A Key Opening Mysterious Texts of Scripture, Collection of sermons 1 · Sermon 20
THE COGNISANCE OF A CHRISTIAN: OR CHRIST HIS NEW COMMANDEMENT. A Sermon preached in VVooll-Church. THE TWENTIETH SERMON.
JOH. 13.34.
A new commandement give I unto you, That ye love one another, as I have loved you, that yee alſo love one another.
Right Worſhipfull, &c.
ALL that by a Chriſtian vocation are ſevered from the world, and cut as it were out of the common rock of mankinde, and by faith relye upon Chriſt, are like ſo many hewen ſtones laid upon the chiefeaEph. 2.20. corner ſtone riſing to a ſpirituall building, reaching from the earth to heaven. The line by which they are built is the Word of God, & the cement wherwith they are held faſt together is Chriſtian charity, the ſoder of mindes, the couple of diſpoſitions, the glew of affections, and the bond of all perfection; which to faſten the more ſtrongly, among all that gave their name to Chriſt, the Primitive Church in the daies of the Apoſtles added a double tye:
1. Sacred.
2. Civill.
The ſacred was the frequent receiving of the Lords Supper: the civill was the celebrating their Agapae's, or keeping their love-feaſts. Which though they were in after ages taken away, by reaſon of manifold abuſes and diſorders committed in them, even in the place of holy aſſemblies: yet it were to be wiſhed, that all our feaſts were truly love-feaſts. I meane that the rich among us would imitate holy Job, and not eat their morſels alone, but invite thoſe of the poorer ſort to their Tables, whom Chriſt bids to his board: or at leaſt that they would defaulke a great part of that charge, which is ſpent in furniſhing theſe luxurious feaſts, wherein this City exceedeth all in the Chriſtian world, and convert it to the refreſhing of the bowels of poore priſoners, or clothing the naked, or redeeming captives, or to ſome other pious and charitable uſe: ſo ſhould your City and Company feaſts be true Agapae, foreign.love-feaſts; and you teſtifie to all the world, what account you make of Chriſt his new commandement in my Text, Love one another.
Of all ſpeeches we ought to give moſt heed to thoſe of our Saviour; of all ſpeeches of our Saviour, to his commands; of all commands, to this of Chriſtian charity:
1. Becauſe it is a rare and choice one: A new.
2. Becauſe it is a ſweet and eaſie one: To love.
3. Becauſe it is a juſt and reaſonable one: One another.
4. Becauſe wee have ſuch a ſingular Preſident for it: As I have loved you, &c.
Wee have all Athenian eares, thirſting after newes: behold a new. Wee all profeſſe obedience to Lawes: behold a commandement. Wee all acknowledge Chriſt to bee our ſupreme Lord, who hath abſolute power of life and death; hearken then to his Proclamation, I give unto you. If hee had laid a heavie burthen and hard yoke upon us, wee muſt have ſubmitted our neckes and ſhoulders to it, and wee have all reaſon ſo to doe. For hee tookebEſay 53.4. Surely be hath born our griefs, and carried our ſorrowes. upon him our infirmities, and bare our ſorrowes: how much more when hee layeth ſo ſweet a yoke upon us as to love? ſo light a burthen as to love one another? Nothing more agreeable to our nature than to love, nothing more needfull to our condition than to love one another. Wee all ſtand in need one of another, this need is ſupported by love, this love is commanded by Chriſt, this command of Chriſt is new.
AscM. Tul. Cicer. Orator. Numerum verborum, numero ſententiarum complexus eſt. Tully ſpake of Thucydides his ſtile, that in his Orations every word was a ſentence. And as Saint Jerome obſerveth in the Apocalyps, Quot verba, tot ſacramenta, that there are ſo many myſteries in it as words: ſo wee may ſay of this Text, Quot verba, tot argumenta; ſo many words, ſo many arguments: ſo many notions, ſo many motions or motives to this duty of mutuall love. To which we ought to have a ſpeciall eye, and extraordinary regard:
Firſt, becauſe it is a new commandement.
Secondly, becauſe it is Chriſts commandement, I give unto you.
Thirdly, becauſe it is an amiable and eaſie one: To love.
Fourthly, becauſe it is a generall and indifferent one: Every one.
Fifthly, becauſe it is ſo juſt and profitable a one: One another.
Laſtly, becauſe it is preſt by ſuch a rare example as the world never had the like, As I have loved you.
You ſee the eares that ſtand above the reſt, which by the example of the Apoſtles on the Sabbath, I willdMat. 12.1. rubbe in the handling of them to ſtay your ſpirituall hunger a while.
A new. The firſt word in my Text is new; and even this may ſeem new and ſtrange, that Chriſt calleth here this commandement of love a new commandement, which is as old as the Law of Moſes, nay as the law of nature. For before Chriſt made love Goſpel, Moſes made it written Law; and before Moſes made it written Law, God made it a branch, or rather the root of the law of nature: before the Evangeliſt wrote this precept in the Goſpel, Moſes wrote it in the Law, and before Moſes wrote it in the Law, God wrote it with his owne finger in tables of ſtone, and long before that in the fleſhly tables of Adams heart. How then doth our Saviour here terme it a new commandement, which is ſo old, that SainteJohn 3.11. This is the meſſage that ye received from the beginning, that yee love one another. John himſelfe commendeth it from the antiquity? As Saint Ambroſe ſpake of the Cherubins in Ezekiels viſion, Si ſtabant, quomodo movebant? ſi movebant, quomodo ſtabant? If they ſtood ſtill, how did they move? if they moved, how did they ſtand ſtill? may not we likewiſe argue the caſe thus, If the duty of mutuall love be a meſſage received from the beginning, either of the promulgation of the Law, or the Creation it ſelfe; how is it here ſtiled new? If it be ſo new in Saint Johns Goſpel, how is it ſo old in his Epiſtle? Every anſwer ſhaped by the Interpreters to this queſtion may ſerve for a ſeverall expoſition of this Text, and a ſpeciall motive to this duty of mutuall love.
Firſt,fMald. in Mat. Multa dum vobiſcum verſatus ſum dedi mandata, multa documenta, nunc dabo unum quod inſtat eſt omnium. Maldonat reſolveth it to bee an Hebraiſme, in which language new, rare, and moſt excellent are ſynonimaes. A new name (Apoc. 2.) is a moſt honourable name. A new ſong (Pſal. 69.) a moſt excellent ſong. New wine (Matth. 26.29.) vinum praeſtantiſsimum alterius generis, the beſt wine; ſo here a new commandement is a rare, a choice, a ſpeciall, a remarkable one: as if our Lord had ſaid, Unum praeque omnibus unum, One above all other. Calvin gCalvin in hunc loc. Vult hujus mandati perpetuò vos eſſe memores, ac ſi lex eſſet recens nata. Scimus leges initio diligentiûs ſervari, ſenſim verò labi ex hominum memoriâ, donec tandem obſoleſcant: ergo Chriſtus quo magis infigat charitatem ſuorum animis à novitate eam commendat.varieth not much from Maldonat, paraphraſing thus, Chriſt would have us perpetually mindfull of this his precept, as if it were a law newly enacted. For wee know, ſaith hee, that lawes at the firſt making of them are carefully looked unto, and diligently obſerved; but by degrees weare out of mens memory, and in the end grow quite into diſ-uſe: therefore Chriſt, the more to faſten love in the minds of his, commendeth it unto them as a new commandement. The moſt of the Ancients conceive this commandement to be termed new, becauſe it is propounded here novâ formâ, in a new form. In the Law it runs thus, Love thy neighbour as thy ſelfe: but in the Goſpel, Love one another as I have loved you, that is, in ſome caſe more than your ſelves. For indeed ſo did Chriſt, laying downe his life for us. Yet SainthAug. in hunc loc. Novum dicitur ab effectu quod nos renovet, & exuto vetere novo induat. Auſtin hath a new way by himſelfe; hee ſaith, that the commandement of love is here ſaid to be NEW from the effect, becauſe it renewes us, and by it we put off the old man, and put on the new. Let us ſtrike all theſe ſtrings together, and make a chord of them: What account ought we to make of, how carefully to obſerve the commandement of our Saviour, which is a rare and ſingular one, and ſo new: renewed and revived by Chriſt in the Goſpel, and ſo new: delivered in a new manner, and after a new forme, and ſo new: enforced by a new preſident, and ſo new: laſtly, which maketh us new in our mindes, in our inward and outward man, and ſo new? The moſt fluent and currant ſenſe of the words ſeemeth to be this. Chriſt had before called his Diſciples children, and fore-told them that hee was ſhortly to leave them: therefore hee giveth them here ſuch counſels and precepts as fathers uſually give their children when they are to take a long journey.
Children, I am now to leave you, who have been your greateſt ſtay and comfort: now therefore you muſt bee a mutuall help and comfort one to another. My peace I leave with you, my love I commend unto you. I give you now my laſt and neweſt commandement, to love one another as I have loved you. I have loved you
1. Freely: for you choſe not iJohn 15.16.mee, but I choſe you.
2. Sincerely: for I have left my Father and a Kingdome in Heaven to live with you.
3. Exceedingly: for I have reſolved to lay kJohn 15.13.downe my life for you.
4. Conſtantly: for having loved mine owne which were in the world, I loved them to lJohn 13.1.the end.
Let your love bee ſuch one to another, that all that ſee you may know you by this badge to be my Diſciples.
This cogniſance was ſo bright to bee ſeen in the livery of the Chriſtians of the Primitive Church, that by their love-feaſts and charitable contributions, and having all things in common, and viſiting their ſicke in time of infection, and having recourſe one to another in priſons, and dungeons, and dens, and caves of the earth, and accompanying one another to the racke, to the gibbet, to the blocke, to the fire, to all ſorts of moſt exquiſite tortures and torments, the Heathen knew a man to be a Chriſtian. But this badge grew in after ages dimmer, and now it is in a maner quite worn out. Which that it might not come to paſſe, our Saviour inmGorth. in hunc loc. Ideo novum dicit mandatum, quia ſemper debet recens eſſe in corde, quia ſemper debet dilectio innovari, ac nunquam per interruptionem aut negligentiam inveterari. Gorrhams judgement propoſeth this precept of love in this forme of words, A new commandement I give unto you, that is, ſuch a one as ought to be alwaies freſh in your mind and memory, and never to waxe old, or be blotted out of your heart by any diſ-uſe or negligence. To come yet neerer to the native and genuine ſenſe of the words, a law may be ſaid to be new out of a double conſideration: Either in reſpect of the thing commanded, if it be ſuch a thing as before never fell under any law and this is the meaning of our Proverbe, Novus rex, nova lex, New lords, new lawes; becauſe for the moſt part new governours and rulers bring in new cuſtomes, proclaime new edicts, and ſettle new orders in Church and Common-wealth: Or in reſpect of the new act of commanding; ſo an old Statute, when it is revived may be called a new Statute, as an old booke when it is re-printed, or an old faſhion laid aſide for a long time when it is againe taken up, paſſeth for new. In both theſe reſpects this commandement in my Text may be ſaid to be new.
1. Firſt, in reſpect of the duty commanded. For though mutuall love were long before this enjoyned, yet not this love, whereby Chriſtians are required to love one another as Diſciples of one Maſter, nay as members of one myſticall body, whereof Chriſt Jeſus is the head.
2. Secondly, in reſpect of the new act of commanding, expreſſed in theſe words,
I give unto you. The promiſes of Chriſt in the Law, are the Goſpel of the Law; as on the other ſide, the precepts of Chriſt in the Goſpel, are the Law of the Goſpel: there is *James 4.12.one Law-giver, who is able to ſave and deſtroy; and this Law-giver is Chriſt, the Judge of quicke and dead. It belongs to Kings to give Lawes to their ſubjects, Maſters to their ſervants, Parents to their children: Chriſt was theirnMatth. 2.1. King, and their Maſter, and their Father; for he calleth them children, ſaying, Little oJoh. 13.13, 33.children, yet a while I am with you. In which of theſe relations are we to God; as our King, or our Maſter, or our Father? are we ſubjects, ſervants, or children? If wee are ſubjects, let us obey our King. If wee are his ſervants, let us doe our Maſters will. If wee are children, let us keep the commandements of our Father. Had the p2 Kings 5.13.Prophet, ſaith Naamans ſervant, bid thee to doe ſome great thing, wouldeſt thou not have done it? How much more when hee ſaith unto thee, Waſh and be cleane? ſo may I ſay unto you, If our Maſter, our Father, our King had laid a hard taske upon us, wee ought to have done it; how much more when hee ſaith but Love as I have loved you, A new commandement I give unto you?
To love. ToqAriſt. 2. rhet. ca. 4. foreign. love is to beare good affection to another, and to bee willing and ready to doe him all the good we can for his owne ſake, without any eye to our ſelves therein. Otherwiſe, if wee love him for our pleaſure, we love indeed our pleaſure, and not him: if we love him for our profit, we love our profit, and not him: if we love him for any end of our owne, we love our ſelves, not him. The Flie loveth not the Apothecaries ſhop, but the ſweet oyntment there. Craterus loved not Alexander, but the Crown: and therefore was termed foreign not foreign. The Jewes loved not Chriſt, but therJohn 6.26. loaves which hee multiplyed by miracle: Verily, verily, I ſay unto you, yee ſeeke mee not becauſe you ſaw the miracles; but becauſe you did eate of the loaves, and were filled. The Schooles therefore well diſtinguiſh of a double love,
1. Amor concupiſcentiae.
2. Amor amicitiae.
A love of concupiſcence, and a love of friendſhip. If the love of concupiſcence exceed, it degenerateth into either luſt, covetouſneſſe, or ambition. If it carry us inordinately to pleaſure, it is luſt or ſenſuality. If to gaine, it is covetouſneſſe. If to honour, it is ambition. The love of friendſhip is of another nature, it loveth a perſon for himſelfe, not for any by reſpect; or to ſpeake more properly, it loveth Chriſt in our Chriſtian brother, and may bee well termed the naturall heat of Chriſts myſticall body, which conveigheth nouriſhment into all parts, and performeth all vitall functions. It is a ſpirituall grace, knitting the hearts of the faithfull in affection one to another, melting them in compaſſion one of another, and dilating and enlarging them in delight and joy one in another.
In the delineation of this plant of Paradiſe I will imitate the Naturaliſts, and deſcribe it by the root, the maine ſtocke, the branches, the bloſſomes, the leaves, the fruit. The root is the knowledge of God. For as the beames of the Sunne reflected from thicke glaſſes generate heat; ſo the light of divine knowledge incident upon the underſtanding, and reflected upon the will, produceth in it the ardent affection of the love of God, and from it, as the maine arme of the tree, iſſue two branches, the love of our neighbour, and of our ſelves. The bloſſomes on theſe branches are good meanings, deſires, and purpoſes, to wiſh all good to our neighbour, to think well of him, to congratulate his felicity, and to condole his miſery. The leaves are good ſpeeches, counſels, and prayers. The fruit are good workes and almeſdeeds, to correct him in his errours, to comfort him in his troubles, to viſit him in his ſickneſſe, and to relieve him in his neceſſities. And, to ſpeake truth, to love in truth is to love in deed, and charitable deeds are the deeds and evidences that certainly prove a good conveighance of this affection. Let us love, ſaith the Apoſtle, not in ſ1 John 3.18. My little children, let us not love in word not in tongue, but in deed & in verity.word and in tongue, but indeed and verity. Deed and verity as you heare are all one: and therefore word onelyonly, and vanity and hypocriſie, muſt goe together, as alſo the Latine phraſe verba dare ſignifieth. True tJames 1. ult.religion and undefiled before God even the Father is this, to viſit the fatherleſſe and the widow in their affliction, and to keep himſelfe unſpotted of the world. I would all who profeſſe religion were of this religion of Saint James. For the religion which is (I will not ſay profeſſed) but practiſed by moſt men, is aptly ſet forth unto us in the Wezel, quae aure uAdrian. Jun. …mhl.concipit, parturit ore, which conceiveth at the eare, & bringeth forth at the mouth. It conceiveth in the eare in the frequent, if not perpetuall hearing of Sermons; but bringeth forth onelyonly at the mouth by diſcourſes of religion, pious counſels, good words, and liberall prayers, ſuch as theſe, God helpe thee, God relieve thee, God comfort thee, Alas poore ſoule (alas poore comfort.) Words bee they never ſo adorned, clothe not the naked: be they never ſo delicate, feed not the hungry: be they never ſo zealous, warme not him that is ſtarved with cold: be they never ſo ſoft, cure not the wounded: be they never ſo free, ſet not free them that are bound, viſit not the ſicke or impriſoned: in a word, performe not any of thoſe duties which ſhall be vouchſafed the naming at the generall day of retribution unto all men, which ſhall be according to their workes, not according to their words. The witty Epigrammatiſt deſervedly caſteth a blurre upon Candidus his faire name and debonaire carriage, becauſe all the fruits of his friendſhip grew upon his tongue:
*Martial Epigr.Candide κοῖνα φιλῶν haec ſunt tua Candide πάντα,
quae tu magniloquus nocte dieque ſonas.
Ex opibus tantis veteri fidoque ſodali
das nihil, & dicis Candide κοινα φιλων.
Thou ſayſt, my friend Candidus, that all things are common among friends, but it ſeems theſe words of thine are thy all things. For of all thy wealth and goods thou makeſt no friend thou haſt a doite the better, thou giveſt nothing at all, and yet art moſt prodigall in thy language, and weareſt out that Proverb threed-bare, foreign, All things are common amongſt friends. The Naturaliſts obſerve, that the females of Bi…ds oftentimes lay egges without cockes, but they are foreign, ova ſubventanea, egges filled up with winde, unfit to be hatched: ſuch is the iſſue of moſt mens love now a dayes, it bringeth forth partus ſubventaneos, windy brats, that is, good words, faire promiſes, and happy wiſhes. But though in our gardens of pleaſure wee nouriſh many plants and trees for their beautifull bloſſomes and goodly flowers, yet it is manifeſt out of the 16.Thou ſhalt eare freely of every tree in the garden. Verſe of the ſecond of Geneſis, that there grew no tree in the terreſtriall Paradiſe of God that bare not fruit, neither ſhall any but ſuch as fructifie bee tranſplanted into the celeſtiall. For,xMat. 3.10. Every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewen downe and caſt into the fire. Wee reade in our Chronicles of King Oſwald, that as he ſate at table, when a faire ſilver diſh full of regall delicacies was ſet before him, and he ready to fall to, hearing from his Amner that there were great ſtore of poore at his gate piteouſly crying for ſome reliefe, commanded his Steward preſently to take the diſh off the table, and diſtribute the meat, and beat the diſh all in pieces, & caſt it among them: whereat the Biſhop his Amner, taking hold of his hand, was heard to uſe theſe or the like ſpeeches, Nunquam veteraſcet haec manus, the hand which beareth ſuch fruit ſhall never wither or waxe old; & in part he was a true Prophet: for afterwards in a battell where the King was ſlaine, having his arme firſt cut off, the arme with the hand being found, were covered in ſilver, & kept as a holy Relique; and by this means endured many hundred of yeers after the whole body was conſumed. That which quencheth Hell fire in the conſcience is the bloud of Chriſt, that which applyeth this bloud is faith, that which quickneth this faith is love, that which demonſtrateth this love are workes of mercy and bounty, piety and pity, which are not ſo much offices to men, as ſacrifices to God: faith cryeth for theſe, as Rachel did for children, Give mee fruit, or elſe I dye. For,yJames 2.26. Faith without works is dead, as the body without breath. And can aman (think we) live by a dead faith? Give, ſaith our Saviour, and it ſhall be given unto you. Which precept of his was ſo imprinted in the minde of that noble MatronzHieron. epitaph. Paul. Mat. Damnum putabat, ſi quiſquam debilis aut eſuriens cibo ſuſtentaretur alterius. Et Cyp. de elecmoſ. Demus Chriſto veſtimenta terrena indumenta coeleſtia recepturi, demus cibum & potum ſecularem cum Abrah. Iſa. & Jac. ad coeleſte convivium venturi. Paula, that ſhee accounted it a great loſſe and dammage to her, if any prevented her charity in relieving any poore or diſtreſſed member of Chriſt; ſhe was a like affected, as if one had taken a great bargaine out of her hand: A great bargaine indeed, to lay out mony in earthly traſh, and receive for it heavenly treaſure; to beſtow ragges, and receive robes; to give a little broken meat that periſheth to the hungry, and for it to bee bid with Abraham, Iſaac, and Jacob to an everlaſting banquet in Heaven. I ſhould cloſe with this ſweet ſtraine of Saint Cyprian, but that there remaineth another note pricked in the laſt words of my Text.
foreign, One another. If any demand why Chriſt addeth this clauſe, enjoyning mutuall love: I anſwer, becauſe gratitude, charity, and neceſſity inforceth it. Where love is not anſwered, there is no gratitude: where kindneſſe is not requited, there is no juſtice: where offices of friendſhip are not mutually performed, there is no life. AllaSenec. ep. 48. Alteri vivas oportet, ſi vis tibi. Societas noſtra lapidum fornici ſimilima eſt, quae caſura niſi invicem obſtarent, hoc ipſo ſuſtinentur. humane ſocieties are like archt-building, in which, unleſſe every ſtone hold up another, the whole frame ſuddenly falleth. Howbeit, though gratitude, juſtice and neceſſity plead for correſpondency in Chriſtian charity; yet the world is full of complaints of parents againſt their children, husbands againſt their wives, paſtors againſt their flockes, tutours againſt their pupills, maſters againſt their ſervants. that their providence, love, and care is not anſwered in the obſervance, love, gratitude, and obedience of their inferiours. Fathers upbraid their children, ſaying, Amor deſcendit, non aſcendit; Love deſcendeth from us to our children, but aſcendeth not from them to us. Husbands commence actions of unkindneſſe againſt the wives of their boſome, that the kinder they are to them the more diſloyall they find them. Paſtors take up the Apoſtles complaint againſt his Corinthians, that theb2. Cor. 12.15. more he loved them, the leſſe hee was loved againe. Tutours murmure, that their care to breake their ſcholars of ill conditions is recompenced with hatred. And Maſters, that their good uſage of their ſervants is requited with contempt: whereby you ſee how needfull it was that Chriſt ſhould with his owne mouth as it were heat the glew to joyne our affections together, with his own finger knit the knot to tye our hearts together, with his owne hands to write a new bond to inwrap our ſoules one in another, and with his owne preſſe print anew in our mind the commandement of mutuall love: the characters whereof were quite worne out of moſt mens memory. Seneca fitly reſembleth the mutuall and reciprocall duties of friendſhip, in giving and receiving benefits one from another, to a game at Tennis, wherein the ball is toſſed backward and forward from one racket to another, and never falleth to the ground; or if it fall, it is his forfeit who miſt his ſtroake: even ſo every kind office, wherewith our friend ſerveth us, ought to be returned backe to him, that no courteſie fall to the ground. The Cherubins faces in thecExod. 37.9. Arke were one to another: Alter in alterius jacientes lumina vultum. And the wheeles in Ezekiels dEzek. 1.16.viſion were one in the midſt of the other; to teach us, that we ought not only to caſt a benigne aſpect one upon another like Cherubins, but alſo to be inwardly knit one in another like the wheels: that we may be one in another as Chriſt is in eJohn 17.23.the Father, and wee in him; I in them, and they in mee, that they may be made perfect in one. Whereſoever almoſt in holy Scripture this obligation of love is mentioned, the condition is expreſſed that it be mutuall: as in affection, Be like fRom. 12.10.one to another: in courteſie, to ſalute gRom. 16.16.one another: in humility, to waſh hJohn 13.14.one anothers feet: in love, to ſerve iGal. 5.13.one another: in hoſpitality, tok1 Pet. 4.9. entertaine one another: in patience, tolColoſ. 3.13. forbeare one another: in compaſſion, to beare mGal. 6.2.one anothers burdens: in devotion, to pray nJam. 5.16.one for another: in holy communication, too1. Theſ. 5.11. edifie one another. Here morall Philoſophy goeth hand in hand with Divinity, demonſtrating that true friendſhip cannot but be mutuall, becauſe the foundation of it is a ſimilitude of manners and diſpoſitions: which ſimilitude being a relation, cannot but be in both. And daily experience teacheth us, that as fire in an apt ſubject generateth fire; ſo love begetteth love. I will tell thee, ſaithpSeneca ep. 9. Ego tibi monſtrabo amatorium ſine medicamento, ſine herba: Si amari vis, ama. Seneca, how thou maiſt make another love thee, without any love potion, ſpell or witchcraft: if thou deſireſt to bee beloved, love thou firſt ſincerely and entirely. This recipe is approved byqAriſt rhet. l. …. foreign. Ariſtotle, who ſaith, that of all men they are the moſt lovely, that are moſt loving. And by the Poet, who adviſeth him who deſireth to endeare the affections of another to himſelfe, firſt to endeare his affections to her, and to kindle fully that fire in his owne breaſt, which hee would have burne in hers. Sit procul omne nefas, ut ameris, amabilis eſto.
Plato writeth under this his probatum eſt, and he inſtanceth in Socrates and Alcibiades; the one whereof had no ſooner began a health of love, but the other pledged him in the ſame cup, atque ita mutuum imbiberunt amorem. He muſt needs be of a very ill diſpoſition, qui amorem ſi nolit impendere, nolit rependere, who if he will not begin love, and provoke this affection in another, will not yet repay love, and anſwer love with love, and courteſie with courteſie, conſidering that as the affection is mutuall, ſo the gaine is reciprocall. As in a Hop-yard the poles ſuſtaine the Hops, and the Hops by imbracing adorne the poles: and as in a building the walls beare up the roofe, and the roofe keepeth the walls and timber from wet; ſo it is among friends: the wiſe directeth the ſtrong, and the ſtrong defendeth the wiſe; the wealthy maintaines the honourable, and the honourable ſupporteth the wealthy.
There is not onelyonly a re-action between naturall, but alſo between morall agents. Philoſophy demonſtrateth omne agens repati, & omne patiens reagere, that every agent ſuffereth from his patient, and every patient worketh againe upon the agent, either in the ſame or in a divers and contrary kinde. In the ſame kind, as when the hammer and the anvile one harden the other: or when two Mill-ſtones grate one on the other, or two tooles whet and ſharpen one the other: In a divers and contrary kinde, as when the warme hand heateth the cold, the cold hand cooleth the warme: the ſtone drieth the drop of raine, and the drop moiſteneth the ſtone; And in phyſicke, the coraſives ſharpen the lenitives, and the lenitives mitigate the coraſives. In like manner every one that doth good ſhould receive, and every one that receiveth from another ſhould do good to the other, either in the ſame kinde, as when two Preachers like lights kindle one the others knowledge, or two Phyſicians heale one the other, or two Bone-ſetters ſet one the others joynts, or two Lawyers plead one for the other, or two Souldiers fight one for the other: Or in a divers and contrary kinde, as when the confident Chriſtian comforteth the weake, and the weake Chriſtian by relating his conflicts and temptations, is a meanes to keep the ſtrong and confident Chriſtian from preſumption; the zealous profeſſour inflameth the moderate, and the moderate temperateth the zealous; the rich ſupplyeth the want of the poore, and the poore taketh away from the ſuperfluity of the rich. Thus in the ſame kinde, or in a divers and contrary, every one that is willing may hold correſpondency and faire quarter in love. If no otherwiſe wee can requite the kindneſſe of our friends, yet in thankfull acceptance we may; and the acknowledgement of the debt of love is a good part of the payment. The jewell which is illuſtrated by the Sun beames, coloureth the beames; and the earth which receiveth moiſture from the skie, repayeth it backe againe in vapours and exhalations: yea the rockes and ſtones which receive a ſound from the ayre before it bee fully given, returne it by an eccho; onelyonly ſelfe-love and ingratitude returne nothing backe againe. Selfe-love is a bad creditour, it will lay out nothing; and ingratitude is a bad debtour, it will repay nothing. The former reſembleth the Pumiſh ſtone, from which no moiſture at all can bee extracted; the later is like the ſtone of Syphnos, which being ſteeped in oyle becommeth the harder by it: ſuch is an ungratefull perſon, the better you are to him, the worſe he demeaneth himſelfe towards you.
Dearly beloved Chriſtians, if any man could live of himſelfe, hee might have ſome colour to live to himſelfe onelyonly: but ſith all civill life and humane ſociety is maintained by giving and receiving, as the naturall is by taking in and letting out breath; let us abandon thoſe vices above all others, that ſtop the entercourſe of courteous offices paſſing from one friend to another, and let us all imbrace that Chriſtian vertue, which joyneth all men unto us, and us unto all men in the glew of affections and bond of perfection. Let us give, that we may receive: let us ſow liberally, that wee may reap plentifully: let us ſcatter abroad earthly, that we may gather heavenly treaſure.
While we have time let us do good unto all, eſpecially to the houſhold of faith; and in this time of fulneſſe thinke of the empty belly, and out of our ſuperfluity ſupply their extreme want. We reade in the Jewiſh Talmud, that the grapes in Babel upon a time ſent to the vines in Judea for ſome of their broad leaves to overſhade them; otherwiſe the ſcorching heat would conſume them in ſuch ſort, that they could never come to maturity. This Apologue ſhall ſerve for my Apologie, if I preſſe you at this time with all the intereſt I have in your love, nay with all the power that I have as a Miniſter of Chriſt Jeſus, to contribute ſomething to the neceſſity of your brethren. You know well the grapes I told you of, which ſend to you, as the grapes in Babel did to the vines in Judea, to impart unto them ſome of your ſap, and to ſhade them under your well ſpread boughes, or elſe they will undoubtedly wither and periſh. I beſeech you in the bowells of Chriſt Jeſus come not behind, but rather goe before others in pious bounty and Chriſtian charity. So the good will of him that dwelt in the buſh make you all like the tree in the firſt Pſalme, planted by the rivers of waters, that bringeth forth his fruit in due ſeaſon, and his leafe ſhall not wither, and whatſoever he doth it ſhall proſper.