I. VO L. confidering the state of the cafe gives this general law and rule: If thou bring thy gift to the altar (he fpeaks in the phrafe and language of the Jews under the Old-Teftament adminiftration, defigning the inftruction of Chriftians under the New) and there remembereft that thy brother bath ought against thee; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way (thou haft nothing to do at the altar, there can be no commerce between GoD and thee except thou go) and be reconciled first to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. Love must flow, and have a free course between thy brother and thee, or it can have none between GOD and thee. And if it were poffible how monftrous would it be, if in a man's natural body all the nutriment fhould be drawn to one fide! Would any one think fit to feed and cherish but one fide of himself? Efpecially would the new creature cherish only a love to GOD, and at the fame time famifh what may be called the other fide, a love to his brother? He attempts a thing impoffible to be done; and it were extremely monstrous if it could be done, or fhould ever take place. THUS far you fee then, that by an infeparable connection which there is, in these four refpects, between love to GoD and love to our brother, it muft needs be an abfurd pretence that men make of love to God, who exercife not love to their brother alfo. Math. v. 23, 24. 2. I PROCEED to fpeak briefly (and fo fhall S ER M. fhut up for the prefent) to a further confideration, XIV. whence the abfurdity of fuch a pretence arifeth; which is drawn from the greater difficulty of loving GoD whom we have not feen, than our brother whom we have feen. It must needs be an abfurd thing for a man to pretend that he hath inaftered the greater difficulty, who hath not overcome the lefs. Which you fee is the plain and full fenfe and meaning of the Apostle's reasoning here. BUT here it may perhaps be faid, that "These .. two confiderations do feem to contradict one "another, or that the latter is repugnant to the "former. For if love to GoD and to our bro"ther be fo connected as hath been fhewn, then "how can it be that love to our brother fhould be lefs difficult than love to GOD? Yea and if "there be fuch a connection, as it appears there is, it may rather be faid that love to our bro"ther feems more difficult: for we can never truly love him, till we have first been brought "to love GOD; and fo we love our brother "fecondarily, that is upon his account and for "his fake." For the clearing of this I fhall briefly fay two or three things to you. (1.) THAT when we fay, love to GoD is more difficult than love to our brother, we speak not (as formerly you may have taken notice) of implanting the principle of this love; but we fpeak of the exercife of it. It is GOD that im plants VOL. plants the principle, and all things are equally eafy to him; but it is we that are to exercise it. I. (2.) WHEREAS we cannot exercife it neither without his concurrence, we are to confider that concurrence of his with reference not to his abfolute, but to his ordinary power. Not, I fay, according to the extraordinary, but the ordinary workings of the power of Go D. And though it be true, that according to the extraordinary working of his power he can make it equally facile to love himself and any creature in which his image fhines, and more facile or eafy many times; yet according to his ordinary working, his people find by their own fad experience, that they have more to do in getting their hearts to act that way, than towards the creature, according to that degree of divine goodness which they can take notice of. But though this be clear enough, yet we anfwer further (3.) THERE are many perfons, who in fome degree love Christians and good men upon lower and lefs fufficient motives; and not upon the account of what peculiarly refpects godly men as fuch. And we are principally to understand the Apostle as fpeaking to fuch perfons, as pretended to love their brethren, profeffed Chriftians, upon these lower motives. As if he had said, “You ❝ are not yet arrived fo far as to love your bro"ther upon motives fufficient to establish your "love, though you fee him as one, with whom you have fenfible converfe. Are you then got 66 " fo J "fo high as to love God? Is it a credible thing SERM, you should be able to love an unfeen Go D?" So that the pretence carries the fame abfurdity with it, as if one fhould pretend this or that more difficult thing to be eafy and facile, when many things that are unspeakably more eafy he cannnot do or effect. As if a man fhould pretend it easy to fly to the stars, who cannot walk upright on his feet. Or as if another were vaunting to be able to out-face the fun, whofe eyes are perpetually dazled with the light of a candle. A likely thing you should love Go D, whom you have not feen; who cannot fo much as love your brother, whom you have feen, but upon the lowest motives! Wherefore these things have a connection, and it appears from these confiderations, that true love to our brother must be infeparable from the love of GOD. And fo we have fufficiently feen the falfhood, and abfurdity of fuch a pretence as this is. THE use of all remains; and for the present it concerns us to bethink our felves and reflect, that whereas all of us profefs and pretend to love GoD (I presume there are none here but will avow themfelves to be lovers of Go D, for to profefs any religion is virtually to profefs love to GOD; I fay, we are concerned to bethink) whether our want of love to our brother carries not in it a conviction of the falfhood of that pretence. The languishing of this love fhews a deficiency of the exercise of that noble principle of love to GOD. Love to GOD cannot be fervent, when love to Chriftians XIV. |