Christ by liberally distributing to the Saints and to all men that we should follow peace with all men should be patient toward all men and gentle toward all men and shew all meekness toward all men and ever follow that which is good both among our selves and to all men that we should make supplications intercessions and thanksgivings for all men especially for all Saints or all our fellow-Christians and express moderation or ingenuity to all men Such is the Object of our Charity and thus did our Lord himself expound it when by a Jewish Lawyer being put to resolve this question And who is my neighbour he did propound a case or history whereby he did extort from that Rabbi this confession that even a Samaritan discharging a notable office of humanity and mercy to a Jew did thereby most truly approve himself a good neighbour to him and consequently that reciprocal performances of such offices were due from a Jew to a Samaritan whence it might appear that this relation of neighbourhood is universal and unlimited So much for the Object II. As for the Qualification annexed and couched in those words as thy self that as I conceive may import both a Rule declaring the Nature and a Measure determining the Quantity of that Love which is due from us to our neighbour the comparative term As implying both Conformity or Similitude and Commensuration or Equality 1. Loving our neighbour as our selves doth import a Rule directing what kind of love we should bear and exercise toward him or informing us that our charity doth consist in having the same affections of soul and in performing the same acts of beneficence toward him as we are ready by inclination as we are wont in practice to have or to perform toward our selves with full approbation of our judgment and conscience apprehending it just and reasonable so to doe We cannot indeed better understand the nature of this duty than by reflecting on the motions of our own heart and observing the course of our demeanour toward our selves for thence infallibly we may be assured how we should stand affected and how we should behave our selves toward others This is a peculiar advantage of this Rule inferring the excellent wisedom and goodness of him who framed it that by it very easily and certainly we may discern all the specialties of our duty without looking abroad or having recourse to external instruction so that by it we may be perfect Law-givers and skilfull Judges and faithfull Monitours to our selves of what in any case we should do for every one by internal experience knoweth what it is to love himself every one is conscious how he useth to treat himself each one consequently can prescribe and decide for himself what he ought to doe toward his neighbour so that we are not onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 taught of God as the Apostle saith to love one another but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 taught of our selves how to exercise that duty whence our Lord otherwhere doth propose the Law of charity in these terms Whatsoever ye would that men should doe unto you doe ye even so unto them for this is the law and the prophets that is unto this Rule all the special precepts of charity proposed in Holy Scripture may be reduced Wherefore for information concerning our duty in each case and circumstance we need onely thus to consult and interrogate our selves hence forming resolutions concerning our practice Do we not much esteem and set by our selves do we not strive to maintain in our minds a good opinion of our selves can any mischances befalling us any defects observable in us any faults committed by us induce us to slight or despise our selves this may teach us what regard and value we should ever preserve for our neighbour Do we not sincerely and earnestly desire our own welfare and advantage in every kind do we not heartily wish good success to our own designs and undertakings are we unconcerned or coldly affected in any case touching our own safety our estate our credit our satisfaction or pleasure do we not especially if we rightly understand our selves desire the health and happiness of our souls this doth inform us what we should wish and covet for our neighbour Have we not a sensible delight and complacency in our own prosperity do we ever repine at any advantages accruing
to our person or condition are we not extreamly glad to find our selves thriving and flourishing in wealth in reputation in any accommodation or ornament of our state especially if we be sober and wise doth not our spiritual proficiency and improvement in vertue yield joyous satisfaction to us are we not much comforted in apprehending our selves to proceed in a hopefull way toward everlasting felicity this may instruct us what content we should feel in our neighbours prosperity both temporal and spiritual Do we not seriously grieve at our own disasters and disappointments are we not in sad dumps whenever we incur any dammage or disgrace do not our diseases and pains sorely afflict us do we not pity and bemoan our selves in any want calamity or distress can we especially if we are our selves without grievous displeasure apprehend our selves enslaved to Sin and Satan destitute of God's favour exposed to endless misery hence may we learn how we should condole and commiserate the misfortunes of our neighbour Do we not eagerly prosecute our own concerns do we not with huge vigour and industry strive to acquire all conveniencies and comforts to our selves to rid our selves of all wants and molestations is our solicitous care or painfull endeavour ever wanting toward the support and succour of our selves in any of our needs are we satisfied in meerly wishing our selves well are we not also busie and active in procuring what we affect especially if we are well advised do we not effectually provide for the weal of our soul and supply of our spiritual necessities labouring to rescue our selves from ignorance and errour from the tyranny of sin from the torture of a bad conscience from the danger of hell this sheweth how ready we should be really to further our neighbours good ministring to him all kinds of assistance and relief sutable to his needs both corporal and spiritual Are we so proud or nice that we disdain to yield attendance or service needfull for our own sustenance or convenience do we not indeed gladly perform the meanest and most sordid offices for our selves this declareth how condescensive we should be in helping our neighbour how ready even to wash his feet when occasion doth require Do we love to vex our selves or cross our own humour do we not rather seek by all means to please and gratifie our selves this may warn us how innocent and inoffensive how compliant and complacent we should be in our behaviour toward others endeavouring to please them in all things especially for their good to edification Are we easily angry with our selves do we retain implacable grudges against our selves or do we execute upon our selves mischievous revenge are we not rather very meek and patient toward our selves mildly comporting with our own great weaknesses our troublesome humours our impertinencies and follies readily forgiving our selves the most heinous offences neglects affronts injuries and outrages committed by us against our own interest honour and welfare hence may we derive lessons of meekness and patience to be exercised toward our neighbour in bearing his infirmities and miscarriages in remitting any wrongs or discourtesies received from him Are we apt to be rude in our deportment harsh in our language or rigorous in our dealing toward our selves do we not rather in word and deed treat our selves very softly very indulgently Do we use to pry for faults or to pick quarrels with our selves to carp at any thing said or done by us rashly or upon slight grounds to charge blame on our selves to lay heavy censures on our actions to make foul constructions of our words to blazon our defects or aggravate our failings do we not rather connive at and conceal our blemishes do we not excuse and extenuate our own crimes Can we find in our hearts to frame virulent invectives or to dart bitter taunts and scoffs against our selves to murther our own credit by slander to blast it by detraction to maim it by reproach to prostitute it to be deflowred by jeering and scurrilous abuse are we not rather very jealous of our reputation and studious to preserve it as a precious ornament a main fence an usefull instrument of our welfare Do we delight to report or like to hear ill stories of our selves do we not rather endeavour all we can to stifle them to tie the tongues and stop the ears of men against them hence may we be acquainted how civil and courteous in our behaviour How fair and ingenuous in our dealing how candid and mild in our judgment or censure we should be toward our neigbour how very tender and carefull we should be of any wise wronging or hurting his fame Thus reflecting on our selves and making our practice toward our selves the pattern of our dealing with others we shall not fail to discharge what is prescribed to us in this Law and so we have here a Rule of Charity But farther 2. Loving our neighbour as our selves doth also import the Measure of our love toward him that it should be commensurate and equal in degree to that love which we bear and exercise toward our selves Saint Peter once and again doth exhort us to love one another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with an outstretched affection and how far that affection should be stretched we are here informed even that it should reach the farthest that can be or to a parity with that intense love which we do bear in heart and express in performance toward our selves so that we do either bring down our self-self-love to such a moderation or raise up our charity to such a fervency that both come to be adjusted in the same even level this is that pitch at which we should aim and aspire this is that perfection of charity which our Lord recommendeth to us in that injunction Be perfect even as your father in heaven is perfect That this sense of the words is included yea chiefly intended divers reasons will evince For 1. The most natural signification and common use of the phrase doth import thus much and any one at first hearing would so understand the words 2. It appeareth by comparing this Precept with that to which it is annexed of loving God with all our heart and all our soul which manifestly designeth the quantity and degree of that love consequently the like determination is intended in this Precept which is expressed to resemble that or designed in like manner to qualifie and bound our duty toward our neighbour 3. If the Law doth not signifie thus much it doth hardly signifie any thing not at least any thing of direction or use to us for no man is ignorant that he is obliged to love his neighbour but how far that love must extend is the point wherein most of us do need to be resolved and without satisfaction in which we shall hardly do any thing for as he that oweth money will not pay except he can tell how much it is so to know the Duty
hazards when they endured such hardships not onely for them but from them being requited with hatred and misusage for endeavouring to reclaim them from sin and stop them from ruine May not the Holy Apostles seem to have loved mankind beyond themselves when for its instruction and reformation for reconciling it to God and procuring its salvation they gladly did undertake and undergo so many rough difficulties so many formidable dangers such irksome pains and troubles such extream wants and losses such grievous ignominies and disgraces slighting all concerns of their own and reliquishing whatever was most dear to them their safety their liberty their ease their estate their reputation their pleasure their very bloud and breath for the welfare of others even of those who did spitefully maligne and cruelly abuse them Survey but the Life of one among them mark the wearisome travels he underwent over all the earth the solicitous cares which did possess his mind for all the Churches the continual toils and drudgeries sustained by him in preaching by word and writing in visiting in admonishing in all pastoral employments the imprisonments the stripes the reproaches the oppositions and persecutions of every kind and from all sorts of people which he suffered the pinching wants the desperate hazards the lamentable distresses with the which he did ever conflict peruse those black catalogues of his afflictions registred by himself then tell me how much his charity was inferiour to his self-self-love did not at least the one vie with the other when he for the benefit of his disciples was content to be absent from the Lord or suspended from a certain fruition of glorious beatitude resting in this uncomfortable state in this fleshly tabernacle wherein he groaned being burthened and longing for enlargement did he not somewhat beyond himself love those men for whose salvation he wished himself accursed from Christ or debarred from the assured enjoyment of eternal felicity those very men by whom he had been stoned had been scourged had been often beaten to extremity from whom he had received manifold indignities and outrages Did not they love their neighbours as themselves who sold their possessions and distributed the prices of them for relief of their indigent brethren did not most of the ancient Saints and Fathers mount near the top of this duty of whom it is by unquestionable records testified that they did freely bestow all their private estate and substance on the poor devoting themselves to the service of God and edification of his people Finally Did not our Lord himself in our nature exemplifie this Duty yea by his Practice far out-doe his Precept for He who from the brightest glories from the immense riches from the ineffable joys and felicities of his celestial Kingdom did willingly stoop down to assume the garb of a servant to be cloathed with the infirmities of flesh to become a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief He who for our sake vouchsafed to live in extream penury and disgrace to feel hard want sore travel bitter persecution most grievous shame and anguish He who not onely did contentedly bear but purposely did chuse to be accused to be slandered to be reviled to be mocked to be tortured to pour forth his heart-bloud upon a cross for the sake of an unprofitable an unworthy an impious an ingratefull generation for the salvation of his open enemies of base apostates of perverse rebels of villainous traitours He who in the height of his mortal agonies did sue for the pardon of his cruel murtherers who did send his Apostles to them did cause so many wonders to be done before them did furnish all means requisite to convert and save them He that acted and suffered all this and more than can be expressed with perfect frankness and good will did he not signally love his neighbour as himself to the utmost measure did not in him vertue conquer nature and charity triumph over self-love This he did to seal and impress his Doctrine to shew us what we should doe and what we can doe by his grace to oblige us and to encourage us unto a conformity with him in this respect for Walk in love saith the Apostle as Christ hath also loved us and hath given himself for us And This saith he himself is my commandment that ye love one another as I have loved you And how can I better conclude than in the recommendation of such an Example Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God even our father who hath loved us and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace comfort your hearts and stablish you in every good word and work The Fourth Sermon MATT. 22. 39. Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self I Have formerly discoursed on these words and then shewed how they do import two observable Particulars first a Rule of our Charity or that it should be like in nature then a Measure of it or that it should be equal in degree to the love which we do bear to our selves Of this latter interpretation I did assign divers reasons urging the observance of the Precept according to that notion but one material Point scantness of time would not allow me to consider which is the removal of an Exception to which that interpretation is very liable and which is apt to discourage from a serious application to the practice of this duty so expounded If it may be said the Precept be thus understood as to oblige us to love our neighbours equally with our selves it will prove unpracticable such a charity being meerly romantick and imaginary for who doth who can love his neighbour in this degree nature powerfully doth resist common sense plainly doth forbid that we should doe so A natural instinct doth prompt us to love our selves and we are forcibly driven there to by an unavoidable sense of pleasure and pain resulting from the constitution of our body and soul so that our own least good or evil are very sensible to us whereas we have no such potent inclination to love others we have no sense or a very faint one of what another doth enjoy or endure doth not therefore nature plainly suggest that our neighbours good cannot be so considerable to us as our own especially when charity doth clash with self-love or when there is a competition between our neighbours interest and our own is it possible that we should not be partial to our own side is not therefore this Precept such as if we should be commanded to fly or to doe that which natural propension will certainly hinder In answer to this Exception I say first 1. Be it so that we can never attain to love our neighbour altogether so much as our selves yet may it be reasonable that we should be enjoined to doe so for Laws must not be depressed to our imperfection nor rules bent to our obliquity but
proper work of charity for charity saith Saint Peter covereth a multitude of sins This was the charity of our Saviour He went about doing good healing the bodily infirmities every sickness and every disease among the people satisfying their bodily necessities comforting them in their worldly distresses so far as to perform great miracles for those purposes curing inveterate maladies restoring limbs and senses raising the dead multiplying loaves and fishes but his charity was chiefly exercised in spiritual beneficence in pourveying sustenance and comfort for their souls in feeding their minds by wholsome instruction in curing their spiritual distempers in correcting their ignorances and errours in exciting them to duty by powerfull advices and exhortations in supporting them by heavenly consolations against temptations and troubles Thus also did the charity of the holy Apostles principally exert it self they did not neglect affording relief to the outward needs of men they did take care by earnest intercession and exhortation for support of the poor but especally they did labour to promote the spiritual benefit of men for this they did undertake so many cares and toils and travels for this they did undergo so many hardships so many hazards so many difficulties and trouble Therefore said Saint Paul I endure all things for the elects sake that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory X. This indeed is a property of Charity to make a man deny himself to neglect his own interest yea to despise all selfish regards for the benefit of his neighbour to him that is inspired with charity his own good is not good when it standeth in competition with the more considerable good of another nothing is so dear to him which he gladly will not part with upon such considerations Liberty is a precious thing which every man gladly would enjoy yet how little did Saint Paul's charity regard it how absolutely did he abandon it for his neighbours good Though said he I am free from all men yet I have made my self servant or have enslaved my self unto all that I might gain the more And he did express much satisfaction in the bonds which he bare for the good of his brethren I Paul saith he the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles I suffer trouble as an evil doer even unto bonds endure all things for the Elects sake Every man loveth his own humour and would please himself but the charity of Saint Paul did rather chuse to please all men making him all things to all men that by all means he might save some and the Rule he commended to others and imposed on himself was this We that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please our selves Profit is the common mark of mens designs and endeavours but charity often doth not aim thereat but waveth it for its neighbours advantage for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aim not every man at his own things but every man also at the things of others is Saint Paul ' s Rule and not to seek his own profit but the profit of many that they might be saved was his practice To suffer is grievous to humane nature and every man would shun it but charity not onely doth support it but joyeth in it when it conduceth to its neighbours advantage I rejoice said that charitable Apostle in my sufferings for you Ease is a thing generally desirable and acceptable but charity doth part with it embracing labour watchings travels and troubles for the neighbours good upon this account did the holy Apostles undertake abundant labours as Saint Paul telleth us and to this end saith he do I labour striving according to his working which worketh in me mightily to what end that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus this is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that labour of love which they did commend in others and so notably themselves exercise Life of all things is held most precious and dear yet this charity upon urgent occasions will expose will sacrifice for its neighbours good This our Lord telleth us is the greatest love that any man can express to his friend and the highest instance that ever was of charity was herein shewed the imitation whereof Saint John doth not doubt to recommend to us In this saith he have we known the love of God because he hath laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our life for the brethren and Saint Paul Walk in love even as Christ loved us and gave himself for us an offering and sacrifice to God the which Precept he backed with his own Example I saith he very gladly will spend and be spent for your souls and If I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith I joy and rejoice with you all and Being affectionately desirous of you we were willing to have imparted unto you not the Gospel of God onely but also our own souls because ye were dear unto us Reputation to some is more dear than life and 't is worse than death to be held a malefactour to be loaded with odious reproaches to have an infamous character yet charity will engage men hereto willingly to sustain the most grievous obloquy and disgrace for this the same heroical Apostles did pass through honour and dishonour through evil report and good report as deceivers and yet true for this they were made a spectacle to the world as fools as weak as despicable were reviled defamed made as the filth of the world and off-scouring of all things For this Saint Paul was content to suffer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a malefactour So there was nothing which charity will not deny it self and lose for the good of its neighbour XI It is a property of Love not to stand upon distinctions and nice respects but to be condescensive and willing to perform the meanest offices needfull or usefull for the good of its friend He that truly loveth is a voluntary servant and gladly will stoop to any imployment for which the need or considerable benefit of him whom he loveth doth call So the greatest Souls and the most glorious Beings the which are most endewed with Charity by it are disposed with greatest readiness to serve their inferiours This made Saint Paul constitute himself a servant we might render it a Slave of all men absolutely devoted to the promoting their interests with his utmost labour and diligence undertaking toilsome drudgeries running about upon errands for them This maketh the blessed and glorious Angels the principalities and powers above vouchsafe to wait on men to be the guards of all good men to be ministring Spirits sent out to minister for them who shall inherit salvation not
be contentious so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imports we have no such custom nor the Churches of God But yet much more is peaceable conversation impeached by disobedience to established Laws those great bulwarks of Society fences of Order and supports of Peace which he that refuses to obey is so far from living peaceably with all men that he may reasonably be presumed unwilling to have peace with any man since in a manner he defies all mankind vilifies its most solemn Judgments endeavours to dissolve those sacred bands by which its union is conteined and to subvert the onely foundations of publick tranquillity He declares himself either to affect an universal tyranny over or an abhorrency from society with other men to be unwilling to live with them upon equal terms or to submit to any fair arbitration to desire that strifes should be endless and controversies never decided who declines the verdict of Law the most solemn issue of deliberate advice proceeding from the most honourable most wise most worthy and select persons and involving in it the consent of the whole Commonwealth Saint Paul directing that prayers should be made for Princes and those in Authority assigns the reason that we may lead a quiet and a peaceable life in all godliness and honesty And certainly if we are to pray for we are also obliged to obey them in order to the same end which to do is absolutely in our power and more immediately requisite to that purpose For as no peace can be preserved without the influence of authority so no authority can subsist without obedience to its sanctions He that is desirous to enjoy the privileges of this happy estate of peace must in reason be content to perform the Duties injoined and bear the common burthens imposed by those who are the protectours of it Thus as plainly as I could have I described what it is to live peaceably and what the means are that principally conduce thereto I should now proceed to consider the Object of the Duty and the Reasons why it respects all men As also whence it comes that sometimes we may fail in our endeavour of attaining this desirable condition And lastly to propound some Inducements persuasive of its practice But I must not farther encroach on your patience and shall therefore reserve these things to the next opportunity Now The peace of God which passeth all understanding keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God and of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord and the blessing of God Almighty the Father Son and Holy Ghost be among you and remain with you always Amen The Eighth Sermon ROMANS 12. 18. If it be possible as much as lieth in you live peaceably with all men I Have very lately considered what it is to live peaceably and what are the Duties included therein and what Means conduce thereto II. I proceed now to consider the Object thereof and why the duty of living peaceably extends to all men that is why we are bound to bear good-will and doe good offices and shew civil respects to all men and to endeavour that all men reciprocally be well affected toward us For it might with some colour of reason be objected and said Why should I be obliged heartily to love those that desperately hate me to treat them kindly that use me despitefully to help them that would hinder me to relieve them that would plunge me into utter distress to comfort them that delight in my affliction to be respective to and tender of their reputation who despise defame and reproach me to be indulgent and favourable to them who are harsh and rigorous in their dealings with me to spare and pardon them who with implacable malice persecute me why should I seek their friendship who disdainfully reject mine why prize their favour who scorn mine why strive to please them who purposely offend me or why should I have any regard to men void of all faith goodness or desert And most of all why should I be bound to maintain amicable correspondence with those who are professed enemies to piety and vertue who oppugn truth and disturb peace and countenance vice errour and faction How can any love consent of mind or communion of good offices intercede between persons so contrarily disposed I answer they may and ought and that because the obligation to these ordinary performances is not grounded upon any peculiar respects special qualifications or singular actions of men which are contingent and variable but upon the indefectible score of common humanity We owe them as the Philosopher alledged when he dispensed his alms to an unworthy person 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not to the men but to humane nature resident in them There be indeed divers other sorts of love in nature and object more restrained built upon narrower foundations and requiring more extraordinary acts of duty and respect not competent to all men as a love of friendship founded upon long acquaintance sutableness of disposition and frequent exchanges of mutual kindness a love of gratitude due to the reception of valuable benefits a love of esteem belonging to persons endued with worth and vertue a love of relation resulting from kindred affinity neighbourhood and other common engagements But the love of benevolence which is precedent to these and more deeply rooted in nature more ancient more unconfined and more immutable and the duties mentioned consequent on it are grounded upon the natural constitution necessary properties and unalterable condition of humanity and are upon several accompts due thereto 1. Upon account of universal cognation agreement and similitude of nature For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All men naturally are of kinn and friends to each other saith Aristotle Et fratres etiam vestri sumus jure naturae matris unius We are also your brethren in the right of nature our common mother said Tertullian of old in the name of the Christians to the Heathens We are but several streams issuing from one primitive source several branches sprouting from the same stock several stones hewed out of the same quarry One substance by miraculous efficacy of the divine benediction diffused and multiplied One element affords us matter and one fire actuates it kindled at first by the breath of God One bloud flows in all our veines one nourishment repairs our decayed bodies and one common aire refreshes our languishing spirits We are cohabitants of the same earth and fellow-citizens of the same great Common-wealth Vnam Remp. omnium agnoscimus mundum said the forementioned Apologist for Christianity We were all fashioned according to the same original Idea resembling God our common father all endowed with the same faculties inclinations and affections all conspire in the essential and more notable ingredients of our constitution and are onely distinguished by some accidental inconsiderable circumstances of age place colour stature fortune and the like in which we differ as much from