such love, and feeling, and affection, as this, one to another; methinks that it would be a great help to bear one another up under his burden; and then methinks that how much easier we should pass through our toil and labour. Ah! if it were so, then how pleasant should we do our work, to what we do now, and talk, and rejoice in the goodness of God, and God, even our God would give us his blessing. And again by the word of the Lord, hear what our duty is towards our neighbour or brethren, Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbour, neither rob him, the wages of him that is hired, shall not abide with thee all night until the morning. Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart. Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people; but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. I am the Lord, thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man, and fear thy God. And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him, but the stranger that dwelleth with you, shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself. (Lev. i. 9.) And again, Thou shalt not oppress an hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of thy brethren, or of thy strangers, at his day thou shalt give him his hire: neither shall the sun go down upon it, for he is poor, and selleth his heart upon it, lest he cry against thee unto the Lord, and it be sin unto thee. (Deut. xxiv. 14, 15.) Woe unto him, saith the Lord, by the mouth of Jeremiah, that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbour's service without wages, and giveth him not for his work. (Jer. xxii. 13.) Owe no man any thing, but to love one another, saith Saint Paul: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. (Rom. xiii. 8.) And again, hear the word of the Lord, by Zechariah the prophet, These are the things that ye shall do, saith the Lord: Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbour: execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates; and let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbour, and love no false oath for All these are things that I hate, saith the Lord. (Zach. viii. 16, 17.) Therefore love mercy, truth and righteousness, ye sons of men for all the law is fulfilled in one word, even is this. Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: and so it is, for the same love that we love God with, the same love we love our neighbour with. (Gal. v. 14.) But some that read this Book, perhaps may say, as the lawyer said to Christ, But who is my neighbour? Therefore, in a few words, I will endeavour, by the help of God, to tell you. He, is called a neighbour that liveth near unto us, and of course he ought to be our neighbour; but this is not always the case, for sometimes them that we call our nearest neighbours, are our nearest enemies. But now this is a neighbour let him live far or near, that loves us with a Heaven-like love, and doeth us what good he can in the days of our trials, adversity, and troubles, as well as in the days of our prosperity. And now behold what an example our Lord sets before us. A certain man, saith he, went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance there came down a certain Priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side. But a cer tain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was; and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, and went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And he gave charge concerning him, and promised to pay all that was spent upon him in doing him. good. Which now of these three thinkest thou was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves? and he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then Jesus said unto him, Go, and do thou likewise. (Luke x. 30.) I Now I cannot tell when this event took place, neither have any comment to go by, but the plain word of God: but most likely this poor man that fell among the thieves, was a Jew, and that he came down from Jerusalem. And it also plainly appears, that the Priests and Levites, were men that did officiate, and minister in holy things; therefore, they ought to have been great comforters to him, in his agony and pain. Therefore, if a man be in the ministry, or out of the ministry, if he seeth a poor distressed brother stand in need of help, and he shutteth up his heart against him; I say then, how think ye that the love of God dwelleth in him? and so it was with the Priest and Levite, for they had but little or no compassion on their poor brother. It may be that they were covetous, and so, afraid of losing a penny out of their own pockets, and so, loved their money, better than their brother's life. But again, it was not so with the good Samaritan, for he had compassion on him, and bound up his wounds, and took care of him; but now it may be said by some, perhaps, but who was this Samaritan? was he a near relation to him that fell among the thieves? It appears not, for if I mistake not, the Samaritans were a mixed people, and from different parts of the earth, and had worshipped strange gods; as you see in 2 Kings xvii. 25, 29. But, at the same time there was a Priest of the Jews dwelt with them, and taught them how they should fear the Lord; and after this it appears, that there were Jews dwelt among them, and taught them the law of God. But still it appears that many of them followed their own superstitious ways, for our Lord said unto the Woman of Samaria, Ye worship ye know not what. (John iv. 22.) But our blessed Lord shewed love and mercy unto them: but for the general part, the Jews despised them: and see they called Christ a Samaritan, and said he hast a devil. (John viii. 48.) And again, it appears by what the Woman said, that the Jews had but very little dealings with the Samaritans. (John vi. 9.) See the Apoch. (Eccl. 1. 25.) But still for all this, it appears that this good Samaritan was kinder, and more like a neighbour unto the Jews than they were to one another. Therefore, let us follow the example of the good Samaritan, so that we may take compassion one of another. Finally, my beloved brethren, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous; not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing but contrariwise, blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called that ye should inherit a blessing. For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile : let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace and ensue it. For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers; but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. (1 Peter iii. 8.) Therefore my beloved brethren, seeing that these things are so, and that holy religion consisteth of love. Let us then, by the grace of God, endeavour so as to love one another, and that with an heaven-like love; but observe, there is a counterfeit love which is of the flesh, that leadeth unto hell and destruction, and there is a Heavenly love, which leadeth unto life eternal, and this same love may be what Saint Paul calls charity, which is the bond and unity : of holy perfection, and it hath made an atonement for sin, and hath satisfied Divine Justice, and hath bruised the serpent's head and it hath made a way for repentance for the chief of sinners, of whom I am one; it hath suffered itself, and loved me; it hath suffered itself, and loved you; it grieved for man at his fall, and would not contain itself in heaven, but left its lovely habitation, and bowed the heaven, and came down, and suffered in the midst of the multitude of sin and confusion, and by its zeal, love, and holy passion, it snatched poor sinful man as a brand from the burning; and although the sinful wound of man, was, and is sore, yet this love hath excelled the good Samaritan's, for it hath bound up his wounds of sin, and poured the oil of his grace therein, and for his recovery he hath paid the uttermost farthing: and this love is to be found in the bosom of Christ, which stripped himself of all, but love for us men, and for our salvation; even in his passion at the cross, when he cried with a loud voice, saying, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken mè. Therefore because of our sins, the Father hid as it were his face from the Son, that we might be justified by his blood but still the Father's love was towards his Son, but not made manifest, because of his justice and displeasure against sin, but when it was finished, then love returned unto the bosom of its Father, in unity with the Holy Ghost in trinity, for ever with the Father, one God in three persons. Amen. And here is perfect love, and where it takes possession, it casteth out fear, and fills the soul with love to God and man, and anticipates the joys of heaven. But whilst we love our sins, we cannot enjoy the love of God; therefore except we follow the examples of Christ, we cannot be real Christians: because the sum and substance of this work, is love; therfore, let us be aware, and repent: for he that lives and dies without the love of Christ, cannot be really happy in this world, neither in that which is to come. Therefore my brethren, seeing that we cannot be happy, except we have this holy love of God implanted in our souls, then, let us by grace, through Christ, entreat the Lord for it, and that by agonizing prayer; and that through the righteous merits of a crucified Saviour, who hath purchased the love of the Father for us, and that through his holy life, sufferings, and death: and him, hath God exalted on high, to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance unto Israel, and remission of sins; therefore by grace are ye saved through faith, and not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Therefore if we have freely received his grace, so then let us by the same, freely give, for so we are commanded; and behold what a blessed thing it is for brethren to dwell together in unity, Owe no man any thing, saith Saint Paul, but to love one another, for he that loveth another, hath fulfilled the law, as it is written, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, love worketh no ill to his neighbour, therefore love is the fulfilling of the law, and this holy law of God, is a revelation of his will, and Christ hath magnified it, and made it honourable, and this holy law of God, doth not consist of outward ceremonies alone, but it consisteth of love, and If ye love me, saith our Lord, keep my commandments. A new commandment saith he I give unto you, That ye love one another, as I have loved you, by this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. Let us all therefore which have received this love, continue in the same, because love is the true root of all holy religion on earth, and it is the beauty and blossom of all holy religion in heaven and in the holy place they sing the songs of love : And redound to his glory, To him who hath died, And blessed are they which are prepared and called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. Therefore let the righteous be glad; and let them rejoice before God: yea let them exceedingly rejoice. Sing unto God, sing praises to his name: extol him that rideth upon the heavens by his name Jah, and rejoice before him. A father of the fatherless and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation. (Psalm lxviii. 3, 4, 5.) : And now my brethren, we may plainly see, that God is love, and Christ is love, and that the whole armies of heaven are love; and it would be more like a heaven here below, if we all were in possession of this heavenly love: but alas! this holy love hath many enemies, which are infidelity, idolatry, pride, wicked lust, cruelty, and covetousness and these enemies and more, have their origin from sin and Satan; and whilst this grand enemy is endulged and maintained here, in us, on the earth, there cannot be no real, true, nor holy social love and charity, one towards another. We may |