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<DATE>2010-12-07</DATE>
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<NAME>Judith Siefring</NAME>
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<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
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<P>The LIFE of a CHRISTIAN WHICH IS A Lamp kindled and lighted from the Love of Chri&s;t, and mo&s;t naturally di&s;covereth its Origi|nal, by the purity, integrity and fervency of its motion, in love to its fellow-partners in the &s;ame life. Briefly di&s;played in this its peculiar and di&s;tingui&s;hing &s;train of Operation. As al&s;o &s;ome few Catechi&s;tical Que&s;tions concerning the way of Salvation by <HI>CHRIST.</HI> Together with a Po&s;t-&s;cript about Religion.</P>
<P>By ISAAC PENINGTON, <HI>(junior)</HI> <ABBR>E&s;q</ABBR>.</P>
<Q><BIBL><HI>John 13.34, 35.</HI></BIBL>
<P>A new Commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another, as I have loved you, that ye al&s;o love one another.</P>
<P>By this &s;hall all men know that ye are my Di&s;ciples, if ye have love one to another.</P></Q>
<P><HI>LONDON,</HI> Printed by <HI>John Macock,</HI> for <HI>Lodowick Lloyd,</HI> and <HI>Henry Cripps,</HI> and are to be &s;old at their &s;hop in
<HI>Popes-head</HI> Alley, neer <HI>Lumbard-&s;treet.</HI> 1653.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="preface">
<PB REF="3">
<PB REF="3">
<HEAD>The Preface.</HEAD>
<P>_THe mo&s;t excellent kind of things is hid, and tho&s;e kinds which appear, in their greate&s;t worth and excel|lency are but vails to that life wherein lieth our happine&s;s. Mi|&s;erable were the e&s;tate of man, could he enter into that e&s;tate of life which he de&s;ireth and &s;eeketh to enjoy; but more mi&s;erable is his condition, in that he is not only fallen &s;hort of that glory which is perfectly &s;a|tisfactory in God, but of that glory which belongs to him to adore and &s;olace him&s;elf in, in his e&s;tate and condition. All Truth is a &s;hadow except the la&s;t, ex|cept the utmo&s;t: yet every Truth is true in its kind. It is &s;ubstance in its own place, though it be but a &s;hadow in another place, (for it is but a reflection from an inten&s;er &s;ubstance:) and the &s;hadow is a true &s;ha|dow, as the &s;ubstance is a true &s;ubstance. But this is the exceeding great mi&s;ery of man, he meets not with Truth either in &s;ubstance or &s;hadow, but (that which the world is full of) vanity, a lye, a fiction of his own heart and the Devils, in imitation of the Truth of <PB REF="4"> God: A Doctrine of his own framing out of the Scrip|tures, Graces of his own forming in his Soul, and a Wor&s;hip and Ordinances of his own creating for his publique or private Devotion. And yet &s;uch hath al|ways been the thick darkne&s;s of man, that he could ne|ver &s;ee the lye (though never &s;o palpable) in his right hand. When the light &s;hineth, we &s;hall all &s;ee where we are; but in the dark who is it that doth not mi&s;take! We are all ju&s;tifying our &s;elves and condemning one ano|ther, but who is it that &s;hall be found able to &s;tand before the righteous Judgment of God? who is it in whom the true light and life of God is &s;own, and in whom doth it truly &s;pring up and &s;hoot forth?</P>
<P>Surely if ever there was need of provoking one ano|ther to love and good works, the &s;ea&s;on is now proper: Religion is grown &s;o outward, and hath &s;pread forth into &s;uch various forms, plea&s;ing it &s;elf &s;o much in that dre&s;s which it mo&s;t affects, that the inward &s;ub&s;tantial part, <HI>viz.</HI> the life and power of it, is almo&s;t lo&s;t in the varieties of &s;hapes and &s;hadow: The excre&s;cencies of Religion are become &s;o exuberant, that the vigor of it is much drawn from the heart. I profe&s;s I can hardly blame men for growing out of love with Religion, both it and the Pro|fe&s;&s;ors of it being grown &s;o unlike what it and they once were, and &s;till pretend to be. The worth of Religion con|&s;i&s;teth not in a name or profe&s;sion, but in &s;uch a life, power, righteou&s;ne&s;s and holine&s;s as the &s;pirit of man, with all the art and &s;trength of man, cannot attain. Where this is and appears in truth, it will gain e&s;teem in the &s;pirits, hearts and con&s;ciences of men; whereas a name and profe&s;sion of Religion, falling &s;hort of the truth and &s;ubstance of that common righteou&s;ne&s;s and good-will <PB REF="4"> which is found in man, cannot but mo&s;t de&s;ervedly become a reproach. Love, true love, the love of Chri&s;t (&s;own and &s;pringing up) is the life of true Religion; which as it is like the love in Chri&s;t, &s;o it will appear and act like it. This love being of a deep inten&s;e and mo&s;t pure na|ture, goeth forth with mighty &s;trength and entirene&s;s to|wards the fountain of life from which it came, and to|wards all the branchings forth of this life into &s;uch as are changed and renewed by it: nay it extends it &s;elf to all men, even the greate&s;t enemies, ble&s;sing them that cur&s;e, and wi&s;hing well to them that u&s;e the &s;ubjects of it in the mo&s;t de&s;pightful manner; nay to all creatures, expre&s;sing it &s;elf in &s;weetne&s;s, meekne&s;s, tenderne&s;s, pity, mercifulne&s;s, and in what way el&s;e &s;oever it can vent it &s;elf in doing good to any &s;orts of things, per&s;ons or creatures. This love in its way of acting (according to the pattern) to the hou&s;hold of faith, is in part here de&s;cribed and expo&s;ed for the view of &s;uch as may &s;tand in need of &s;uch an help, and &s;hall find hearts to make u&s;e of it.</P>
<P>And now Sirs, ye that profe&s;s Chri&s;tianity, look to your &s;pirits, Watch and keep your garments clo&s;e about you, le&s;t the Lord di&s;cover your nakedne&s;s, and men &s;ee your &s;hame. Little do ye think what the Lord is in doing. This great noi&s;e which ye have heard is not for nothing. Life is &s;unk into the root: The branches are withered, and a purifying fire will not now &s;erve the turn. God, as he can embrace where it may &s;eem impo&s;sible, even that which was utterly ca&s;t off and lo&s;t for ever; &s;o he can throw away that which &s;eemeth &s;aved, he can ca&s;t off that which &s;eemeth united to him in a link of perpetuity: God can both rai&s; up from among the &s;tones children unto <HI>Abraham,</HI> cau|&s;ing them to &s;it down with <HI>Abraham, I&s;aac</HI> and <HI>Jacob</HI> in <PB REF="5"> the Kingdom; and likewi&s;e keep out the children of the Kingdom, nay thru&s;t them out of that Kingdom whereof they have already po&s;&s;e&s;sion in part: Ye have had the ex|periment of this already in the Jews, take heed of it the &s;e|cond time. But ye will &s;ay, the natural people were but a type or &s;hadow, and &s;tood upon other terms then the &s;piri|tual &s;eed did, and therefore that might very well befall them which cannot befall the&s;e. This is very true in it &s;elf, though not true as it is under&s;tood and applyed. They are not the &s;piritual &s;eed which account them&s;elves &s;o, but tho&s;e whom God maketh &s;o by the generating vertue of his own Spirit, and yet tho&s;e that are the &s;piritual &s;eed (or rather they in whom the &s;piritual &s;eed is) may fall in their outward &s;tation, and &s;o lo&s;e that life and &s;weetne&s;s which they had in their &s;tanding. But I &s;hall not at this time di&s;pute the ca&s;e, All that I &s;hall now &s;ay to you is, Look to your feet, Look to your &s;tanding, Look well to the Rock whereupon ye bottom your Souls, and look that ye be well bottomed on that Rock, le&s;t either your bottom fail under you, or the boi&s;terou&s;ne&s;s of a wind ye have not yet been acquainted with, &s;hake you from it. He who is not well rooted in the Truth, may ea&s;ily be &s;haken from the Truth: and he who&s;e root is not good will certainly be cut down root and all, when the Ax is layd to him. If the Lord have a time to pluck up what he him&s;elf hath planted, to break down what he him&s;elf hath built, alas what will be|come of the plantations and fabricks of man in his own &s;pirit, when the Lord &s;hall come to deal with him! O Sirs, Look to your &s;elves, Look to your Life, Look to your Salvation, Look to your Happine&s;s, Look to your Crown. Think of that advice which was given to the Gentiles upon this very con&s;ideration, wherewith I &s;hall <PB REF="5"> conclude this Preface: <HI>BE NOT HIGH-MINDED,</HI> (Be not over-conceited of the excellency of your own light, Do not pu&s;h with your horns at others, Be not always &s;o bu&s;ie in engaging the powers of this world again&s;t your poor afflicted brethren, nay do not &s;o much as judg them in your own &s;pirits; ye are not to &s;it in the &s;eat of Judment to judg others, but to come to the throne of Judgment your &s;elves to have &s;entence pa&s;&s;ed upon your light, upon your life, up|on your heart, and all the motions of it, which are not yet ju&s;tified, how ju&s;tifiable &s;oever in your own eyes,) <HI>BUT FEAR,</HI> fear what the Lord can do, fear what the Lord may do, fear what the Lord will do. Be not exalted above others, but fear concerning your &s;elves. Be not proud be|cau&s;e of your pre&s;ent &s;tation, but fear your fall. Lift not up your &s;elves above others in your own &s;pirits, but throw down your &s;elves at his feet who is a laying all flat, becau&s;e he finds &s;o much fault with every height, that he will have nothing exalted any more; and this ye will find your be&s;t &s;ecurity in the cloudy and dark day, which how far &s;oever ye may put from you, or how far &s;oever it may &s;eem from you, maketh ha&s;te.</P>
</DIV1>
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<DIV1 TYPE="part">
<PB REF="6">
<PB N="1" REF="6">
<HEAD>THE Life of a Chri&s;tian.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<BIBL><HI>JOHN 15.12.</HI></BIBL>
<Q><P>This is my Commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_CHri&s;t being now to leave his Di&s;ciples, (his time drawing very near) begins to break the matter to them, to let them under&s;tand the
<HI>nece&s;sity</HI> of his <HI>departure</HI> from them, and to prepare them for tho&s;e <HI>directions</HI> he was about to give them, how to behave them&s;elves in <HI>this world</HI> during his <HI>ab&s;ence.</HI></P>
<P>In the 33 Ver&s;e of the 13 Chap. He tells them he mu&s;t be with them but a little while, and what he &s;aid to the <HI>Jews</HI> they &s;hould find true al&s;o, namely, that he was going whither they could not follow him.
<PB N="2" REF="7"> <HI>Little children, yet a little while I am with you: Ye &s;hall &s;eek me, and as I &s;aid unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye can|not come; &s;o now I &s;ay unto you.</HI></P>
<P>The whole 14 Chapter is taken up with this argu|ment, wherein he explaineth unto them many things a|bout it. The <HI>end</HI> of his going, Ver&s;. 2. <HI>I go to prepare a place for you.</HI> The <HI>certainty of his return</HI> to them, Ver&s;. 3. <HI>And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto my &s;elf, that where I am, there ye may be al&s;o.</HI> Their own <HI>knowledg</HI> both concerning the place whither he was going and the way thither, which if they could retire inwardly enough into their own &s;pi|rits, they would be &s;en&s;ible of, Ver&s;. 4. <HI>And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.</HI> His <HI>care</HI> of them in the time of his ab&s;ence, that they &s;hould want nothing, but have what ever they can de&s;ire, he would &s;peed all their prayers, nay he would fulfil them him&s;elf, Ver&s;. 13, 14. <HI>What&s;oever ye &s;hall ask in my Name, that will I do.</HI> Neither would he leave them de&s;titute here on Earth, but &s;end his entire&s;t bo&s;om Friend to dwell continually in their bo&s;oms, Ver&s;. 16. <HI>And I will pray the Father, and he &s;hall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever:</HI> Who &s;hould do great things for them, Ver&s;. 26. <HI>He &s;hall teach you all things, and bring things to your remembrance, what&s;oever I have &s;aid unto you.</HI> La&s;tly he would give them a very rich ble&s;&s;ing at his parting, given after &s;uch a manner of way as the world cannot give, Ver&s;. 27. <HI>Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth, give I unto you: let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.</HI> Hereupon he tells them how they ought to part with him, with what temper of &s;pirit, which love to him upon a right under|&s;tanding would work in them, namely with joy and not <PB N="3" REF="7"> with grief. For we willingly, readily and joyfully part with that, which we entirely love, for its advancement, e&s;pecially if it be very great, and al&s;o very beneficial to us. This he urgeth, Ver&s;. 28.
<HI>Ye have heard how I &s;aid unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoyce, becau&s;e I &s;aid, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater then I.</HI></P>
<P>Now there are two things Chri&s;t mo&s;t e&s;pecially bends him&s;elf to urge upon them, to leave imprinted on their &s;pirits at his departure. The one relates to <HI>Faith,</HI> the other to <HI>Obedience:</HI> That they would look to their Faith, and to their Obedience: that they would beleeve on him, and keep his Commandments. He had bid them look to their Faith in the fir&s;t Ver&s;e of this 14 Chap. <HI>Beleeve in God, and beleeve in me.</HI> And he had bid them look to their Obedience, in a very af|fectionate &s;train of expre&s;&s;ion, Ver&s;. 15. <HI>If ye love me, keep my Commandments.</HI> If ye love me, do it. If ye love me, ye will do it. His commands are ever forcible with us, whom we entirely love. He followeth this con&s;ideration, being a very clo&s;e one, Ver&s;. 21, 23, 24. profe&s;&s;ing that he that loveth cannot but do this, that he that doth this doth love, that he that doth not love cannot do this, and he that doth not this doth not love.</P>
<P>In this 15 Chapter he proceeds to urge both again. He begins with Faith, Ver&s;. 4. <HI>Abide in me, and I in you.</HI> I have told you the&s;e things that ye might beleeve, (Chap. 14. 29.) and I am your <HI>Vine</HI> whereinto ye are ingrafted, from and in whom ye have your life; <HI>abide in me.</HI> When I depart from you with my bodily pre|&s;ence, do not let your faith depart from me, but as ye came to me by faith, &s;o &s;tay with me by faith: <HI>abide in <PB N="4" REF="8"> me, and I in you:</HI> &s;tay in me by faith, and keep me in you by faith. He pre&s;&s;eth this upon them from divers con&s;iderations, as fir&s;t there is no bringing forth of fruit el&s;e, Ver&s;. 4. <HI>As the branch cannot bear fruit of it &s;elf, except it abide in the Vine: no more can ye, except ye abide in me.</HI> Secondly, without this ye will be in danger of your Souls, nay of a truth ye will mi&s;carry, Ver&s;. 6.
<HI>If a man abide not in me, he is ca&s;t forth as a branch, and is withered, and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.</HI> As faith declines, life wa&s;tes, and the Soul runs further and further into the danger of the fire, which by faith alone is avoyded. Thirdly, Hereby ye may have what ye will. <HI>If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you,</HI> if your faith remain, and your obedience al&s;o, <HI>ye &s;hall ask what ye will, and it &s;hall be done unto you.</HI> And therefore he bids them al&s;o look to their Obedience, for that was the way both to glorifie God, Ver&s;. 8. and to abide in the love of Chri&s;t, Ver&s;. 9, 10. <HI>As the Father hath loved me, &s;o have I loved you: conti|nue ye in my love. If ye keep my Commandments, ye &s;hall abide in my love: even as I have kept my Fathers Com|mandments, and abide in his love.</HI> Not as if <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> did love them &s;imply for their obedience, no more then God did love him for his obedience &s;imply: but as this was the way wherein the power of the Father led him to remain in the love of the Father, &s;o this is the way Chri&s;ts power guides them in to abide in his love: for God and Chri&s;t mu&s;t be ju&s;t in di&s;pen&s;ing their love even to their own, according to the Rule of that di&s;pen&s;ation which they &s;et up, and under which they put their own.</P>
<P>Now Chri&s;t tells them plainly <HI>ver&s;.</HI> 11. the ground why he did thus vehemently urge the&s;e things upon <PB N="5" REF="8"> them, which was double. 1. That his joy might remain in them, that that joy which he had in them from their obedience in and unto the faith might re|main, that he might &s;till find the &s;ame cau&s;e of joy in them. 2. That their joy which they had in him might be filled, that they might have not only joy, but ful|ne&s;s of joy in Chri&s;t, which ari&s;eth from the other, for our joy in Chri&s;t is filled from Chri&s;ts joy in us: When he delights in us, in our &s;tate, temper, and mo|tions, in the di&s;pen&s;ation wherein he &s;ets us, then he &s;preadeth him&s;elf abroad &s;o &s;weetly and plea&s;antly in us, as cau&s;eth us abundantly to delight in him: both the&s;e are mentioned in the 11
<HI>ver&s;. The&s;e things have I &s;poken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.</HI> As if he had &s;aid: 'Tis true, though ye &s;hould be negligent of the&s;e things, and run into great dangers thereby, yet I might bring you to Heaven at la&s;t; nay I would not lo&s;e you: but I &s;hould have no great delight in you here, nor would ye take any great delight in me, neither would God get any great honour by you, (according to
<HI>ver&s;e</HI> 8.) But now, I would not on|ly bring you to Heaven at la&s;t, but take great de|light in you here, and fill your hearts with joy too, and therefore would I have you abide in me, and keep my Commandments, which is the only way thereunto; The&s;e are the very ends that I &s;o pre&s;s the&s;e things thus earne&s;tly upon you for. Now if ye would know what Commandments I mean, this is it I chiefly intend, namely of love one to another. <HI>This is my commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you.</HI></P>
<P>In the words we may take notice of three par|ticulars.</P>
<P N="1"><PB N="6" REF="9">1. The <HI>Command</HI> it &s;elf.
<HI>That ye love one ano|ther.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. The <HI>rule</HI> of this command, the rule whereby the love that an&s;wers this command mu&s;t be &s;quared, and that is Chri&s;ts love, it mu&s;t be &s;quared by the love which Chri&s;t had in him, and which he manife&s;t|ed unto, and exerci&s;ed towards his. <HI>As I have lo|ved you.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. Chri&s;ts peculiar <HI>owning</HI> of both, both of the command and the rule, or of the command according to the rule. <HI>This is my commandment. This is my commandment, that ye love one another, as I have lo|ved you.</HI></P>
<P>To glance a little at the &s;ence of the words.</P>
<P><HI>That ye love one another.</HI></P>
<P><HI>That ye]</HI> Ye my di&s;ciples whom I have cheri&s;hed all my days, and am now about to dye for: for whom I came from Heaven, and for whom I go again to Heaven. <HI>Ye</HI> who were mine before the world was, <HI>Ye</HI> who are mine, and have been mine throughout my whole mini&s;try, <HI>Ye</HI> who &s;hall be mine for ever and ever.</P>
<P><HI>That ye love]</HI> Love in heart, love in word, love in action. Bear a tender affection to them in the bot|tom of your &s;ouls: Speak well of them, and good for them, both to God and men: and do any &s;ervice of love for them. Let them have all the intere&s;t in you, and power with you that love can command. Think it not much to &s;uffer with them, nay to &s;uffer e|ven death it &s;elf for them. Love is the continual drink|ing in, and the continual letting out of de&s;ire, delight and &s;ervice. Our de&s;ire is &s;till after, our delight is &s;till in, our &s;ervice is &s;till about what we love. And love <PB N="7" REF="9"> though it be &s;till bu&s;ie about what it loves, yet it can never drink in enough, nor let out enough towards it. Two things make it un&s;atisfiable, Want of fulne&s;s to vent upon its love, and want of ability and skill to vent what it hath upon its love.</P>
<P><HI>One another,]</HI> This is the extent, the bounds of this love, it mu&s;t reach to all that belong to Chri&s;t: and it is no difficult matter, no hard task, for it is only to them that have the &s;ame image, the &s;ame nature, the &s;ame life, the &s;ame beginning, the &s;ame end. If thou love&s;t thy &s;elf aright, if thou love&s;t Chri&s;t aright, then thou wilt al&s;o love the&s;e who are truly part of thy &s;elf, and part of Chri&s;t. I know the world will hate you, and I do not bid you love it, for there is none of this kind of loveline&s;s in it, no|thing in them to receive this love, nothing in them for you to fa&s;ten this love upon, but I bid you love one another. The world is not to draw forth your love, not to partake of this love, be it never &s;o excellent: nor mu&s;t any of the&s;e mi&s;s of it, be they never &s;o weak, never &s;o vile.</P>
<P><HI>As I have loved you.]</HI> Ju&s;t as I have cau&s;ed my heart to go forth toward you, as I have ever been tender of you, and pa&s;&s;ed by all manner of weakne&s;|&s;es in you, as I have ever thought well of you my &s;elf, and &s;poke well of you to the Father, not taking no|tice of any of your &s;ins or frailties further then for your good, as I have performed all manner of &s;ervi|ces to you, I have de&s;cended that ye might a&s;cend, I have fallen that ye might ari&s;e, I have not &s;tuck at giving my very life for you, and all my &s;trength and glory to you, &s;o true, &s;o great, &s;o &s;trong hath my love unto you been: even &s;o after this manner do ye
<PB N="8" REF="10"> kindle affections and &s;o act them one towards ano|ther.</P>
<P><HI>This is my commandment,]</HI> This is that command|ment which is properly mine. This is that command|ment which of all other I will own. This is that e&s;pecial commandment, which God in this his mini|&s;tration by me towards you, giveth you. This is that commandment, which my &s;oul, which my heart, which my nature is mo&s;t in. This is that which I mo&s;t de&s;ire to find in you, which I from my &s;elf, from my own heart and &s;oul enjoyn you.
<HI>This is my command|ment. Thou &s;halt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy &s;oul, and thy neighbor as thy &s;elf:</HI> the&s;e were <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> commandments, but <HI>that ye love one another,</HI> this is my commandment. That man &s;hould love the Lord who made him, and his neigh|bor whom he made like him: that the Jews &s;hould love God who made them in that their di&s;pen&s;ation a ve&s;&s;el of Glory beyond all Nations, and that they &s;hould love their fellow-brethren in that di&s;pen&s;ation, yea and in nature too; This was <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> command|ment. But that he who hath the &s;eed of the new-life in him, &s;hould love him who is a partner with him in the &s;ame life, This is Chri&s;ts commandment. The love to this brotherhood is from the nature and by the com|mand of Chri&s;t.</P>
<P>The words do naturally and plainly &s;ignifie and hold forth thus much unto us.</P>
<P>Ob&s;erv. <HI>That for the Saints or Di&s;ciples of Chri&s;t to love one another, upon &s;uch grounds and in &s;uch a way as he loved them, is a thing his heart is very much upon.</HI></P>
<P>It is the main thing he hath commended to them, <PB N="9" REF="10"> it is the great injunction he hath layn upon them. As it was the e&s;pecial Command which God gave Chri&s;t, to love his Saints, and that which his heart was mo&s;t upon of all the Commands which ever he gave him; which if he had neglected, the keeping of all the re&s;t would have been of no value: So it is the e&s;pecial Command which Chri&s;t hath given to his people, and which he mo&s;t eyeth them in, that they love one ano|ther. <HI>This is my Commandment.</HI> Among all the Com|mandments I have di&s;pen&s;ed to you, I &s;hall ob&s;erve you mo&s;t in this. Ye mu&s;t keep them all to remain in my love, ver&s;. 10. but this is the mo&s;t principal of them all; this is that which I under&s;tandingly and mo&s;t affecti|onately give you in e&s;pecial charge as mine: <HI>This is my Commandment.</HI></P>
<P>To evidence how much the heart of Chri&s;t is in this Commandment, we need go no further then this place for the illu&s;tration and demon&s;tration of. Con&s;ider but his giving out the Commandment; ob&s;erve but the circum&s;tances of it, and it will very clearly ap|pear.</P>
<P>There are three things very ob&s;ervable about it. <HI>The time</HI> of his giving it out, <HI>The manner</HI> of his giving it out, and
<HI>his vehement pre&s;sing of it,</HI> both then at his fir&s;t en|joyning of it, and again and again in this his farewel Sermon.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, For <HI>the time,</HI> There are two things eminent in that.</P>
<P>One is, in that it was when his love had been well grown towards them, after it had had long duration and frequent exerci&s;e, this was particularly taken no|tice of by this Evangeli&s;t ju&s;t before his relation of it, Chap. 13. 1. Having loved them con&s;tantly, having <PB N="10" REF="11"> loved them from fir&s;t to la&s;t, having loved them as his own with a love &s;uitable in &s;trength to the relation, having thus loved them unto the very end, what doth he for them? how doth he &s;hew it? Why he addre&s;&s;|eth him&s;elf to the impo&s;ing of this Command in the mo&s;t engaging manner that could be, as may be read in the following Ver&s;es.</P>
<P>The other is, that it was ju&s;t afore his pa&s;&s;ion, when he was about to do the greate&s;t act of love for them that could be done, (for greater love could no man &s;hew, as he tells them, Chap. 15. 13.) and an&s;werably had been &s;trengthening his affections towards them, that he might do it the more willingly; even then, when his heart was mo&s;t operative in love towards them, then he gives out this Command, as it is ob&s;erved by this Evangeli&s;t <HI>John,</HI> Chap. 13. 1. <HI>Now before the fea&s;t of the Pa&s;&s;over, when Je&s;us knew that his hour was come, that he &s;hould depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. And Supper being ended, &amp;c.</HI> Having his eye upon his Pa&s;&s;ion, and his heart upon his Di&s;ciples, for whom he was to dye, and whom he was now to leave, the &s;trength of his Soul works it &s;elf out in love to|wards them, and the &s;trength of his love thus vents it &s;elf, in contriving how he might mo&s;t effectually im|print this Command upon them. Having &s;o great things to &s;uffer, and his eye being upon it, for he <HI>knew that his hour was come,</HI> one would have expected that his thoughts &s;hould have been taken up about them; and &s;o they are, but yet not &s;o as to divert him from his contrivance and di&s;patch of this, which that he &s;hould now be &s;o bu&s;ie and indu&s;trious about, it &s;hews plainly how much his heart was in it.</P>
<P N="2"><PB N="11" REF="11">2. For the manner of his giving out this Command|ment, It is very ob&s;ervable, for it was both by <HI>example,</HI> by
<HI>precept,</HI> and accompanied with <HI>rea&s;on</HI> backing both.</P>
<P N="1">1. It was commended to them by his own <HI>example,</HI> he taught it them by his own <HI>practi&s;e,</HI> which is the mo&s;t effectual way of teaching. He would not barely by word of mouth i&s;&s;ue out this Command, but he &s;ets his own <HI>pattern</HI> fir&s;t before them; He would do it him&s;elf before he would impo&s;e it on them. And his example is very full. For, 1. That &s;ervice of love which now he did &s;et his example before them in, <HI>viz. wa&s;hing the Saints feet,</HI> was one of the lowe&s;t acts of &s;ervice. We are all apt to perform honorable acts of &s;ervice, nay perhaps &s;ome low acts of &s;ervice to them that are far above us in gifts and graces, or to per&s;ons in a &s;ick and weak condition: but to per&s;ons that are in health, and to per&s;ons that are beneath us in degree, love will carry very few to perform &s;uch an office of love as Chri&s;t did here: yet the&s;e Di&s;ciples of Chri&s;t were far below him in the graces and gifts of the Spirit of God, be&s;ides that pre&s;ent relation wherein he &s;tood as <HI>a Lord and Ma&s;ter</HI> unto them. 2. He did it in the lowe&s;t manner, with the towel girded about him, <HI>ver&s;.</HI> 4. as a <HI>&s;ervant,</HI> they &s;itting, and he &s;tanding, <HI>ver&s;.</HI> 12. and in a ready manner, for he ro&s;e from the table to do it, and took the towel, and girded him&s;elf. 3. He did it to <HI>Judas,</HI> who was no Saint, which takes off that great objection which is &s;o ready to ri&s;e in mens &s;pirits, <HI>viz. If I knew he were a Saint I could do it, but I fear he is an hypocrite.</HI> Why Chri&s;t did it to an hypocrite, to one whom he knew to be an hypocrite. That
<HI>Judas</HI> was there, may appear by this, it was not the Pa&s;&s;over
<PB N="12" REF="12"> night, but the night before, Chap. 13. 1. and Chri&s;t af|ter this gives him the &s;op, ver&s;. 26. La&s;tly, he did it, not in the meanne&s;s and lowne&s;s of his &s;pirit, being now ca&s;t down with the &s;ight of that mi&s;ery which was ha&s;tening upon him; but with the view and con&s;ider|ation of his own greatne&s;s, as appears ver&s;. 3. <HI>Je&s;us knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God, He ri&s;eth from &s;upper, &amp;c.</HI> He had not forgot how great he was before this Mini&s;tration, how great he was in this Mini&s;tration, and how great he &s;hould be immedi|ately again, but his eye was fixed upon his glory and greatne&s;s in and from and with God, when he did this to them.</P>
<P N="2">2. There was not only example, but precept added to example (and that again and again) and that in a very &s;weet way, telling them that they ought to do it, and that his doing of it, was but to teach them their duty. It was not nece&s;&s;ary for him to do it, only he cho&s;e this way of imprinting his in&s;truction the better upon them.</P>
<P N="3">3. He adds a forcible rea&s;on, that he being their Lord and Ma&s;ter, and having made known to them his plea|&s;ure, and that both by his own command and pattern, they cannot be excu&s;ed if now they neglect it. Ver&s;. 13, 14, 15, 16. <HI>Ye call me Ma&s;ter and Lord, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. For his vehement pre&s;&s;ing of it. He doth not on|ly lay it before them, but he pre&s;&s;eth it home upon them. 1. He &s;hews them that it is their duty, Ver&s;. 14. <HI>Ye ought al&s;o to wa&s;h one anothers feet.</HI> 2. He tells them, that the meaning of this piece of &s;ervice in this aba&s;ed manner, was to commend it to them &s;o clo&s;ely, that they might not avoyd it, or think much of it: Ver&s;. 15. <PB N="13" REF="12"> <HI>For I have given you an example, that ye &s;hould do, as I have done to you.</HI> 3. By enforcing the rea&s;on of his example, Ver&s;. 16. <HI>Verily, verily I &s;ay unto you, The &s;er|vant is not greater then his Lord; neither he that is &s;ent, greater then he that &s;ent him.</HI> The greate&s;t among the Saints, are &s;uch as are &s;ent by Chri&s;t, and yet they are not greater then Chri&s;t who &s;ent them, and therefore need not think much of that (as of an inferior piece of work) which Chri&s;t did. 4. By pronouncing ble&s;&s;ed|ne&s;s upon them according as they did ob&s;erve it, Ver&s;. 17.
<HI>If ye know the&s;e things, happy are ye if ye do them.</HI> Happy are ye if ye learn from this pattern, if ye take out this copy, if ye practi&s;e the duties of this Law of Love according to it. <HI>The happine&s;s of the Di&s;ciples of Chri&s;t, con&s;i&s;teth much in knowing and practi&s;ing the du|ties of love</HI> (even in the meane&s;t offices of it) <HI>one towards another.</HI> Thus he drives home this duty here.</P>
<P>He urgeth it again in this &s;ame Chap. v. 34. where he calleth it a new Commandment, to &s;et their &s;pirits more eager upon it, <HI>A new Commandment I give unto you.</HI> And what is this new Commandment? <HI>That ye love one another, as I have loved you, that ye al&s;o love one another.</HI> He had been telling them of his departure from them, and that very affectionately in the fore|going Ver&s;e, <HI>Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye &s;hall &s;eek me, &amp;c.</HI> My little children, I mu&s;t leave you, Poor &s;weet babes, poor little brats, I mu&s;t be gone, I cannot &s;tay with you: But when I am gone remember this Commandment (ye little think what &s;weetne&s;s ye will find in it) <HI>that ye love one another,</HI> with the &s;ame love and after the &s;ame manner <HI>as I have loved you;</HI> performing the &s;ame &s;ervices of love with the &s;ame willingne&s;s and delight. And then in the <PB N="14" REF="13"> following Ver&s;e he knocks in another nail to drive it yet more home: <HI>By this &s;hall all men know that ye are my Di&s;ciples, if ye have love one to another.</HI> He makes it the badg of Di&s;ciple&s;hip, that whereby men &s;hould be di|&s;tingui&s;hed to appertain to him, to be retainers to him: <HI>By this &s;hall all men know, &amp;c.</HI> It is a great priviledg and dignity to be known to be a Di&s;ciple to Chri&s;t, to be taken notice of by men as a retainer to Chri&s;t, as one who doth not meerly pretend, but hath indeed learned of him. And <HI>love to the Brethren</HI> (&s;uch love as Chri&s;t expre&s;&s;ed) is an unque&s;tionable character, a di&s;tingui&s;h|ing badg, &s;uch as the world cannot but acknowledg to be a peculiar property of a Di&s;ciple, which you have had from Chri&s;t, and which none el&s;e can attain.</P>
<P>In the 14 Chapter he per&s;wadeth them very affecti|onately to keep his Commandments, Ver&s;. 15, 21, 24. and &s;o again, Chap. 15. 10. <HI>If ye keep my Commandments ye &s;hall abide in my love, &amp;c.</HI> declaring unto them in the next Ver&s;e, that his intent in this vehement Injunction, Exhortation and Per&s;wa&s;ion of his, was entirely for their good: Ver&s;. 11.
<HI>The&s;e things have I &s;poken unto you that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.</HI> And then immediately in the very next words, ver&s;. 12. &s;heweth what Commandment he did chiefly mean all this while, <HI>This is my Commandment, that ye love one another as I have loved you.</HI> The&s;e things I &s;peak, I thus vehemently pre&s;s obedience upon you for your own good, that I might have joy of you (which will be very profitable for you) and your hearts might be full of joy: But this is the Commandment which I principally intend, and which I mo&s;t e&s;pecially expect obedience unto; This is the Commandment which is peculiarly and properly mine, which my joy will be <PB N="15" REF="13"> greate&s;t in &s;eeing ob&s;erved, and the ob&s;ervation of which will conduce mo&s;t towards the filling of your hearts with joy, <HI>This is my Commandment, that ye love one ano|ther, &amp;c.</HI> How he proceeds yet further to fix it upon their &s;pirits by very clo&s;e con&s;iderations in the follow|ing part of the Chapter, as ver&s;. 14. and 17. I &s;hall not need to make mention of, it being already &s;o fully and clearly evidenced. Out of the abundance of the heart, out of the vehemency of his de&s;ire in this particular, hath his mouth uttered all the&s;e things.</P>
<P>For the further opening of it, the&s;e two particulars following are to be enquired into.</P>
<P N="1">1. <HI>How Chri&s;t loved his Saints?</HI> with what kind of love? what his love was, and how it went forth to|wards them? and &s;o we &s;hall &s;ee the rule whereby our love is to be &s;quared one towards another.</P>
<P N="2">2. <HI>Why the heart of Chri&s;t is &s;o much &s;et upon this,</HI> to have his Di&s;ciples thus love one another? why of all other he maketh this his e&s;pecial Commandment?</P>
<P>Touching the former, <HI>What the love of Chri&s;t to Saints was?</HI> or <HI>how Chri&s;t loved his Saints?</HI></P>
<P><HI>Love,</HI> we know, <HI>is that glue which unites things toge|ther</HI> (or, at lea&s;t, makes them de&s;ire, &s;tudy and endeavor union) cau&s;ing them both to wi&s;h well and do well one for another, according to the nature and degree of it. As <HI>hatred</HI> is that which di&s;&s;evers things, and makes them wi&s;h ill and do ill one to another, according to the nature and &s;trength of it: So <HI>love,</HI> which is contrary to it, doth the clean contrary. What maketh God to hold a kind of union with all his creatures, and to wi&s;h well to them, and do good for them, according to their &s;everal ranks, but his love to them in its &s;everal degrees? It is from Gods love that he provideth food <PB N="16" REF="14"> for the creatures, but from a further degree of love that he provideth Redemption for Man, and from a further degree of love yet that he foundeth and fa&s;ten|eth the Union (and univer&s;al Communion) between him and his Elect in Chri&s;t.</P>
<P>Now to &s;earch out this Love, we mu&s;t &s;eek both in|to the
<HI>Nature</HI> of it, what kind of affection it is; and in|to the
<HI>grounds</HI> of it, whereupon it is fa&s;tened; as al&s;o into the
<HI>degree</HI> and <HI>&s;trength</HI> of it, and into its &s;everal
<HI>actings,</HI> and the <HI>manner</HI> of its actings.</P>
<P N="1">I. For <HI>the nature of it.</HI> We know (after our manner of knowledg) that there is a twofold Love: A <HI>natural</HI> love and a
<HI>&s;upernatural,</HI> an <HI>earthly</HI> and an <HI>heavenly.</HI></P>
<P>The <HI>natural love</HI> is that affection which God hath put between creatures from &s;ome &s;uitablene&s;s among them. There is an earthly affection which God hath placed in this Earth towards the things of this Earth, which as they come all out of the &s;ame Earth, &s;o they are a kin and bear a natural affection to one another, though in this hidden &s;tate (even in the things of this world) both the relation and affection is much un|known. There is an univer&s;al love among all creatures (even there where there appeareth an antipathy) from &s;ome general likene&s;s, &s;uitablene&s;s and connaturalne&s;s among them: but this love is more e&s;pecially to be di&s;cerned and taken notice of among creatures of the &s;ame kind.</P>
<P>This love is heightened in man, above all other crea|tures, according to the elevation of his nature. It is a &s;tamp upon his Soul &s;uitable to the nature of his Soul. It is a kind of more &s;piritual glue in him (as his nature is more &s;piritual, whereas it is but a corporeal glue in other creatures) a tincture whereof &s;till remains, <PB N="17" REF="14"> though much defaced in him by his fall, as all his other excellencies of Nature are.</P>
<P>The <HI>&s;upernatural love</HI> is that which grows in Gods own heart, and which he writes with his own finger on the hearts of whom he plea&s;eth, and in what degree he plea&s;eth. It is that love of a &s;piritual nature, which floweth from God the root, into Chri&s;t the &s;piritual man, and &s;o through him into all the &s;piritual branches, which are ingrafted into and grow in God and in Chri&s;t. So that this love mu&s;t needs be of a more ex|cellent, high, pure nature then that which is naturally &s;own, or can naturally grow in the heart of man.</P>
<P>There are all kind of natural excellencies (which are the &s;hadows of the &s;piritual) in man naturally: They are &s;own in the nature of the fir&s;t <HI>Adam,</HI> as the &s;piritual excellencies are in the nature of the &s;econd <HI>Adam.</HI> There is a natural faith in man, whereby man is able to beleeve, upon good arguments layd before him; but yet this is not
<HI>THE FAITH,</HI> this is not <HI>THE HEA|VENLY GIFT.</HI> So there is a natural love in the Soul of man, whereby he cannot but love God, and every thing that is lovely and excellent, (though he cannot but al&s;o hate them in tho&s;e various di&s;pen&s;ations and di&s;coveries of them wherein God &s;till cro&s;&s;eth his fle&s;h|ly wi&s;dom and de&s;ire,) but this is not this love. This love is of a more inward, of a more full, of a more &s;ub|&s;tantial nature then that which groweth in the Soul of man. Now &s;uch was the love of Chri&s;t, of this kind of nature; Not that affection which did naturally be|long to his Soul, but that &s;piritual affection which came into his heart with that &s;pecial grace which God gave him, with that &s;pecial nature which God breathed into him. As his nature was different from the nature
<PB N="18" REF="15"> of <HI>Adam,</HI> &s;o was the faith of it, and &s;o was the love of it. Every thing in him was of the &s;ame &s;tamp with his na|ture. His love was the very &s;piritual image and &s;ub|&s;tance of that love which remains in the heart of God.</P>
<P>This is the nature of it in general, whereby it is di|&s;tingui&s;hed from all things which are not &s;piritual, and more e&s;pecially from that love which is naturally planted in the Soul of man. But now we are to enquire into the nature of it yet further, whereby we may di|&s;tingui&s;h it from all other &s;piritual things. And that may be done by the common properties of love which are peculiar to it in and according to its kind, as by its <HI>de&s;ire of union,</HI> by its <HI>wi&s;hing well to the object beloved,</HI> by its <HI>readine&s;s to do for it, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>There is nothing de&s;ires union but love. <HI>Faith</HI> in|deed unites, but it doth not &s;o de&s;ire union as <HI>love,</HI> it doth not de&s;ire that kind of union which <HI>love</HI> doth. Faith lays hold for help, the de&s;ire of faith is help; but the de&s;ire of love is union. So take
<HI>hope, patience, humi|lity, meekne&s;s,</HI> &amp;c. they have their &s;everal other proper|ties and operations agreeable to their nature, but not this of uniting, they leave this to love. And nothing wi&s;heth well to the object but <HI>love:</HI> Faith wi&s;heth good from the object, Hope expecteth good from the object, but 'tis Love only that wi&s;heth good unto it. And it is love only that acts for it, that acts for the good of it: Faith will make a man work for his own good, but it is love which makes him work for the good of another. It is faith whereby we fa&s;ten on God for our own happine&s;s, but it is love that makes us eye his glory, and work for him: Or if faith al&s;o do this, it is from that influence that love hath upon it, &s;o that &s;till it is love, love in faith, love with faith, love by faith.</P>
<P><PB N="19" REF="15">This then is the love of Chri&s;t, namely that &s;piritual affection planted in his new nature (be&s;ides that affec|tion planted in him as a man) whereby he de&s;ireth uni|on with, and wi&s;heth well to his, and whereby he is rea|dy to do any thing for them.</P>
<P N="2">II. As touching <HI>the grounds</HI> whereupon Chri&s;t lo|veth them, the grounds whereupon this love, which is planted in Chri&s;t, is drawn forth towards them, They are the&s;e.</P>
<P N="1">1. The fir&s;t is <HI>the Fathers love.</HI> God the Father loveth them, and therefore Chri&s;t the Son loveth them al&s;o. As God has writ the &s;ame love in the heart of Chri&s;t, as is in his own, &s;o it goeth forth the &s;ame way. There are two ways wherein the heart of God goeth forth exceedingly, and the heart of Chri&s;t followeth him in both, which are him&s;elf and his people; his own glory, and his peoples welfare: God loveth them both entirely, and Chri&s;t treads in his very &s;teps in each.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, for Gods glory, It was the main thing Chri&s;t aimed at in all he did, his greate&s;t work was to honour his Father, <HI>I honour my Father, and ye di&s;honour me:</HI> and <HI>Joh.</HI> 17.4. <HI>I have glorified thee on Earth, I have fini&s;hed the work which thou gave&s;t me to do:</HI> His glorifying of God he looks upon and ca&s;ts up as the &s;um of all he did or was to do. And if any did wrong his Father, he felt it; <HI>the reproaches of them which reproached thee, fell upon me.</HI> What made him &s;o zealous about the <HI>Temple,</HI> but becau&s;e it was his <HI>Fathers hou&s;e;</HI> which though ex|piring and growing out of date, was as yet his Fathers, and therefore more worthy then to be &s;o prophaned? <HI>The zeal of thine hou&s;e hath eaten me up.</HI> Yea the very end for which he de&s;ired his own glory was, that he <PB N="20" REF="16"> might be the more able to glorifie his Father. <HI>Father, glorifie thy Son, that thy Son al&s;o may glorifie thee.</HI></P>
<P>And for the people of God, Chri&s;ts heart goeth forth in wonderful love towards them. He loved them all his life long even to the very la&s;t: <HI>Joh.</HI> 13.1. <HI>Having loved his own, which were in the world, he loved them un|to the la&s;t.</HI> His heart was ever working towards them, He never thought any thing too good for them, yea he layd down his very life freely for them, and while he was doing it, his thoughts ran more upon them then upon him&s;elf.</P>
<P>God had expre&s;&s;ed perfect love to them, in that he had cho&s;en them as his peculiar trea&s;ure, which he would enrich &s;uitably to him&s;elf, and enjoy in him&s;elf, and make happy with him&s;elf for ever. He cho&s;e Chri&s;t but to bring this about, who in that re&s;pect is beneath them, though as he is the chiefe&s;t part of this trea&s;ure, and the head of it to them, he is far above them. Now Chri&s;t having ju&s;t &s;uch an heart as his Father had, could not chu&s;e but entirely love that which his Father &s;o loved before him. Having the &s;ame love with his Father, he could not chu&s;e but act towards the &s;ame object as his Father did. The love in Chri&s;t is the &s;ame &s;till in him as it was fir&s;t in God, and therefore cannot but behave it &s;elf as the &s;ame.</P>
<P>Chri&s;t doth <HI>what he &s;eeth the Father do:</HI> Now &s;eeing the Father do this &s;o eminently, he cannot but do it as eminently al&s;o. His love is a copy of the Fathers love, and his actings forth of it are a draught of the Fathers actings. This ground Chri&s;t him&s;elf intimates, <HI>Joh.</HI>
17.20. <HI>That the love wherewith thou ha&s;t loved me, may be in them, and I in them.</HI> Chri&s;t de&s;ires perfect union with them, to be perfectly in them, that is the prime <PB N="21" REF="16"> and compleat operation of love: yea but what is the rule whereby, what is the attractive which he de&s;ires might draw him into them? why that he him&s;elf tells you is the Fathers love. Let thy love, the &s;ame love, wherewith thou ha&s;t taken po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of me, take po&s;|&s;e&s;&s;ion of them al&s;o, and then I will immediately come after and dwell in them too. It is from thy love that I love them, and therefore I mu&s;t fir&s;t &s;ee thy love go before, and then I will &s;oon follow. And for this cau&s;e take I &s;uch pains with them, that I might make them a fit habitation for thy love, and then that I my &s;elf might dwell and enjoy them in the &s;ame love, and the &s;ame love in them.</P>
<P N="2">2. Another ground of Chri&s;ts love to them is, <HI>his Fathers will.</HI> His Father gave them him to love, and commanded him to love them, yea and gave him that love wherewith he &s;hould love them. As the Father giveth Chri&s;t to us to love; &s;o he gave us to Chri&s;t to love: And as there are a great many duties we owe Chri&s;t, but love is the main; So of all the duties Chri&s;t did owe us (as to leave all his glory, and come into this world and &s;eek us out, and to dye for us, to ari&s;e for us, to a&s;cend for us, to take po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of our life and inheritance for us in Heaven, and to take care of us here on Earth) love was the main, and that which fitted him for all the re&s;t, even as it fitteth us for all our duties, both towards God, towards Chri&s;t, and towards one another. Yea as this was the e&s;pecial command which Chri&s;t gave us, to <HI>love one another;</HI> &s;o it was the e&s;pecial command God gave Chri&s;t, to <HI>love</HI> us.</P>
<P>In this 15 Chapter of this Go&s;pel of <HI>John,</HI> Chri&s;t telleth his Di&s;ciples, <HI>That if they keep his Command|ments, they &s;hall abide in his love: even as he kept his <PB N="22" REF="17"> Fathers Commandments, and abode in his love.</HI> And of all his Commandments he picks out one pre&s;ently in the 12 Ver&s;e following, as if he would commend it unto us as that which will have the mo&s;t e&s;pecial influence of all, to keep us in his love, which is this of loving one another. Now how cometh Chri&s;t to pick out this of all the re&s;t, but that his Father had &s;et him &s;uch an ex|ample, he had picked it out for him, it was the main thing he had given him in charge, and the main thing he expected from him, as he intimates in the 10 Chapt. of this Go&s;pel, ver&s;. 17. <HI>Therefore doth my Father love me, becau&s;e I lay down my life, that I might take it again.</HI> He had been &s;peaking ver&s;. 15. of laying down his life for the &s;heep, from his knowledg of the Father, from his knowledg of the heart and will of the Father.
<HI>As the Father knoweth me, even &s;o know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the &s;heep.</HI> The Father knoweth me whom he hath entru&s;ted, and I know him who hath entru&s;ted me, and want neither love to him nor them, but lay down my life for them. And other &s;heep he had to take care of, be&s;ides tho&s;e of this fold, which he would take care of al&s;o, ver&s;. 16. Now &s;ays he, <HI>therefore my Father loves me, becau&s;e I lay down my life, that I might take it again.</HI> This is that act of love in me, this is that act of obedience from me to the will and com|mand of the Father, which draweth and engageth the heart of the Father &s;o exceedingly to me. <HI>Therefore my Father loveth me, becau&s;e I lay down my life,</HI> &s;o readily, in &s;uch a way of love, in &s;uch &s;trength of love to my &s;heep, <HI>that I might take it again</HI> to perfect their Salva|tion. So that God gave Chri&s;t this e&s;pecial command, as well as Chri&s;t giveth it us; and his heart was &s;o much in it, that his love went out towards Chri&s;t, as <PB N="23" REF="17"> Chri&s;ts heart went out in love towards his &s;heep: This was the motive, the attractive of the Fathers love to him; <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>therefore</HI> or <HI>for this my Father loveth me, becau&s;e I lay down my life, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>And could God do le&s;s then give Chri&s;t a command to love them, when he gave them him to this very end, and therefore gave them unto him in all &s;uch relations as might draw love, as, <HI>as his brethren (wherefore he is not a&s;hamed to call them brethren) as his own children (behold I and the children which thou ha&s;t given me) as his own</HI> mo&s;t proper
<HI>Spou&s;e,</HI> as the very <HI>natural members</HI> of his own
<HI>body?</HI> What could his meaning be in all this, but that he &s;hould exceedingly love and cheri&s;h them? And &s;urely his Father would never have given them him, unle&s;s he had had very good a&s;&s;urance that he would love them well: And therefore, to put that out of doubt, he gave him love fir&s;t before he gave him them, and when the <HI>Law</HI> was in his bowels, then he calls him forth to take care of them, <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 40.7, 8. God fir&s;t writ the Law of Love in his heart, and then he gave him the&s;e to love. And this is a &s;econd ground which doth much prevail with the heart of Chri&s;t, and would &s;way exceedingly with him, had he no affection of his own unto them: It is his Fathers will and plea|&s;ure, it is the great command of the Father to him, that he &s;hould love them, very truly, fully and heartily, even as the Father loved him. But thirdly.</P>
<P N="3">3. Chri&s;t loveth them becau&s;e of <HI>their relation to the Father and him&s;elf.</HI> They belong to the Father, and they belong to him; they are Gods proper goods, and his proper goods: <HI>Thine they were, and thou gave&s;t them me.</HI> They are <HI>the children of the mo&s;t High, the &s;ons and daughters of his own Father, his brethren and &s;i&s;ters by
<PB N="24" REF="18"> generation; his Spou&s;e, the Spou&s;e which his Father pre|pared for him and brought him, the Spou&s;e which he him|&s;elf purcha&s;ed with his deare&s;t blood.</HI> There is the &s;trength and &s;weetne&s;s of the choyce&s;t relations to draw his love, and the&s;e relations &s;et off too with all the com|mendable accents that can be. Now we know, <HI>Relations carry love with them,</HI> though there be no other ground of love be&s;ides the relation. It is not deformity (or any other unloveline&s;s in others eyes) which can eat out the love of relations. A man loveth his brother, his &s;i&s;ter, his wife, his child; though black, though crooked, though weak in body and mind. And this is another ground why Chri&s;t loveth his, it is becau&s;e they are his and the Fathers, it is becau&s;e of their relation to the Fa|ther and him.</P>
<P N="4">4. There is yet a further ground why Chri&s;t loveth them, which is becau&s;e of <HI>their likene&s;s to him&s;elf and the Father;</HI> becau&s;e his <HI>image</HI> (which is al&s;o the image of the Father) is implanted in them, and &s;hall be perfected upon them.</P>
<P><HI>Likene&s;s</HI> is the greate&s;t attractive of love that can be (for it mo&s;t naturally draweth it forth.) Likene&s;s in nature, likene&s;s in feature, likene&s;s in di&s;po&s;ition, &amp;c. are &s;trong drawers. Now there is the greate&s;t likene&s;s in the Saints to Chri&s;t that can be: There is no &s;uch likene&s;s to him any where el&s;e to be found, and there|fore no &s;uch love can go forth from him any whither el&s;e. They have the &s;ame nature, the &s;ame lineaments, the &s;ame cour&s;e, the &s;ame end with him. They have <HI>grace for grace</HI> with Chri&s;t. They are like to him in eve|ry re&s;pect; There is not one thing admirable in him, but there is the likene&s;s of it in them. Is he <HI>wi&s;e, holy, full of faith, love, all &s;piritual wi&s;dom and excellency?</HI> <PB N="25" REF="18"> why they have not only a &s;hare in the&s;e, but they have al&s;o a copy of them writ on their own hearts. Did he <HI>de&s;cend, &s;uffer, dye? &amp;c.</HI> They follow him in the &s;ame &s;teps, they take the &s;ame cour&s;e with him, and are changed and perfected by him through the&s;e, after the &s;ame manner as he was changed and perfected by his Father (who made him <HI>perfect through &s;ufferings</HI>) 2 <HI>Cor.</HI> 3.18. &s;o that every day they grow more like him. It is no marvel therefore if Chri&s;t love them &s;o, how can he chu&s;e, they being already &s;o far in, and growing &s;o continually further and further into his likene&s;s?</P>
<P>And they are like his Father too: And next like|ne&s;s to our &s;elves, the image of our parents doth ex|ceedingly take us in any: and it takes Chri&s;t as much as his own likene&s;s, becau&s;e he loveth the image of his Father, as well as him&s;elf.</P>
<P>The&s;e are the grounds whereupon the love of Chri&s;t is drawn forth towards the Saints.</P>
<P N="3">III. For <HI>the degree and &s;trength</HI> of it, it is the great|e&s;t that can be. It is not only the mo&s;t excellent kind of love, but it is advanced and drawn forth likewi&s;e to the utmo&s;t kind of degree. He loveth them <HI>with all his heart, and with all his &s;oul.</HI> Greater love there cannot be then Chri&s;ts, nor can love go out with greater &s;trength: And therefore Chri&s;t when he would expre&s;s how he would have us love our brethren to the utmo&s;t degree of our love (of that love God hath placed in us) he bids us love one another as he hath loved us.</P>
<P>The &s;trength of Chri&s;ts love to his appears in the&s;e three things. In his wi&s;hing well to them, in his de&s;ire of union with them, in his readine&s;s to do any thing for them. According to the degree and &s;trength of the&s;e, <PB N="26" REF="19"> is the degree and &s;trength of love. For the&s;e as they flow from love, &s;o they ri&s;e in height, life and vigor ac|cording to the degree and &s;trength of love.</P>
<P N="1">1. The &s;trength of Chri&s;ts love appeareth <HI>in his wi&s;hing well unto them.</HI> We ever wi&s;h good to the party we love, according to the degree of love we bear them: Now Chri&s;t wi&s;heth to his the greate&s;t good that can be. Look what ever is good for them in this world, what ever is good for them in the other world, he wi&s;heth unto them in the fulle&s;t manner and mea&s;ure.</P>
<P>There are three things chiefly good for his <HI>in this world,</HI> in that &s;tation wherein they &s;tand, and in that cour&s;e which they are to run here, which are the&s;e. <HI>Pre&s;ervation from the evil of the world, Communion with their God,</HI> and <HI>to joy in God through him. (Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. It is good for me to draw nigh to God. Rejoyce evermore.)</HI> And all the&s;e he wi&s;heth to his very heartily and fully.</P>
<P>See how vehemently he urgeth that reque&s;t, that God would
<HI>pre&s;erve them from the evil of the world, Joh.</HI> 17. He urgeth it &s;o far, that he is fain to make an apology for it, that it was not &s;o much in reference to him, as to them and their &s;tate; it was not &s;o much to draw the thing down from him, as to draw up their hearts to beleeve the certain de&s;cent of it, Ver&s;. 13.</P>
<P>Then for <HI>Communion with God,</HI> He did not only be|gin it, but he hath taken all ways to pre&s;erve &amp; increa&s;e it. He hath layd the foundation of it between them, he hath entred them into it, and hath appointed Ordinan|ces for the exerci&s;e and continuation of it, that therein God and they might &s;till be meeting. He receives God on the one hand, and them on the other hand, and knits them both in him&s;elf, cau&s;ing them to flow into and
<PB N="27" REF="19"> live in each other. He knows God will abide in him, and thither he bringeth them, and biddeth them abide there al&s;o, <HI>Joh.</HI>
15. that they may &s;till be &s;ucking the &s;weetne&s;s of God through him, that being the only way: for as they come at fir&s;t to enjoy God by Chri&s;t, &s;o they mu&s;t ever draw the &s;weetne&s;s of God through Chri&s;t.</P>
<P>And for <HI>joying in God,</HI> he would always have them be doing it, and therefore leads them the ready way to it, <HI>Joh.</HI> 14.1. <HI>Let not your heart be troubled; beleeve in God, and beleeve in me.</HI> Yea he would have them have full joy, <HI>Joh.</HI> 14.11. <HI>The&s;e things have I &s;poken unto you that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.</HI> Thus he tells them, and he tells God the &s;ame, <HI>Joh.</HI>
17.13. <HI>And now I come to thee: and the&s;e things I &s;peak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in them&s;elves.</HI> I am coming to Heaven to thee, where I &s;hall have joy enough, to <HI>&s;it at thy right hand,</HI> where is <HI>fulne&s;s of joy;</HI> but for all that I &s;hall never be at re&s;t, unle&s;s my Saints on Earth be full of joy al&s;o, and for that very end I &s;peak the&s;e things here at my departure, and pre&s;s thee thus earne&s;tly in their behalf for tho&s;e things which their hearts mo&s;t de&s;ire, and which are mo&s;t nece&s;&s;ary for them, that it might conduce &s;ome|what that way, namely to the filling of their hearts with joy when I am gone.</P>
<P>So likewi&s;e for <HI>the other world,</HI> he wi&s;heth them the be&s;t thing there, <HI>viZ. the full and perfect enjoyment of God.</HI> It was his very <HI>de&s;ign,</HI> and <HI>the very end</HI> for which he underwent all mi&s;eries in this world, to bring them near to God, even into his pre&s;ence, that they might be filled with <HI>all the fulne&s;s of God,</HI> (as every thing, which is there, is,) and he will never leave till it
<PB N="28" REF="20"> be done. This is that he hath undertaken to bring them to in eternal life, or this is that eternal life which he is fitting them for, and will not fail to bring them into, <HI>viz.</HI> the enjoying God in perfection, the perfect enjoy|ing of a perfect God, to enjoy God as he him&s;elf doth, which is as much and as fully as he can be enjoyed: They mu&s;t be
<HI>fellow-heirs,</HI> have the &s;ame <HI>inheritance</HI> with him, the &s;ame <HI>Kingdom,</HI> the &s;ame <HI>Crown,</HI> the &s;ame <HI>Life,</HI> the &s;ame <HI>Glory,</HI> the &s;ame <HI>Immortality,</HI> punctually the very &s;ame inheritance, which inheritance is God, for he is <HI>the &s;ole portion of Chri&s;t and of all his people.</HI> And then &s;hall Chri&s;t <HI>&s;ee of the travel of his Soul and be &s;atisfied</HI> in and concerning his
<HI>&s;eed,</HI> when he hath per|fectly redeemed them, and layd them in the bo&s;om of God, to &s;uck in and enjoy all that is to be enjoyed there: when he hath fitted their hearts to receive God, even the fulne&s;s of God, and hath &s;een the fulne&s;s of God poured out into their hearts, and doth him&s;elf ta&s;te and enjoy it there. The Lord could never re&s;t (in the way of his operation) till he had emptied him&s;elf fully into Chri&s;t, and Chri&s;t can never re&s;t till he hath emptied him&s;elf with all that fulne&s;s into them, and till he hath brought them into him&s;elf, and through him&s;elf into God, and &s;o both ways into all that fulne&s;s. And that God might take delight in them, and be as much with them, and do as much for them as is po&s;&s;ible (in this time and day of &s;eparation and di&s;tance) he plants wa|ters, and cau&s;eth to &s;pring up in them the light, the life, the love of God, and what&s;oever el&s;e God delights to be in and with, both to cheri&s;h with his pre&s;ence, and to fill with his appearance, <HI>Joh.</HI> 17.26.</P>
<P>This is the fir&s;t thing wherein the &s;trength of Chri&s;ts love di&s;covers it &s;elf, <HI>viz. in wi&s;hing well to them:</HI> His
<PB N="29" REF="20"> de&s;ires of their good and welfare are extended to the utmo&s;t degree, and therefore his love from whence they proceed mu&s;t needs be very large.</P>
<P N="2">2. The &s;trength of Chri&s;ts love appeareth further,
<HI>in his de&s;ire of union with them.</HI> Every thing de&s;ireth union with what it loveth, according to the nature and degree of the love it bears: If therefore we would know how &s;trong Chri&s;ts love is, let us &s;ee what kind of de&s;ire of union there is in him.</P>
<P>Now his de&s;ire of union with them is as large as his well-wi&s;hes to them. He de&s;ireth the mo&s;t perfect and compleat union with them that po&s;&s;ibly can be, and as &s;oon as may be. He would have the union pre&s;ent and growing, large and la&s;ting.</P>
<P>Not to follow the&s;e heads particularly, con&s;ider how full an union he de&s;ires and the largene&s;s of his de&s;ire but in the&s;e four re&s;pects.</P>
<P N="1">1. He de&s;ireth to have them <HI>with him,</HI> to have them be where ever he is. If there were a per&s;on whom we could never endure to have out of our &s;ight, but he mu&s;t &s;till be where we were, in the room with us, at board with us, in bed with us; if we could never abide to go any whither or do any thing without that per&s;on, every one (who &s;aw this) would conclude there to be a great &s;trength of affection in us towards that per&s;on. Why thus it is with Chri&s;t: Do the Father what he will for them, take he never &s;o much care of them, &amp;c. it will not &s;erve Chri&s;ts turn, it will not &s;atisfie Chri&s;ts heart, but they mu&s;t be with him, in his Country, in his hou&s;e, at his board, in his bed, they mu&s;t walk up and down with him in the fulne&s;s of the Father. And this little momentany ab&s;ence of his from them, it is meerly out of judgment, knowing it to be good both for him|&s;elf <PB N="30" REF="21"> and them, and for the glory of his Father; but it is as much as his heart can do to bear it. And he profe&s;&s;|edly tells his Father it mu&s;t not be &s;o always, <HI>Joh.</HI>
17.24. <HI>Father, I will that they al&s;o whom thou ha&s;t given me, be with me where I am, &amp;c.</HI> Did ye ever ob&s;erve Chri&s;t to u&s;e &s;uch a manner of praying before, <HI>Father, I will?</HI> as if he had &s;aid, If I would abate &s;omewhat of my for|mer petitions, and &s;hould be content that thou &s;hould&s;t not pre&s;erve them from the evil of the world, but let them tumble a little in the mire, &s;o that thou did&s;t them good by it, Though I might like this well enough, yet this of their being with me I cannot, I will not: <HI>Father, I will.</HI> Thou ha&s;t made me a King, and this is my will and plea&s;ure in reference to them, which I cannot vary from. I mu&s;t have them with me; I do &s;o love them, that I cannot live long here without their company: My glory is no glory to me, unle&s;s they &s;ee and enjoy it with me. If therefore thou meane&s;t to keep me in Hea|ven, thou mu&s;t bring them up to Heaven, for I cannot, I will not live there without them.</P>
<P N="2">2. It will not &s;erve Chri&s;ts turn to have them with him, but he mu&s;t al&s;o have them <HI>in him:</HI> A &s;trange kind of union. What we love we hug in our bo&s;oms. Now as Chri&s;ts love is more inward and inten&s;e then any other love, So he mu&s;t have more inward expre&s;|&s;ions too, he mu&s;t hug them in the in&s;ide of his bo&s;om, They mu&s;t be <HI>in him:</HI> He mu&s;t have them within his very heart, to make much of them there. <HI>Joh.</HI> 17.21. <HI>That they all may be one, as thou Father art in me, and I in thee, that they al&s;o may be one in us.</HI> This de&s;ire, this reque&s;t Chri&s;t putteth up for them all, he would have them all both in God and in him&s;elf. This is the thing he drives at concerning them, and this is the rea&s;on why <PB N="31" REF="21"> he begs &s;o much the care and protection of God over them, in the foregoing part of the Chapter, that they all may at length come to a perfect union in God and in him. Indeed the &s;tation of Beleevers here is in Chri&s;t, they are graffed into him, planted into him, &s;eated in him, in him to abide, and in him to grow, as the branch is in the Vine: But this is not the perfect kind of union, or at lea&s;t not perfect in its kind, they are not all thus in him, nor are any, that are but thus in him, perfectly in him. There is a &s;weeter, a fuller, a com|pleater being and abiding in him, which he longeth and prayeth for, to fill him, to be his fulne&s;s, to be all to him and &s;uck all from him.</P>
<P N="3">3. Nay thirdly, This will not &s;erve his turn neither, but he mu&s;t al&s;o be <HI>in them.</HI> They mu&s;t be with him and in him, and he with them and in them. They mu&s;t live in his Kingdom, in his Spirit, within his Life; and he mu&s;t be, live, dwell, in their Spirits, in their country. Now this is &s;uch an union as was never heard of, for one to be in that which is in him: But Chri&s;ts love is a &s;trange kind of love, and therefore may well produce a &s;trange kind of union, even &s;o &s;trange as he that is not acquainted with this love cannot apprehend po&s;&s;ible. For that to be the continent which is contained, to be in that which it doth contain in it &s;elf, how can this be? Yet the Scripture is expre&s;s for it,
<HI>Joh.</HI> 17.23. <HI>I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one.</HI> And again, Ver&s;. 26. <HI>That the love wherewith thou ha&s;t loved me, may be in them, and I in them.</HI> He cannot be &s;atisfied, only to have them lie in his heart (though that liketh him very well,) but he mu&s;t al&s;o lie in their heart. He mu&s;t have the &s;ame place in them, that he giveth them in him&s;elf. As he prepares a bo&s;om for them, &s;o he can|not
<PB N="32" REF="22"> be content unle&s;s he find a bo&s;om in them. They mu&s;t be <HI>his hou&s;e, his home, his Tabernacle, his dwelling, yea his re&s;ting place,</HI> as he is theirs. <HI>I in them.</HI> No where mu&s;t they be, but in Chri&s;t; no where will Chri&s;t be, but in them: He can be no where el&s;e, He can live no where el&s;e, He can re&s;t no where el&s;e, He can enjoy him&s;elf no where el&s;e. What Chri&s;t is to God, we are to Chri&s;t; we come from him, and yet he cannot be without us: As we cannot live but in him, &s;o he cannot live but in us; He doth not reckon his life as life, until he come to enjoy us. His life doth as it were wither while it is bani&s;hed from us; it lives alone, it doth not bring forth fruit, nay it doth not enjoy it &s;elf: But when it cometh to be &s;et up in us, then it will be life in|deed, and then it will live indeed.</P>
<P N="4">4. Neither will all this &s;erve, but that nothing might draw him from them, and he might have full and only content in them, he mu&s;t have <HI>all of God</HI> (all that ever he can need to look after or de&s;ire)
<HI>in them.</HI> As he placeth all that they &s;hall need or can de&s;ire of God, he placeth all this in him&s;elf, that they &s;hall not need to &s;eek for any thing out of him: So he placeth all that he can de|&s;ire in them, that he may have no temptation to move his eye or &s;pirit any further in the lea&s;t. The fulle&s;t enjoyment of God that ever his heart &s;hall meet with, he de&s;ires to have in them. That he may have no cau&s;e of &s;tirring out from them, to &s;eek any thing of God, he will have all of God in them. He doth as it were let go God, as he him&s;elf grew out of him, to cleave to God, as he (that is, God) groweth up in them. This is the great My&s;tery, the My&s;tery of that <HI>&s;piritual affecti|on</HI> which is between <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> and the <HI>Church;</HI> They for|&s;ake God to enjoy one another; They can delight no <PB N="33" REF="22"> where, in nothing of God, but in one another.
<HI>Ephe&s;.</HI> 5.31. <HI>For this cau&s;e &s;hall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife, and they two &s;hall be one fle&s;h.</HI> This is a very my&s;terious thing: That a man &s;hould leave that tye and relation which is natural, to make up ano|ther which is artificial; That a man &s;hould loo&s;en him|&s;elf from that which is neare&s;t to him, to unite him&s;elf to that which is far off from him; That a man &s;hould leave his own father who begat him, and his mother which bare him, and go ca&s;t all his love upon a wife which was a meer &s;tranger to him. Yea &s;aith the A|po&s;tle, but I &s;peak concerning Chri&s;t and the Church, <HI>This is a great My&s;tery: but I &s;peak concerning Chri&s;t and the Church,</HI> ver&s;. 32. There's a My&s;tery indeed, That Chri&s;t &s;hould leave his Father as it were, that no com|munion of Chri&s;t with his very Father will &s;erve him but in his Church, that what ever &s;weetne&s;s God will give him to ta&s;te of, he mu&s;t put it into his Church, and let him ta&s;te it there, that he is not &s;atisfied with his Fa|thers hou&s;e and pre&s;ence in any other way of enjoy|ment but in his Spou&s;e, and will leave it every other way, but as he can have it and enjoy it in her. This is wonderfully my&s;terious, and is a little &s;hadowed out in that common relation between man and wife, where we find &s;uch a kind of pa&s;&s;age as this is.</P>
<P>And this may be the rea&s;on why Chri&s;t de&s;ireth that the love of God may be in them, even that very love wherewith God had loved him,
<HI>Joh.</HI> 17.26. <HI>That the love wherewith thou hast loved me, may be in them, and I in them.</HI> I would fain be in them, and yet I would lo&s;e nothing of thee by it, therefore I would have that very love wherewith thou ha&s;t loved me, be in them, that I may find it there. As God hath placed all his love in <PB N="34" REF="23"> Chri&s;t for us, and there we come to it: So Chri&s;t would have God place all his love in us for him, that he need not go any further then us for any thing of God. Chri&s;t knoweth that if he hath the love of God, he hath all; and that he would have in us, becau&s;e he would con&s;tantly and perfectly be centred in us: Becau&s;e he would be fixed there, he would have every thing there that his heart can de&s;ire, and that only is the love wherewith God loved him, which he was contented to part with, that he might take it up again.</P>
<P>This is the &s;econd thing wherein the &s;trength of Chri&s;ts love appears, <HI>His de&s;ire of union,</HI> which being &s;o va&s;t, what is the &s;pring which nouri&s;heth it?</P>
<P N="3">3. The &s;trength of Chri&s;ts love appeareth yet fur|ther,
<HI>in his readine&s;s to do any thing for them.</HI> Love is active, it is ever in doing for that it loves according to the degree of it. Now the greater and more con&s;tant this propen&s;ity is, the greater and &s;tronger mu&s;t that root of love needs be from whence it floweth. His readine&s;s to do for them appears in the&s;e three re|&s;pects.</P>
<P N="1">1. What ever <HI>excellency</HI> was in him which might do them good, he would put forth to the utmo&s;t: His wi&s;|dom, his &s;trength, his love, or what ever el&s;e was pre|cious in him, he never &s;pared, when they had need of them. What ever he was able to do in him&s;elf, he was &s;ure to do for them, when their need called for it.</P>
<P N="2">2. What ever was <HI>dear</HI> to him, he would part with for them. He would let any thing go (though never &s;o plea|&s;ant) which he him&s;elf enjoyed, if thereby he might ad|vantage them. The glory he had with his Father before the world was, he layeth down for their &s;akes: His
<PB N="35" REF="23"> dear life he counted not dear to him, when he was to part with it for their good.</P>
<P N="3">3. He would and &s;till will <HI>venture</HI> any thing for them, his choyce&s;t intere&s;t in God he hath and will hazard at any time to &s;ave them: When God is mo&s;t angry, he is not backward to &s;tep in and de&s;ire him to &s;heathe his &s;word, for he mu&s;t not &s;trike them unle&s;s he &s;trike through him fir&s;t, which he knows he cannot, he will not do. Was it not a venturous thing for <HI>Aaron,</HI> when God was angry and executing vengeance, to run and <HI>&s;tand between the living and the dead,</HI> to &s;top God in the cour&s;e of his wrath, to beat it back as it were forcibly? yet <HI>Aaron</HI> was but a type of <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> herein, who doth the &s;ame thing more effectually and powerfully every day.</P>
<P>He that will thus lay out all, he that will thus lo&s;e and part with all, He that will not yet &s;tick continually to venture what he hath received anew, hath certainly a &s;tock of very rich love, and great &s;tore of it.</P>
<P N="4">IV. For <HI>the actings</HI> of his love, wherein both the nature and &s;trength of it will yet further appear, they are wonderful great and &s;trange, and that if we con&s;i|der them either in the varieties of his conditions, or in the varieties of their conditions, for he is &s;till the &s;ame in both. How ever his &s;tate or heart was changed by the power of his condition, yet it was never changed to|wards them, when it mo&s;t failed and fainted it remain|ed in &s;trength of love to them; and how ever they were changed either in them&s;elves or towards him, yet it could produce no other alteration in him towards them, then &s;uch as proceeded from his love, and was profit|able for them.</P>
<P N="1">1. <HI>Look on him under the variety of his own conditions.</HI></P>
<P><PB N="36" REF="24"><HI>When he was in Heaven,</HI> long before this world was made, he fell in love with them there. The fir&s;t &s;ight his Father gave him of them ravi&s;hed his heart. His love then acted three ways, or expre&s;&s;ed it &s;elf in three things towards them.</P>
<P N="1">1. In his de&s;ire to have them his wife. So &s;oon as ever he &s;aw them, <HI>This is,</HI> &s;aith he, <HI>bone of my bone, and fle&s;h of my fle&s;h,</HI> This was taken out of me, this is part of my &s;elf, which mu&s;t be again united to me, or I &s;hall feel want. There is no helper to be found for me out of my &s;elf, and this is that meet helper in which my heart can alone find re&s;t. He knew her, &s;o &s;oon as ever he beheld her, as the beloved of his Soul, and never did any more ardently or naturally &s;eek room for his &s;pirit in any thing, then he did for him&s;elf in her.</P>
<P N="2">2. In undertaking all that God required thereto. He was content to &s;erve for his wife, (<HI>Jacob</HI>'s &s;erving for his was but a type hereof.) He was content to purcha&s;e, to buy his wife, and that with no &s;mall price: And he was content to fight for her, after he had done it, he undertook to deal with all her enemies, <HI>Sin, Devil, Death, Grave, Hell,</HI> and redeem her from them all. He did &s;o love her, that he was willing to take the harde&s;t ways that could be to come by her, rather then go with|out her. His love would not &s;uffer him to &s;tand capi|tulating upon the terms, but &s;o &s;he may be his, he careth not what he undertake or undergo for her.</P>
<P N="3">3. In his delighting in her then. He did not grumble at the price when he began to con&s;ider of it, he did not repent of the large offer he made for her, nor ever &s;o much as &s;aid &s;he co&s;t me too dear, but it rejoyceth his heart to think on her, and the &s;ight of her doth revive him more then the &s;ight of the trouble, hard&s;hip and <PB N="37" REF="24"> mi&s;ery that lies between him and her, and which he mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily pa&s;s through before he can enjoy her. <HI>Prov.</HI> 8.30, 31. <HI>Then was I by him,</HI> &amp;c. <HI>rejoycing in the habitable part of his Earth, and my delights were with the &s;ons of men.</HI> This he did notwith&s;tanding he was then in Heaven, drowned in glory there, and knew &s;he was to be found by him in this mi&s;erable corrupted world, and in a mo&s;t corrupt and mi&s;erable condition in it, yet the &s;ight of his Spou&s;e is of &s;uch vertue with him, that notwith&s;tanding this di&s;advantage, it can admini&s;ter joy and delight to him even in the mid&s;t of the fulne&s;s of the joys of Heaven.</P>
<P>Again, Look on him <HI>when he came into this world.</HI> Though he was to leave the glory of Heaven, after he had been &s;o accu&s;tomed to the &s;weetne&s;s of it, yet he comes skipping into it, <HI>Lo I come,</HI> &s;aith he; ha&s;t thou <HI>prepared me a body?</HI> I will not delay to take it up. And what made him &s;o willing thereunto, but the &s;trength of his love to them for who&s;e &s;ake he did it? <HI>Thy Law is in the mid&s;t of my bowels;</HI> what Law, but the Law of Love to his Father and to his Spou&s;e? And his low and mean condition we never find troubling of him, nor any affliction he met with, his love to them &s;o &s;weetened every thing he was to do for them. Yea that bitter cup at which he &s;o &s;tartled when he took it, be|cau&s;e of that terrible gall and wormwood wherewith it was filled, yet how did he long to drink it off for their &s;akes! <HI>I have a Bapti&s;m to be baptized with, and how am I &s;traitned till it be accompli&s;hed!</HI> Methinks my bowels are bound up, I do not &s;eem to my &s;elf to have ex|pre&s;&s;ed love enough to my people, until I have done it.</P>
<P>And while he was pre&s;ent here, he bent him&s;elf to
<PB N="38" REF="25"> give forth and leave behind him te&s;timonies of his love to all po&s;terity. He cho&s;e a company of Di&s;ciples to be patterns of his actings towards all his Saints, to the worlds end; who them&s;elves were types of what his Saints would be, and his actings towards them were types of what he would act towards his Saints, which is not again to be done outwardly, but is continually done by him inwardly in and towards his. Now con|&s;ider what the&s;e were, and how he behaved him&s;elf to|wards them. They were men full of
<HI>weakne&s;s,</HI> full of <HI>darkne&s;s,</HI> full of <HI>pa&s;sions,</HI> full of <HI>pride,</HI> often &s;triving who &s;hould be greate&s;t, expecting fle&s;hly pomp and advan|tage by him, much failing in love to him, (what,
<HI>not watch with me one hour?</HI>) in &s;o much as they left him when he had mo&s;t need of them, they hid them&s;elves from him, they denyed him, they feared a little re|proach or danger for his &s;ake, who feared nothing for theirs: And yet how tender was he of them continu|ally, not upbraiding them for their unkindne&s;&s;es, nor neglecting any act of kindne&s;s towards them. After his Re&s;urrection he &s;tayeth forty days from glory for then &s;akes, to &s;atisfie them about his Re&s;urrection, and his love to them, and to give them full in&s;tructions a|bout the ordering of his Kingdom here on Earth, wherein their &s;afety, peace and comfort lay.</P>
<P>And now he is in Heaven, he &s;pends his whole time for them. He is taking up &s;till there what belongs to them. He is keeping all &s;urmi&s;es from the heart of God, and da&s;hing all pleas which the Devil craftily and maliciou&s;ly is &s;till entering in again&s;t them. He is &s;uing out warrants from God to have dayly be&s;towed upon them what grace can do for them for the be&s;t, ac|cording to their conditions: And he &s;ends his be&s;t
<PB N="39" REF="25"> friend, the Spirit, out of his own bo&s;om to bring him news how it fares with them, and to look to their hearts while they are in this world, and to be dayly working them up to ble&s;&s;edne&s;s. And, methinks, I hear Chri&s;t ever and anon renewing his charge, as he &s;ends him; <HI>Go, look to my little ones, &s;ee they want nothing that thou can&s;t do for them: See that they want no light in that dark world wherein they are: See they want no life in the mid&s;t of that dead world: See they want no comfort in the mid&s;t of tho&s;e di&s;tre&s;&s;es, which it plea&s;eth my Father to exerci&s;e them with. Go and bear with their unkind actings towards thee, Con&s;ider where they are, con&s;ider what they are, con&s;i|der what they &s;uffer, and deal gently with them for my &s;ake, and what affronts they put upon thee, or what injuries they offer thee, I will make up to thee, as I have already done un|to my Father.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. <HI>Look on the actings of his love towards them under the variety of their conditions.</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t; <HI>In their unconverted e&s;tate,</HI> in that mo&s;t loath&s;om e&s;tate wherein he findeth them lying, before he bring|eth them home to God: His heart doth not then loath them, but is pitying them, and contriving how he may bring them home with mo&s;t advantage; <HI>Other &s;heep I have which are not of this fold, them al&s;o I mu&s;t bring, Joh.</HI> 10.16. He &s;hews where his heart was, when he &s;aid little, namely upon his &s;heep, his lo&s;t &s;heep, his &s;cattered &s;heep, about bringing them into the fold where they may be &s;afe and at re&s;t.</P>
<P N="2">2^d^l^y. <HI>In their converted e&s;tate, and their &s;everal turns and changes there.</HI> In all their <HI>&s;ickne&s;&s;es,</HI> in all their <HI>relap&s;es,</HI> in all the <HI>mi&s;eries</HI> which befall them by their own fol|ly, in all their <HI>&s;inful actings</HI> again&s;t God, in all their <HI>unkind actings</HI> towards him, in the mid&s;t (which goeth
<PB N="40" REF="26"> mo&s;t to his heart) of their <HI>grieving of his holy Spirit,</HI> when they are &s;tubborn and rebellious, and act mo&s;t unthankfully, when they will not tru&s;t him, nor by no means be per&s;waded of the love he beareth towards them, but are interpreting that ill which he intended well, &s;triving again&s;t all the good which he is doing them, and doing that mo&s;t eagerly which his Soul mo&s;t abhorreth in them, yet then, even then is he doing for them the be&s;t offices of love which po&s;&s;ibly can be done. As they then mo&s;t need the care, love and ten|derne&s;s of Chri&s;t, &s;o he will be &s;ure then to lay it out for them. And when at any time he worketh in them, by his own Spirit, what is plea&s;ing in his eyes, he attri|buteth it to them, and accepteth it from them, as if it were their own. Indeed they do nothing, not &s;o much as think a good thought of them&s;elves, but he doth all in them, and yet he attributeth all to them. If he put it into their hearts, and enable them to feed or clothe any of his, he &s;etteth it upon their account, and upon an high account too, even as their feeding and clothing of him. He thinks no ill of them, he interprets every thing in the be&s;t kind concerning them, He loves them &s;o as nothing in them or from them can mitigate his affecti|on to them, or hinder him from doing the utmo&s;t he can for their good, He takes occa&s;ion from all their un|loveline&s;s to &s;tir up his heart to acts of love towards them &s;uitable to that their &s;tate, but never to decline thereby from them, Here is love indeed. It would be too tedious to in&s;tance in the &s;everal acts in the &s;everal kinds of it, as in <HI>pity,</HI> in <HI>care,</HI> in <HI>bounty,</HI> in
<HI>delight,</HI> &amp;c. wherein the high and noble &s;train of his love doth on every occa&s;ion put forth it &s;elf, Let it &s;uffice therefore to have given a little touch at it.</P>
<P N="5"><PB N="41" REF="26">V. For <HI>the manner</HI> of his acting love, Love acteth in him this fourfold way, or he performeth the acts of love after this fourfold manner, <HI>Primarily, Purely, Suit|ably,</HI> and
<HI>Fervently.</HI></P>
<P N="1">1. <HI>Primarily,</HI> He is fir&s;t in love, and fir&s;t in every act of love. What he &s;peaketh of that one act of love, <HI>viz.</HI> of
<HI>Election,</HI> Joh. 15.16. <HI>Ye have not cho&s;en me, but I have cho&s;en you,</HI> he was fir&s;t in it, is true of every act el&s;e. He doth not &s;tay for acts of love from us, before he per|formeth acts of love to us, but <HI>we love him becau&s;e he loved us fir&s;t,</HI> and we perform acts of love to him, be|cau&s;e we fir&s;t learned them of him. As Chri&s;t learned his love of the Father, &s;o we learn our love of Chri&s;t. Yea before we can perform any act of love to him, there mu&s;t &s;everal acts of love go forth from him to|wards us: he mu&s;t both give us the grace, and quicken it, and draw it forth when&s;oever we act any thing with affection towards him. They are not our prayers that move him, but his love is before them, (and yet what can move him more?) but it is his love, the &s;pirit of his love from and according to his love, that teacheth, guideth and enableth us to pray.</P>
<P N="2">2. <HI>Purely,</HI> not with by-ams or by-ends concerning him&s;elf, but as he loves with pure affection, &s;o he loves in a pure manner. As his love is &s;piritual love, &s;o it acts &s;piritually, it hath no by-ends, no by-ways, but all its motions are like it &s;elf. Its purity di&s;covereth it &s;elf in the&s;e three re&s;pects.</P>
<P N="1">1. It will do nothing to di&s;honour God through love to them. Though Chri&s;t love them un&s;peakably, ex|ceedingly de&s;iring their happine&s;s and his enjoyment of them, yet he will not intrench upon God in the lea&s;t, in effecting of it. <HI>Lo I come, I delight to do thy will, O my
<PB N="42" REF="27"> God.</HI> And again, <HI>I do always the things which plea&s;e him.</HI> And when he &s;peaks of having fini&s;hed his cour&s;e,
<HI>Joh.</HI> 17. <HI>I have glorified thy Name,</HI> &s;aith he. Though he was always full of affection of &s;trength to them, and did every thing in great love to them, yet it never carried him a&s;ide from the honour of his Fathers Name.</P>
<P N="2">2. It will neglect nothing that may be for their good, though it never &s;o much offend them. If they want <HI>a chiding,</HI> if they want <HI>reproof,</HI> if they want <HI>rods,</HI> yea if they want
<HI>&s;corpions,</HI> they &s;hall have them: And if they grow froward and cry out, Chri&s;t doth not Love me, for if he did he could not thus deal with me, all this &s;hall not &s;ave them, but he will la&s;h and &s;ting them &s;o much the more, not out of ill will or pa&s;&s;ion, but be|cau&s;e the condition of their froward &s;pirits requireth &s;o much the more, which cannot (as the &s;tate &s;tands) be abated without prejudice. Chri&s;t doth not love them with a doting love, to let them &s;ee nothing but what they will call acts of love, but he will do that which he knoweth to be an act of love, how ever they inter|pret it.</P>
<P N="3">3. It will do nothing which may be for their hurt. Though they are apt to nouri&s;h humors, yet Chri&s;t will never be drawn, through his love to them, to nou|ri&s;h tho&s;e humors. Hence it is that the Soul though it beg never &s;o hard for &s;ome one mercy, and that a &s;pi|ritual mercy, u&s;ing all its intere&s;t in Chri&s;t to obtain it, yet (in &s;ome ca&s;es) it can by no means come neer it, but the mercy doth as it were run the further from him, by how much the more he &s;eeketh it. This proceedeth from the purity of the love of Chri&s;t, who knoweth what condition they are in, and how ill this mercy would &s;uit them in their pre&s;ent condition. Perhaps it
<PB N="43" REF="27"> would feed &s;ome lu&s;ts (whereof they are not aware) which &s;tand ready to prey upon it, and fatten them|&s;elves with it, &s;o &s;oon as it &s;hould be given in: Perhaps it would lift them up in their own thoughts, and &s;o (ei|ther that or &s;ome other way) interrupt their naked de|pendance upon God, and any &s;uch evil con&s;equence (which they may not fear, but &s;uppo&s;e that the mercy it &s;elf might pre&s;erve them from) would do them more harm, then the enjoyment of the mercy could do them good.</P>
<P N="3">3. <HI>Suitably.</HI> Chri&s;t puts forth &s;uch acts of love and &s;o, as their need requireth. Sometimes he putteth forth acts of pity, &s;ometimes acts of help, &s;ometimes acts of delight: Not all at all times, but what our pre&s;ent e&s;tate and every thing con&s;idered together doth call for. The not under&s;tanding of this cau&s;eth Chri&s;tians &s;o often to que&s;tion the love of Chri&s;t towards them: If he be not continually putting forth acts of delight in them, and giving te&s;timonies of &s;weetne&s;s to them, they are apt to think that his love at lea&s;t declines; whereas there are heart-workings of love in Chri&s;t which they cannot perceive (but only know by faith that they mu&s;t needs be) nor is it fit that they &s;hould perceive them, in the condition that they &s;ometimes are in: But as Chri&s;t hath revealed his love to be ever con&s;tant and &s;trong to them, &s;o they &s;hould ever beleeve it to be &s;o; and it is the glory of faith &s;o to judg of it, when as nothing of it appears in the view of &s;en&s;e. To what end hath God given them faith, if they notwith&s;tanding e&s;teem of things by and according to &s;en&s;e? But what ever con|dition they are in, though Chri&s;ts love may not di&s;co|ver it &s;elf to them in the way they expect and de&s;ire, yet it always goeth forth in the mo&s;t &s;uitable way.
<HI>In <PB N="44" REF="28"> all their mi&s;eries he is</HI> not only pitying them, but <HI>bearing them company;</HI> He bears their burdens with them, he helps them, he &s;upports them, he contrives and pro&s;e|cutes their re&s;cue and redemption; and if he may not do it openly, yet he will not fail to do it effectually, though &s;ecretly and un&s;een by them. What ever their di&s;tre&s;s be, whether outward or inward, whether by &s;in from within, or by affliction from without, even when they have caught a grievous fall by their own folly and head-&s;trongne&s;s, yet even then is he mourning over them, and con&s;idering how he may rai&s;e them up again with mo&s;t advantage.
<HI>Rejoyce not again&s;t me, O mine enemy, though I fall, I &s;hall ri&s;e again.</HI> In our lowe&s;t ebb he is certainly thus with us, doing this for us, though we cannot po&s;&s;ibly imagine; <HI>Neverthele&s;s I am &s;till with thee, thou holde&s;t me by my right hand,</HI> &s;aid the Spirit of Chri&s;t in
<HI>David,</HI> when he had &s;eemed to him&s;elf neg|lected and removed from the care and love of God be|yond the common &s;ort of the world. <HI>In their weakne&s;&s;es</HI> he is &s;till conde&s;cending to them, he bears with all their infirmities, yea he apologizeth for them in his own heart, <HI>The &s;pirit indeed is willing, but the fle&s;h is weak:</HI> He con&s;idereth both what frail fle&s;h they are, and what a &s;trong body of corruption hangeth about them in this their weak e&s;tate. <HI>When ever they do well,</HI> he is de|lighting in them: A father will not &s;troke or be plea|&s;ant with his child when he behaveth him&s;elf unto|wardly, Chri&s;t knoweth it is unfit to expre&s;s delight in them then, Therefore Chri&s;t telleth his Di&s;ciples in the 10 ver&s;e of this 15 Chapter of <HI>John,</HI> that if they kept his Commandments they &s;hould abide in has love, that is (in part) in the &s;en&s;ible expre&s;&s;ions of it, they &s;hould find him delighting in them, ver&s;. 11.</P>
<P N="4"><PB N="45" REF="28">4. <HI>Fervently,</HI> He performeth every act of love in a warm manner; He burneth, his heart boileth in every act of love. As his love is &s;trong, &s;o he performeth every act of love with the &s;trength of it. His bowels yern and roul within him, when he pities. He helpeth with all his might: He vehemently ga&s;peth after union with them, and enjoyment of them: He delighteth in them with his whole heart and with all his Soul, His heart leapeth within him in acts of delight; He never expre&s;&s;eth more to them then is in his heart, nay he ne|ver expre&s;&s;eth &s;o much, he letteth them only &s;ee what is profitable for them to &s;ee. This is the manner of the acting of Chri&s;ts love. And thus we &s;ee the love of Chri&s;t, after a &s;ort, in a weak dark manner, opened.</P>
<P>Behold then the Rule ye are to &s;et before you, the Copy which ye are to write after in loving one another. Thus hath Chri&s;t loved his, and thus are they who are Chri&s;ts to love one another, which to imprint the better I &s;hall a little briefly recite, as</P>
<P N="1">1. With a love of this nature; not with carnal love, but with &s;piritual love; not with the love of your own old nature, but with the love of the new nature; not with your own natural affection which ye have from
<HI>Adam,</HI> but with that new affection which God hath gi|ven you from and in Chri&s;t.</P>
<P N="2">2. Upon &s;uch grounds. Not for the loveline&s;s of their per&s;ons, the &s;weetne&s;s of their di&s;po&s;ition and car|riage, or their kindne&s;s to you or your, &amp;c. Alas, the&s;e are too carnal grounds for that love, which is truly &s;pi|ritual, to move upon: The&s;e may move your natural affections, (and tho&s;e indeed &s;uch kind of things as the&s;e &s;hould move,) but the love, which is here called for, is &s;piritual, and &s;o mu&s;t the grounds be, even <PB N="46" REF="29"> &s;uch as Chri&s;ts own love moveth upon, as</P>
<P><HI>The Fathers love to them, and Chri&s;ts love to them.</HI> If thou partake&s;t of the divine nature, and ha&s;t the &s;ame love with the Father and with Chri&s;t, let it follow them in acting. Love what they love, and love becau&s;e they love.</P>
<P><HI>The Fathers will and Chri&s;ts will,</HI> that thou &s;hould&s;t love them. Let that Will which is the Former of thy love be the guide and ground of thy love.</P>
<P><HI>Their relation to the Father and to Chri&s;t,</HI> yea and to thee too in the Spirit and Body of Chri&s;t. As thy love is &s;piritual, &s;o thou may&s;t found it upon thy &s;piritual relation.</P>
<P><HI>Their likene&s;s to the Father and to Chri&s;t,</HI> yea and to thy &s;elf too in that which is be&s;t in thee.</P>
<P>If thy love be not &s;piritual, and fa&s;tened upon &s;piri|tual grounds, it will not la&s;t. If thou love&s;t them for &s;weetne&s;s of di&s;po&s;ition, nay for the gifts of God which appear in them; when the&s;e &s;hall at any time fail, thy love wanting its ground-work, will al&s;o fail: but if it be well-founded, it will then be as firm and as full as ever, when all &s;uch con&s;iderations and motives &s;ink from under it. O take heed of loving Saints for gifts, not for meer grace; or for the outward lively actings of grace, not for the inward &s;ub&s;tance of grace in their hearts.</P>
<P N="3">3. With &s;uch &s;trength of love. Come as neer the degree of Chri&s;ts love towards them, as thou can&s;t. Let thy well-wi&s;hes be large towards them, (be ever pray|ing for them,) thy de&s;ire of union and communion with them &s;trong, thy readine&s;s to do them good (even to the laying down of thy life for them) great.</P>
<P N="4">4. Let the actings of thy love remain vigorous to|wards
<PB N="47" REF="29"> them in all the varieties of thy conditions, and in all the varieties of their conditions. We are very unlike Chri&s;t in this re&s;pect, Our own conditions &s;eldom change, our brethrens conditions &s;eldom change, but our love varieth towards them.</P>
<P N="5">5. Love in &s;uch a manner as Chri&s;t did. <HI>Be fir&s;t in love;</HI> Aim at a precedency in all the acts of love, who &s;hall fir&s;t pity, and who &s;hall fir&s;t pardon, &amp;c. Do not &s;tay for the workings of their affections to mea&s;ure or let out thine by, (this is a rule corrupt nature hath &s;et up, not grace,) but kindle and inflame theirs by thine.</P>
<P>And be &s;ure to love <HI>purely. Love one another with a pure heart.</HI> Never di&s;honor God, never do any thing which may hurt them, by any act of love. Never for|bear doing them good for fear of cro&s;&s;ing them. Cro&s;s them as much as thou wilt, &s;o thou manage it with wi&s;|dom and tenderne&s;s proportionable for their good. Let all thy oppo&s;itions again&s;t them appear to be the oppo&s;itions of love, formed by love, brought forth with love, and only continued in love. Sweet and whole&s;om are tho&s;e wounds which love mea&s;ures out.</P>
<P>And act love <HI>&s;uitably.</HI> When they are in di&s;tre&s;s, pity them: When thou &s;ee&s;t them heavy loaden, help to bear their burden with them, <HI>Bear ye one anothers bur|dens, and &s;o fulfil the Law of Chri&s;t,</HI> (this is a great part of the Law of this Love, which is Chri&s;ts Law, which is his Commandment, the bearing of one anothers weights and pre&s;&s;ures, whether of &s;in or &s;orrow.) Wherein they are over-layd bear for them, wherein they are weak bear with them, conde&s;cend to their low|ne&s;s, to their &s;hallowne&s;s, in the things of God; what
<PB N="48" REF="30"> is above their &s;trength do not admit them unto by no means, how angry &s;oever they may be thereupon; <HI>him that is weak in the faith receive, but not to doubtful di&s;pu|tations,</HI> not to the judging and di&s;cerning of &s;uch things as require a greater &s;trength of eye-&s;ight then is di&s;|pen&s;ed to him. Where thou &s;ee&s;t their hearts act plain|ly towards God, expre&s;s delight in them, but take heed of manife&s;ting delight in them when they are &s;tubborn to Chri&s;t: for thou art not left at liberty to act love to them as thou &s;halt think good, but in a way &s;uitable to their conditions. When thou &s;ee&s;t the fle&s;h prevail in them, thou mu&s;t warn and check them, and complain to the Church of them if need be. <HI>Thou &s;halt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou &s;halt in any wi&s;e rebuke thy neighbor, and not &s;uffer &s;in upon him,</HI> Levit. 19.17. So when thy brother offends thee, thou art fir&s;t to tell him of his fault between him and thee, then to take two or three with thee, and at la&s;t to acquaint the Church with it, <HI>Mat.</HI> 18. This is not to be done &s;imply to get thy &s;elf righted, but rather in love to thy brother, for the good of who&s;e Soul (as well as for the peace and &s;afety of the Church) this Ordinance is appointed. But there is a va&s;t difference between the&s;e things being done from the truth and purity of love, and from a fle&s;hly &s;elfi&s;h &s;pirit, the one &s;eeking its brother, the other it &s;elf in the&s;e things.</P>
<P>Act love al&s;o <HI>fervently.</HI> Let love burn within, and let all the motions and operations of it come forth boiling hot. Pity fervently, pray fervently for them, put forth thy helping hand with ardency of affection. Let there be &s;uch an heat in the &s;pirit as may cau&s;e the whole cour&s;e of love &s;weetly and warmly to flow from the new nature, that the motions and operations of it may <PB N="49" REF="30"> not come unkindly and coldly forced out of the old nature. <HI>Is any afflicted, and I burn not?</HI> &s;aith
<HI>Paul:</HI> and how was he in travel again with the Galatians? <HI>Love one another with a pure heart, fervently.</HI></P>
<P>La&s;tly, Be &s;ure thou let nothing in or from them mi|tigate thine affections towards them. It may mitigate thy expre&s;&s;ions in &s;ome kinds, but it may not dull thine affections, but whet and &s;harpen them to fit them for that which is now proper for them. Though thy brother tre&s;pa&s;s again&s;t thee, thou mu&s;t not be provo|ked by him, but forgive him till &s;eventy times &s;even times. Seventy times &s;even times tre&s;pa&s;s of thy bro|ther again&s;t thee, mu&s;t not put thee out of a forgiving temper toward him, but thou mu&s;t be as ready, nay more ready to forgive; then he can be prone to offend, Thou mu&s;t not &s;ay 'tis carele&s;&s;ne&s;s or ob&s;tinacy in him, or he might have avoyded it if he would, no not at his &s;eventy &s;eventh time of his tre&s;&s;pa&s;&s;ing again&s;t thee, but thou &s;hould&s;t be as ready to forgive him as thou wa&s;t or could&s;t be the fir&s;t time. We &s;hould not be mur|muring again&s;t any mi&s;carriages of our brethren, but ble&s;s God who hath taught us and given us grace to pi|ty them, to pray for them, and to be otherwi&s;e &s;weetly and meekly helpful to them in love, towards rai&s;ing and re&s;toring of them. And thus the fir&s;t Que&s;tion is di&s;patched, <HI>How Chri&s;t loveth the Saints?</HI> The &s;econd is now to en&s;ue, which is,</P>
<P><HI>Why the heart of Chri&s;t is &s;o much in this thing?</HI> why of all Commandments Chri&s;t picketh out this Com|mand as his, and driveth it home in &s;uch a forcible man|ner upon them, as here he doth?</P>
<P><HI>An&s;.</HI> It is not for nothing, or upon no con&s;iderati|on that the Spirit of Chri&s;t is thus earne&s;t, for there is a
<PB N="50" REF="31" MS="y"> weight in the &s;pirit of the thing which draweth him. The practi&s;e of this is of mighty concernment in this di&s;pen&s;ation of life, which God is plea&s;ed to mini&s;ter by him, and that both in re&s;pect of God, and in re&s;pect of the duty it &s;elf.</P>
<P><HI>In re&s;pect of God.</HI> There are &s;ome con&s;iderations in reference to him, which cannot but incline Chri&s;ts heart very much unto it; as,</P>
<P N="1">1. Chri&s;ts heart is &s;et &s;o much upon this thing, be|cau&s;e the heart of God is &s;o much in it. Chri&s;t came but as Gods Mini&s;ter, and gave Commandments in Gods Name; The words which he &s;pake, and the commands which he gave, were <HI>not his own</HI> primarily, but <HI>his that &s;ent him,</HI> as he often &s;aith. Now the Apo&s;tle (who lay in Chri&s;ts bo&s;om, and was continually &s;earch|ing into his heart, and learning the mind of God there) expre&s;ly telleth us, that this is Gods Commandment. <HI>This is his Commandment, that we &s;hould beleeve on the Name of his Son Je&s;us Chri&s;t, and love one another, as he gave us Commandment,</HI> 1 Joh. 3.23. There were two things which Chri&s;t e&s;pecially applyed him&s;elf unto; fir&s;t to bring men to beleeve on him, and afterwards to love one another, and the rea&s;on was, becau&s;e the&s;e were the e&s;pecial things which God required. They were fir&s;t Gods chief Commandments, and then Chri&s;ts chief Commandments.</P>
<P N="2">2. Becau&s;e it is &s;o much for the honour of God. To have his children, his family full of love, living in love, acting love in &s;trength one towards another, is greatly for his honour. It is a di&s;honour to a Ma&s;ter of a family to have his &s;ervants quarrelling, and his children falling out. It doth not become the God of Love to have his children de&s;titute of or &s;hort in love, e&s;pecially one a|mong <PB N="51" REF="31"> another. Hatred becometh the Devil and the men of this world, but it is a di&s;honour to God to have it found in his children towards one another. Chri&s;t came with love, and Chri&s;t came to give and teach love, and it is an honourable badg of them who are taught by him to know God and his Go&s;pel: It is an honour to them, an honour to him who hath thus dignified and qualified them.</P>
<P><HI>In re&s;pect of the duty it &s;elf.</HI> There are &s;ome con&s;ider|ations there too, which were great attractives in the eye and to the heart of Chri&s;t, to move him vehemently to de&s;ire it in them, and &s;o &s;trictly to enjoyn it to them, as namely, Its <HI>excellency</HI> in its own nature, its <HI>comline&s;s</HI> in them, and its <HI>profitablene&s;s</HI> both to them and others. Chri&s;t loving them &s;o much, cannot but much de&s;ire to find in them, that which is exceeding excellent, that which is &s;o wondrous comely, and that which cannot but be &s;o richly profitable where&s;oever it is.</P>
<P N="1">1. It is a duty of a mo&s;t <HI>excellent</HI> nature. Love is the mo&s;t excellent of all graces, (the Apo&s;tle ranks it in the fir&s;t place of the mo&s;t choyce graces, the greate&s;t whereof he affirmeth to be love, 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 13.13.) there|fore the actings of love mu&s;t needs be the mo&s;t excel|lent of all actings. That grace which is of the mo&s;t ex|cellent nature, and which hath the &s;tronge&s;t influence into all the work we are to do for God, is love; and an&s;werably the actings of love have the mo&s;t noble and lively operations in them. It is both the mo&s;t quicken|ing and mo&s;t mortifying grace, having lea&s;t of &s;elf, mo&s;t of God in it. Faith goeth out much for &s;elf (for its own &s;afety and &s;alvation, for the &s;upply of its own wants) but love always for another. And in loving one another, the cleare&s;t, pure&s;t and excellente&s;t acts of love
<PB N="52" REF="32"> do &s;hoot forth; becau&s;e there often appeareth that in this object which would take away or at lea&s;t &s;top love in its current, if it were not very clear, pure and excel|lent. There are always
<HI>infirmities</HI> there at lea&s;t, if not <HI>corruptions,</HI> and perhaps unkind actings towards us al&s;o, which have too too much influence upon the be&s;t in damping their love. God is &s;uch an object of love, that even the eye of Nature &s;eeth loveline&s;s in him, and call|eth for love towards him, and that &s;o &s;trongly, that it hideth the natural enmity that is in men again&s;t him from their own eyes, in &s;o much as they think they love him, and cannot but love him, though in truth they hate him: but as for the Saints, there are abundance of un|lovely things in them, hardly any thing lovely but the grace of Chri&s;t, and commonly that al&s;o covered with much unloveline&s;s.</P>
<P>There is likewi&s;e u&s;ually that in this object of love, which mo&s;t &s;etteth off the actings of faith. What is it mo&s;t commends the actings of faith, but its duration and activity in the mid&s;t of that which is contrary and dangerous to it? As when God di&s;tre&s;&s;eth the Soul, appearing as an enemy, &s;eeming even to kill faith it &s;elf, taking away all vi&s;ible ground of hope in him, for faith now to continue, yea and act &s;till in &s;trength, exceed|ingly commends the vertue and excellency of its na|ture. Why love hath this tryal very frequently, It hath &s;till almo&s;t &s;omewhat or other in the Saints to &s;lacken it, if not quite to eat it out; much unloveline&s;s of their own appearing amid&s;t a little loveline&s;s of grace, yea and perhaps that little grace hid too, and nothing but corruption vi&s;ible: So that love towards this object thus held on, is an excellent duty indeed.</P>
<P N="2">2. It is a <HI>comely</HI> duty. <HI>O how comely is it for brethren <PB N="53" REF="32"> to live together in unity,</HI> to love and cheri&s;h one another! There are two things which much adorn Religion, obedience to God, and love to our brethren. It is an uncomely thing to &s;ee men fall out becau&s;e they are of one nature, which is a &s;trong bond of agreement, yea &s;tronger and more exten&s;ive then is in the re&s;t of the creatures: but O how uncomely is it to &s;ee Saints fall out, who meet in the bonds of &s;o excellent a nature as theirs is! To &s;ee the world hate them, and make a prey of them, is no more wonder, then to &s;ee a Wolf per&s;e|cute and prey upon a Lamb: yet if they were of the world, the world would love them;
<HI>If ye were of the world, the world would love its own,</HI> Joh. 15.19. It is &s;uch a piece of uncomeline&s;s as the world is a&s;hamed to be guilty of, not to love its own; do ye not &s;ee every thing, throughout the world, tender of its own? how much more uncomely is it for you, who have a clo&s;er union then this world knoweth of, to hate one an|other!</P>
<P>Every nature hath a love proportionable &s;uited to it, which is comely, and the contrary whereof is uncome|ly. This is the mo&s;t excellent nature, and therefore hath the highe&s;t love &s;uited to it, and the greate&s;t come|line&s;s attends it, and the contrary thereunto mu&s;t needs be mo&s;t uncomely. <HI>O how comely is it for brethren to live together in unity:</HI> for Jews, for true Jews, who are brethren in Chri&s;t, to live together in the union and love of Chri&s;t; who can expre&s;s how comely, how &s;weet, how plea&s;ant it is?</P>
<P N="3">3. It is a <HI>profitable</HI> duty. As it is of the mo&s;t excel|lent nature of all graces, &s;o it is the mo&s;t profitable, bringing forth fruit an&s;werable to the excellency of its nature. It is profitable to others, It is profitable to them|&s;elves.</P>
<P><PB N="54" REF="33">It is profitable to others, and that to all &s;orts of men what&s;oever, whether a friend or an enemy, whether in an unconverted e&s;tate, or in what condition &s;oever be|ing converted.</P>
<P N="1">1. To men in an unconverted e&s;tate. There is a double profit may ari&s;e unto them from the actings of love.</P>
<P N="1">1. It will make them take more notice of Chri&s;t and of his ways. This kind of love exerci&s;ed among the Saints, will make the world begin to perceive that their life is more &s;ublime and weighty, then the life which is in the world is: it will help to convince them and force them to &s;ee what their eyes are &s;hut again&s;t, namely the reality of the life and power of Chri&s;t, and the truth of their relation to him. <HI>By this &s;hall all men know that ye are my Di&s;ciples, if ye have love one to another,</HI> Joh.
13.35.</P>
<P N="2">2. If exerci&s;ed towards the world (as it cannot but break forth that way al&s;o) it cannot but melt them. Har&s;h ways harden, but &s;weet ways melt. Pa&s;&s;ion breaking forth &s;eldom doth good, but acts of affection are very powerful. This is <HI>an heaping coals of fire upon their head,</HI> which will a&s;&s;uredly melt them at la&s;t, <HI>Rom.</HI> 12.20. for none is able to &s;tand before the inchant|ments of the truth and power of love. Yea this, the very worlds &s;ight of the exerci&s;e of love of the bre|thren among them&s;elves, may in a great degree pro|duce, though not &s;o fully as if it were exerci&s;ed much and &s;everal ways towards the world it &s;elf.</P>
<P N="2">2. To men in a converted e&s;tate. There is nothing more u&s;eful to them, in what condition &s;oever they be, then love. What ever faith it &s;elf can do for them, love mu&s;t quicken and give vent to,
<HI>Faith worketh by love.</HI> <PB N="55" REF="33"> Love, as it is generally &s;erviceable and profitable, &s;o e&s;pecially to fellow-Saints, and to them it cannot but be profitable, what ever they be, where ever they be, how ever it be with them. Be they weak or &s;trong, &s;tanding or falling, &s;weet or &s;ullen in their &s;pirits, any other way rightly tempered or di&s;tempered, how ever inclined or acted, love rightly going forth towards them, is very fit to do them good, which will ea&s;ily ap|pear if we con&s;ider the&s;e few properties in love.</P>
<P N="1">1. It hath an <HI>edifying</HI> property. The great u&s;e both of offices and gifts in the Church, is the edification of the Church: but love is more profitable to edification then all gifts what&s;oever. The Apo&s;tle &s;etteth up pro|phecying above all other gifts in this re&s;pect, and yet layeth that al&s;o flat before love, 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 13. We do not take a right cour&s;e, &s;o much to bewail the lo&s;s of gifts, we &s;hould fir&s;t and chiefly bewail the lo&s;s of love. We might do well enough without gifts, if we had but love enough: but we could not po&s;&s;ibly edifie without love, had we never &s;o many gifts. They are not gifts &s;imply, but grace which edifieth, which love is, whereas gifts are not &s;o: And gifts when they do edifie mu&s;t be &s;ub|ordinated under and ordered by grace. It is not thy gift, but the grace of Chri&s;t in thy brother, which ma|keth him edifie by thy gift. Therefore though thy gift be never &s;o large, and never &s;o well improved and em|ployed, yet if the heart of thy brother be not in a gra|cious frame, he is not edified thereby. Yea further, it is not the learning more of the knowledg &amp; my&s;teries of Chri&s;t (which is the proper end of gifts) but love which edifieth; A man may be &s;welled up by knowledg, but it is love whereby he both edifieth and is edified, <HI>Know|ledg puffeth up, but love edifieth.</HI> It is not &s;imply the u&s;e <PB N="56" REF="34"> of a gift, but the gracious u&s;e of it, the u&s;e of it in love which edifieth, in &s;o much as that a little delivered in a &s;weet gracious manner, will edifie much more then a great deal delivered by vertue of a gift. Gifts without grace di&s;po&s;e us rather to &s;light and ca&s;t off per&s;ons, then to take that pains which is nece&s;&s;ary to edification, the will whereunto, and skill wherein, only love hath.</P>
<P N="2">2. It hath an <HI>a&s;si&s;ting</HI> property. Love is ever ready to aid and a&s;&s;i&s;t. Love will &s;et its &s;houlder to every bur|den, lend its hand to every work. What is there, or can there be to be done, which love will not help to do?</P>
<P N="3">3. It hath an <HI>encouraging and &s;trengthening</HI> property. Love delighteth to be encouraging and &s;trengthening the faint and the weak. Weak Saints may make much u&s;e of a Soul, where there is much love. Thus Chri&s;t taught <HI>Peter</HI> by the exerci&s;e of his own love to him,
<HI>When thou art converted &s;trengthen thy brethren.</HI></P>
<P N="4">4. It hath a <HI>recovering</HI> property. What made God re|cover &s;inners, but his love? Had he not loved them, he would have let them lie for ever in their lo&s;t e&s;tate: And he who hath the &s;ame love in him, cannot re&s;t till he hath rai&s;ed and re&s;tored his fallen brother. Into what traveling pangs did love put <HI>Paul</HI> in for the <HI>Gala|tians,</HI> towards the recovery of them?</P>
<P N="5">5. It hath a <HI>communicative</HI> property, and that in a &s;weet di&s;tilling way. Love is ever communicative; it will re&s;erve nothing, but impart every thing. God loving his, can withhold nothing from them. This maketh love &s;o edifying, becau&s;e it cannot but impart what&s;o|ever it hath that may tend to edification, or to the good of another in any kind. And it doth not barely impart, <PB N="57" REF="34"> but in the &s;weete&s;t way: It doth di&s;till and drop into another, making in&s;en&s;ible impre&s;&s;ions, &s;tealing into the heart and overcoming it before the party is aware. Love hath every property &s;uitable to communicative|ne&s;s, and to a &s;weet way of communication, as in the Apo&s;tles de&s;cription of it, in 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 13. may ea&s;ily be Thus u&s;eful and profitable to others, is love.</P>
<P>And it is al&s;o profitable unto them&s;elves. The prac|ti&s;e of this duty of love to the brethren, is very profit|able to them in whom it is, and from whom it i&s;&s;ueth, which may evidently appear in the&s;e &s;everal particulars following.</P>
<P N="1">1. It will teach them to love both God and Chri&s;t in the fulle&s;t manner. Our happine&s;s con&s;i&s;teth in lo|ving of God: The knowledg of God is but a means to make us love him: It is not either Gods bare know|ing of us, or our bare knowing of him, which mo&s;t ad|vantageth or &s;atisfieth either, but the meeting of our affections together, which all the di&s;coveries and knowledg of each other do but make way for. And there would be no want of any thing to us, were there not want of love in us: There is life enough in God, and were there but love enough in us, we could not but draw out and take in enough of it. <HI>The Lord thy God will circumci&s;e thine heart, and the heart of thy &s;eed, to love the Lord and thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy &s;oul, that thou may&s;t live,</HI> Deut. 30.6. There would be no want of &s;piritual life in us, or of the motions of this life in and towards God, were there not a want of love unto him.</P>
<P>Now loving of the brethren will teach us to love God: both becau&s;e there is that more abundantly in God which we love in them, and becau&s;e in him it is <PB N="58" REF="35"> pure without that imperfection which attends and &s;oils it in them. If we love the image though &s;o full of &s;pots, how can we chu&s;e but love the &s;ub&s;tance, which is without any &s;pots, much more? He that loveth him which begets, loveth that which is begotten: and by loving that which is begotten, he groweth more and more in love with that which did beget. The frequent practi&s;e of love towards that which is weak and im|perfect, will advantage it both in skill and &s;trength to|wards that which is perfect and compleatly able to re|ceive and an&s;wer all the touches of it.</P>
<P N="2">2. It will teach them to interpret things well from God. This one thing doth us mo&s;t harm of any thing, our har&s;h interpretations of the good ways of God to|wards us. It is not only very unnatural and unkind in us, and mo&s;t irk&s;om to the heart of God, but it is al&s;o mo&s;t prejudicial to us, for in a degree (&s;o far as it goeth) it withdraweth our &s;pirits from the fountain of our life and &s;trength: It puts a &s;top to our &s;pirits in our draw|ing of that, which at that time we mo&s;t want.</P>
<P>Now love to the brethren will teach us otherwi&s;e: for this ever accompanieth love, namely, a good inter|pretation of the actions of tho&s;e we love. Let any one tell us of what an ill turn our friend hath done us; Surely he did it not, &s;aith Love; or If he did it, it was with no ill intent towards me; Though it hath proved ill, he intended it wel: <HI>Love thinketh no evil,</HI> 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 13.5. yea ver&s;: 7. <HI>It beleeveth all things, it hopeth all things.</HI> Though &s;en&s;e and experience &s;ay otherwi&s;e, yet if &s;aith or hope can put a good interpretation upon it, it will receive it; if it can but find any ground to beleeve o|therwi&s;e, or to hope otherwi&s;e, it is glad of it: and it is a very hard ca&s;e wherein there is room neither for faith <PB N="59" REF="35"> nor hope. Love it very incredulous of any ill (though God continually found the Jews a lying generation, <HI>who&s;e heart was not right with him, neither were they</HI> ever <HI>&s;tedfa&s;t in his Covenant,</HI> yet his love made him upon all occa&s;ions &s;ay and think concerning them, <HI>Surely they are children that will not lye,</HI> I&s;ai.
63.8.). Where we are &s;o apt to &s;urmize or beleeve &s;urmi&s;es, there mu&s;t needs be great want of love.</P>
<P>But how doth this teach us to interpret things well of God? Why thus. A man that accu&s;tometh him&s;elf to interpret things well concerning his brother &s;hall find very great benefit in it. He &s;hall find him&s;elf deli|vered from many har&s;h and evil thoughts of his bro|ther, which otherwi&s;e would attend him: He &s;hall find many times how he had wronged his brother, if he had judged otherwi&s;e; and though his brother &s;hould prove faulty at length, yet it will be time enough to judg it &s;o then. Why now, hath he not much more cau&s;e of interpreting things well from God? Cannot a man repent of interpreting things well of his brother, and &s;hall he ever repent of interpreting things well of God? Be&s;ides, the practi&s;e of this duty towards his brothers will enforce him to ob&s;erve it in the &s;ame degree at lea&s;t, if not further, towards his God al&s;o. Shall a man not dare to beleeve any thing ill of his bro|ther, until it evidently appear, and &s;hall he judg his God &s;o &s;oon as Satan puts him upon it?</P>
<P N="3">3. It will teach them to bear any thing from Gods hand. We &s;hall have enough to bear from our bre|thren, and yet love will not refu&s;e to bear, be it never &s;o much: <HI>Love beareth all things,</HI> 1
<HI>Cor.</HI> 13.7. We &s;hall never have that to bear from God, which we dayly meet with, and have rea&s;on to expect from our bre|thren. <PB N="60" REF="36"> We have ground to expect from them unkind, froward, injurious actings towards us, be&s;ides their prejudicial actings to their own Souls, (which will wound no more then the former, if we be &s;piritual;) all which we mu&s;t bear, and yet proceed on in every act of love towards them. We &s;hall find none of the&s;e things in God, but only pure, wi&s;e actings for our good: And can a man bear the weakne&s;&s;es of men, and yet grumble at the wi&s;dom of God?</P>
<P N="4">4. It will teach a man to look the better to his own heart: The ob&s;erving and helping to cure the evils of other mens hearts, will teach us to e&s;py and prevent the evils of our own. This is the great benefit which at|tends the practi&s;e of all the duties of love to the bre|thren, namely, that what we do but endeavor to do to them, we do to our &s;elves in&s;en&s;ibly: While we are teaching them, we are imprinting truths on our own hearts; while we are watching over them, we are look|ing to our &s;elves, &amp;c. So that though others &s;hould reap no benefit by our care and pains, yet we our &s;elves &s;hall have no cau&s;e to repent of it.</P>
<P N="5">5. It will make us very feelingly to admire the wonderful &s;trength and vertue of the love of God, and that will be a very profitable thing to us: for as our &s;tability, the certainty of our &s;tate, is in the love of God, by its laying hold of us, and comprehending us; &s;o our &s;weetne&s;s, our re&s;t, our content, our &s;atisfaction, is by beholding it, and repo&s;ing our &s;elves in it. Now the practi&s;e of this duty of love to the brethren cannot chu&s;e but very effectually work up the &s;ight and admi|ration of this in us, when we &s;hall continually &s;ee &s;o ma|ny failings and loath&s;om things in our &s;elves and in o|thers (as this will draw us to do,) and yet God, not|with&s;tanding <PB N="61" REF="36"> all the&s;e, to entirely, &s;o fully, &s;o con&s;tant|ly, &s;o perfectly &s;till loving us all.</P>
<P N="6">6. It will make all duties, of one towards another, ea&s;ie. Love is a quickening ingredient, which putteth life into the &s;pirit, and maketh every thing light with which we have to do. What made <HI>Jacobs</HI> hard &s;ervi|tude &s;o ea&s;ie, but his love to <HI>Rachel?</HI> What made Chri&s;t &s;o lightly trip through tho&s;e intricate thorny paths through which he pa&s;&s;ed, but his entire love to his Saints? The weightie&s;t &s;ervice of love is ea&s;ier then the large&s;t liberty in the very kingdom of enmity. That which is a great load to a weak back, alas what is it to him who abounds with &s;trength? Strength of love in the heart will put &s;trength into the feet, into the arms, into the hands; into the &s;houlders, &amp;c. &s;o that every motion in every one of them will be ea&s;ie and delightful. It is the &s;etting about duties without love which makes them &s;o heavy: How can that be done without love, which is only to be done with love! This is the great difference between our motions now adays, and the motions of the primitive Chri&s;tians, theirs did i&s;&s;ue from a Spring, we go about to force out ours with artificial engines: They had love kindled in them, and love drawn forth in them by vertue of the &s;ame life which kindled it; We rea&s;on love into our hearts, and rea&s;on out the practi&s;es of it, and alas how weak is this! But had we, of a truth, love enough (enough of that love) and the art of proportioning out love enough to every duty, we &s;hould fail in none, nor complain of any.</P>
<P>Thus exceedingly profitable to our &s;elves is love exerci&s;ed by us toward the brethren. (Where, by the way, we may take notice of the &s;trength of Chri&s;ts <PB N="62" REF="37"> love to us: It is love in him to us, which maketh him &s;o &s;trictly to lay this Commandment upon us of loving one another: He knew how u&s;eful it would be for us, and therefore in a more then ordinary manner he en|joyneth it unto us.)</P>
<P>And thus we &s;ee the Rea&s;on why Chri&s;t beateth &s;o much on this &s;ubject, why his heart is &s;o much in it, why he maketh it his Commandment? It is a thing which his Father much de&s;ireth, and is much for his Fathers honour: It is exceedingly u&s;eful to his Saints; both them that practi&s;e it, and all to whom they practi&s;e it: and can you blame Chri&s;t in laying &s;o much weight upon it?</P>
<P>To propo&s;e now a little Application of all this.</P>
<P>Is the heart of Chri&s;t &s;o much in this thing? is this his e&s;pecial Commandment, his peculiar Command|ment, the Commandment of his choyce, which his Soul &s;o thir&s;teth after to have ob&s;erved by us, That we &s;hould love one another as he hath loved us? Then,</P>
<P N="1">1. What &s;hall we &s;ay to our Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t, when we come to &s;tand before him and his Father, in the pre&s;ence of all his Saints and Angels, for our &s;o gro&s;s neglect of this duty?</P>
<P>When this Law &s;hall be read before us <HI>(This is my Commandment, that ye love one another, &amp;c.)</HI> and the of|ten pre&s;&s;ings of it by Chri&s;t him&s;elf and by his Apo&s;tles throughout all the New Te&s;tament; and when our hearts and actions &s;hall be looked into, and &s;o little of it found in either?</P>
<P>When the Saints in the Apo&s;tles times &s;hall ri&s;e up, and their hearts &s;hall be opened, which were &s;o full of love and entirene&s;s, that they could &s;pend and be &s;pent one for another?</P>
<P><PB N="63" REF="37">When the Saints under the ten Per&s;ecutions &s;hall a|ri&s;e, who&s;e love is reported to have been &s;o firm and large, that the very Per&s;ecutors them&s;elves did bear witne&s;s unto it, and were amazed at it?</P>
<P>When the hearts of worldlings &s;hall be ripped up, and &s;tronger love appear there towards their fellow-worldlings, then in the Chri&s;tians of this generation to|wards their fellow-Chri&s;tians?</P>
<P>When men directly-wicked &s;hall appear to have lo|ved the image of the Devil better in one another, then we the image of God and of Chri&s;t?</P>
<P>Yea when our own hearts &s;hall be ripped up, and the actings of our natural affection being made vi&s;ible, it &s;hall appear concerning our &s;elves that we gave &s;cope to that, but the new nature, and the powers of love in it, have been rather choaked in us, then drawn forth to|wards one another?</P>
<P>What &s;hall we &s;ay in our own behalfs? We can blame one another very &s;orely now in ca&s;es of far in|ferior con&s;equence, but how &s;hall we an&s;wer this our &s;elves before the Judg? We own the life of Chri&s;t in one another, but alas where is our love to that life! We &s;ay Chri&s;t is our Lord, why this is his great Com|mandment, that wherein his very heart and &s;oul and &s;pirit is, where is our obedience? who can an&s;wer this in his own &s;pirit now? and if not now, how will he be able to acquit him&s;elf then, when the light &s;hall be per|fectly clear, and all the fig-leaves, wherewith we now &s;o cunningly cover the evil of our hearts, ways, motions and actions from our own eyes, quite taken away, and made altogether unable from affording any &s;helter to us?</P>
<P N="2">2. It may occa&s;ion an enquiry, why love &s;hould be
<PB N="64" REF="38"> &s;o barren, &s;o dead among Chri&s;tians? &s;o backward in its growth, &s;o prone to decay? That little life and ver|tue which it had among us once, where is it? I &s;hall not pro&s;ecute this enquiry &s;o far as it lieth open to me, but mention only the&s;e two cau&s;es from whence it may ve|ry well ari&s;e.</P>
<P N="1">1. From a decay of grace in us, from our decay in love to Chri&s;t; or at lea&s;t from the weakne&s;s of it, where it is not decayed. Were grace &s;trong, were love to Chri&s;t &s;trong, we could not chu&s;e but love tho&s;e that are Chri&s;ts more. If we did not fail in love towards him who doth beget, we &s;hould better love tho&s;e who are begotten by him.</P>
<P N="2">2. From a carele&s;&s;ne&s;s in acting the duty. We are not careful to draw out a &s;piritual affection (and a natural affection will not do it,) and upon &s;piritual grounds, and with a &s;piritual fervency, and in a &s;piritual manner: but we go to love Saints, as we do other men. We do not &s;imply love grace in them, There mu&s;t be &s;ome|what be&s;ides grace to draw forth and continue our af|fections, or el&s;e they warp. Our love goeth forth in fle&s;h, and not to the pure life, but partly towards fle&s;h, which it many times mi&s;&s;ing of, there pre&s;ently grow|eth a faintne&s;s and decay of love. If love were more pure in us, and were drawn forth more purely from us towards its own pure object, it would be more la&s;ting.</P>
<P N="3">3. It &s;peaks out a very &s;trong Exhortation, of it &s;elf inviting and vehemently per&s;wading Chri&s;tians to pre&s;s hard after this duty, and never to give their &s;pirits re&s;t till this duty be as much in their hearts and lives, as it is in the heart of Chri&s;t concerning them.</P>
<P>For the pro&s;ecution of this Exhortation, I &s;hall pro|pound
<PB N="65" REF="38"> &s;ome few Motives to it, &s;ome Directions con|cerning it, and likewi&s;e &s;ome Helps towards it.</P>
<P>To begin with the Motives. Though all that hath been &s;aid be of a &s;tirring attractive nature, yet it may not be ami&s;s at la&s;t ca&s;t to drive in two or three nails again.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t then, Con&s;ider this well, that this is the way which Chri&s;t him&s;elf hath appointed us to expre&s;s our love to him in. <HI>If ye love me, keep my Commandments;</HI> and what Commandments? <HI>This is my Commandment, that ye love one another. Peter, love&s;t thou me? feed my Lambs:</HI> If thou love&s;t me, &s;hew it, and if thou wilt &s;hew it, &s;hew it in thy love and care of my Lambs; what thou do&s;t to them, thou do&s;t to me. Our good|ne&s;s cannot reach God or Chri&s;t, but the Saints,
<HI>P&s;al.</HI> 16.2.</P>
<P N="2">2. Remember that this will yeeld unto Chri&s;t mat|ter of joy in you. He rejoyceth in working this love in you, and he will rejoyce more in the continuance, growth and exerci&s;e of this love. <HI>The&s;e things have I &s;poken unto you that my joy might remain in you,</HI> &s;aith he in the very next words to this Text, ver&s;. 11. of the 15 Chapt. It will continually admini&s;ter joy to the Spirit of Chri&s;t, to find love flouri&s;hing in you one to another.</P>
<P N="3">3. Remember al&s;o that it will be an occa&s;ion of fill|ing your own &s;pirits with joy, &s;o it is al&s;o expre&s;&s;ed in that ver&s;.
11. <HI>The&s;e things have I &s;poken unto you that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.</HI> It is incredible what fulne&s;s of joy &s;treams along in the &s;weetne&s;s of love: be&s;ides, it is the delight of Chri&s;t to fill his &s;pirit with joy, who&s;e &s;pirit he hath already fill|ed love.</P>
<P><PB N="66" REF="39"><HI>Que&s;t.</HI> But how may I attain this duty? I find my &s;pirit much inflamed with it, O that I might be a little guided to it.</P>
<P><HI>An&s;.</HI> If thou bee&s;t not better provided apply thy &s;elf to the ob&s;ervation of the&s;e few Directions.</P>
<P N="1">1. Set this duty clearly before thine eyes. Con&s;ider well what kind of love it mu&s;t be, upon what grounds it is to be fa&s;tened and carried on, in what degree, what mu&s;t be the actings of it, and in what manner it is to act. Chri&s;tians commonly do not under&s;tand what they do, when they buckle to this duty; nor how purely and firmly this affection mu&s;t move, notwith&s;tanding all manner of di&s;couragements from them we love, which cannot but cau&s;e them much to falter in the perform|ance of it.</P>
<P N="2">2. Be working up thy heart to it dayly. Be working it up to a &s;piritual love, be working &s;piritual grounds into thy heart, that thy &s;pirit may be engaged and move &s;piritually. Thou mu&s;t be a kind of husbandman to the &s;eed of the life of God in thee, thou mu&s;t receive it, thou mu&s;t cheri&s;h it, and thou mu&s;t provoke it unto motion. This thou mu&s;t be doing, though thou can&s;t not do this nor any thing el&s;e that is &s;piritual. Won|derfully &s;trange and my&s;terious is the operation of God in the Go&s;pel: He works all in us of his own plea&s;ure, and yet &s;o as if we moved and wrought all our &s;elves. The Lord lieth hidden in all the motions of our &s;pirits, and by an un&s;een &s;trength, vertue and influ|ence doth all there, yea even that which we &s;eem to do our &s;elves; and yet we mu&s;t up and be doing e|very thing, though we can do nothing.</P>
<P N="3">3. Intreat God to write this Law in thy bowels. God wrote it in Chri&s;ts heart, and he mu&s;t al&s;o write it in <PB N="67" REF="39"> thine, if ever it be found there. Therefore pray to God to write it there, and to write it there abundantly; that as he hath bid thee love all Saints, &s;o he would give thee love large enough to go forth fully towards all Saints. We mu&s;t be taught of God to love one another, if ever we learn this Le&s;&s;on.</P>
<P N="4">4. Intreat God to draw forth this love, when ever thou art to act it. If we &s;ee a thing to be duty, we pre|&s;ently &s;et about it, and blame our hearts if they fall &s;hort in it. This we &s;hould do indeed, but we &s;hould al&s;o when this is done (or rather while this is in doing) go to God, in whom all our &s;trength lies, to perform it in us. And this we might do at fir&s;t, if we were but &s;en&s;ible enough of our own weakne&s;s without a practi|cal experiment; but therefore God puts us continu|ally upon endeavoring our &s;elves, becau&s;e we forget how weak and unable we are to do any thing, any long|er then we find it in our utmo&s;t &s;trivings. Go therefore to God, who hath promi&s;ed not only to <HI>write his Law in our hearts,</HI> but to
<HI>cau&s;e</HI> us to <HI>walk in his ways.</HI> What ever way of God there is, God will not only write the Law of it in the hearts of his people, but he will make them walk in it. He will put &s;uch affections and &s;trength into them, that they &s;hall not be able to for|bear walking therein.</P>
<P><HI>Que&s;t.</HI> But are there no Helps which may further me herein? Tho&s;e which are skilfully practical know how to lead another into that path wherein they them|&s;elves have walked. If you have met with any know|ledg or experience in this kind, O do not hide it from us, but help us a little in this track which is &s;o auk and difficult to the &s;pirit of man.</P>
<P><HI>An&s;.</HI> What I have found mo&s;t beneficial unto and
<PB N="68" REF="40"> powerful with my &s;elf herein, I &s;hall very willingly impart unto you in whom this de&s;ire is kindled. There|fore from my own proof and experience I &s;hall com|mend unto you the&s;e four Helps.</P>
<P N="1">1. Would you love the Saints as Chri&s;t hath loved both them and you? Then, in the fir&s;t place, Look upon them in Chri&s;t, and there thou &s;halt ever &s;ee them full objects for thy love. Thus God looketh upon us in our wretched e&s;tate (even in Chri&s;t) or he could never con|tinue loving us. O how lovely are the Saints in Chri&s;t! They are imputatively perfect in him at pre&s;ent, (God reckons &s;o, and why &s;hould&s;t not thou reckon &s;o?) and they &s;hall be ab&s;olutely perfect ere long. They &s;hall be made perfectly like Chri&s;t, and have all tho&s;e &s;pots taken away which now thou e&s;pie&s;t in them, which are left upon them at pre&s;ent, not to make them unlovely in thine eyes, but for a de&s;ign which God hath for his own glory, the good of all Saints, and thine in particu|lar. If a pure &s;piritual eye were always thus fa&s;tened upon them, a pure &s;piritual heart would always love them.</P>
<P N="2">2. Expect all manner of weakne&s;&s;es and imperfecti|ons in them. Look for di&s;tempers upon them, and all manner of evil breaking forth and taking its &s;winge in them, &s;o far as God leaves them. Do&s;t thou not find it &s;o in thine own heart?</P>
<P>This is another means whereby God &s;trengthens his heart in loving us. He expects no manner of good from us, but what he him&s;elf works in us: He expects all manner of evils and di&s;tempers which he him&s;elf doth not prevent. And all the evil that i&s;&s;ueth forth, he attri|buteth not to us, but to &s;in that dwelleth in us. Why go thou and do likewi&s;e, and thou wilt love as God loveth.</P>
<P><PB N="69" REF="40"><HI>Paul</HI> doth thus concerning him&s;elf. The good I would do I cannot, nor avoyd the evil which I would not do, but
<HI>what I hate that do I, oh wretched man, &amp;c.</HI> I can expect no good from my &s;elf, I can hinder no evil in my &s;elf: but yet 'tis not I, but &s;in that dwells in me. It is the unlovely part, that which I am to hate, not that which I am to love, which doth this.</P>
<P>There are two great faults in us. We do not labour enough to be holy our &s;elves, and we expect it too much in others. If we did look for holine&s;s more in our own hearts, and expect it le&s;s in others, this duty would be far ea&s;ier then it is. But when we expect much, what ever falleth &s;hort of our expectation di&s;plea&s;eth us, and dampeth our affections.</P>
<P N="3">3. Be ever &s;tirring up their graces in them, and mark the workings of their graces in the mid&s;t of their di&s;|tempers. This will &s;till keep thine eye upon their love|line&s;s at all times, and &s;o will &s;till draw forth love to|wards them.</P>
<P N="1">1. Be ever &s;tirring up their graces in them. Grace is the proper attractive of &s;piritual love, the &s;ight whereof cannot but kindle it. Thus Chri&s;t makes the flowers and &s;pices in his garden to yield their &s;avour, and then falls in love with their &s;cent. We think it is the duty of others to give forth their light and di&s;cover their graces to us; but we are apt to forget that it is al&s;o our duty to be drawing forth their light, and &s;tirring up their graces. This was <HI>Pauls</HI> practi&s;e (that great Lover of the Saints,) <HI>Rom.</HI> 1.11, &amp; 12. <HI>For I long to &s;ee you, that I may impart unto you &s;ome &s;piritual gift, to the end you may be e&s;tabli&s;hed. That is, that I may be comforted together with you, by the mutual faith both of you and me.</HI> This was his de&s;ign and cour&s;e when ever he came among Saints, to <PB N="70" REF="41"> &s;ee what grace they had in them, to &s;earch out and &s;tir up grace, that he might draw forth his own love in en|joying of them, in delighting in them, and in adding &s;omewhat to them &s;uitable to their &s;tate and condition. 2. Ob&s;erve the workings of their graces in the mid&s;t of their di&s;tempers. We are u&s;ually exceedingly faulty in this: We never con&s;ider the di&s;tempers in Chri&s;ti|ans, but look they &s;hould always act as if they were in a right temper, (though we expect they &s;hould con&s;ider our di&s;tempers.) And then in their di&s;tempers we mark the &s;tirrings of their corruptions, but though grace &s;trive and help much to the keeping of them down, we take little notice of that. Whereas God con&s;iders the lea&s;t di&s;tempers in us, and cheri&s;heth and is delighted with the lea&s;t motions of grace in us in our di&s;tempers. If it were otherwi&s;e, what would become of us?</P>
<P N="4">4. Con&s;ider thine own weakne&s;&s;es and &s;ins. Doth any evil befall thy brother which thou can&s;t avoyd? Doth thy brother neglect any good which thou can&s;t do? He hath fallen into this or that evil; who hath kept thy heart? How long wilt thou keep out of the &s;ame evil into which thy brother is fallen, if God leave thee to the &s;ame temptation? Con&s;ider therefore the breakings forth of thine own heart in &s;in, where God doth &s;uffer it; and how far it would break forth if God did not hinder it. And take heed of murmuring again&s;t thy brother as one that falls into &s;ins, breeds troubles, hinders mercies, interrupts the &s;weetne&s;s of commu|nion, &amp;c.</P>
<P>There is a very notable place to this purpo&s;e, <HI>Jam.</HI>
5.9. <HI>Groan not one again&s;t another, Brethren, le&s;t ye be con|demned: behold the Judg &s;tandeth before the door.</HI> Our &s;pirits will be very apt to groan one again&s;t another, O <PB N="71" REF="41"> &s;uch an one hath hindred much good, if it had not been for him things might have gone well. Take heed, the Judg &s;tands at the door, who will come and rip open thy heart and thy ways, and &s;hew thee &s;omewhat which thou little thought&s;t of, and &s;o thou who groane&s;t a|gain&s;t another wilt be condemned thy &s;elf. Nay
<HI>though thou ha&s;t &s;poken to them in the Name of the Lord,</HI> (as he carrieth it, ver&s;. 10.) and they may &s;eem to have de&s;pi&s;ed thy me&s;&s;age, nay have really both de&s;pi&s;ed thee and the Lord in who&s;e Name thou ha&s;t &s;poken; yet take heed of &s;o much as groaning again&s;t them, le&s;t the Judg al&s;o find matter again&s;t thee. It is not fit for one guilty per|&s;on to breathe out complaints again&s;t another.</P>
<P>Therefore con&s;ider thine own heart well, and ob|&s;erve the failings there; Are there not more there then in thy brothers, all things con&s;idered? And con&s;ider if thou would&s;t be willing to have Chri&s;t withdraw his heart from thee, or whether thou would&s;t have him take occa&s;ion hereby to exerci&s;e towards thee &s;uch acts of love as thy need now requires, as to pity thee, to &s;tand ready to help thee, to take that cour&s;e which may be&s;t help thee, &amp;c. If &s;o, go and do &s;o to thy brother. If thou would&s;t have him keep that Law of Love which God hath given him concerning thee, do thou by his &s;trength improve his grace to the keeping of that Law of Love which he hath given thee concerning thy fellow-Saints:
<HI>and this is his Commandment, that we love one another as he hath loved us.</HI></P>
<P>Now for a clo&s;e, that he that readeth may under&s;tand.</P>
<P><HI>All this is but an exerci&s;e by way of Di&s;cipline to the &s;eed in its childhood, as indeed all other things al&s;o are. The
<PB N="72" REF="42"> threatnings, the rewards, the promi&s;es, the comforts, the en|joyments, &amp;c. in every di&s;pen&s;ation, are &s;uited to the &s;tate of the child.</HI></P>
<P><HI>When the day dawns, the &s;hadows will fly away: When Truth appears, that which did repre&s;ent it, as an image of it, mu&s;t give place.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Yet the&s;e images or repre&s;entations are not &s;uch as either Satan or the mind of man frames, which are vanity and a lye, but true and &s;ub&s;tantial repre&s;entations of Truth.</HI></P>
<P><HI>But though they are truth in their kind, yet they mu&s;t not &s;tand for ever, but only their appointed &s;ea&s;on, which is till Truth of a deeper kind come, or at lea&s;t till the night before the day of Truths di&s;covery.</HI></P>
<P><HI>It were good for every one that he knew his di&s;pen&s;ation, and what is proper for him in it, that he might both bear the yoke and enjoy the &s;weetne&s;s of it, not leaping out of it before he be led. This over-much ha&s;te will co&s;t him dear, for all the ground he treads after this rate, he mu&s;t traver&s;e back again, before he can come to that forwardne&s;s wherein he was, even under that di&s;pen&s;ation out of which he thus &s;lightly pa&s;&s;ed.</HI></P>
<P><HI>There is a true death in and to a di&s;pen&s;ation, which there is no redemption from: There is no more life to be had in or under that di&s;pen&s;ation by him whom God hath truly &s;lain in and unto it. But there are deadne&s;&s;es in and under mini|&s;trations, which are not &s;o much as degrees of this death, nay there are deaths al&s;o which are not this death, which the life in tho&s;e that are under tho&s;e mini&s;trations is to recover out of, or they mu&s;t &s;uffer lo&s;s thereby.</HI></P>
<P><HI>In the mo&s;t lively mini&s;tration among Chri&s;tians, Love hath &s;till been the life: and in that way wherein they yet are, the&s;e things may be u&s;eful. But yet there is a more ex|cellent way, and more excellent things then are now thought <PB N="73" REF="42"> of, which will be manife&s;ted in due time. But it is very dan|gerous &s;triving to a&s;cend up to them aforehand, the &s;weete&s;t and &s;afe&s;t way is to wait the &s;ea&s;on of their de&s;cent. The deep &s;en&s;e of the want whereof, with an a&s;&s;ured expectation and quiet waiting and groaning for, is the be&s;t &s;train of</HI> Reli|gion, <HI>of the pure&s;t &s;tamp of any I know extant.</HI> Life <HI>is now wrapped up, coming very little forth; yet mo&s;t in the&s;e mo|tions to the &s;ence and judgment that I have of it.</HI></P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="part">
<HEAD>Some few Catechi&s;tical Que&s;tions concerning the way of Salvation by Chri&s;t.</HEAD>
<P>Que&s;t. <HI>WHat is the &s;um of the Go&s;pel?</HI></P>
<P><HI>An&s;.</HI> It containeth the news or tydings of one anointed by God to be <HI>a Prince and Saviour</HI> to his people, to redeem them from their &s;in, mi&s;ery and captivity, into the happy freedom of true life.</P>
<P>Q. <HI>How doth this Saviour &s;ave?</HI></P>
<P><HI>A.</HI> By reconciling God and his people together by vertue of the <HI>anointing.</HI></P>
<P>Q. <HI>How came God and his people to be at odds?</HI></P>
<P><HI>A.</HI> By their di&s;obedience to a Law &s;et up between God and them (which was agreeable and a&s;&s;ented unto by their own nature) the effects whereof &s;evered them from God, and Gods own righteou&s;ne&s;s &s;evered him from them; which di&s;obedience of theirs (to his mo&s;t righteous Law in it &s;elf, and mo&s;t natural to them) though it could not root them out of the inmo&s;t of each <PB N="74" REF="43"> others hearts, yet it rai&s;eth a wall of enmity and &s;epa|ration on each hand to the utmo&s;t limits of that di&s;pen|&s;ation, wherein God and they are perfect haters one of another; They the objects of his wrath as much as any <HI>(the children of wrath as well as others,)</HI> and he as hateful unto them as unto others.</P>
<P>Q. <HI>How doth Chri&s;t effect a reconciliation between them?</HI></P>
<P><HI>A.</HI> By his mediation between God and them, the anointing fitting him, and he making u&s;e of the anoint|ing to the utmo&s;t, to work both unto terms of hearty agreement. For he undertaketh to &s;tand as a middle per&s;on between them, equal to each, propo&s;ing &s;uch terms whereon they may agree without prejudice or detriment on either &s;ide; and to ratifie and e&s;tabli&s;h this agreement him&s;elf, &s;o as they &s;hall never have cau&s;e more of variance on either hand. He takes off the old occa&s;ion wholly, and will not &s;uffer any new &s;eeds of divi&s;ion to be &s;own, or any new occa&s;ion of difference to ari&s;e.</P>
<P>Q. <HI>How can he po&s;sibly do this?</HI></P>
<P><HI>A.</HI> He cannot mi&s;s of it the way that he takes, which is, by taking the whole work of each upon him (he be|ing &s;ufficiently furni&s;hed to do it, by the Law of Life in him&s;elf) that neither &s;hall expect any thing from the other, but only from him, who as he is powerful, &s;o he promi&s;eth to be faithful unto each. God knowing his power and fidelity, is ea&s;ily &s;atisfied; and when he is a little acquainted with them (or rather they with him) he maketh them &s;en&s;ible thereof likewi&s;e, and faileth not of begetting confidence al&s;o in them.</P>
<P>Q. <HI>What doth he undertake in reference to God?</HI></P>
<P><HI>A.</HI> The&s;e two things.</P>
<P N="1">1. To give him full &s;atisfaction for the offence com|mitted. <PB N="75" REF="43"> Let Ju&s;tice cry with open mouth, it &s;hall be fill|ed, it &s;hall have enough.</P>
<P N="2">2. To fit them fully for him: To make them a fit Spou&s;e, a fit Temple, a fit Habitation for his Life, Ma|je&s;ty and Holine&s;s.</P>
<P>Q. <HI>What &s;atisfaction doth he give to God?</HI></P>
<P><HI>A.</HI> He pays him in the coyn wherein he was rob|ed, and that very perfectly &s;tamped, for he giveth him both active and pa&s;&s;ive obedience in every thing he calls for from him. He doth his Will and &s;uffereth his Will as much and as long as he plea&s;eth. This he did all his life, and at la&s;t at his death gives him a full round &s;um of both, in &s;acrificing him&s;elf to his plea&s;ure, which was both his act (for he gave him&s;elf, he gave up his life,) and his pa&s;&s;ion (for he &s;uffered mo&s;t deeply in it.)</P>
<P>Q. <HI>How doth he fit them for God?</HI></P>
<P><HI>A.</HI> Three ways.</P>
<P N="1">1. By clean&s;ing them from all their pollutions.</P>
<P N="2">2. By filling them both within and without with all &s;uch riches, glory and beauty as is comely in the eye of God.</P>
<P N="3">3. By turning their hearts towards God: for all manner of fitne&s;s without this will not make a match.</P>
<P>Now the&s;e though they be di&s;tinct works, yet they are done together. They are begun together, they are carried on together, they are perfected together.</P>
<P>Q. <HI>But by what means doth Chri&s;t accompli&s;h all this?</HI></P>
<P><HI>A.</HI> By working repentance and faith in them, and by cau&s;ing repentance and faith to grow up in them: for hereby he both changeth their natures, and tran&s;plant|eth them; &s;o that they are no more what they were, nor where they were; &s;o that God cannot look upon them either as &s;uch as they were, or as in &s;uch a &s;tate as <PB N="76" REF="44"> they were in, for Chri&s;t (who is real in his operations) hath really changed them in both re&s;pects.</P>
<P>Q. <HI>What is Repentance?</HI></P>
<P><HI>A.</HI> It is the turning of the heart from &s;in, upon the &s;ight of the evil and mi&s;ery of it, &s;hewn by Chri&s;t to the eye of the new nature. (Repentance is only the diver&s;i|on from, the conver&s;ion to, is faith, or an act of faith.) He giveth them a &s;ight of the evil of &s;in, of what a loath&s;om nature it is, how filthy and odious it maketh them in them&s;elves and to every pure eye; as al&s;o of the mi&s;ery of it, which is both pre&s;ent &s;lavery and fu|ture condemnation and wrath: And hereby he turneth their hearts clean from it, that they de&s;ire nothing more then to be fairly rid of it.</P>
<P>Q. <HI>What is Faith?</HI></P>
<P><HI>A.</HI> It is a receiving of Chri&s;t into the under&s;tand|ing, into the heart, into the whole man; and a giving up of the under&s;tanding, heart and all unto Chri&s;t. It is a taking in and a giving it &s;elf up unto <HI>the leaven of the Kingdom.</HI> It is the Souls glue, given it by Chri&s;t, where|by it clings and fa&s;tens to Chri&s;t, and whereby it fa&s;t|ens Chri&s;t to it &s;elf.</P>
<P>(It is a very curious work, requiring very accurate skill, which Chri&s;t operateth between God and his people. He offereth force to neither, but dealeth with each &s;uitable to their natures, and by his skill and pow|er therein, worketh and bringeth both about.)</P>
<P>Q. <HI>How doth Chri&s;t work repentance and faith in them?</HI></P>
<P><HI>A.</HI> He be&s;tows them upon them. He &s;endeth his
<HI>Word,</HI> the Go&s;pel of the Kingdom, by his Mini&s;ters, wherein or in which Ve&s;&s;el is this &s;eed of Light, of Life, of Liberty, which he di&s;tills or drops into their under|&s;tandings, and into their hearts, whereby (by the pre|&s;ence <PB N="77" REF="44"> of which, by the growth of which, by the influ|ence and operation of which) he gaineth upon them.</P>
<P>Q. <HI>What doth he undertake in reference to them?</HI></P>
<P><HI>A.</HI> Two things.</P>
<P N="1">1. To give them in the pardon of their &s;ins from God, &s;o that they &s;hall find them wa&s;hed off from their own Con&s;ciences, they &s;hall feel him at peace with them. This was not an imaginary act of the Soul (as it is very much now adays) but a real act of God, really tran&s;acted by God upon the Soul, and really &s;een by the eye of the Soul, and truly felt in the heart and &s;pirit.</P>
<P N="2">2. Communion with God, both in &s;uch a degree as is needful for them at pre&s;ent, and in perfection of glo|ry at la&s;t. They are &s;ons now, heirs at pre&s;ent, having fellow&s;hip with God as his &s;ons, as his heirs; but then, in the time of it, they &s;hall enjoy their inheritance, which is re&s;erved for them till they be grown up.</P>
<P>Q. <HI>But may not God and they fall out afterwards as they did before, and &s;o their end prove wor&s;e then their beginning?</HI></P>
<P><HI>A.</HI> No, for Chri&s;t undertaketh to pre&s;erve them, to keep them &s;afe from all evils and dangers, in &s;o much as they &s;hall not fall upon them further then &s;hall be for their good: to work in them and for them all their works: to keep off wrath, that it &s;hall &s;eize no further upon them, then he him&s;elf in wi&s;dom and love &s;eeth good to let it out. In a word: God &s;hall never have more to &s;ay to them, but from him; nor they never have more to do with God, but through him, who loveth them perfectly, and who as he began, &s;o he will continue meerly from the &s;trength of his own love to perfect his own work in them, which though his wi&s;|dom may cau&s;e him to carry on very my&s;teriou&s;ly, yet <PB N="78" REF="45"> his love will not let him fail doing of it very &s;afely.</P>
<P>Q. <HI>What mu&s;t he do who is in&s;tated in this Salvation, in and for whom this Redemption is begun by Je&s;us Chri&s;t?</HI></P>
<P><HI>A.</HI> He mu&s;t be continually &s;acrificing him&s;elf by the Spirit of the Lord (in which he that is in Chri&s;t lives and moves and acts) until he become an whole burnt-offering unto the Lord: until all his light, all his life, all his will be &s;wallowed up and perfectly lo&s;t in the Light, in the Life, in the Will of the Lord. Not only until his corruption be di&s;&s;olved and con&s;umed, but till his very nature and being (in all the powers, motions and operations of it) be changed into the Nature and Being of the Lord: until the new creature hath wholy &s;pred it &s;elf all over him, and he be become wholy a new lump. This, he who is not truly changed, cannot do; and he who is truly changed cannot but do.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="part">
<HEAD>A Po&s;t&s;cript about Religion.</HEAD>
<P>THere have always been <HI>two kinds of Religions</HI> in the world, (be&s;ides the &s;everal &s;trains in each, and the &s;everal ways of jumbling each together, which the vain heart of man hath invented to entangle and vex it &s;elf withall,) The one <HI>Heatheni&s;h</HI> or
<HI>Devili&s;h,</HI> The other <HI>Heavenly</HI> or <HI>Divine;</HI> The one wrought out of the Earth by the a&s;&s;i&s;tance of Satan, The other let down into the Earth by the Spirit of the Lord.</P>
<P>The whole Earth is &s;till taken up about <HI>Religion.</HI> It is both <HI>natural</HI> and <HI>artificial,</HI> and that about which the whole &s;trength of Nature and Art is mo&s;t employed. <PB N="79" REF="45"> There hath not been any part of the Earth &s;o barbar|ous, wherein there have not been &s;ome &s;trains of devo|tion found. There is every where (where the nature of man appears, where the art of man is exerci&s;ed, and where there is any breath either of God or Satan &s;tir|ing) &s;ome kind of &s;eed, and &s;ome kind of culture of <HI>Religion.</HI></P>
<P>The main end of Religion (in reference to us) is
<HI>Sal|vation.</HI> Not only pre&s;ent relief and protection in our pre&s;ent feeble e&s;tate, but Salvation in a future e&s;tate, which the very nature of man pointeth him unto, and teacheth him to look after. We are at pre&s;ent involved in mi&s;ery, we feel it: Every creature feeleth it accord|ing to its kind, and we according to our kind. There is &s;ome future e&s;tate of things unto which we all are pa&s;&s;|ing: And this pre&s;ent e&s;tate, though it be wholy vain in reference to us, as we now are, yet it cannot be at all vain in reference to that; but that which is perfect mu&s;t of nece&s;&s;ity order every thing perfectly to its end, &s;o that nothing be lo&s;t, not any one motion of any crea|ture in any kind.</P>
<P>Now this is mo&s;t evident, That though all men al|mo&s;t expect Salvation, yet the attainment of it will be very rare. The common paths of Heatheni&s;h Wor|&s;hip will not lead to it, and in the mid&s;t of the Di&s;pen|&s;ations of God there are few who truly walk to it. How few of the
<HI>Jews,</HI> under the Di&s;pen&s;ation of the Law, did truly walk towards Salvation! And how many <HI>Di&s;ciples,</HI> under the Go&s;pel, ran &s;o as they could not obtain! <HI>Many &s;hall &s;ay, Lord, Lord, open to us;</HI> but the <HI>Lord</HI> &s;hall an&s;wer them, <HI>Verily I know you not.</HI> They &s;hall &s;peak like per&s;ons well acquainted with the Lord, and very &s;ure of entrance: but the Lord will di&s;own <PB N="80" REF="46"> them, and tell them publiquely, Of a truth I know you not.</P>
<P>Doth it not then behove every one to look about him? It is very ill trifling about Eternity. Thou wilt one day be a&s;hamed, O confident Soul, who ha&s;t &s;ought for <HI>the trea&s;ure</HI> in the wrong field; who ha&s;t layd out <HI>thy mony for that which is not bread,</HI> and thy pains for that which will not &s;atisfie. Would&s;t thou but con&s;ider how unable thou art to ju&s;tifie thy Religion now, I &s;peak to the mo&s;t &s;trict, to the mo&s;t exact per&s;ons living, I &s;ay, bring thy Religion to that touch&s;tone which may now be held forth, how wilt thou manife&s;t it to thine own &s;pirit to be weighty! Thou <HI>knowe&s;t,</HI> thou <HI>beleeve&s;t,</HI> thou
<HI>love&s;t,</HI> thou <HI>obeye&s;t.</HI> Very good. But how wilt thou ju&s;tifie any of the&s;e? I dare boldly affirm, that unle&s;s thou ha&s;t &s;een the &s;tamp of God (with the eye of a true under&s;tanding, 1
<HI>Joh.</HI> 5.20.) thou can&s;t not be able to &s;ay that the&s;e are of his &s;tamp; and unle&s;s they be of the &s;tamp of God, and have the very Nature and Life of God in them, I am &s;ure they &s;hall not &s;ave thee. Ah fooli&s;h man, Becau&s;e thou ha&s;t lighted upon the Scrip|tures, and reade&s;t, and heare&s;t, and praye&s;t, and con|forme&s;t thy life (as well as thou can&s;t) to the directions thereof, yea praye&s;t for the help of the Spirit, acknow|ledging thine own weakne&s;s and unprofitablene&s;s, &amp;c. do&s;t thou think to be &s;aved? Do&s;t thou not know that the <HI>root</HI> of all this is rejected by the Lord, and can any of the <HI>fruit</HI> be accepted? I can a&s;&s;ure thee, the &s;pirit of man will do this, and the &s;pirit of man in thee may do this. (The Lord hath written this in the nature and pre|&s;ent &s;tate of man, and when he plea&s;eth he may draw it out.) And &s;eeing with God it is all one to will as to do, the &s;pirit of man, which is univer&s;ally willing unto this, <PB N="81" REF="46"> &s;hall be as well accepted herein as thine. He who would have been wrought upon to do this, is as ju&s;tifiable be|fore God, as thou who ha&s;t been wrought upon, and ha&s;t done it: And thou who art <HI>uncircumci&s;ed in heart</HI> (for that which thou calle&s;t the circumci&s;ion is no more it, then that which the Jews called &s;o) art as loath&s;om before God, as tho&s;e who are uncircumci&s;ed in their outward practi&s;es and profe&s;&s;ions.</P>
<P>Let me plead a little further with thee. Do&s;t thou know what the &s;pirit of man can do, when his whole nature, when all his under&s;tanding, his affections and pa&s;&s;ions are purified and heightened? It is a dull frothy &s;tupified &s;pirit, which can plea&s;e it &s;elf in this dro&s;&s;y world, a &s;pirit a little &s;ublimated, a little enlightened, a little quickened, cannot but mind things of another na|ture, even &s;uch as are &s;uitable to its inward part, and the future e&s;tate thereof: And what would not a natural &s;pirit throughly &s;en&s;ible do, to avoyd its perfect mi&s;e|ry, and attain its perfect life, re&s;t and happine&s;s?</P>
<P>Again, Do&s;t thou know how near thou may&s;t ap|proach to the Truth, and yet remain &s;hort of it? how far thou may&s;t walk in a way like
<HI>the &s;trait way,</HI> and yet it not prove the way? how high thou may&s;t a&s;cend on the <HI>ladder</HI> (which &s;eemingly to thee leads up to Heaven) and yet that not prove the ladder? There is no <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> can &s;ave but
<HI>the Lords anointed,</HI> nor can he &s;ave any o|therwi&s;e then by his anointing thee in the Name and with the Nature of the Lord; <HI>He &s;hall &s;ave becau&s;e of the anointing.</HI> Thou may&s;t have all the &s;imilitudes of Truth and Salvation in every kind, and yet not one &s;park of Truth in any kind. Thou may&s;t have light, great light, which thou may&s;t confidently beleeve to be <HI>the light of the Lord,</HI> and yet it may not prove &s;o: Thou may&s;t <PB N="82" REF="47"> have fre&s;h and vigorous life, and yet not that life prove the life of the Spirit neither; And if &s;o, then all the motions of this life, all thy &s;teps in this light, will not lead thee towards, but further from the Lord. Thou may&s;t offer &s;acrifices, and yet tho&s;e &s;acrifices not be the Lords, though in thine appearance in&s;tituted by him, and by thee dedicated to him: Thou may&s;t &s;ea&s;on them with &s;alt, and offer them up with fire on that which thou take&s;t to be the Lords altar, and yet neither that &s;alt, that fire, nor that alter be the Lords. To come yet near|er, Thou may&s;t have faith in God through Chri&s;t, love to God and the Saints, peace in thine own &s;pirit, re&s;t and joy in beleeving and obeying the voyce of the Lord, and all the&s;e very pure and &s;piritual in thine own view, and yet not &s;o before the Lord who knoweth things, and cannot be deceived with vain appearances. In a word, Thou may&s;t come <HI>from a Land of bondage, through a wilderne&s;s, into a &s;tate and condition of re&s;t;</HI> and yet this may not be the child of the Lord whom he called out of <HI>Egypt (out of Egypt have I called my Son,)</HI> nor this <HI>Egypt</HI> the <HI>Egypt</HI> out of which he calleth his Son, nor this &s;tate of re&s;t Gods Canaan, <HI>Gods holy Land</HI> unto which he leads his &s;on. There are
<HI>Egypts</HI> (&s;tates and places of bondage) for the &s;pirit of man: There are <HI>wilderne&s;&s;es,</HI> thou&s;ands of wilderne&s;&s;es (as there were many wilderne&s;&s;es in the world be&s;ides that which <HI>I&s;|rael</HI> pa&s;&s;ed through) in which the &s;pirit of man may be entangled, and through which he may travel, and after his pa&s;&s;age through them may find a condition of <HI>re&s;t.</HI> But yet the Lords <HI>Egypt,</HI> the Lords Wilderne&s;s, the Lords <HI>Canaan</HI> are different from the&s;e, as they are pre|pared for a different end, namely, the &s;ubjection, the correction and enlargement of his &s;on.</P>
<P><PB N="83" REF="47">There is a threefold &s;tate of per&s;ons &s;tanding for life; There are three &s;orts of Runners, all which make ac|count to obtain, but only one of them can.</P>
<P N="1">1. There is <HI>the pure extract of this Earth,</HI> the natural man, him I mean (not whom thou art apt to call &s;o, but he) who notwith&s;tanding all his Religion (all his de|votion, his reading the Scripture, his praying, hearing, beleeving, &amp;c.) in the eye of God is &s;o, and by his tryal will be found &s;o. This man, though he be very zealous, yet he hath no more Religion in him, then the &s;pirit of man, by &s;erious con&s;ideration with him&s;elf, and by &s;o|lid meditations on the Scriptures, may attain to. This man, finding a nece&s;&s;ity of beleeving, and ju&s;t ground for it, cannot but beleeve, cannot but love, cannot but &s;trive after obedience, in the mid&s;t of all incumbrances and hangings back; his &s;pirit, thus lighted, convinceth, per&s;wadeth, and thus directeth him. This man makes no que&s;tion of acceptance here, and of enjoying God hereafter. Of this &s;ort is the greate&s;t part of Religious per&s;ons upon the face of the Earth, though becau&s;e the &s;pirit of man is more enlightened and heightened in &s;ome then in others, therefore &s;ome are apt exceedingly to ju&s;tifie them&s;elves and condemn others; calling the Religion of others formal and earthly, little &s;u&s;pecting that their own is &s;o, not only in its mo&s;t &s;ublime out|goings, but even in its very root.</P>
<P N="2">2. There is <HI>an heavenly kind of birth,</HI> from an hea|venly gift, from a gift of a new life as it were, from a light let from God into the Soul, which &s;hining about it and quickening it, which &s;hewing it the world to come, and letting in the powers of it, mu&s;t needs make great changes in it, and beget an higher faith, love and obedience then the former. The&s;e make no que&s;tion <PB N="84" REF="48"> but that <HI>theirs is the Kingdom,</HI> and yet the&s;e may <HI>fall a|way and mi&s;s of it,</HI> as is te&s;tified <HI>Heb.</HI> 6. and what if they had kept their &s;tanding, can a nature &s;ubject to change inherit Eternity? In rewards appertaining to Di&s;pen|&s;ations there may be lo&s;s or gain, but in <HI>eternal life</HI> there comes in no con&s;ideration of the motions of the creature, but it is
<HI>the free gift of God through Je&s;us Chri&s;t,</HI> which he that well under&s;tandeth can unfold many rid|dles, wherein the &s;pirit of man mu&s;t needs be entangled and lo&s;t.</P>
<P N="3">3. There is <HI>a birth from a new nature,</HI> from the life of God &s;own and &s;pringing up in the Soul, which &s;eed contains in it and brings forth faith and love, and every other &s;piritual thing,
<HI>Joh.</HI> 1.12, 13. This man is not changed either by outward Rea&s;on or inward impre&s;&s;i|ons from Nature or Scriptures, or by a gift of light let into his &s;pirit; but by the true Nature of God &s;hed in|to him, and &s;wallowing him up into it, and bringing him forth anew in it. This is the only change, (for all other changes will return again to their principles:) The others make real changes in their kind, but this a|lone is the perfect kind of change, this only is true, full, la&s;ting, con&s;i&s;ting of the very Nature and Life of God, and therefore mu&s;t of nece&s;&s;ity abide with it, and admit of no change but what it is al&s;o capable of.</P>
<P>Now what is thy Religion? what image, what &s;u|per&s;cription beareth it? How rare is it to find the na|tural Religion of the &s;pirit of man fairly improved and well grown? Alas, the Religion now abroad cannot ju&s;tly &s;atisfie the plain hone&s;t &s;pirit of natural man! but where &s;hall we find the &s;econd kind? and if we be put to it for the &s;econd, where &s;hall we &s;eek for the third?</P>
<P><PB N="85" REF="48">The pre&s;ent e&s;tate of Religion is exceeding &s;ick and weak. Religion hath lo&s;t its fir&s;t light, its fir&s;t life, its fir&s;t &s;trength and vigor. True Religion eats out the life and &s;trength of man, bringing forth a life of ano|ther nature; but where is there any Religion now which floweth out from the nature of man, which would ea&s;ily be acknowledged, were the nature of man rightly mea&s;ured and under&s;tood? We have indeed a great deal of humane knowledg of the things of God, a great many fle&s;hly fabricks, but who can produce one &s;piritual building? The be&s;t &s;ymptomes that I find of Religion, are its &s;ickne&s;s, its langui&s;hing. That which flouri&s;heth and boa&s;teth it &s;elf &s;o much, &s;avoreth too &s;trongly of the fle&s;h to pa&s;s for currant.</P>
<P>But alas, <HI>who is truly &s;ick!</HI> We want a
<HI>Phy&s;ician,</HI> but who is prepared for the Phy&s;ician! what work were there as yet for him, &s;hould he come but to wound, for who among the wounded hath his wound upon him?</P>
<P>I do not delight to afflict the &s;pirits of men: but I confe&s;s it much grieves me to &s;ee them &s;o greedily run after vanity, kindling &s;uch &s;parks, and walking in the light of &s;uch a fire, as &s;erves only to lull them&s;elves a|&s;leep at pre&s;ent with, but will not &s;ecure them from the bed of abiding &s;orrow. Read that place, <HI>I&s;ai.</HI> 50.11.
<HI>Behold all ye that kindle a fire, that compa&s;s your &s;elves a|bout with &s;parks: Walk in the light of your fire, and in the &s;parks that ye have kindled. This &s;hall ye have of mine hand, ye &s;hall lie down in &s;orrow.</HI> I am a&s;&s;ured in my Soul that the Religion abroad will not &s;ave men; that under their profe&s;&s;ions and practi&s;es of holine&s;s there is a root of wickedne&s;s which mu&s;t to Hell, and they in whom it is found. It is not all the knowledg of Chri&s;t, nor faith <PB N="86" REF="49"> nor love, nor all the exerci&s;es of Religion of the com|mon kind, that will &s;ave; but a new life, a new &s;pirit, a renewed nature, which is a rarer thing then we com|monly think for.</P>
<P>Being thus wounded, being thus afflicted for you, will ye think much that I &s;peak a little to you, becau&s;e it &s;ounds &s;omewhat har&s;h in your ears, becau&s;e it &s;trikes at the foundation not of your outward wor&s;hip (which ye cannot bear neither) but the very life and hope of your Souls? I am jealous over you, I would not have you cozened of eternal life, I would not have you trifle away your Souls in a dream. I would have you &s;aved, therefore do I tell you of a deeper wound (which your &s;ickne&s;s requires) then ye have yet been acquinted with. I would have you found for ever, therefore do I tell you of your lo&s;t e&s;tate, therefore do I &s;trive to heave up that vail of &s;eeming &s;afety and happine&s;s which covers your true mi&s;ery from your eyes, and makes you run dancing into your own utter ruine.</P>
<P>Look upon the primitive Chri&s;tians (ye pretend to be &s;ucce&s;&s;ors to them) where is the <HI>truth</HI> of that life which they once had? It is true, they had <HI>&s;pots</HI> as well as you; but as your life is not their life, &s;o your &s;pots are not their &s;pots. Ye confe&s;s ye want many circum|&s;tantial (tending to the outward glory of that &s;tate) which they had; but do ye not want the inward &s;ub|&s;tance of that life which tends to the very Being of that &s;tate? (O Sirs, con&s;ider it, All the wit of man, All the art of man, All the &s;erious indu&s;try of mans &s;pirit, can never lay one &s;tone in this building!) I will mention a few differences between us and them, and con&s;ider ye of what force they be. If any &s;hall contend that there is no &s;uch difference, but his Religion is the &s;ame in the&s;e <PB N="87" REF="49"> re&s;pects, I have nothing further to &s;ay again&s;t him, I have but given in my te&s;timony, which is only &s;o far valid as my &s;pirit hath in true judgment &s;earched and weighed this thing: nor doth it po&s;itively conclude a|gain&s;t all Religion, No, It rather beleeveth that there is a &s;eed of Truth &s;omewhere, though deeply hid.</P>
<P>The e&s;pecial differences (or at lea&s;t &s;ome of them) which I have ob&s;erved between Religion in its fir&s;t birth and growth, and now in its &s;tate of depravation or weak re&s;titution by mans endeavors, are the&s;e, or in the&s;e re&s;pects.</P>
<P N="1">1. It differs <HI>in its de&s;cent.</HI> That came down from God, The <HI>&s;acrifices</HI> therein were appointed by God, The <HI>fire</HI> which kindled their &s;acrifices was let down from Heaven: The Religion now extant is generally of the Earth, of mans pumping up from thence, which man is not able to ju&s;tifie to be the &s;ame with the for|mer, though every &s;ort would fain have theirs acknow|ledged to be &s;o. There is indeed &s;ome kind of likene&s;s, in &s;ome re&s;pects, in every way of Doctrine and Wor|&s;hip which man formeth out of the Scripture: but it is not <HI>the life, the &s;ub&s;tance, the truth, the Religion</HI> which the Lord once formed, and which the Lord alone can form again.</P>
<P N="2">2. It differs <HI>in its nature or principle.</HI> That as it was from Heaven, &s;o it was <HI>heavenly:</HI> There was <HI>a &s;eed of God, a &s;eed of life,</HI> which was &s;own and &s;prang up then. Now there is much natural, much artificial devotion, but it hath not this nature in it: The
<HI>repentance,</HI> the <HI>mortification,</HI> the <HI>&s;elf-denyal,</HI> &amp;c. of this age, beareth not the image of the former. It is &s;uch a kind of things as may de&s;erve &s;uch a name here in this world, but not being &s;et by the other. I do not &s;ay there is no &s;uch <PB N="88" REF="50"> thing now as the former principle, I rather beleeve the contrary: but I confe&s;s I think it very rare, and hardly vi&s;ible &s;o much as to it &s;elf.</P>
<P N="3">3. It differs <HI>in its guide.</HI> That life had a guide, It had the Spirit of life to guide it: The life now, where it may be be&s;t &s;uppo&s;ed to be, is at a lo&s;s; And though it may be given to the Spirit to be pre&s;erved, yet the Spirit is not given to it to make u&s;e of. No life now runs &s;o high and pure, as to be entru&s;ted with the Spirit. It may be &s;ecretly led into faith, into love, into prayer, into obedience by the Spirit, but it knoweth not that it is &s;o, or its own motions when they are &s;o. We are fain to take it for granted that our prayers and motion are &s;uch; And when the natural or artificial fire burns in us any thing warmly (much more if our &s;pirits be much heated) we readily take it for granted, without through &s;earching, without true di&s;cerning (which is too difficult and co&s;tly) whether this be the heat, the warmth, the life of the Spirit or no?</P>
<P N="4">4. It differs <HI>in its light.</HI> They had a light &s;uitable to their nature, &s;uitable to their eye, &s;uitable to the divine Spirit in them: We have a light &s;uitable to our nature, &s;uitable to our eye, &s;uitable to our humane &s;pirit: We &s;ee things ju&s;t as other men &s;ee them; We rea&s;on our &s;elves into truths and practi&s;es, as any other man might do. I do not &s;ay that this &s;hould not be done (for the humane &s;pirit is to go along, and to have its own light with it too,) but I cannot but &s;ay, that this is not enough.</P>
<P N="5">5. It differs <HI>in the things conver&s;ed with.</HI> They were led into and did walk in the <HI>&s;ub&s;tance</HI> of things: They felt the <HI>nature,</HI> the <HI>truth,</HI> the <HI>power</HI> of Salvation: The life in them ta&s;ted and enjoyed the life of God in <PB N="89" REF="50"> Chri&s;t. They did not take it for granted that God was a Father, and that Chri&s;t was a Saviour, and was &s;et up by God to di&s;pen&s;e eternal life; but they were in his Fatherhood, they were in Chri&s;t, and had the eternal life of God and Chri&s;t in them. <HI>They knew that they were of God, and that the Son of God was come, who gave them an under&s;tanding to know him that is true; and that they were in him that is true, in his Son Je&s;us Chri&s;t.</HI> (And this was no high-flown fancy concerning God and eternal life, which con&s;i&s;ts only in the elevation of the imagination, but the truth.) <HI>This is the true God, and eternal life.</HI> 1 <HI>Joh.</HI> 5.19, 20.</P>
<P>What &s;hall we &s;ay then to the&s;e things? Is it not time for us to make a &s;tand, and look about us? Is it not time for us to mi&s;s
<HI>the Lord,</HI> and &s;eek to begin with him? Man is naturally confident, and yet commonly deceived in the ground-work of his confidence. From our fir&s;t &s;pringing up in Popery unto all our rents and divi&s;ions thence both in Doctrine and Wor&s;hip, we have &s;till been confident, that we have always been in the right. How vain is man! In every change he con|fe&s;&s;eth him&s;elf wrong, and yet that &s;till to which he changeth mu&s;t needs be right. Ah wretched man, There is <HI>a lye in thy heart,</HI> which &s;prings up in all thy thoughts and ways of devotion; and until thou bee&s;t new formed, thou wilt not be capable of entertaining the truth, but only of deluding thy &s;elf! What &s;hould I advi&s;e thee? what can be proper for thee, but to ex|amine the true ground, and joyn with <HI>the hou&s;e of I&s;rael lamenting after the Lord?</HI> to bewail the lo&s;s of <HI>his light, his life, his guidance, his pre&s;ence?</HI> The cau&s;e of joy is not, the cau&s;e of grief only is, and is in abundance; and where it is manife&s;ted with demon&s;tration and <PB N="90" REF="51"> power, there will not need any exhortation to it. I mu&s;t profe&s;s, I would rather chu&s;e tears, although I were &s;ure they &s;hould never be wiped away from mine eyes, after &s;ub&s;tance, after that which my &s;pirit wants, and can alone take up with, then the greate&s;t mirth or plea&s;ure which vanity (for &s;uch I account all the Re|ligion of man, with all that &s;prings from it) can af|ford.</P>
<P><HI>Rejoyce in the Lord always.</HI> They might well rejoyce always in the Lord, who enjoyed the Lord, who had a kind of con&s;tant pre&s;ence of the <HI>Bridegroom</HI> in their &s;pi|rits. Their Lord lived in them, walked with them, and kept them company by his Spirit. But is this &s;poken to us who are Orphans? (Though the &s;pirit of man, in his &s;everal ways of Religion, is not an Orphan, there|fore he may rejoyce al&s;o.) The &s;ame Spirit of the Lord which piped unto the Apo&s;tles and primitive Chri&s;ti|ans, admini&s;tring unto them occa&s;ion of dancing, mourneth unto us, and our proper way of an&s;wering it is in lamentation.</P>
<P>Lament therefore after the Lord, and <HI>mourn over Jeru&s;alem.</HI> Mourn over the ruines and de&s;olations of <HI>Jeru&s;alem: Pity the du&s;t of Sion. Jeru&s;alem</HI> hath been layd wa&s;te, <HI>Sion</HI> lieth in the du&s;t, nay <HI>Sion</HI> is it &s;elf burnt into du&s;t by the extream jealou&s;ie and fury of the Eter|nal, who hath let out his flames more fiercely upon her, then upon any abomination to be found among men.
<HI>Jeru&s;alem hath drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury,</HI> yea <HI>it hath drunken the dregs of the cup of trem|bling, and wrung them out,</HI> I&s;ai. 52.17. Yet &s;he is &s;till <HI>Je|ru&s;alem,</HI> &s;he is &s;till <HI>Sion,</HI> and her very <HI>du&s;t</HI> is lovely. The Lord knoweth her, and loveth her du&s;t: and it is im|po&s;&s;ible for any to di&s;cover her native worth and beau|ty, <PB N="91" REF="51"> and not to pity and mourn over her pre&s;ent condi|tion. What, is this the Lords darling, is this the only beauty, will &s;coffing earth &s;ay? <HI>I&s;hmael</HI> cannot but de|&s;pi&s;e
<HI>I&s;aac</HI> though growing, though thriving, though owned by the Lord; how contemptible then mu&s;t he needs be in his death and burial? The world (wanting the inward eye) wonders to hear God &s;peak &s;uch great things of his people, of the abundantly rich glory and excellency of <HI>their life,</HI> they appear &s;o mean to them at the be&s;t. They never have the loveline&s;s of man in them; how loath&s;om then mu&s;t they needs be, when all that which is their own beauty is broken down in them! when the remainders of their earthly beauty, with the whole frame of their &s;piritual beauty, is da&s;h|ed in peeces <HI>like a potters ve&s;&s;el,</HI> and burnt up together! Yet how precious is the &s;eed of God under all the&s;e! how amiable is this very du&s;t of <HI>Sion!</HI> The very bro|kenne&s;s, &s;ickne&s;s, mi&s;ery of this e&s;tate, is of more true value then all the &s;oundne&s;s, then all the health of life and Salvation that is any where el&s;e to be found throughout the whole Earth. Yet this object is very lamentable, and it would grieve any ones heart to be|hold it. He who hath &s;een, known, ta&s;ted or had the lea&s;t glimp&s;e of <HI>Sion</HI> in her glory, O how would his heart throb at the view of her here! yet here, if not here alone, is &s;he to be found.</P>
<P>Is it nothing to thee, <HI>O thou Pre&s;erver of man,</HI> that the <HI>foundations</HI> of thine <HI>own holy Habitation</HI> are thus &s;haken? Where is <HI>thy Zeal?</HI> where is <HI>the &s;ounding of thy Bowels</HI> at the death and mi&s;ery of thine own &s;eed! O Lord, wilt thou al&s;o <HI>bring forth children to the Mur|therer?</HI> Awake, <HI>O Lord,</HI> Rouze up thy &s;elf; Let thine own <HI>everla&s;ting Spirit</HI> &s;tir in the motions of its own <PB N="92" REF="52"> life, and never leave till it hath rai&s;ed up <HI>di&s;con&s;olate Jeru&s;alem.</HI> (de&s;olate
<HI>Jeru&s;alem,</HI> afflicted <HI>Jeru&s;alem,</HI> di&s;tracted
<HI>Jeru&s;alem, Jeru&s;alem</HI> which is &s;unk, dead and rotten,
<HI>Jeru&s;alem</HI> which is not) and hath made it <HI>the prai&s;e of the whole Earth.</HI> AMEN.</P>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
<PB REF="52">
</DIV1>
</BODY>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
