Catholic Charity Complaining and Maintaining that Rome is Uncharitable, Chapter 1
CHAP. I.
Of Christian Love and Peace.
SECT. I.
Concerning the Excellency, Necessity, and other motives of Christian Love; with an exhortation to the imbracing of it.
THE Spouse of Christ Jesus, when shee shines in Love, shee is amiable in Beauty, precious in the eye of her Husband, powerfull with God her Father, prosperous in her owne spirituall health and vigour, and prepared for her consummate marriage in celestiall glory. Her husband is God, and God is love, and God cannot but love that love which is like himselfe. And that hee may love his Spouse for her love, when shee becomes one Spirit with him, by this unity of Spirit hee gives her an uniformity of love; the oyntment of Christ Jesus, the Head, floweth down into all his members, and breatheth love into them; and as farre as his life goes, so far goeth his love: therefore no love, no life in Christ Jesus. Agreeably, the beloved Disciple, and an especiall Teacher of love, having shewed that the new-birth brings love with life, he fitly addeth, Hee that loveth not, … Joh. 3.14.abideth in death. No wonder then, if the great Master and Lover of this Disciple,John 13.34. make love the mark of his true Disciples, seeing those are onelyonly Christs true Disciples, which so learne Christ, as they draw that spirit from him, which teacheth them love, and breatheth it into them.
And surely if a sonne of God, by that spirituall eye which hee receiveth from Christ Jesus with his Sonne-ship, do clearly behold another son of the same father, how can hee chuse but love him as a brother? he cannot chuse but love him for the unity that is betweene them; for they are one spirit, by being begotten of one Spirit in Christ Jesus:John 17.21. 1 Cor. 12.13. Eph. 5▪ and as none hateth his owne flesh, but cherisheth and loveth it, so none should hate his owne spirit, but cherish and love it. Secondly, hee should love his brother for uniformity aswell as for unity▪ there is a spirituall likenesse and conformity betweene spirituall brethren; and commonly likenesse breedeth love: they are both created unto one image, and how can a sonne of God but love his owne likenesse which hee seeth in his brother? As in a glasse face answereth to face, so a Saints soule answereth to the soule of a Saint; and when one sees his owne shape in the other, from this likeness and harmony, there must needs arise spirituall love and amity▪ Thirdly, if a Saint consider the excellency of a Saint, how can he chuse but love him for his excellency? God is the chiefest and highest excellence, and he that most resembleth God, is therefore most excellent. Now among visible creatures, there is none that resembleth God more then a Saint;Col 3.1…. for he is a sonne of God, begotten to the true image of God his father;1 Joh. 5.… therefore hee that loves God that begat, loves also the Sons whom God hath bego…ten; and the man according to Gods own heart;Psal. 16.2, 3. because his goodness (the fruits of love) extends not unto God, therefore he communicates it to the Saints and Sons of God that excell in vertue; as if that were the next degree to doing good unto God himself, to love, cherish, and doe good to his sons and Saints: And indeed, what is a fitter object of love, next to the chiefe and soveraigne Good, then a Saint, who by a derivative goodnesse most representeth him? God is light,Eph. 5.8. and a Saint is light in the Lord; God is goodnesse and righteousnesse, and a Saint is created according to God in righteousnesse and true holinesse.Eph. 4.24. The heart of a Saint is according to Gods heart;1 Sam. 13.14▪ yea, he is partaker of a divine nature and groweth in it from glory to glory▪ 2 Pet. 1.4. 2 Cor. 3.18. Gal. 5.22. Eph. 5.9.And as this divine nature is glorious and lovely, so are the fruits of it atractively amiable, Love, joy, peace, long suffering, goodnesse, faith, meeknesse temperance, yea, all goodnesse, righteousnesse, and truth.
The beauty of the body is by no means comparable with the beauty of the soule; for the beauty of the soule is the Image of God: and the glory of this Image having in it divine light, vertue, and goodnesse, shines in the soul with a farre higher excellence, then colour and complexion laid on the clay and earth of a fading and corruptible body: and according to this excellence the beauty of the soule is preserved to immortality, when the beauty of the body is suffered either to vanish before the body, or to lye with it in the dust, and there to die a kinde of second death; neither shall it ever recover life againe, but by a conjunction with the beauty of the soule: If corporall beauty have been joyned with spirituall beauty, then shall it rise in a farre more excellent beauty; but if it had not with it spirituall beauty (purity, and goodnesse, and fairenesse of soule) it shall not arise in glory and beauty, it shall not see the face of God, but it shall be sent away with ougly spirits, being it self transformed into the deformed character of a countenance weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth.
If then a Saint be so lovely, and the love of a Saint is so just and reasonable, and God doth love this Love, and doth give his Saints the Spirit of love of purpose to love one another, and so this love is the marke of a Saint, a Sonne, and a Christian; let every Saint make himselfe sure of this love, and not onelyonly of the shew and word of it, but of the essence and life of it. Let him love a Saint whom God loves; and love him because God loves this love of a Saint: Let him love a Saint as hee loves his owne safety, which is annexed to the love of the Saints: Let him love a Saint, because a Saint loves God: Let him love a Saint, because hee is like himselfe, and because the Saint loves him. Dilige Deum tuum, dilige in Deo tuo, Claud. Ma…. de statu animae. Lib. 1.charum tuum, Imaginem Dei tui: Ille te perinde, diligendo Deum, in Deo diligat: Love thy God, and in God love thy brother the image of God; and let thy brother, in requitall▪ by loving God, love thee also in God.
SECT. II.
Peace is declared to be the first fruits of love, and to make love fruitfull in other graces, and is further commended▪ 1. By the beauty and usefulnesse of it. 2. By the mischiefs which proceed from dissention. 3. By the authority of Scriptures. 4. By the example of Christ.
TRue Christian love will not bee solitary, and fruitlesse; but it must bring forth peace, and bee attended by it. Love is it selfe the fruit of the spirit,C…l. 3.14, 1…. and peace is the fruit of this love; yea, love which delights to bee fruitfull, loves this peace, because by her shee communicates her other fruitfulnesse. It is best sowing in a calme;James 3.18. and, if we will beleeve Saint Iames, the fruit of righteousnesse is best sowne in peace: So Peace (the eldest daughter of Love) is a midwife to her mother, and delivers her of the rest of her children; and without her help the mother doth nothing but make abortions. Therefore, as thou wouldest have thy love to be fruitfull, and by her fruits profitable to the Saints; so be thou sure to have her attended by peace, that through peace with the Saints, thy love may profitably extend it selfe to the Saints. The unity of the spirit must be kept in the bond of peace: and indeed, with whom wilt thou keepe peace, if thou wilt not keepe it with those who are one spirit with thee?1 Cor. 12.12, 13. By one spirit are we all baptized into one body, and we be members one of another by our unity in this one body. How comely, yea, how necessary is it to the preservation and prosperity of the body, that the members of one body bee at peace and unity? and how monstrous and destructive is it, when one member fights with another? That fatall sentence cannot bee avoyded;Gal. 5.15. If yee bite one another, yee shall bee consumed one of another. But contrarily, the kingdome of God which is peace, flourisheth by the peace of the subjects of that kingdome: and therefore St. Paul having taught the former to the Romans, adjoyneth the latter,Rō. 14.17, 18. and that with a vehemencie; for hee injoynes them, not barely to follow, but as it were to persecute (even with a swift and eager prosecution to run after) the things of peace; yea, he adjures the Philippians by all consolation in Christ,Phil. 2. and by the fellowship of the Spirit, and by the bowels of mercy, that they be of one accord. Finally, the Sonne of God,Heb. 7.2. our Saviour (of whom Melchisedech was a type) is the King of peace, as well as the King of righteousnesse; and his subjects, who will partake of his righteousnesse, must also partake of his peace. Christ hath made peace betweene God and us, even peace between heaven and earth; not that men being at peace above with God, should have discord below among themselves; but the peace which is begun in heaven, must come downe and dwell among his members on earth; wee must be one as he and his Father are one:Joh. 17.21. the peace which wee receive from God by Christ, wee must impart each to other;Colos. 3.15. yea, it must rule in our hearts, being called to it in one body. Accordingly as wee expect peace from God through Christ, so let us heare and obey Christ commanding peace amongst our selves:Mar. 9.50. Have peace one with another, and then let us not doubt, but if the Peace of God bee among us, the God of peace is also with us. Deus semper in pace est;Chrysol. Ser. 54. Where spirituall and true peace is, there ever God is.
SECT. III.
That this love and peace are catholick and universall, extended to all the members of Christ; and that our Church by professing this Catholick love, declares her selfe to be a truly Catholick Church.
THe two excellent and powerfull Graces, Love and Peace, may not be bounded by us, but by God himselfe, the Author and Commander of it; Him must we follow in the inlarging or straitning of it, and not goe from his leading to the right hand,Act. 10.15. or to the left: where God commands love and peace, we may not forbid them; neither whom God by sanctifying hath made fit for our peace, must wee accompt common or uncleane, and fit for separation.Colos. 1.4. Eph. 4.3.16. Now the extent and bound which God appoints for our love and peace is no lesse then all the Saints, even the whole body of Christ; the bond of peace is not one jot shorter then the unitie of the spirit.1 John 5.1. 2 Tim. 2.22. If then God have not disdained to bestow on any man his sanctifying Spirit, let not man scorne on such a one to bestow his love and peace; for hee that denyeth his love and peace to that man in whom is the Spirit, hee denyeth his love and peace to the spirit which is in that man: Therefore if God have gone before with his saving grace and sanctifying spirit, let us not doubt to follow God with our love and peace. Now we know that God (according to his promise to Abraham) hath an holy seed out of all Nations,Docere voluit quod haec tria sibi invicem connexa sint, & cohaerent Deus, Christus, & Ecclesia, seu universitas credentium, adeo ut qui … ex his vel diligat vel odiat, omnia diligat aut odiat. Ferus 1 Ioh. 5. which is the catholick and universall Church: if then the Church bee catholick and universall, let our love and peace bee also catholick and universall. And to this end our affections must be enlarged and made capable of the whole world. For hee that will love a catholick Church with a catholick love, must not have a narrow love contracted and confined to the measure of one City, Kingdome, or Nation; but extended and enlarged to the measure of all Cities, Kingdomes, and Nations, even of the whole world. If that which is to bee loved, bee universall, the affection which loveth must not be partiall: For if the love be but to a part, when it should bee to the whole, this is not that catholick love which belongs to the Catholick Church; and whatsoever title such men may take to themselves, they are not true, but counterfeit Catholicks: for they have not that catholick spirit of love which is in the true catholick Church, and by which the catholick Church doth love it selfe with a catholick love. But such men by likelihood, have a private spirit, by which they love a private part and faction, and are short of that universall spirit which loveth the universall Church with an universall love: for there is a private spirit of love aswell as of faith; and it is that kind of spirit which Saint Iames mentioneth,James 4.5. and 3.14, 15. a spirit that lusteth after envie, after sects and divisions. But let us never rest untill wee get that catholick spirit by which we may embrace the catholick Church with a catholick love; and then we may bee assured we are not titular, but true and reall Catholicks. Hereby wee know that wee are of the truth (saith Saint Iohn) and wee shall assure our hearts before God:1 Joh. 3.19. And, wee know that we have passed from death to life, Ver. 14.because we love the brethren; even the brethren without exception and reservation: and hee that dwelleth in this generall and unreserved love,1 John 4.12. God, who is love, dwelleth in him and he in God;Ver. 13. And we know that we dwell in him and hee in us, because he hath given us his spirit, even the spirit of this catholick and universall love. Let no man therefore say of another, He is of such a Nation with which my Nation is at enmity; or of such a Church which professeth some differences with the Church in which I live, and therefore I will by no meanes have love and peace with him; but remember, that in every Nation hee that feareth God and worketh righteousnesse is accepted of God: Act. 10.35.and therefore doe thou enquire, whether this spirit of feare and holinesse be in him, which those that have are accepted of God: if he be accepted of God, take heed hee be not rejected of thee: It were a madnesse in thee for Gods sake to hate one whom God loves, and for Christs sake to hate a member of Christ. Indeed, if he be of a Church infected with errors, thou must be wary of him, that hee infect thee not with those errors; but bee also wary of not hating the spirit of Christ in a member of Christ: It is an Apostolicall, and so an undenyable Inference,Col. 3.10. If yee have put on the New-man, in which is neither Greeke nor Jew, Circumcision nor Uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all in all; Put on therefore (there is a binding force in this therefore) as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercy, kindnesse, &c. And above all these things, put on charity, which is the bond of perfectnesse; and let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which ye are called in one body.
Let us then have love and peace with a beleeving Muscovite, Grecian, AEthiopian, Indian, if hee be of that one body wherein Christ is all in all, and by the unity whereof we are called to love and peace: yea, from this universall peace and love may not bee excluded any remnant according to the election of grace, pertaining to the body of Christ, though sojourning in the tents and territories of Rome: we may not hate the seven thousand that doe not bow their knees to Baal, though dispersed among seven millions of Idolaters: wee may not hate Israel, though in bondage under Pharaoh. But to the true Israel, even to the pure in heart, and those who in Christ Jesus are new creatures, and walke according to this rule,Gal. 6.15, 16. peace, & the prayers of peace, the true fruits of love doe belong, the divine Apostle being herein our guide and example.Eph. 4.16. 1 Joh. 3.14. & 4.7. And while thus wee enjoy and imbrace this universall love with the universall body of Christ, great is our safety; for hereby wee know and may assure our hearts, that wee belong to that universall body, which alone loveth it selfe with this universall love. That is the truly catholick Church, which is indued with this catholick love; that is a living Church, which is a loving Church: Our Church therefore imbracing and exercising this catholick love, is a Church truly catholick; and our Church being a Church of love, is a Church of life.
Cass…nd. de ….Let therefore Cassander, a Doctor of the Church of Rome, conclude for us, Qui rectâ sententiâ de Christo capiti injunguntur, &c. They that by a right beliefe concerning Christ, are joyned to the head, and by the hand of love and peace are joyned to the bodie of the Church (howsoever they may differ in some opinions and rites) are by no meanes to bee accounted Schismaticks, or separated from the Church, though they seeme rejected and excomunicated by some other part of the Church, more mighty, and possessing the Government.