A Discourse of Christian Love, Chapter 1
CHAP. 1. THE RULE and MEASURE OF Christian Love.
FIRST, It is to be foreign Fervent Love, or Charity, 1 Pet. 4. 8. Charitas intensa (as Beza renders it) an intense Love: Above all things have fervent Charity, or Love, among your selves: And 1 Pet. 1. 22. See that ye love one another foreign fervently; earnestly, as the Greek Word is used when joined with Prayer foreign Acts 12. 5. and foreign Luke 22. 44. And crying unto God, foreign mightily (fortitudine, Vulg. Lat.) is render'd by the LXX. foreign
The foreign is not therefore a sleight, formal, weak, cold affection, but an earnest fervent, intense, a great and vehement Love. The Coals of this Love must be as Coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame, Cant. 8. 6. It must be a Love rais'd up to a great degree of dearness and affectionateness, even to a kind of foreign Hence that in Rom. 12. (a Chapter enricht with excellent Precepts) ver. 10. Be ye foreign kindly affectioned to one another. The Greek word foreign implies vehementem & genuinum amandi affectum, a strong affection of Love, such as is reciprocal between Parents and Children, &c. such as is betwixt those of the nearest Relation.
HOW Fervent, how Dear this Love ought to be, He who was Love Incarnate (the Wisdom of God, and the great token of his Love) our Blessed Saviour hath shewn us in a few words, but so fully expressive, as none can be better, in that Royal Law (as S. James calls it, ch. 2. 8.) Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self. In this one Commandment are comprehended the Six Commandments of the Second Table, Matth. 22. 39. containing our Duty to our Neighbour, that is another, every other Man: For by Neighbour is not meant only (as we commonly use the word) one that dwells near us: But according to the Stile of the Scripture, Neighbour signifies another, foreign (saith Isiodore Pelusiote Lib. 4. Ep. 123.) not him only that is near us in place or habitation, but any one of the same common stock with us, partaker of the same nature, all men, all of our kind; especially foreign such a one as is in want, and needs our Love in relieving him. Thus in Rom. 13. 9. foreign is in Ver. 8. foreign And in the Old Test. foreign Neighbour, sometimes signifies no more than another. Gen. 11. 3. Prov. 18. 17. Exod. 21. 18.
Of the same import and sense is that other Excellent Rule of Christ, delivered in his Sermon on the Mount, Matth. 7. 12. All things what soever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so to them; or as it is in Luke 6. 31. As ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.
TO the same sense is that Rule delivered in a Negative stile, Quod tibi fieri non vis, alteri nè feceris. And concerning this, Lampridius the Historian, in the Life of that Roman Emperour Alexander Severus, reports, That that Excellent Emperour (who flourished 206 years after Christ) was so much in love with it, Quam sententiam us que adeo dilexit, ut & in palatio & publicis operibus inscribi juberet, he caused it to be writ upon the Walls of his Palace and publick Buildings (as Sentences of Scripture are written on our Church Walls). And though he was an Heathen, yet he was better affected towards Christians for this Rule and Precept of their Masters, and shewed them favour. And as he loved this Rule (which is Radix Justitiae & omne fundamentum aequitatis, as Lactantius speaks) so he practis'd it: For when there was cause to inflict punishment upon any for acts of Injustice and Injury to others, he ordered that the Officer should thus admonish the party of his unjust Carriage, and proclaim aloud this Dicate of Conscience, Quod tibi fieri non vis, alteri nè feceris: And in case, the Army being on their march, a person of Quality had offended in doing any hurt to the field or possessions of another, and his dignity excused him from such corporal punishments and disgraces which the inferiour sort had inflicted on them, yet the Emperour would vehemen'ly reprove him with this, Visne in agro tuo fieri, quod alteri facis? Wouldst thou have that done to thy own Field and Possession, which thou doest to anothers? And such a reproof and check as this must needs affect and forcibly strike the Conscience of the guilty offender, espec…ally when it comes from the lips of a Person of integrity and exemplary worth. And such a one was this Emperor, as the same Historian reports of him, Dies nunquam translit quin aliquid man suetum, civile, pium faceret, Not a day past him, but he expressed the benignity and the integrity of his Spirit in some acts of goodness, kindness and equity, and in acts of exact justice; and therefore he is by the best Interpreters of the Apocalypse fitly supposed to be meant by the Rider of the black horse (Rev. 6. 6.) with the pair of balances in his hand.
BUT to return from this digression, to that forementioned Rule and Measure of the Love which we are to express to our Neighbour, Thou shalt love thy neighbour (i. e. another, every other) as thy self; or, As ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them: None can pretend that the Rule is obscure and intricate, hard to understand, though it be through Mens own fault hard to practise.
For every one may know, without much study and beating his brains, what it is to love himself. No man ever hated his own flesh (saith the Apostle.) No man is coldly or slightly affected toward himself. No, The Love wherewith a man loves himself, is a servent, intense Love: And if this must be the Rule and Measure of thy Love to thy Neighbour (for thou must love him as thy self) then surely the Love wherein Christians are to walk, is not to be a cold, remiss, slight, and formal Love, but earnest, intense and ardent.
To prevent and obviate any cavils or mistakes about this Love of thy self, which is to be the Rule and Measure of thy loving thy Neighbour; and for a further explaining of those two forementioned Precepts of Christ, we are to consider,
First, That here is meant a regular Love of our selves; not an inordinate, vitious Self-love; not a love that breaks or transgresses the bounds of righteousness. No man must do an unjust or unlawful act in his own behalf, or for his own advantage; nor for the interest or advantage of another: For such a Love as this, is not (as the Apostle speaks of the right Love, Rom. 13.) foreign the fulfilling of the Law, but the transgressing thereof.
If the thing be unlawful or forbidden by God, which thou wouldst have others do to thee, thou must not do the same to them: Which yet is the practice of those that stile themselves Good-Fellows and are Brethren in iniquity; all that entangle others, or strengthen one another in their sins which they have chosen.
Thou must therefore do that to another, which thou wouldst have done to thee, that is, which thou mayst rightly and lawfully will; that which is agreeable to the Holy Scripture, and Right Reason, to the light of Nature shining in thy Conscience, and shining with a greater lustre in the Divinely-inspired Scripture: And so that thy Love be regulated by a right Judgment, by purified Reason, so it be agreeable to the Rule of Righteousness, let the Love of thy Self, and of thy Neighbour, be as Intense and Fervent as it can; so that the Spirit of Love be accompanied with the spirit of a sound mind, to borrow those words of the Apostle, 2 Tim. 1.
Secondly, That Evil which thou wouldst not have done to thy self, thou must not do, or wish, or contrive to be done to another. Thou must not do that to another which is unjust, and would seem so to thee, if thou wert that other.
And if thou hast been that other, and therefore by experience knowest more feelingly what it is to be evil dealt with, and unworthily used by others; thou, even thou especially shouldst not deal so with others: For if they did evil therein, thou art not to practise the like. What was evil and unjust in them, when done to thee, will be also evil in thee, if thou doest the like to them.
Do not therefore render evil for evil, or railing for railing, as S. Peter speaks (1 Ep. Ch. 3.); who also tells us (in Ch. 2.) that Christ, our Pattern as well as our Propitiation, did not so: He, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatned not, but committed himself, and his cause, to him that judgeth righteously.
Do not return slander for slander, wrong for wrong, or any the like for the satisfying of a revengeful humour: Vengeance is mine, and I will repay, saith the Lord, Rom. 12. Leave that therefore to God, and to his Vicegerents.
There is a Rule which many walk by [Do as thou hast been done to: or, What others do to you, do ye the same to them likewise] which they do not so much mean and practise in that better sense, wherein only it is allowable, viz. in doing good to others, in rendring good for good, in a way of Gratitude, as one good turn asks another; there is ingenuity and justice in this: But they generally understand and practise it in returning, or doing evil for evil.
But there is a vast difference between this Rule, Do as thou has been done to, and our Saviour's Rule, Do as thou wouldst be done to: Tho'they differ but little in words (in a word or two) yet they are as distant as Heaven and Hell, as Christ and Belial.
Do as thou hast been done to: or, What others do to you, do ye the same to them likewise: This is the Devil's Maxim; it is a branch of that Wisdom, which (as S. James speaks, Ch. 3.) descendeth not from above, but is earthly and devilish, such as the Devil doth insuse into the minds of men.
But, Do as thou wouldst be done to: or, What ye would others should do to you, do ye the same to them likewise: This is our Saviour Christ's Rule; it is the Royal Law of him who is King; its a branch of that Wisdom which is from above (from Heaven) which is peaceable, gentle, full of mercy and good fruits, (as S. James speaks in the same Chapter.)
Thirdly, Thou must make thy Neighbour's, or another's, condition thine own; thou must look upon his Concernments, his Case and Circumstances, as if they were thine own: And then, that pity, that counsel, that help, that relief and comfort which thou wouldst expect or wish for from others, if thou wert in straits and difficulties, and uncomfortable circumstances; the like must thou now afford to them in such hardships.
This is that true foreign Benignity, Kindness and Goodness of disposition and deportment, to which our Religion doth exhort and oblige us. And Phavorinus doth very pertinently describe it, when he saith, it imports foreign such a disposition and temper of mind as makes a Man to look upon the case and circumstances of another as his own. And then what he would desire or endeavour for himself, the like will he desire and do for another, if he loves his Neighbour as himself, with as unfeigned and Fervent a Love as he loves himself.
And here it may be fit to remember that Wise Saying of the Son of Syrach, which contains a great deal of sense in a few words, Ecclus. 31. 15. Judge of thy Neighbour by thy self. That which thou judgest unworthy, and unbecoming, yea and injurious in reference to thy Self; judge the same of it, if done to thy Neighbour in the like circumstances: And that kindness, those Civilities, that fair respect, that which thou wouldst judge fit and decent in thy own behalf; judge the same in behalf of thy Neighbour in the like Capacities.
I may also superadd that wholesom and short counsel which Tobias had from his Father (Tob. 4. 15.) Do that to no man which thou hatest.
Fourthly, But to rise higher yet, and to prevent an Exception against this Rule and Measure of the Love of our Neighbour, ladd (for a further explaining of it, this, which is to be observed) That which thou wouldst should be done to thee, if thou wert of such a Rank and Condition, if thou wert in such a place, or (to look more inward) if thou wert so qualified and accomplished, do thou the same to thy Neighbour, to any other, of such a rank and condition, of such qualifications and accomplishments.
And if thy Neighbour, if another be of an higher rank, degree and condition; or if he be more excellently qualified, and more worthily accomplisht; particularly, if he partake more of God, of true Holiness which is the fairest Image and resemblance of God, and consequently has more real Divine worth in him; Thou art then to judge that he is to be loved and esteemed (not only as thy self, or equally with thy self, as thou art for the present, but) above thy self, viz. whilst thou art not such.
And yet still the Rule holds good, still this is to love him as thy self, foreign (though above thy self as thou art now) this is to love him as thou thy self wouldst judge thou wert to be loved, esteemed and regarded, if thou wert in his estate, if thou wert such as he is.
Fifthly and Lastly, There is yet an higher pitch and degree of Love, which at some time, and in some cases, is due from thee to thy Neighbour or Fellow-Christian; whom thou art to love, not only as thy self, but more then, or above, thy self, though he be not superiour or above thee in those respects mentioned in the last particular: 1 John 3. 16. Christ laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
Here is Love raised up to the greatest Fervency, to the highest degree possible; for (as our Saviour Christ told his Disciples, Joh. 15.) Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
Now the Rule and Measure of this Love, Love in its utmost height, and that which obligeth a Christian to this Love, is the Love of Christ manifested in laying down his Life for us. As in the former Particulars the Rule and Measure of thy Love to thy Neighbour was thy own Love, thy loving thy self; thou wast to love him as thy self: So the Rule and Measure of this highest degree of Love, is the Love of Christ to thee; Thou must love a Christian as Christ loved thee.
Thus he Commands, Jo. 15. 12. This is my Commandment, that ye love one another, foreign, as I have loved you: How's that? In laying down his life for them, as appears by the following words.
As I have loved you.] These words carry in them the greatest force and reason, the greatest obligation to this degree of Love, and make it a duty full of equity. Nothing can sound so high, nothing can have such an obliging Vertue as this of Christ, [As I have loved you.] If we consider, either,
1. The excellency of the person of Christ, who this I is [as I have loved you]. He that spake this, and thus loved us, was Jesus Christ, the brightness of God's glory and the express image of his person; God manifest in the flesh, the Lord of life and glory, the Sovereign of Men and Angels, Messiah the Prince, the Lord of all. And if he loved us at this rate, so as to lay down his Life for us; He that was so far exalted above, not Men only, but Angels; He the Head of all Principality and Power, higher then Thrones and Dominions, and any of the Angelick Orders: Then should a Christian thus love his Fellow-Christians, those of the same mould, and make with himself, in laying down (if need be) his Life for them.
2. Or if we consider the vileness and unworthiness of those for whom Christ did thus much. If he the Prince, and only Son of God, laid down his Life for us who were Enemies (Rom. 5.) Rebels against Heaven, Enemies to the Crown and Dignity of his Father, the King of Heaven and Earth: Should not a Christian then do as much for his Friends, his Brethren, born of God; He and they having one God for their Father, one Christ for their Redeemer and Head, who paid as dear a price and ransom for them as for thee, and who owns them as much for his living Members as thee; partakers of the same precious Faith with himself (2 Pet. 1.) and therefore as valuable and dear in God's sight as he is; nay it may be more, if they be more like to God in eminent degrees of Holiness, and if the continuance of their Life, and being in the World, be more considerable they being fitted to be more useful in the World.
3. Or if we consider the infinite advantages, the richest benefits and best of blessings, which came and redounded to us by the Love and Death of Christ: As Christ hath done and suffer'd so much for us, even to the laying down of his Life for us, and pouring out his Life to Death, even to the Death of the Cross (a Death of shame and pain) amidst the contradictions, and derisions of his insulting Enemies If he hath done so much for us, when the case of our Souls so much needed it; more than can be done, by any, or all the Men in the World; then ought we (it is a reasonable service, an equitable duty) to lay down our lives for the brethren, if the necessity of their case so require it, no other means appearing; and if such a considerable good may thereby come to them, or others, or to the furtherance of the Faith or Gospel, as may justly call for this highest degree and demonstration of Love.
Nor have there wanted Instances of this among the noble Army of Martyrs, whose Love was as strong as Death.
A fair Instance of this was S. Paul, who tells the Thessalonians (in 1 Ep. 2. 8.) That he had such an affectionate desire or love for them, and that they were so dear to him, that he was willing to impart to them not only the Gospel of God, but also his own Soul or Life. And yet more affectionate is that which he writes to the Philippians (ch. 2. 17.) telling them, That it would be matter of greatest joy to him, if it should so fall out that he should be offered upon the sacrifice and service of their faith.
And though the Apostle S. John, whose words these are; [Because Christ laid down his life for us, therefore ought we to lay down our lives for the brethren.] He of all the Apostles is said by Ecclefiastical Historians, alone not to have laid down his life by Martyrdom, but quietly and in a good old age to have died at Ephesus: Yet he was in his Mind prepared to have suffer'd Martyrdom; which he had done; had he not been miraculously preserved by God when he was cast into the Vessel of hot scalding Oyl, from whence coming forth unhurt, (as the three Children out of the fiery Furnace) he was by Domitian banish'd into the Isle of Patmos, for the word of God, and testimony of Jesus Christ: And he calls himself in his Epistle to the Seven Asiatick Churches, their brother and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and putience of Jesus Christ, Rev. 1. 9. The full purpose and noble resolution of his Mind was for the utmost Sufferings, even unto Death.
And the same Spirit of Love, Love ready to express it self in this highest Degree that is possible, lived and continued in the first and best Christians. It was so conspicuous in Tertullian's time, that the very Heathens took special Notice, as Tertullian reports in his Apology; Vide (in…) ut invicem se diligunt Christiani, & ut pro alicratro mori parati sunt. See (said the Heathens) how the Christians love one another, how ready they are to lay down their lives for each other. Till these days that Love (which afterward grew cold) continued warm and vigorous; and by this loving one another, did all men know that they were Christs Disciples, as he had said, John 1. 3.
But I shall not insist any further upon this fifth Particular, viz. Love raised up to the greatest height possible, in loving others more then thy self, by laying down Life it self for them: The occasions of expressing Love in this degree of Fervency, are more rare; God doth not so frequently call to this, as to that Fervency of Love exprest in the four foregoing Particulars of Loving thy Neighbour as thy self.
And yet this fifth Particular, this loving another, in laying down thy life for him, may be in some sort reduced to the loving him as thy self; i.e. as thou wouldst he should do for thee, in. case thy Case and Necessities did as much require that he should lay down his life for thee, as his do that thou shouldst do this for him.
TO conclude then, seriously think on this Rule of our blessed Saviour's, then which nothing better could ever have been said, nothing more need to be said.
There is enough compriz'd in this short Rule of Love, as to instruct and govern the Conscience of a Man in matters of Justice and Equity towards those he has to deal with; so likewise to engage and raise him up to a Fervency and excellent degree of Love.
There is more in these few words of Christ, that which is more fully instructive to a Christian, than all that has been said in the Voluminous Writings of the School-men, Casuists, and other Writers; more than in the Pandects, Code, and Institutes of the Civil Law.
In a word, Such is the excellency of this Law, or Rule of Christ, [Whatsoever things ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so to them.] That immediately after it is said (Matth. 7.) For this is the Law and the Prophets: Which two words signifie the Old Testament, the whole Scripture then in being. Moses and the Prophets are epitomiz'd and contracted in this one Rule.
And as it is Moses and the Prophets, so it is also the Law of Nature, the Law written upon the Hearts and Consciences of all Men, and written upon the Tables of the Heart before the Law was written upon Tables of Stone in Mount Sinai.
And this Law of Love is more cleared, more improved, the obligation to it more inforced and strengthened by many peculiar considerations which the Gospel affords, in which respects it is a New Commandment, though a Commandment too from the beginning; writ fairer, and in more legible and lasting Characters then before, upon the Hearts of all true Christians.