336 Unto that great God, who hath done fo great things for us, and hath faved us by a mighty salvation; who hath delivered us, and doth deliver us, and we trust will ftill deliver us; be glory and honour, thanksgiving and praife, from generation to generation. And let all the people fay, Amen. SERMON XX. Preached at the first general meeting of the Gentlemen, and others, in and near London, born within the county of York. The EPISTLE DEDICATORY. GENTLEMEN, TH His fermon, which was first preached, and is now published at your defires, I dedicate to your names, to whofe prudence and care the direction and management of this first general meeting of our countrymen was committed; heartily wishing that it may be fome way ferviceable to the healing of our unhappy differences, and the restoring of unity and charity among Chriftians, especially thofe of the Proteftant Reformed religion. I am, GENTLEMEN, Your affectionate countryman and humble fervant, Jo. TILLOTSON. The The SERMO N. JOHN xiii. 34. 35. A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye alfo love one another. By this fhall all men know that ye are my difciples, if ye love one another. S the Christian religion in general is the best philo A fophy, and moft perfect inftitution of life, con taining in it the most entire and compleat fyftem of moral rules and precepts that was ever yet extant in the world; fo it peculiarly excels in the doctrine of love and charity; earnestly recommending, strictly injoining, and vehemently, and almoft perpetually preffing and inculcating the excellency and neceffity of this beft of graces and virtues; and propounding to us, for our imitation and encouragement, the most lively and heroical example of kindness and charity that ever was, in the life and death of the great founder of our religion, the author and finifher of our faith, Jefus the Son of God. So that the gospel, as it hath in all other parts of our duty cleared the dimnefs and obfcurity of natural light, and fupplied the imperfections of former revelations; fo doth it most eminently reign and triumph in this great and bleffed virtue of charity; in which all the philofophy and religions that had been before in the world, whether Jewish or Pagan, were fo remarkably defective. With great reafon then doth our bleffed Saviour call this a new commandment, and affert it to himself as a thing peculiar to his doctrine and religion; confidering how imperfectly it had been taught, and how little it had been practifed in the world before: A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye alfo love one another. By this fhall all men know that ye are my difciples, if ye love one another. I fhall reduce my difcourfe upon these words under thefe fix heads. 1. To inquire in what fenfe our Saviour calls this VOL. I. commandment, Ff commandment, of loving one another, a new command ment. 2. To declare to you the nature of this commandment, by instancing in the chief acts and properties of love. 3. To confider the degrees and measures of our charity, with regard to the feveral objects about which it is exercised. 4. Our obligation to this duty, not only from our Saviour's authority, but likewife from our own nature, and from the reasonablenefs and excellency of the thing commanded. 5. The great example which is here propounded to our imitation: As I have loved you, that ye also love one another. 6. and lastly, The place and rank which this precept holds in the Christian religion. Our Saviour makes it the proper badge of a difciple, the diftinctive mark and character of our profeffion: By this fhall all men know that ye are my difciples, if ye love one another. I. In what fenfe our Saviour calls this commandment, of loving one another, a new commandment: not that it is abfolutely and altogether new, but upon fome special accounts. For it is a branch of the ancient and primitive law of nature. Ariftotle truly obferves, that, upon grounds of natural kindred and likenefs, all men are friends, and kindly difpofed towards one another. And it is a known precept of the Jewish religion, to love our neighbour as ourselves. In fome fenfe then it is no new commandment. And fo St. John, who was most likely to understand our Saviour's meaning in this particular, (all his preaching and writing being almost nothing elfe, but an inculcating of this one precept), explains this matter, telling us that in feveral refpects it was, and it was not a new commandment : I John ii. 7. 8. Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but that which ye had from the beginning; that is, from ancient times. But then he corrects himself: Again, nav, but yet a new commandment I write unto you. So that, though it was not abfolutely new, yet upon divers confiderable accounts it was fo, and in a peculiar manner proper to the evangelical inftitution; and is 339 is in fo exprefs and particular a manner ascribed to thể teaching of the Holy Ghoft, which was conferred upon Christians by the faith of the gofpel, as if there hardly needed any outward inftruction and exhortation to that purpose, i Theff. iv. 9. But as touching brotherly love, ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are Osofisanto, divinely taught and infpired to love one an other. This commandment then, of loving one another, is by our Lord and Saviour fo much enlarged as to the object of it, beyond what either the Jews or Heathens did understand it to be, extending to all mankind, and even to our greatest enemies; fo greatly advanced and heightened as to the degree of it, even to the laying down of our lives for one another; fo effectually taught, fo mightily encouraged, fo very much urged and infifted upon, that it may very well be called a new commandment. For though it was not altogether unknown to mankind before, yet it was never fo taught, fo encouraged; never was fuch an illuftrious example given of it, never fo much weight and ftrefs laid upon it by any philofophy or religion that was before in the world. II. I fhall endeavour to declare to you the nature of this commandment, or the duty required by it. And that will best be done, by inftancing in the chief acts and properties of love and charity: As, humanity and kindness in all our carriage and behaviour towards one another; for love fmooths the difpofitions of men, fo that they are not apt to grate upon one another: next, to rejoice in the good and happinefs of one another, and to grieve at their evils and fufferings; for love unites the interefts of men fo as to make them affected with what happens to another, as if it were in fome fort their own cafe: then to contribute as much as in us lies to the happinefs of one another, by relieving one another's wants, and redreffing their misfortunes: again, tenderness of their good name and reputation; a proneness to interpret all the words and actions of men to the best sense; patience and forbearance towards one another; and when differences happen, to manage them with all poffible calmnefs and kindness, and to be ready to forgive and to be reconciled to one another; to pray one for anFf2 other; other; and, if occafion be, at least if the publick good of Christianity require it, to be ready to lay down our lives for our brethren, and to facrifice ourselves for the furtherance of their falvation. III. We will confider the degrees and measures of our charity, with regard to the various objects about which it is exercised. And as to the negative part of this duty, it is to be extended equally towards all. We are not to hate or bear ill-will to any man, or to do him any harm or mifchief: Love worketh no evil to his neighbour. Thus much charity we are to exercife towards all without any exception, without any difference. And as to the pofitive part of this duty, we should bear an univerfal good-will to all men, wishing every man's happiness, and praying for it as heartily as for our own and if we be fincere herein, we fhall be ready upon all occafions to procure and promote the welfare of all men. But the outward acts and teftimonies of our charity neither can be actually extended to all, nor ought to be to all alike. We do not know the wants of all, and therefore our knowledge of perfons, and of their conditions, doth neceffarily limit the effects of our charity within a certain compafs; and of those we do know, we can but relieve a finall part for want of ability. Whence it becomes neceffary, that we fet fome rules to ourselves for the more difcreet ordering of our charity; fuch as thefe. Cafes of extremity ought to take place of all other; obligations of nature, and nearness of relation, feem to challenge the next place; obligations of kindnefs, and upon the account of benefits received, may well lay the next claim; and then the houshold of faith is to be peculiarly confidered. And after thefe, the merit of the perfons, and all circumftances belonging to them, are to be weighed and valued. Those who labour in an honest calling, but are oppressed with their charge; those who are fallen from a plentiful condition, efpecially by miffortune, and the providence of God, without their own fault; thofe who have relieved others, and have been eminently charitable and beneficial to mankind; and, laftly, thofe whofe vifible neceffities and infirmities of body or mind, whether by age or by accident, do plead for |