14. Mr. Watson's Forenoon Sermon

14. Mr. Watson's Forenoon Sermon
"A New Commandment give I unto you, that ye love one another, as I have loved you." - John 13:34.
We are this day called to a Love-feast; and nothing can be more suitable than to treat of Christian Love; Jesus Christ hath given us a great evidence of his Love to us, he bled Love at every vein; therefore we are to imitate him, and as becometh Christians, to Love one another. 'Tis a general complaint, how true I know not, that this is the great Grace that is defective among Christians. Although they pretend much Love to Christ, yet they have little Love one to another.
I have in former Sermons discoursed concerning Faith, how that by Faith we must receive Christ in the Sacrament; and now I shall speak something of Love; Love is needful at a feast, it is requisite when we sit down at our own Table. I remember it is said of Augustin, He would not suffer any to feast at his Table that came in a Spirit of Rancor, and sate down in passion. Sure I am, they are not fit to be Guests at Christs Table, that come not in a Spirit of Meekness and Love. It is true, we are to eat the Passover with bitter herbs, but they must be the bitter Herbs of Repentance, not the bitter Herbs of Malice, Wrath, and Fury; we must come here with bitter Tears, not with bitter Hearts: hear what the Text saith, A New Command I give unto you, &c.
Wherein, first, you have the Command, A New Command I give unto you; It is not left to our discretion, but, we are bound to it by vertue of a Command, A New Command I give unto you.
Secondly, this Command is enforced by Gods own example, as I have loved you. It is called a new Command, but Love is an old Command, this Law is written in the Nature of Man. It is engraven in every mans heart by Nature, and it is an old Command, because found among Gods antient Statutes, the antient Records of his Law; I, but 'tis a new Command too, because pressed by a new Example of Christ, As I have loved you, so do ye love one another.
Doct. Christians ought to make Conscience of this duty of loving one another. Confident I am, we shall never see Religion thrive in the World, until we see this Grace of Love flourish in the heart of Christians.
Nor the illustration of this proposition, I shall do these two things;
First, shew you the truth of this Love:
Secondly, the extent of this Love.
First, Truth of this Love; If you love one another, saith Christ, see you do it purely, not dissembling, but from the heart. 1 John 3:18. My little Children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth; dissembling love is like painted fire that will never warm; we must not be like the Bee, that hath honey in her mouth, but withal hath a sting in her tail; we must not pretend to love, to have honey in the mouth, but withal have the sting of malice in the heart; no, said the Apostle, let us love in deed and in truth.
Secondly, Extent of our Love; this Fountain of Love must run in three streams.
1. We must love all men, love their persons, although we must not love their sins, we have all the same make, the same lump and mould, and therefore must love; there is a natural Love, that every creature bears to his own species and kind.
2. Our love must especially stream out to the Saints of God the houshold of Faith. It is with our love, as it is with our fire, you keep fire all the day upon the Hearth, but upon special occasions you draw it out larger, so our Love must always burn to all: I but to the Saints you must draw out the fire, inlarge your affections, we must love as God loves, he doth especially love the Saints: love every creature with a common love, but especially the New Creature; and indeed there is that in every true Saint, that may excite and allure our Love. What are the Graces of the Spirit, but so many pearls to adorn the Bride of Christ? What is holiness in the heart, the imbroidery and curious Workmanship of the Holy Ghost? here is enough to entice and draw out our Love: and Beloved, if we love the Saints for their Graces, then we love all the Saints.
And here I beseech you consider these six particulars.
First, we ought to love the Saints in what condition soever they are, although they be poor in the world, low in their condition, for commonly so it is. They that have the lowest hearts, have the lowest condition too. I read of the King of the Moors, that he was offended at the Christians because of their poverty: and truly when wicked men do fleece the Saints, it is no wonder if they be poor: methinks grace in a poor man, is like a Pearl that lies in the dust, or like a cloath of Gold that is hid under Rags; you must love the Gold, that is, the Grace, notwithstanding the Rags. The poorest Saint alive hath the Angels riches; the poorest Believer is a Member of Christ, and shall we not love him? we love the picture of a friend although it be hung in a mean frame: we must love a rich Christ in a poor man.
Secondly, we are to love the people of God although they have many weak infirmities: shew me the man that is perfect, and let him throw the first stone, even the best. Saints like the Stars they have their twinkling, they have their blemishes and their failings: in some there's too much pride, in others too much censoriousness, in others too much rash anger and passion, but we must love the Grace that is in them, notwithstanding the infirmities that are in them: you love Gold though in the oar, and mixed with much impurity; a Saint on earth, is like a Diamond that hath its flaw, like to the Rose that is sweet and perfumed, but yet hath its pricks. The best Saints have some mixture and infirmity, and we must love them for the good that is in them: this is our great fault, we are apt to over-look all the good, and so take notice of the stain and blemishes in them; as those that see a little stain in a piece of Scarlet, despise the cloath for the stains sake; so do we. But God doth not do so by us, he is pleased to over-look many sad failings, he seeth the Faith, and winks at the failings of his people; you that cannot love a Brother because you see an imperfection in him, would you have God do so by you, would you have him damn you for every blemish of sin?
Thirdly, we must love the Children of God, though weak in parts; all are not born Politicians; But though the Saints of God have not always so good intellectuals as others, yet if they have good Vitals, and the life of Faith in them, love them for that Grace; you do not despise your Children because they are weak, but you love them because they are your Children. Oh! do not despise a Saint because he is of low parts, but love him as he is a Child of your Heavenly Fathers.
Fourthly, we are to love the Saints of God though in some lesser things they differ from us, if they keep the foundations of Religion, and hold the Head, Christ; yet we are to bear other things: one Christian hath more light than another, and shall we un-saint all that cannot come up to our light? Its great wisdom to separate between the precious and the vile: O what a blessed place will Heaven be, because there our light shall be clear, and our love shall be perfect. And that is the fourth.
Fifthly, love the Saints of God when reviled and persecuted; a bleeding Saint should be the object of our love. Onisiphorus, saith Paul, was not ashamed of my chain; a sign he loved Christs Graces in Paul. Christ Jesus loveth no Saints more than his persecuted Saints, his Martyrs have the highest Thrones reserved in Heaven for them: we must love to see Christs Livery upon a man, though sprinkled with bloud: he that is ashamed of a persecuted Saint, will never suffer for a crucified Jesus.
Sixthly, we must love the Saints of God, though their Graces may eclipse and out-shine our Graces. Beloved, in the sweetest fruits worms are apt to breed, and in the best heart, the worm of pride is apt to be breeding; if God doth not keep us, we shall not only envy anothers Graces, if they out-shine us, but their persons too. What though anothers Graces do out-shine yours? yet love him, because the eminency of his Graces bringeth much honor to the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And thus my Beloved, I have shewn you how you must love all the Saints, 1 Peter 2:17. Love the Brother-hood, love the whole Fraternity of Believers. Oh! that this sweet spice of love might send forth its perfume among Christians, that we could turn all our heart-burnings into heart-breakings, and quench the fire of Divisions and Contentions, and keep the fire of love burning upon the Altar of our hearts. And my Beloved, as we must love all the Saints, so we must shew this love by the fruit of it, for God doth not value that love that is invisible; the fruits of our love to the Saints must be these four.
Four Fruits of Love to the Saints.
1. We must shew love to them by prising their persons above others, Psalms 15:4. spoken of a man that shall go to Heaven, In whose eyes a vile person is contemned, but he honoureth them that fear the Lord: the wicked are so much rubbish and lumber, but the Saints are called the Jewels, Malachi 3:1. and we must prize these Jewels above all the Lumber in the World; as they said of King David, thy life is worth ten thousand of ours, 2 Samuel 18:3. so is a Godly man above a wicked man; God he will give Kingdoms to ransom his Saints, Isaiah 43:3. I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Aethiopia and Sheba for thee: and thus should we set the highest rate upon the Saints of God, for that is to love them.
2. We must shew love to all the Saints of God, by vindicating of them, when they are traduced and slandered; its a great sin to slander a Christian, its to go to pollute Christs Image, the wicked their throats are open Sepulchres, to bury the names of the Righteous in; now you that are Christians must not be ready to receive a false and groundless report of a Saint, but rather vindicate them, for that is to love them.
2. We shew our love to the Saints, by praying for them; you know not what good your prayers may do them: Ministers must pray for their People, and the People must pray for their Ministers; for prayer commands God himself, Isaiah 45:11. Prayer is the golden Key that unlocks the Heavenly treasure of Gods bowels. Oh pray one for another; we should not strive one with another (as is too frequent) but pray one for another.
4. Shew your love by being ready according to your abilities to relieve their wants; to love one another is to be a well-wisher to him, and to do all the friendly Offices we can one for another; there are, my Beloved, many of the dear Servants of God in the Ministry, that have been already reduced to misery and want, and abundance more are like to be reduced to great necessities; Now I beseech you to show your love to the houshold of Faith, for that is a sign of your true love to God, and to the Brother-hood, that when as myrrh drops freely from the Tree, so works of mercy drops freely from the heart. If Jesus Christ should stand in the midst of the congregation, and say, shew your Love to me by your good works; I believe no heart here would be so hard as to deny Jesus Christ; Why, remember whatsoever you give Ministers, and to his Members, he takes it as given to himself.
That is the second, Our Love must extend to all Saints.
3. Our Love must reach to our enemies, we must love them that do not love us, Luke 6:1. Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you. I confesse, a mortal enemy, I would be loath to make a bosom friend. But though policy teach us not to trust our enemies, yet piety teacheth us to love them: Christ, he did pray for his enemies, and he shed tears of compassion for them that afterwards shed his bloud. So much for the Doctrinal part. Now for a word of Application, and I have done.
USES.
And first, this may serve to reprove those, who seem in other things to be excellent, and profess much love toward Christ and his Gospel, but have no love to the Saints of God: there are some that upon this very account, have for these great many years absented themselves from the Lords Supper, because they pretend not to be in charity. This is a double-dyed sin, a sin with a witness; its a sin not to come, and its a sin not to be in charity. But let me say this to them, surely such kind of Christians are a shame to their profession. What, doth not the Gospel teach you charity and love, as well as faith? Surely that Christian hath no grace in his heart, that liveth out of charity with his Brother; for as the Philosopher saith, All the vertues are linked together, and tyed as with a string, and where there is one, there is all: and where one is wanting, there is no vertue: so I say of the graces, they are linked together, and where there is one, there is all: and where one is wanting, there is none at all. Saith Augustine, Thou braggest of thy faith in Christ, but shew me thy faith by thy love to Christ, for Faith and love cannot be separated: For as in the Sun, there is light and heat, and these cannot be separated one from the other, so faith and love is twisted together, and where there is one wanting, the other is wanting: as he that did so engrave his name on the Buckler of Minerva, that whoever went about to take out his name, spoiled the Buckler: so Faith and love are so inseparable, that if you go to take away the one, you spoil the other. Oh! remember and mourn for it, thou that sayest thou art not in charity: it's a sad symptom thou art not in a state of Grace, Titus 3:5 For me ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers Lusts and pleasures, living in malice, envy, hateful, and hating one another, that is, before conversion we were swelled with poison of malice and wrath; but when once the grace of God came, then it was otherwise; that man that hath not Love and Charity in his heart, surely he hath nothing of God in him, for God is Love; he knoweth nothing of the Gospel savingly, for the Gospel is a Gospel of peace; he hath none of the wisdom which cometh from Heaven, for that is meek and gentle, and easie to be entreated.
If there be any on the other side, that are not in charity, and yet will come to the Lords Table, remember this, you get no good by the Ordinance, you do but defile the Ordinance. The Apostle calls it, the leaven of malice; it doth sower all your Holy Duties, Sermons, Prayers, and Sacraments; it is a little gall imbitters a great deal of honey: So where there is a little of this Gall of malice and hatred, it imbittereth and spoileth all the honey of your Graces and Duties. The Apostle bids us in prayer to lift up pure hands without wrath, 1 Timothy 1:2. I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up pure hands without wrath and doubting. What the Apostle speaketh of the duty of Prayer, I may say of the Lords Supper; when you come to see the Body and Blood of the Lord, Lift up pure hands without malice bitterness and wrath. That is a sad speech of Augustine, He that is full of rancor and malice, he is a man-slayer: Nay: the Apostle saith it in the first Epistle of John 3:15. Whosoever hateth his Brother is a murderer, and ye know no murderer hath Eternal life abiding in him; Do not think this Ordinance will profit you, if you do not come in love to the Saints; suppose a man drinketh down poison, and afterwards taketh down a Cordial, surely this Cordial will do him but little good; so thou that drinkest down the poison of wrath and malicē into thy soul, and comest afterward to drink down the Cordial of Christs bloud in the Sacrament, why certainly this Cordial will do thee but little good.
EXHORTATION.
Therefore to conclude by way of Exhortation; I beseech you in the Lord, that you would remember this Text this day, when you come to the Lords Table, read over this Lesson, A new Commandment I give unto you, that you love one another as I have loved you; come to the Sacrament in love to Jesus Christ, and in love one to another, be not full of bitterness, but full of bowels; the primitive Saints were of one heart; you all expect I know one Heaven, and will you not be of one heart? this I believe is a great reason, why the Sacrament hath no more profited many receivers; you know if there be a stopping at the stomack, the meat taken in will never concoct and nourish; why thou that hast wrath and anger, and malice at thy heart, there is an obstruction as it were at the stomach, and therefore it is that the bread of life doth not nourish thy Soul. Why Christians, are not we all Souldiers under one Regiment, under Jesus Christ, the Lyon of the Tribe of Judah, and Captain of our salvation? Are not we all Branches of the same Vine? and are we not all Members of the same Body? and shall there be a schism or rent in the Body?
I shall only say this, we should do all as the Serpent: Naturalists observe the Serpent, that before he goes to drink at the waters, he casts up his poison; so before you come to the Table of the Lords Supper, cast up your poison of bitterness, wrath, and malice, and then Christs bloud will be both a Medicine to heal you, and a Julip to refresh you.