Philadelphia, Treatise · Chapter 22 – Chapter 23
CHAP. XXII.
NOw let me preſs all Chriſtians to mu…al and Brotherly Love: Let all Chriſtians who have taſted of the Love of God, ſhew their Love to God in loving their Brethren out of a pure heart fervently. This to the end of the world is a badg of Chriſts true Diſciples, and this ſheweth, that the ſame mind is in them that was in Chriſt Jeſus, who loved them, and waſhed them with his own blood, to make them Kings and Prieſts unto his heavenly Father. God is Love, and he that loveth in, and for the Lord, is born of God, and beloved of God. And we ſhould labour more and more freely to taſte of the Love of God, that our hearts may be more ſeaſoned with Chriſtian Love towards others.
How can it ſtand together, that Chriſtians ſhould be led by one Spirit, and yet be ſo croſs and contrary in their affections to each other? Is Chriſt divided, ſaith the Apoſtle? Can the Spirit of Chriſt which is the Spirit of Peace and Love be the cauſe of diviſion in thoſe who are all poſſeſſed with one and the ſame Spirit? It were ſtrange to ſee the members of the ſame body, which are animated and quickened with one & the ſame Soul, to fight one againſt another, one limb to tear another off the ſame body; the hand to pluck out the eye, or one hand to cut off the other: becauſe all the members have one Soul, which kniteth them all together in Love. So for the faithful, who profeſs themſelves be …overned by that one Spirit of Chriſt, to be …t variance, is in a ſort monſtrous.
Now that I may move you to Brotherly Love, I deſire you to conſider.
1. That it is an honourable thing for Brethren to love one another. We have a notable example of this Brotherly Love in two Heathens, viz. Eumenes and Attalus. This Eumenes was King of Pergamus, and left his Wife and his Kingdom, and travelled abroad, ſhortly after whoſe departure, news was brought to Pergamus, that Eumenes was cowardly ſlain by one Perſius, whereupon Attalus taketh his Brothers Kingdom and his Wife: not long after Attalus heareth news of his Brothers Life, and ſpeedy return. He doth not then (as policy would have done) prepare to keep the Kingdom he had uſurped, and to hold out his Brother in hoſtile manner at point of ſpear; but he meeteth him with Muſick, as glad of his return, and reſigneth to him his Wife and Kingdom. His Brother having power in his hand again, only ſaid thus in his ear, Thou ſhouldſt not have taken my Wife, unleſs thou hadſt ſeen me dead; and never gave him bitter word afterwards; and dying left him his Kingdom in ample ſort. And to requite this favour, his brother dying maketh his Son his heir to his Fathers Kingdom, notwithſtanding he had many Sons of his own. This ſingular example of Brotherly Love among theſe Heathens will be laid to our charge, if we come ſhort of them in this duty.
II. Love is a very neceſſary thing: Chriſtian Love is as neceſſary as Life. As a man cannot live the Life of Nature without breath; ſo neither can he live the Life of the Spirit without Love. St. James ſaith, As the body without the ſpirit is dead, (or the body without breath is dead) even ſo faith without works is dead alſo: it is breathleſs and liveleſs without works. Now what are works here ſpoken of by the Apoſtle, but the Acts and Fruits of Chriſtian Love? So then the Soul without Love is dead in ſins, and hath no ſpiritual Breath nor Life.
It is in vain to ſay, We live unleſs we love; unleſs we have the truth of Chriſtian and Brotherly Love, we may think our ſelves to be alive, but indeed are dead.
St. Paul notably ſheweth the neceſſity of this Grace, 1 Cor. 13.1, 2, 3. Though I ſpeak with the Tongues of men and of Angels, and have not charity (or Chriſtian Love) I am become as ſounding braſs, or as a tinckling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and underſtand all myſteries, and all knowledg: And though I have all faith, ſo that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I beſtow all my goods to feed the poor; and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. So ye ſee that Love is ſo abſolutely neceſſary, that all is nothing without it. Though a man where an Angel for gifts and abilities; though he ſhould ſpare neither body nor goods, yet without Chriſtian Love all is nothing; for all theſe without true Love, are but the works of a dead man, ſeparated from God, the Fountain of Life, and deſtitute of the ſpirit of Chriſt, who is the ſpirit of Love and Life. So all gifts and works without Love, are but the dead works of dead men, and therefore nothing in the ſight of God. If I have not charity, I am nothing, ſaith the Apoſtle. Whatſoever I have elſe, whatſoever I do, I am nothing: I have not the Eſſence and Being of a Chriſtian; my Soul is an empty Carcaſe, Though a man ſhould build Churches, Colledges, Hoſpitals, Alms-houſes: Though he ſhould ſpend his ſtrength in preaching; though he ſhould ſpend his time in praying and reading, yet he is nothing in the eyes of God; if he have not the Grace of Chriſtian Love, he hath not the Being and Eſſence of a Chriſtian, and of one born of God.
In 1 Cor. 15.10. the Apoſtle ſaith, By the grace of God I am that I am. Why? St. Paul was not all grace, not all ſpirit, there was ſomething in him that was of Nature, and ſomething of Education, before ever he taſted of the Grace of God: but the Apoſtle counted all this nothing: his legal righteouſneſs nothing; his learning nothing; his natural abilities; his whole ſelf nothing; only that was his Being, which was newly breathed in him by the work of Gods ſaving Grace and ſanctifying Spirit. This was the only ſomething that he made account of, even this new Being and new Nature, which was of the Grace of God. —So when a man hath the Spirit of Love, and power, and of a ſound mind, then he is ſomething; then is he ſomething towards God; then is he one of thoſe that God makes a reckoning of; one of the Lords own number. Ye find Rev. 7.4. &c. that there were ſealed of the twelve Tribes of Iſrael twelve thouſand of each Tribe, which made up an hundred forty and fourthouſand. Theſe (ye ſee) were numbred and ſealed; and theſe followed the Lamb, and ſtood with him upon mount Sion. Now there were abundance of the people of Iſrael beſides theſe; but there was no reckoning made of them; they were not numbred, and ſo not ſealed; they came not into the Lords account; they were nothing; they wanted the grace of Love, and the ſpirit of Life; they wanted the Being and Eſſence of Saints and Children of God. So beloved! a man may be ſomething in the viſible Church, he may have a place and a name among the people of God; yea, he may be of ſpecial uſe in the Church, and do ſome ſpecial ſervice, yet if he have not the Spirit of Love, which is the Spirit of Life, he is nothing in Gods account: he ſtandeth for a Cyphar; he is none of the Lords number. How neceſſary then is this Grace of Chriſtian Love? It is far more neceſſary to love, than to be beloved. Though a man ſhould be as friendleſs as Job and David in their afflictions, and find as little Love as they did; yet if he himſelf in the mean-time be poſſeſſed with the Spirit of Love, he is a living man, an happy man, a child of God, one born of God, who is Love. This grace of Love, whereof his Heart and Conſcience beareth him witneſs, ſhall yeeld him more ſweet and ſound Comfort, than all the worlds affection towards him.
On the other ſide, if a man were the worlds Minion, and Darling, and had the Love of a whole Countrey in an high degree; yet if he himſelf have not this grace of true Chriſtian Love, he were nothing: let the world make as much as ſhe can of him, God will make nothing of him; he will not number him, nor write him among the living, his name is not written in Heaven. Thus ye ſee how neceſſary this grace of Love is. In that place of St. James fore-cited, it is ſaid, Faith without works is dead. Now how doth Faith work, but by Love? An Handy-crafts-man may as well work at his Trade without a hand, as a man may do the works of Faith (works that are witneſſes of a lively, ſaving, Faith) without true Chriſtian Love. A man may do many things, which for the outſide may look like the works and fruits of Faith without Love; but they want the heart and ſoul, of works acceptable unto God: they are but the outward caſes of good works. Therefore ſaith the Apoſtle, 1 Cor. 16.14. Let all your things be done with Love; if they be done without Love, they be done without Life; and they cannot be done with Love, unleſs with hearts poſſeſſed with the Spirit of Love.
How miſerable then ſhould we think our ſelves without Love? Men often complain for w…nt of neceſſaries, when as many times thoſe th…ngs that they complain of the want of, may well be ſpared, and are rather ſuperfluities than neceſſaries: But alas! what is ſo neceſſary as true Chriſtian Love? many think they have enough of it, who yet have not one ſpark of this heavenly fire in their hearts: they think they have love enough to others, but not love enough from others; whereas it is a thing much more to be looked after, that we have fervent and ſincere love towards others, than that we may taſt plentifully of the fruits of Love from others.
And in deſiring an encreaſe of Love in others, we ſhould rather deſire it for the glory of God, and as a ſeal of their effectual calling, and a means to further their account, whoſe Love we deſire; than to enjoy the fruits of their Love for our own outward benefit, or contentment. As St. Paul ſpeaking of ſome Chriſtians bounty, and commending it, ſaith, Not that I deſire a gift, but I deſire fruit, that may abound to your account. That is, I deſire your benefit in giving, rather than my own benefit in receiving; and ſo in others fruit of Love.
3. Conſider the excellency of this grace of Chriſtian Love: It is a moſt noble and excellent grace, it ſheweth who are of the ſeed Royal, who are the Children of the King of Kings, it diſcovereth who be the Heirs of glory, and belonging to the Kingdom of God. It is (as it were) the heart of the new Creature. This new Creature hath its ſeveral parts and faculties, as well as the natural man; and Faith is (as it were) the brain of the new man; yet ſo, that it hath an influence upon the heart and active powers of the new Creature. That, bringeth in Light, and apprehendeth the Lord Jeſus Chriſt ſhining graciouſly in the Goſpel, who is the brightneſs of the Fathers glory. But Love is the heart of the new Creature, that which warmeth the new man, and is the firſt mover in the actions of obedience, whether of Love and Holineſs toward God, or of Love and Righteouſneſs towards man.
Now ye know, that the heart is a principal part in any Creature that hath that part; and the more excellent the Creature is, the more excellent is that part of it. Now no Creature under Heaven is comparable for excellency with the new Creature, which is the immediate frame and work of the ſanctifying Spirit, an effect of one of his moſt divine Operations. I mean, the whole frame of Regeneration and Sanctification in one born of God; now Love is the heart of this new Creature: the heart in a man is ſaid to be primum vivens, et ultimum moriens; the firſt part that liveth, the laſt that dieth: But Love, which is the heart of the new Creature, never dyeth: Faith and Hope have their periods; Love out-liveth them, and is everlaſting: for Faith is of things not ſeen, 1 Cor. 13.8. &c. But when all the glorious things promiſed and beleeved, lye open to the ſight of the Saints at a full view; Faith, as it is the evidence of things not ſeen, ſhall ceaſe; Hope, is of things to come; but when all ſhall be in preſent poſſeſſion, and the Soul can neither expect nor receive any more, Hope ſhall ceaſe. But Love is for ever and ever; and this ſhall be in full perfection when this Life ſhall end, when there ſhall be nothing in them that love, nor in them that are to be loved, which may hinder Love; when they ſhall wholly dwell in God who is Love, and be filled with the fulneſs of God, and ſo with fulneſs of Love. And if he could ſay of his earthly kind of wiſdom, that if it were viſible, and to be ſeen with the eyes of men, it would make men ſtrangely enamoured with it; how much more may it be ſaid of this Chriſtian Love, which is from above, that if it were in a viſible ſhape, and had an outward beauty, anſwerable to the excellency of its Nature, it would enflame the affections of men and women towards it.
4. Love makes men uſeful and helpful to others. Plato ſaith of thoſe men that are malicious and contentious, that they do break the order of nature. For whereas the Philoſophers affirm a man by nature to be animal politicum, malicious and contentious perſons make themſelves unfit for ſociety, being no better than firebrands of ſedition, and Satans Inſtruments to ſow diſſention. Therefore St. Auguſtine ſaith, that all companies are not to be called a people but only thoſe who are joyned by conſent of Laws. And the ſame Father ſaith thus; Give me that unum neceſſarium, that one thing neceſſary, viz. Love and Unity, and thou ſhalt have a people well ordered. Take away this, and thou ſhalt have a rout, a confuſion, and all out of order; for where envying and ſtrife is, there is confuſion, and every evil work, Jam. 3.16. Love is an uniting grace, we read, 1 Sam. 18.1. that the ſoul of Jonathan was knit with the ſoul of David; the reaſon followeth, and Jonathan loved him as his own ſoul. This made him very helpful to David upon all occaſions.
The Apoſtle ſets down many good fruits of this grace of Love, 1 Cor. 13.4. Charity ſuffereth l…ng, and is kind, envyeth not, vaunteth not her ſelf (or, is not raſh), is not puffed up; 5. Doth not behave it ſelf unſeemly, ſeeketh not her own, is not eaſily provoked, thinketh no evil; 7. Beareth all things, beleeveth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. If another do him an injury, a man that hath this grace of Love, ſuffereth it: if his friend be froward, he is kind: if fallen, he vaunteth not himſelf over him, nor is raſh in cenſuring; if far behind him in parts, he is not puffed up: if provoking him to paſſion, he doth not behave himſelf unſeemly: if a ſelfſeeker, he ſeek…th not his own: if he vex him daily, he is not eaſily provoked: if he carry himſelf ſo doubtfully that he knoweth not what to make of him, he thinketh no evil: if he load him with reproaches, he beareth all things: if he promiſe amendment, he beleeveth all things: if he doth not make good his word, he hopeth all things: and if in all things he be croſs and thwarting, the true Ch…ſtian Lover endureth all things. Love is eaſie to be entreated, it never is implacable, or inexorable, whatſoever, or how great ſoever the wrongs or injuries be. They that cannot be reconciled, that will not be pacifyed or appeaſed, are far from Chriſtian Love.
True Chriſtian Love is not barren, it will make men uſe the gifts of ſeveral kinds which God hath given to the ſupply and benefit of the people of God, according to their ſeveral wants. So thoſe of Macedonia ſupplied the wants of the Saints at Jeruſalem. Nehemiah improved his favour with the King of Perſia for the good of the Church of God in Judea: So did Daniel improve his favour with Nebuchadnezzar for the advancement of Shadrach, Meſech, Abednego: and Mordecai improved his dignity for the benefit of the Church. That Love which is true, will be fruitful; now theſe fruits of Love are of divers kinds, according to the ſeveral parts of the Second Table. As all duties of love towards the Souls of others, in Miniſters, Maſters, Parents, Neighbours, Acquaintance, &c. preaching the Word, catechizing, inſtructing, admoniſhing, comforting, reproving publickly, privately, in praying for them, &c. And towards their bodies, goods, good names, in relieving their wants, in defending them to our power, in cleering them according to our knowledg againſt ſlaunders, falſe accuſations, &c. and ſo for all other duties which man oweth to man. Theſe things every Chriſtian muſt practi e and he muſt do them out of the truth of Chriſtian Love. As, that is not true Love, which doth not bring forth ſuch fruits of Love; ſo thoſe works are not accepted, which are not done in Love, though they may be ſuch works (for the matter) as are commanded in the Law of Love.
CHAP. XXIII.
LEt us then labour to put in practice that exhortation of the Apoſtle, 1 Joh. 3.18. My little Children let us not love in word and tongue; but in deed and in truth. Where the Apoſtle doth not condemn profeſſion and expreſſion of Love in words, and with the Tongue, for he himſelf uſed it, I think no man more: yea he uſeth it in that place, expr…ſſing tenderneſs of heart, and fatherly affection in this very exhortation; foreign, My little children, &c. So he expreſſeth much Love in words in this Epiſtle. But he condemneth that ſhew of Love; which is meer words, and a bare profeſſion of Love. A Tree is not to be liked the worſe, becauſe it beareth a fair Leaf together with good fruits, but rather the better; for it is both an ornament to the Tree, and maketh the fruit the more ſavoury, and of a better reliſh. But this maketh the Tree ready for the Ax and for the Fire, when it beareth Leaves and no Fruit, or little Fruit: ſo a Chriſtian is not to be liked the worſe for cloathing his fruits and works of Love, with expreſſions, profeſſions, and words of Love, but the better rather: for they are both an ornament to him in his Chriſtian courſe, and (beſides) they give grace and reliſh to thoſe works and fruits. Yea, Chriſtian ſpeeches in many caſes are themſelves very good and wholeſom fruits, good arguments of Sanctification, and very profitable to the hearers, miniſtring grace unto them, and winning them ſo ſome liking of the ways of God: yea, good words of admonition, conſolation, are as neceſſary alms, as any other, for many; though not ſo acceptable to the moſt.
But as a Tree that beareth ſtore of good fruit, though it have but a ragged Leaf, is much better than another that is rough, and full of green and fair Leaves, with none, or little fruit; ſo a Chriſtian full of good works, though not fairly-ſpoken, is far to be preferred above one who hath a fair tongue and a cloſe hand.
The thing then which the Apoſtle exhorteth unto, is, That we ſhould not reſt in a Love that ſheweth it ſelf only in words and tongue, but that which is in deed and in truth.