him to a Feast Luk. 14. from v. 12. to v. 15. where first he adviseth in the Negative When thou makest a Dinner or a Supper call not thy Friends nor thy Brethren neither thy Kinsmen nor thy rich Neighbours lest they also bid thee again and so recompense be made thee From whence we learn That 't is true Courtesie indeed to be afraid of a Requital He is a Mercenary Feaster whose Guests are all Entertainers as apt and able as himself For one rich man to invite another is no more in effect than to make an exchange of good Cheer to commute a Dinner for a Supper and what is that to be esteem'd but a more Gentlemanly Barter A buying and selling of Entertainments Our Saviour therefore goes on to the positive part of his Advice When thou makest a Feast call the poor the maim'd the lame and the blind adding this for a reason because they cannot recompense thee again Which is as much as to say that the noblest motive to our Beneficence should be the poverty of the object on which 't is fastned and the greatest impossibility of the least Requital upon earth It is always more blessed to give than to receive as our Saviours words are written in the Nazarene Gospel but then especially when we give with an assurance of not receiving Yet in this case also the merciful man is a Projector and driving on his own interest bestowing a little here on earth for a large Recompense in Heaven For so saith our Saviour in the next words of that Verse giving the reason of that reason he gave before Thou shalt be recompenced at the Resurrection of the Dead Sect. 10. Here then let us consider When God professeth to be our Debtor for all we give unto the poor and gives us his word for a Repayment and Christ becomes our security that all we lend shall be return'd an hundred fold into our Bosomes what kind of reason can be imagin'd why one Rich man will lend his money unto another for six pounds in the hundred or lay it out in some Trade at most for twenty in the hundred rather than lend it unto the Lord by having pity upon the poor or lay it out upon life eternal whereby he shall not only receive six or twenty in the hundred but exceedingly more than an hundred-fold the very Principal If we inquire into the reason I am afraid we shall find it to be but this that they cannot easily trust God or believe the Scripture or accept of Christ for their security Say we therefore to ourselves as many of us as are Rich That if ever we do expect to be carried by the Angels into Abrahams Bosom we must think our selves obliged to take Lazarus into our own Or admit we may be said to be comparatively poor yet rather than fail of being merciful we must work with our hands the thing that is good that we may have to give to him that needeth S. Pauls own hands did administer to his necessities and not only to his but to theirs also that were with him Act. 20. 43. The strong ought by their labour to support the weak v. 35. Rather than any man should want who is not able to earn his Bread he hath a kind of right to eat it in the sweat of our Brows For there is one sort of poor who are an Honourable Order and Rank of men as being Iure Divino of God's immediate Institution And our Lord himself that Sun of righteousness when he was here in his Hypogoeo was pleas'd to make himself free of that Company did not think it unbecoming him to be the head of that Order For whilst he liv'd he liv'd on Almes Luk. 8. 3. the Fexes were not so poor for they had holes the Fowles of the Aire were not so destitute for they had nests but the Son of man said the Son of man himself had not where to lay his head And then when he was dead he was fain to be buried upon other folks charges Luk. 23. 53 56. We must not therefore neglect the Poor unless we dare reproach our Maker or unless we dare despise that which Christ himself in his person was pleas'd to honour The Infidels provided as well for those of their own Countrey as for those of their own House And S. Paul implyes by the word especially that Christians ought to provide for Both unless they dare be worse than Infidels Sect. 11. But I am not at an end of my Exhortation For in vain do rich men conspire to refresh the Bowels of the poor whilst by envy or Animosity or vexatious Suits at Law they do impoverish the Rich too It is not true Charity they shew to others if they nourish Contention among themselves Men may be liberal to their Vanities bestow a great deal of Riches in Ostentation to the poor and yet be still strangers to Christian charity in case they will not let fall a Suit at Law till they are utterly disenabled to hold it up The wise Disciples of Pythagoras would rather quit their own right in matter of Riches or Honour or worldly greatness than run the hazard of breaking peace in any such carnal considerations Sect. 12. Let every one therefore conjure himself not so much by that common and civil Interest which we have in one Countrey as by that common and sacred Interest which we have in one Christ that all our Contentions from this day forwards may be swallow'd up in this one who shall shew the greatest Zeal and who shall use the best endeavours to keep the unity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace Let the saying of St. Iames be ever recurring to our Remembrance that to love one another as we love our own selves is to fulfil the Royal Law Jam. 2. 8. If Jesus Christ is a Royal Saviour and if his Law is a Royal Law then all true Christians must needs be Royalists that is obedient to the Precepts of Christ their King Sect. 13. For as subjects to their Soveraign so are Christians bound up to the law of Christ. And as little let us forget that other saying of St. Paul that by one Spirit we are all baptized into one Body whether Jewes or Gentiles bond or free of different Countreys or of the same we have been all made to drink into one Spirit We are the Body of Christ and members in particular Let there be no Schism in the Body But whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good Report if there be any vertue if there be any praise if there be any consolation in Christ if any comfort of love if any fellowship of the Spirit if any Bowels and Mercies let us resolve at least to meditate and
to Think on these things And the very God of Peace sanctifie us wholly that the whole of each of us both body soul and spirit may be kept blameless unto the coming of our Lord Iesus Christ. Now unto him who is able to keep us from falling and to raise us when we are down and to present us being risen before the presence of his Glory with exceeding Ioy To the only wise God our Saviour even to God the Father who hath created us in love by his mighty power to God the Son who hath redeemed us in love by his precious Bloud to God the Holy-Ghost who hath prepared us in love by his sanctifying Grace and thereby given us a Pledge of our future Glory to the holy individual and Glorious Trinity three Persons and one God be ascribed by us and by all the world Blessing and Glory and Honour and Power and Wisdom and Thanksgiving from this day forwards for evermore THE END ERRATA'S of the Signal Diagnostick Page 86. line 29. read Jer. 23. 26. Pag. 76. line 11. read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pag. 111. line 3. in marg read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Books Printed since the Fire for R. Royston A Discourse concerning the true Notion of the Lords Supper to which are added two Sermons by R. Cudworth D. D. A Disswasive from Popery in two parts 4 o by Jer. Taylor Lord Bishop of Down and Connor A Friendly Debate between a Conformist and a Non conformist in two parts 8 o. The buckler of State and Iustice against the Design maâ—…ifestly discovered of the Universal Monarchy under the vain Pretext of the Queen of France her Pretensions 8 o The Unreasonableness of the Romanist 〈◊〉 â—…quiring our Communion with the present Romish Câ—…rch 8 o. * Jer. 4. 3. ‖ Jer. 10. 12. Matt. 9. 37. Luke 10. 2. 1 Cor. 3. 9. Jer. 10. 12. 1 Cor. 3. 6 7. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 365. Rom. 10. 20. ‖ Luke 13. 24. Deut. 11. 29. Ex. 19. 18 20. Heb. 12. 19 20 * Heb. 13. 13. Mat. 7. 14. Mat. 5. 3 4 c. to verse 12. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apollin John 14. 15. I. II. III. 1. 2. 3. * 1 John 3. 24. ‖ John 14. 23. ch 17. 23. * 2 Pet. 1. 10. Acts 21. 12 13. John 6. 67. Verse 6â—… John 21. 17. 1 John 3. 1. 1 John 4. 19. Matth. 5. 46. Matth. 12. 24. Cant. 8. 6. * Acts 5. 31. Eph. 5. 29 30. * Rev. 3. 20. Cantic 5. 2. ‖ Heb. 11. 6. * Gal. 5. 6. ‖ Matt. 7. 22 24 26. John 14 21 23 24. * Rom. 13. 10. ‖ 2 Cor. 13. 5. * John 14. 23. ch 17. 23. 1 John 3. 24. ‖ Heb. 12. 2. * 1 Thes. 1. 3. Cant. 5 3. Jer. 13. 23. Rom. 6. 12 14. chap. 7. 23. Exod. 21. 6. 2 Cor. 5. 17. 1. John 3. 9. Tit. 2. 12. 1 John 5. 3. Psal. 19. 11. Levit. 18. 5. Ezek. 20. 11. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philo. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 P. 127. 128. * Est alia in hoc seculo obtemperantibus merces cùm penitùs à nobis evulsis Peccati radicibus caleatoque Mundi Fastu atque edomitâ carnis petulantiâ virtutibus ditamur nihilque non agimus quo ex hominibus Dii efficiamur Folengius in Psalm 19. 11. * Deut. 10. 13. Mat. 10. 30. 1. Tim. 4. 8. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 P. 351. Mat. 6. 31 33. * v. Torquat apud Cic. de Fin. l. 1. 2. Gatakeri Praeloquium quod Antonino Imperatori à se edito praemisit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 P. 769 770. Praeceptum est pythagoricum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vide Philonem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 P. 670. Hinc paradoxa sunt plerumque quae docent Pythagorai sc. exules esse qui in mediâ urbe Magistratûs obeunt è contrà Divitlis scatentem Egenum esse vice versâ Psal. 119. 92. verse 19. * verse 50. verse 99. 100. verse 14. 16. 20. 97. 131. 143. verse 3. 162. 72. verse 80. verse 32. Amicitia est inter pares 1 John 3. 24. * Joh. 14. 13 14 John 15. 7. John 16. 23. ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist. Eth. * Matth. 7. 2. * Sinner Impleaded part 1. ch 1. Sect. 6. Luk. 10. 40 41. Rom. 13. 8. 9 10. Gal. 5. 14. 2 Cor. 6. 10. 1 John 3. 18. verse 17. Jam. 2. 15. 16. Rom. 13. 9 10. Heb. 6. 6. ch 10. v. 29. Mark 4. 39. 1 Cor. 15. Deut. 5. 29. Deut. 32. 39. Psal. 81. 13. Isa. 48. 18. * Sinner Impleaded part 2. ch 3. Sect. 6 7 8 9 10. 2 Cor. 8. 12. Hoâ—… 11. 4. Rom. 6. 16. Luke 16. 13. â—… Cor. 5. 14. 2 Cor. 5. 6 7. Rom. 10. 10. Rom. â—… Psal. 39. 3. Cant. 8. 6 7. The Application 2 Cor. 2. 15. Eph. 5. 2. Cant. 4. 10 11 12 13 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rev. 21. ult 1 Esdr. 4. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lucian Matt. 5. 44. Matt. 5. 12. Mark 10. 21. Matt. 16. 24 Luke 14. 26. * Matt. 10. 37 38. Luke 14. 26 27 33. Psa. 1â—… 1. 12 3. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aristot. â—…thic l. 10. cap. 1. ‖ Virtutes coluit non tanquam per se bonas sed in quantum aptissimas ad quietè vivendum vel quia vitam tutiorem voluptatem efficiunt pleniorem Nec justitiam censuit per se optubilem sed quia jucunditatem afferret Torquatus apud Cic. de Fin. l. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epic. apud Laert. l. 10. 2 Cor. 13. 5. Jer. 17. 9. Compare Isa. 5. 20 23. with Jer. 23. 14. 33. a Prov. 30. 12. b Deut. 29. 19. c Job 8. 13 14. d Mic. 3. 11 See the Confession of Faith by the Assembly of Divines ch 18. p. 31. See the Penitent Murderer in the Account of Thomas Parson 2 Thess. 2. 11. Philip. 2. 12. 1 Cor. 7. 9. Confession of Faith chap. 18. Art 2. 3. * 1 Cor. 13. 9 12. * Ubi supra Heb. 11. 11. Heb. 6. 10 1 Cor. 9. Rom. 8. 10 11 13. 1 Tim. 1. 5. Luk. 6. 44. The Application Eccles. 12. 13. 1 Cor. 7. 19. Gal. 5. 6. Psal. 119. 33. Jam. 4. 4. Psal. 56. 8. Mal. 3. 16. Act. 26. 26. 1 Sam. 15. 9. 1 Sam. 25. 41. 1 John 4â—… * Per se placet propter se non requirit causam non Fractum S. Bernard super Cantic Cant. Serm 83. Nam cùm amaâ—… non vult aliud quam amari Id. ibid. Non ad aliud amat Deus nisi ut ametur sciens ipso Amorâ—… Beatos qui se amavâ—… Id. ib. Iussisti ô Domine ut diligam te aut mihi Infernum minariâ—… Sed mihi magnus satis infernus est quod te dignè amare non valâ—…o August Confess l. 10 c. 28 29 30. Quid vitius â—… quaÌ„
he was purged from his old Sins v. 9. Which is as much as to say that the keeping of the Commandments is all in all for if we keep them we are happy and if we break them we are undon I say we are happy in case we keep them because by keeping them we make our Election sure I do not say we make our selves infallibly sure of our Election and that by ordinary means too without immediate Revelation as an Assembly of Divines have made profession of their Belief For as Faith is a good man's so infallible assurance is God's peculiar And it implyes a contradiction to say a man may be infallible in what he does but yet believe For as infallibity implyes a knowledge in perfection so belief implyes strongly a knowledge only in part that is in some measure a want of knowledge Which infers a fallibility in him that wants it When we say we do believe we shall never fall and that we do believe we are vessels of Election our meaning is we do not doubt it not at all that we cannot or may not err When Adam stood in a state of Innocence he did believe without doubt he should so continue When Lucifer stood in a state of Glory he did not doubt in the least of his being safe But the event does shew plainly in Him and Adam the possibility of their falling before they fell So as long as we stand in a state of Grace and do so love our Saviour as to keep his Commandments we have reason to be confident of our Election but not infallibly assur'd because we are not omniscient yea do not know our own Hearts and cannot tell what a Day or what an hour may bring forth Whilst we are militant here on Earth we do Hope for Heaven but shall then only be sure when we shall take it into possession They who urge S. Peter's words for an infallible assurance 2 Epist. chap. 1. ver 10. where the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and notes the sureness of the Election not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 implying assurance in the Elect do prove no more from that Text than that they quite mistake its meaning Not through an Ignorance of the original but a forgetfulness to consult it It may suffice for our comfort that God himself is infallible though we may err And though we know not what we are much less what we shall be yet this we know surely That all the paths of the Lord are Mercy and Truth unto such as keep his Covenant and his Testimonies Psal. 25. 10. We are infallible in our knowledge that God is faithful so as he cannot fail possibly to make good his promise if we shall manfully persevere in our performance of the condition And sure the sum of the Condition is briefly this that we love him so farr as to keep his Comandments Again that this is the Test of our Love to Christ and the means whereby to make our Election sure may be as easily collected from Heb. 6. 10 11 12. Where the Apostle having premis'd the work and labour of their love which they had shew'd to Christ's Name in their ministring to the Saints v. 10. He does immediately desire them to shew the same diligence to the full assurance of Hope unto the end v. 11. And not to be slothful but followers of them who through Faith and Patience inherit the promises v. 12. From which words of the Apostle we are to gather four things First that he does not say infallible but full assurance of Hope Nor is it He but our Translation which saith so much For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is but a fulness of Hope not at all a full assurance unless by full assurance is mean't a fulness and nothing else Next a diligence is requir'd for the attainment of this Hope and this must be unto the end The promise that we shall reap is on condition that we faint not We must therefore so run that we may obtain Thirdly Our diligence must be shew'd too that men may see it and be the better and glorifie God in our behalf It must be shew'd in a laborious and working Love a Love exhibited to Christ by being employ'd upon his Members The Love of Christ if it is true will be shew'd in this that instead of being idle or empty-handed it hath its work and its labour is ever diligent and industrious in the keeping of his Commands Lastly the promises are not inherited through Faith alone which S. Iames calls a dead and a worthless Faith but through Faith mixt with patience which is not a barren but a fruitful not an idle but working Faith Such as worketh by Love impartial obedience to the Commandments And such as worketh by patience with perseverance unto the end Thus we prove by our obedience the real solidity of our Love and by our Permanency in both make our Calling and Election sure It were easie for me to argue from a very great number of such like Topicks of which the old and new Testament afford much plenty But that the proof of this Doctrin may not keep us too long from the Application I shall conclude with what I find in the 8 th chapter to the Romans And thence the Point I am upon may be irrefragably evicted For they are true lovers of Christ and real vessels of Election to whom there is no condemnation There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Iesus v. 1. They alone are in Him who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit And what other can they be than such as keep his Commandments That this indeed is the evidence of our being in Christ does farther appear by the three Ifs in the 10 11 and 13 verses of that chapter If Christ be in you the Body is dead because of sin but the Spirit is life because of Righteousness And if the Spirit of Him who raised up Iesus from the Dead dwell in you he also shall quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit which dwelleth in you And if ye live after the Flesh ye shall dye but if through the Spirit ye mortifie the Deeds of the Body ye shall live Now by the Deeds of the Body are meant the Breaches of the Commandments And how are they mortified but by obedience We have the same in S. Iohn but a little more plainly Hereby we know that we know him even by keeping his word 1 John 2. 5. He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also to walk even as he walked v. 6. Now we know that Christ Jesus was so subjected to the Law that that was constantly the Path wherein he walked And when 't is said by S. Paul that the end of the Commandment is charity out of a pure heart and of a good Conscience and Faith unfeigned The Heart is imply'd to be impure the Conscience evil and the Faith but hypocritical which is not
as we are rational and in what Instance can we be rational wherein 't is possible for us to cease from being voluntary Agents It does concern us therefore as such to ask for Grace when it is wanting and to use it when it is granted and again to pray God to increase our Talent and to beware that we receive not his Grace in vain too 2 Cor. 6. 1. And therefore as such we are injoyn'd as well as intreated by S. Paul not to grieve not to resist not to quench the Spirit of God when he begins to kindle in us that love of Christ which he requires plainly intimating unto us that when the Spirit of God is ready to shed abroad in our hearts such a saving love it lyes in us to shut a Casement that is an Eye to open a Dore that is an Ear to yield up a Castle that is a Heart to draw a Curtain that is a Prejudice to put Impediments out of the way and by the assistance of the same Spirit to employ the noble Faculties which God hath given us unto the noblest of the Ends for which he gave them We are able as we are men to presentiate our Saviour within our selves and so to meditate upon Him as we ordinarily do upon other objects we can frame Idaeas of him in our Imaginations and thereby bring him into our Heads by an Intentional Union although the Grace of God alone can unite him really to our Hearts by servent love and Faith unseigned Seeing therefore the Scripture saith in justification of the praemisses That we are Labourers and Workers together with God and again that we are Stewards of the manifold Grace of God and are diligently to look least any man fail of the Grace of God and again that every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour Let us never cease to labour in the great work of our Salvation till by the help of God's Grace which never fails to work with any who do not fail to work with it we have wrought our selves up to a Love of Christ. Being comparatively neglectful of all other duties until we have throughly attain'd to this We must remember that as our Faith is pre-required to our Love so is our Love to our obedience and our obedience unto our Bliss And we must perfect our Foundation before we build For debile Fundamentum fallit opus the weakness of a Foundation must needs betray the whole strength of a superstructure In vain shall we labour to raise the Fabrick of obedience unless we have a firm love whereupon to build it And therefore first let us be sure of loving Christ in Sincerity before we take upon our selves the effectual keeping of his Commandments And let us use the best engines whereby to screw our Love up to the Pitch requir'd For what we do not much Love we cannot much long for nor can we very much care to espowse the means of its Attainment And therefore in spight of the objection which has an aptness in its Nature to breed a carelesness of our Actions an unconcernment in our end and a contempt of those Assistances which onr Authorized Teachers are wont to yield us let us not cast away the care we ought to have of our Immortality nor be so blinded with the Opinion that all the actions of our Lives were pre-determin'd from Aeternity as thereupon to despair of being the better for our Indeavours and by consequence to resolve never to do our selves any Good But let us labour on the contrary after the Duty of loving Christ for the escaping of the Danger I mean the Curse and the Damnation denounced here to all Persons that love him not And to press this forwards with at least some Hope as well as Ambition of good Success will deserve to be the work of another Chapter CHAP. III. Sect. 1. WHen we are setting about the means which do most of all conduce to our greatest Ends we must be sure of right method as well as of Diligence in our Indeavours And because we are to cease from being Enemies to our Saviour before we can be in a possibility of being denominated his Friends First let us summon-in our Affections which are scatter'd abroad upon the world the love of which S. Iames saith is perfect Enmity with Christ. They that mind earthly things must needs be Enemies to his Cross and being Enemies to his Cross they cannot be Friends unto his Person For the Apostle tells us of such that their end is Destruction The reason of this is very evident For whilst we have Friendship with the world which is Christ's Rival and Competitor our Souls are Adulteresses and Harlots to use the language of S. Iames in the place before cited as being false and disloyal to him who betrothed us to himself and is verbally acknowledg'd to be our Bridegroom Love is evermore so sure to be the Mother of Obedience to whatsoever object it is which is much belov'd that as when we love Christ we will keep His Commandments so when we also love the world we will keep the Commandments of the world to wit the statutes of Omri and all the works of the House of Ahab So that our first labour must be for 't is indeed a great labour to disentangle our Affections to take them off from the things of this tempting world and as it were twisting them all together like the Rayes of the Sun in an Optick Pyramid strive to concenter them so united in the Soveraign Beauty of a Saviour Now one of the proper Engines for this I mean the rescuing of our love from what is worldly and to be seen is to chew and to ruminate long enough in our Thoughts upon this great Truth that even our love of the Body does wholly depend upon the Soul And the titular Beauty of the Flesh must be confessed by the most sensual to lye intirely in the spirit For if we except the sole case of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Herodotus which yet was not love but another thing and that perhaps but a Fable too who ever heard of any Lover fixing his love upon the Body so much as one short minute after the vanishing of the Soul Did the Corinthians court their Lais when nothing was left them but her Body Did Demosthenes take a Iourney in kindness to her when she was dead no there was nothing then desirable besides Forgetfulness and a Grave Nothing then but the Worms was able to covet her Embraces Methinks that this one observable were it as patiently consider'd as it is easily understood should conduce extremely much to the spiritualizing of our Affections For if we love nothing that we can see of our dearest Friends but for the love of somwhat else which cannot possibly be seen what better reason can we give of it than that the Part which is material is arrant Rottenness and Corruption nor only not
all things for himself Next when he see 's that of himself he cannot be or be happy and that he depends upon his maker not more for his being than for his bliss he then begins to love God though yet 't is only for himself and his private Interest But when in time upon occasion of his several exigences and wants he is compell'd to seek God for several comsorts and supplies his conversation with the Almighty becomes so customary and natural by his frequenting God's house by his addresses to God in Prayer by getting knowledge out of God's word and by admiring him in his works that what was hitherto but easy does now grow pleasant And so at last having tasted how good and gracious his Maker is he does advance to love God for God's sake only So as nothing does now remain but that degree of perfection in loving God at his being bid to enter into the joy of his Lord when 't is for God's sake alone that he loves Himself And though 't is hard if not impossible whilst we are in this world to love ourselves for God only and not at all for ourselves yet 't is a duty indispensable to love Him especially for himself and far above the consideration that 't is our interest to love him The Reason of it does stand in This that whosoever loves God not especially for God but more especially for himself does by a necessary consequence love himself above God Because in such a case as that God is only one of the objects and himself the final cause or the end of love For if God were that end he would rather love himself for God than God for himself And that for which we love any thing must needs be lov'd by us the most of any because it is the very cause meritorious or final for which we love it For propter quod unumquodque tale illud magis is the maxim made use of by S. Austin himself upon this occasion And therefore he that loves God not so much for Gods sake as for the sake of somewhat else which either comes from or depends upon him such as the comforts of this life or the Promises of the next does indeed but use God and injoy the Creature And how much soever he may appretiate or put a value in his judgment on what he uses yet no doubt he loves most what he most injoyes Bonaventure made it a wonder how 't was possible for a man not to love that Creator with all his Heart who when he might have left him without a being or have made him either a Toad or any other sort of Animal was rather pleas'd to make him capable to understand and to love and injoy his Maker yea and when man had even forfeited all his Interest in God by an abuse of those Favors conferred upon him was farther pleas'd to reconcile and appease himself not by accelerating our miserie but by providing for our Amendment suppose saith Bonaventure thou hadst but lost one of thine Eyes which is a very small part of thy outward man couldst thou abstain from loving Him with a perfect love who should not only find it out but put it again into thine Head too and not only so but make it as useful to thee as ever How then canst thou forbear to love the Lord Iesus Christ with an equal Love who when thou hadst lost thy whole self both Soul and Body had both the kindness and the skill to find thee out and to restore thee and to make thee as much as ever a Vessel of Honour and Immortality Certainly nothing can make thee able not to love him for himself and with all thy soul unless thy want of converse and Acquaintance with him For as the Fire of thy Affection if fed with any unclean Fewel produces nothing with its ardour but smoak and stentch so if the fewel it feeds upon shall be pure and spiritual it will yield both a bright and refreshing Flame And if the love converts the Lover into the Nature of the thing that is dearly lov'd 't is plain that such as is the object such must also be the Act and the Agent too To fix thy love upon the world is ipso facto to be a worldling To fix thy love upon Christ is ipso facto to be a Christian. And to be really a Christian is to be such a one as Christ. For both he that Sanctifieth and they that are Sanctified are all of one And thence He is not ashamed to call them Brethren Heb. 2. 11. Nay he is not asham'd to own them in a more intimate Relation than that of Brethren For by vertue of that unitive and inebriating love which our mystical Theologists are wont to speak of real Christians and Christ do interchangeably inhabit the one the other They do dwell and abide not only with but in each other They in Him and He in Them as both Himself and S. Iohn that Disciple of his Bosom do oft assure us And since 't is so that our Bodies are call'd his Members 1 Cor. 6. 15. Sure our Souls cannot want much of being transfus'd into Himself For S. Paul saith expresly to shew how Christ is to the Christian just as the Bridegroom to the Bride that as the Husband and the wise are made one flesh so he that is joyned to the Lord is ipso facto one spirit 1 Cor. 6. 17. The Apostles word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he that is caemented or solder'd ferruminated or glued that is to say he that cleaveth to the Lord Iesus Christ as fast as one board of Firr cleaves to another to which 't is glued in so much that you may burn them but can never break them asunder 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He is one and the same spirit as his own Blessed spirit is pleas'd to phrase it that is he minds the same things which his beloved Lord minds desires the same things that his Lord desires Injoyes and suffers after the measure that his Lord suffers and Injoyes In a word he hath such an union as is expresst by an Identity since he that cleaveth to the Lord is not only said to have but to B E one spirit S. Bernard speaks it more than once in a very bold Paraphrase Divino ebriatus amore animus oblitus sui factusque sibi ipsi tanquam vas perditum totus pergit in Deum adhaerens Deo unus cum eo spiritus fit The mind saith he being drunk with the love of God and grown forgetful of itself yea wholly lost unto itself and all its secular concernments does so pass over into God as to become one spirit not only one in itself but one with God 'T is true the Father there speaks touching that last degree of Love whereby the Soul is so transported with the converse of its beloved as to be emptied out of itself and in a manner quite annull'd
are to argue à minori ad majus For if our Love must extend thus to Enemies how much more to such as are friends friends to our Persons and to our God too The love of Christ had degrees and so must ours As the Apostle tells us of Christ he is the Saviour of all but especially of them that believe so the very same Apostle does also tell us of our selves we must do good unto all men but especially to them who are of the houshold of faith And even of those that are faithful a primary care is to be taken for them that are of our own Countrey It was not only for Gods sake that David was kind unto Ierusalem but for his Brethren and Companions sake he prayed to God for her and did his utmost to do her good Psal. 122. 8. Our Saviour being himself an Israelite did ‖ prefer the lost sheep of the House of Israel How kind was Moses to His Countreymen when he became for their sakes extremely cruel unto Himself Lord saith he if thou wilt forgive their Sin and if not blot me I pray thee out of the book which thou hast written Exod. 32. 32. As if salvation it self could hardly please him unless his Countreymen might have it as well as He. Nor was the passion of S. Paul inferiour to it who for the love he bare unto His Countreymen whom he calls his brethren and kinsmen according to the flesh was ready to wish himself accursed and utterly c̄ut off from the body of Christ. Rom. 9. 2. As if he car'd not what became of him so that his Countreymen might be sav'd Sect. 12. But many times our neerest Countreymen may become our worst Neighbors and in respect of their Religion dwell farthest off too To a man born in Iudaea a good Samaritan ought to be dearer than an hard-hearted Iew. S. Paul and the Christians of Thessalonica were never us'd with more rigour than by the men of their own Countrey And our Saviours words are very remarkable that except it be in his own Countrey a Prophet is never without honour Matt. 13. 57. But let him be in his own Countrey and he hath no honour at all John 4. 44. Christ himself had least there and there he did the fewest Miracles but that he did not more there than in other places the only Cause was their unkindness Sect. 13. This is therefore the firmest Bond whereby to hold us together in peace and love not that we are of one Countrey but that we are of one Christ And can say of our selves with better reason than it was anciently said of the Lomnini that in all our bodies there is no more than one soul or to express it with S. Paul that we have all but one Faith one Baptism one Spirit one Lord one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in us all Eph. 4. 4 5 6. If we will manifest to the world and prove convincingly to our selves that we are really the Followers and Friends of Christ. It must be by a burning and shining Love A love of men and not of God only And a Love of men it must be in which the true Love of God is not excluded but presuppos'd Not a love of our selves only condemn'd so much by the Apostle but a Love of others as our selves if not as much yet as well if not in that measure yet in the very same manner in which we are obliged to love our selves And it must be Dilectio Amoebaea a mutual Love a giving and taking of affections Indeed rather than fail we must pledge them in Love who do begin to us in hatred But to make up such a Love as is especially here requir'd such as with which the blessed Apostles did once adorn both the Doctrin and the Discipleship of Christ It must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Love interchanged with one another For in how many things soever there may be a seemingness of Religion S. Iames assures us that it's Purity does consist in these two the relief of the needy in their Afflictions and the keeping our selves unspotted from the world Nor can we be told a better course either for brevity or clearness whereby to be possessed of both together than that of measuring and dealing our love to others by such a natural proportion as we have commonly for ourselves For this is perfectly the scope of that Law to which as Christians we must be subject I say we must so much the rather because what soever a man soweth that shall he reap And with what measure we mete it shall be measur'd to us again As 't is the mercy of good men which is said to triumph over Gods Iudgment so there is Iudgment without mercy for them that shew little or none Sect. 14. The chiefest requisites of our Love must be Sincerity and Fervour As S. Paul speaks to the Romans we must be kindly affectioned one towards another so as our love may be brotherly and without dissimulation Rom. 12. 9 10. we must not be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 double-sould men Jam. 1. 8. but carry our meaning in our foreheads and hold our hearts in our hands Not love in word neither in Tongue but in deed and in Truth We must not look every man at his own things only but every man at the things of others Phil. 2. 4. If we are owners of such a love as is a Testimony and proof of our real Discipleship under Christ The same mind will be in us which was in Christ Iesus Phil. 2. 5. And if so we shall be ready to stoop as he did to the meanest offices of love even to wash and to wipe the very feet of our Inferiors we shall willingly bear one anothers burdens Gal. 6. 2. by love serving one another Gal. 5. 13. And in honour preferring one another Rom. 12. 10. Nay if the same mind be in us which was in Christ Jesus as S. Paul tells us it ought to be our love will be so Intensive as to make us lay down our lives for the Brethren And so S. Iohn tells us we ought to do 1 Iohn 3. 16. Sect. 15. If no diviner love of one another were meant by our Saviour under the Gospel then what was so frequently exacted under the paedagogie of Moses our Saviour certainly would have said An Old Commandment I give unto you it having been said to them of old Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self Levit. 19. 18. But here he calls it a New Commandment which we cannot imagin he would have don had there been nothing in its subject but what was old No he might very well call it a New Commandment not only for that reason which I find given by S. Austin because it prescribes us such a love as by which we cast off the old man and put on the new but because it prescribes