Section 18
18 A godly man is a lover of the Saints; The best way to discern grace in one's self, is to love grace in others, 1 John 3. 14. We know we have passed from death to life, because we love the Brethren: What is religion but religation? A knitting together of hearts; Faith knits us to God, and love knits us one to another: There is a two-fold love to others.
1 A civil love; A godly man has a love of civility to all, Genesis 23. 7. Abraham stood up and bowed to the children of Heth: Though they were extraneous, and not within the pale of the Covenant, yet Abraham was affable to them: Grace does sweeten and refine nature, 1 Peter 3. 8. be courteous: We are to have a love of civility to all.
1 As they are ex eodem luto, of the same lump and mold with ourselves, and are a piece of God's curious needle-work.
2 Because our sweet deportment towards them, may be a means to win upon them, and make them in love with the ways of God; A morose rugged carriage, often alienates the hearts of others, and hardens them the more against holiness, whereas a loving behavior is very obliging, and may be as a loadstone to draw them to religion.
2 There is a pious and an holy love, and this a godly man does bear chiefly to them, who are of the household of faith; The other was a love of courtesy, this of complacency: Our love to the Saints (says Austin) should be more than to our natural relations, because the bond of the spirit is nearer than that of blood. This love to the Saints, which evidences a man godly, must have seven ingredients in it.
1 Love to the Saints must be sincere, 1 John 3. 18. Let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth: The honey that drops from the comb is pure, so must love be pure without deceit: Many are like Naphtali, Genesis 49. 21. He gives goodly words: Pretended love is like a painted fire, which has no heat in it. Some hide malice under a false veil of love; I have read of Antoninus the Emperor, where he made a show of Friendship, there he intended the most mischief.
2 Love to the Saints must be spiritual, we must love them because they are Saints; Not out of self-respects, because they are affable, or have been kind to us, but we must love them under a spiritual notion, because of the good that is in them; We are to reverence their holiness, else it is a carnal love.
3 Love to the Saints must be extensive, we must love all that bear God's image.
1 Though they have many infirmities; A Christian in this life, is like a good face full of Freckles; You that can not love another because of his imperfections, did never yet see your own face in the glass; Your brother's infirmities may make you pity him, his graces must make you love him.
2 We must love the Saints, though in some things they do not coalesce and agree with us: Another Christian may differ from me in less matters, either because he has more light than I, or because he has less light; If he differs from me, because he has more light, then I have no reason to censure him; If because he has less light, than I ought to bear with him, as the weaker Vessel, in things of an indifferent nature, there ought to be Christian connivance.
3 We must love the Saints, though their graces outvie and surpass ours; We ought to bless God for the eminency of another's grace, because hereby religion is honored; Pride is not quite slain in a believer; Saints themselves are apt to grudge and repine at each other's excellencies; Is it not strange, that the same person, should hate one man for his sin, and envy another for his virtue? Christians had need look to their hearts; Then is love right and genuine, when we can rejoice in the graces of others, though they seem to eclipse ours.
4 Love to the Saints must be appreciating, we must esteem their persons above others, Psalm 15. 4. He honors them that fear the Lord: We are to look upon the wicked as lumber, but upon the Saints as jewels, these must be had in high veneration.
5 Love to the Saints must be Social, we should delight in their company, Psalm 119. 63. I am a companion of all them that fear thee. 'Tis a kind of hell to be in the company of the wicked, where we cannot choose but hear God's name dishonored: It was a capital crime, to have carried the Image of Tiberius, engraven upon a Ring or Coin into any sordid place; They who have the Image of God engraven upon them, should not go into any sinful sordid company. Never but two that I read of, who were living, did desire to keep company with the dead, and they were possessed with the Devil: What comfort can a living Christian have, to converse with the dead? Jude 2. But the society of Saints is eligible; this is not to walk among the Tombs, but among beds of spices. Believers are Christ's garden, their graces are the flowers, their savory discourse is the fragrant smell of these flowers.
6 Love to the Saints must be demonstrative; we should be ready to do all offices of love to them; vindicate their names, contribute to their necessities, and like the good Samaritan, pour Oil and Wine into their wounds, Luke 10. 34. 35. Love cannot be concealed, but is active in its sphere, and will lay out itself for the good of others.
7 Love to the Saints must be constant, 1 John 4. 16. He that dwells in love: Our love must not only lodge for a night, but we must dwell in love, Hebrews 13. 1. Let Brotherly love continue: As love must be sincere without hypocrisy, so constant without deficiency; love must be like the pulse, always beating; Not like those Galatians, who at one time were ready to pull out their eyes for Paul, Galatians 4. 15. and afterwards were ready to pluck out his eyes; Love should not expire but with our life: and surely if our love to the Saints, be thus divinely qualified, we may hopefully conclude that we are enrolled among the godly, John 13. 35. By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one to another.
That which induces a godly man to love the Saints, is, because he is nearly related to them, there ought to be love among relations, there is a spiritual consanguinity among believers, they have all one head, therefore should all have one heart, they are stones of the same building, 1 Peter 2. 5. And shall not these stones be cemented together with Love?
Use 1. Is this the distinguishing Mark of a godly man, to be a lover of the Saints, then how sad is it to see this grace of love in an eclipse? This Character of godliness, is almost blotted out among Christians. England was once a fair garden, where the flower of love did grow, but sure now this flower is either plucked or withered; Where is that amity and unity as should be among Christians? I appeal to you, would there be that censuring and despising, that reproaching and undermining one another if there were love? Instead of bitter Tears, there are bitter spirits; A sign iniquity abounds, because the love of many waxes cold; There is that distance among some professors, as if they had not received the same spirit, or as if they did not hope for the same heaven: In the Primitive times, there was so much love among the godly, as set the heathens a wondering, and now there is so little, as may set Christians a blushing.
Use 2. As we would be written down for Saints in God's Calendar, let us love the Brotherhood: They who shall one day live together, should love together; What is it makes a disciple but love? John 13. 35. The Devil has knowledge, but that which makes him a Devil is, that he wants love. To persuade Christians to love, consider,
1 The Saints have that in them, which may make us love them; They are the curious embroidery and workmanship of the Holy Ghost, Ephesians 2. 10. They have those rare lineaments of grace, as none but a pencil from heaven could draw; Their eyes sparkle forth beauty, Canticles 4. 9. Their breasts are like clusters of grapes, Canticles 7. 7. This makes Christ himself delight in his spouse: The King is held in the galleries. The Church is the daughter of a Prince, Canticles 7. 1. She is waited on by Angels, Hebrews 1. last: She has a Palace of glory reserved for her, John 14. 2. and may not all this draw forth our love?
2 Consider how evil it is for the Saints not to love.
1 It is Unnatural, the Saints are Christ's Lambs, John 21. 15. For a dog to worry a Lamb is usual, but for one Lamb to worry another, is unnatural: The Saints are brethren, 1 Peter 3. 8. How barbarous is it for brethren not to love?
2 Not to love is a foolish thing; have not God's people enemies enough, that they should fly in the faces one of another? The wicked confederate against the godly, Psalm 83. 3. They have taken crafty counsel against thy people: Though there may fall out a private grudge betwixt such as are wicked, yet they will all agree and unite against the Saints: If two Greyhounds are snarling at a bone, yet, put up a Hare between them, and they will leave the bone, and follow after the Hare; So if wicked men have private differences amongst themselves, yet if the godly be near them, they will leave snarling at one another, and will pursue after the godly; Now, when God's people have so many enemies abroad, who watch for their halting, and are glad when they can do them a mischief; shall the Saints fall out, and divide into parties among themselves?
3 Not to love is very unseasonable; God's people are in a common calamity, they suffer in one cause, and for them to disagree, is altogether unseasonable; Why does the Lord bring his people together in affliction, but to bring them together in affection? Metals will unite in a furnace, if ever Christians unite, it should be in the furnace of affliction. Chrysostom compares affliction to a shepherd's Dog, which makes all the sheep run together: God's Rod has this loud voice in it, Love one another; How unworthy is it when Christians are suffering together, to be then striving together.
4 Not to love is very Sinful.
1 For Saints not to love, is to live in a contradiction to Scripture; The Apostle is continually beating upon this string of love, as if it made the sweetest music in Religion, Romans 13. 8. Colossians 3. 14. 1 Peter 1. 22. 1 John 3. 11. 1 John 4. 21. This Commandment we have from him, that he who loves God, love his Brother also: Not to love, is to walk Antipodes to the word; Can he be a good Physician, who goes against the rules of Physic? Can he be a good Christian, who goes against the rules of Religion?
2 Want of love among Christians, does much silence the spirit of prayer: hot passions, make cold prayers; Where animosities and contentions prevail, instead of praying one for another, Christians will be ready to pray one against another; like the Disciples, who prayed for fire from heaven upon the Samaritans, Luke 9. 54. And will God, think you, hear such prayers as come from a wrathful heart: Will he eat of our leavened bread? Will he accept of those duties, which are soured with bitterness of spirit? Shall that prayer ever go up as incense, which is offered with the strange fire of our sinful passions?
3 These heart-burnings, hinder the progress of piety in our own souls; The flower of grace, will not grow in a wrathful heart; The body may as well thrive while it has the Plague, as a soul can, that is infected with malice: While Christians are debating, grace is abating; as the spleen grows, health decays, and as hatred increases, holiness declines.
5 Not to love is very fatal; the differences among God's people, portend ruin: all mischiefs come in at this gap of division, Matthew 12. 25. Animosities among Saints, may make God leave his Temple, Ezekiel 10. 4. The glory of the Lord, went up from the Cherub, and stood upon the threshold: Does not God seem to stand upon the threshold of his house, as if he were taking his wings to fly? And woe to us, if God depart from us: If the Master leave the ship, it is near sinking indeed: if God leave a land, it must needs sink in ruin.
Question. How shall we attain this excellent grace of love?
Answer. 1 Beware of the Devil's Footposts, I mean such as run on his errand, and make it their work to blow the coals of contention among Christians, and render one party odious to another.
2 Keep up friendly meetings; Christians should not be shy one of another, as if they had the Plague.
3 Let us plead that promise, Jeremiah 32. 39. I will give them one heart, and one way: Let us pray that there may be no strife among Christians, but who shall love most; Let us pray that God will divide Babylon, and unite Zion.
Use 3. Is this a mark of a godly man, to love the Saints? Then they must stand indicted for ungodly, who hate the Saints; The wicked have an implacable malice against God's people, and how can antipathies be reconciled? To hate Saint-ship, is a brand of a reprobate: they that malign the godly, are the curse of the creation; If all the scalding drops in God's Vial, will make them miserable, they shall be so: Never did any who were the haters and persecutors of Saints, thrive upon that Trade: What became of Julian, Dioclesian, Maximinus, Valerian, Cardinal Crescentius, and others, some of them, their bowels came out, others choked with their own blood, that they might be set up as standing monuments of God's vengeance, Psalm 34. 21. They that hate the righteous shall be desolate.
18. A godly man is a lover of the saints. The best way to discern grace in yourself is to love grace in others. 1 John 3:14: We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. What is religion but a binding together? A knitting of hearts. Faith knits us to God, and love knits us to one another. There are two kinds of love toward others.
1. Civil love: A godly man has a love of basic goodwill toward all people. Genesis 23:7: Abraham rose and bowed to the Hittites. Though they were outsiders, not within the covenant community, Abraham was warm and courteous toward them. Grace sweetens and refines human nature. 1 Peter 3:8: Be courteous. We are to have this love of basic goodwill toward all.
First, because all people are made from the same material as we are, shaped from the same dust, and are a part of God's intricate craftsmanship.
Second, because our kind behavior toward them may be a means of drawing them to love the ways of God. A harsh and harsh manner often alienates people's hearts and hardens them further against holiness. But a loving approach is compelling and may act like a magnet drawing them toward faith.
2. There is also a holy and spiritual love, which a godly man bears especially to those of the household of faith. The first was a love of courtesy; this is a love of deep delight. Augustine says our love for the saints should exceed our love for natural family, because the bond of the Spirit is closer than the bond of blood. This love toward the saints, which marks a person as godly, must have seven qualities.
1. Love to the saints must be sincere. 1 John 3:18: Let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. Honey that drops from the comb is pure — love must be equally pure, without deceit. Many are like Naphtali in Genesis 49:21: they give goodly words. Pretended love is like a painted fire — it has no heat. Some hide malice behind a false show of love. History records that the Emperor Antoninus would display the most friendship in the very moments he intended the most harm.
2. Love to the saints must be spiritual — we must love them because they are saints. Not for personal reasons — because they are pleasant company or have been kind to us — but for spiritual reasons: because of the grace that is in them. We are to honor their holiness. Anything less is merely natural affection.
3. Love to the saints must be broad — we must love all who bear God's image.
First, even those with many weaknesses. A Christian in this life is like a good face covered with freckles. If you cannot love another because of his imperfections, you have never honestly looked at your own face in the mirror. Your brother's weaknesses should move you to pity him; his graces should move you to love him.
Second, we must love the saints even when they do not agree with us on every point. Another Christian may differ from me either because he has more understanding than I do or because he has less. If he differs from me because he has more understanding, I have no reason to criticize him. If it is because he has less understanding, I should bear with him as a weaker vessel. In matters that are not essential, there should be Christian patience and forbearance.
Third, we must love the saints even when their grace surpasses ours. We should thank God for the outstanding grace of others, since it honors religion. Pride is not fully defeated in any believer. Even saints are prone to resent one another's excellencies. Is it not strange that the same person could hate one man for his sin and envy another for his virtue? Christians need to watch their hearts carefully. Love is genuine when we can rejoice in another's grace even when it seems to outshine our own.
4. Love to the saints must include high regard — we should value their persons above others. Psalm 15:4: He honors those who fear the Lord. We may look upon wicked people as those who have squandered their purpose, but we should look upon the saints as jewels — and hold them in great esteem.
5. Love to the saints must be social — we should delight in their company. Psalm 119:63: I am a companion of all who fear You. It is a kind of torment to spend time with the wicked, where we cannot help but hear God's name dishonored. In ancient Rome it was a capital crime to carry a coin or ring with the image of Tiberius into any shameful place. Those who bear God's image should not go into sinful or degrading company. Only two people in Scripture ever sought the company of the dead — and both were possessed by demons. What comfort can a living Christian find in spending time with the spiritually dead? But the fellowship of saints is something to be chosen eagerly. It is not walking among tombs but walking among beds of spices. Believers are Christ's garden; their graces are the flowers; their wholesome conversation is the fragrance of those flowers.
6. Love to the saints must be active — we should be ready to serve them in every way. We should defend their reputations, meet their needs, and — like the good Samaritan — pour oil and wine into their wounds, as Luke 10:34-35 says. Love cannot be hidden — it is active in its realm and expends itself for the good of others.
7. Love to the saints must be constant. 1 John 4:16: He who abides in love. Our love must not merely lodge for a night — we must dwell in love. Hebrews 13:1: Let brotherly love continue. Just as love must be sincere without hypocrisy, so it must be constant without failure. Love must be like a pulse — always beating. Not like the Galatians, who at one point would have torn out their own eyes for Paul (Galatians 4:15), and later were ready to tear out his eyes. Love should not end before life ends. If our love to the saints has all these qualities, we can have strong reason to believe we are counted among the godly. John 13:35: By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.
What moves a godly man to love the saints is the awareness that he is closely related to them. Love belongs between relations — and believers have a deep spiritual kinship. They all share one head, and so they should all share one heart. They are stones of the same building, as 1 Peter 2:5 says. Should not these stones be cemented together with love?
Application 1: If loving the saints is a mark of godliness, how sad it is to see this grace in eclipse. This mark of godliness has almost been erased among Christians. England was once a fair garden where the flower of love grew — but now that flower has been plucked or has withered. Where is the friendship and unity that should exist among Christians? I ask you: would there be this criticizing and despising, this tearing down and undermining of one another, if love were present? Instead of tears of contrition, there are bitter spirits. It is a sign that wickedness abounds when the love of many grows cold. There is such distance between some professing Christians that you would think they had not received the same Spirit or were not hoping for the same heaven. In the early church, there was such love among the godly that it astonished the pagans. Now there is so little that it should make Christians blush.
Application 2: If we want to be counted among God's saints, let us love the brotherhood. Those who will one day live together should love together now. What makes a disciple but love? John 13:35. The devil has knowledge — but what makes him the devil is that he lacks love. To encourage Christians toward love, consider the following.
1. The saints carry within them something that deserves our love. They are the exquisite craftsmanship of the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 2:10: We are God's workmanship. They bear the marks of grace that only a brush dipped in heaven could draw. Their eyes shine with beauty, as Song of Songs 4:9 says. Their lives are fruitful, as Song of Songs 7:7 says. This is what makes Christ Himself delight in His bride. The church is the daughter of a king, as Song of Songs 7:1 says. She is attended by angels, as Hebrews 1:14 says. A palace of glory is reserved for her, as John 14:2 says. Should not all of this draw out our love?
2. Consider how wrong it is for the saints not to love one another.
First, it is unnatural. The saints are Christ's lambs, as John 21:15 says. A dog attacking a lamb is ordinary, but one lamb attacking another is unnatural. The saints are brothers and sisters. How barbaric it is for brothers and sisters not to love one another?
Second, it is foolish. Do God's people not have enough enemies outside, that they should turn on one another? The wicked conspire against the godly. Psalm 83:3: They lay crafty plans against Your people. Even when wicked people have private quarrels among themselves, they will set aside their differences and unite against the saints. It is like two greyhounds fighting over a bone — put a hare between them and they will instantly drop the bone and chase the hare together. When God's people have so many enemies watching for any misstep and glad to cause them harm, should the saints fall out and divide among themselves?
Third, it is especially wrong given the times. God's people are suffering a common hardship — they endure affliction for the same cause. For them to be at odds with each other during such a time is completely out of place. Why does the Lord bring His people together in affliction, if not to draw them together in affection? Metals fuse together in a furnace — if Christians are ever going to unite, it should be in the furnace of suffering. Chrysostom compared affliction to a shepherd's dog that makes all the sheep run together. God's rod carries this clear message: love one another. How unworthy it is, when Christians are suffering together, to be fighting with each other at the same time.
Fourth, it is deeply sinful.
First, for saints not to love is to live in contradiction to Scripture. The apostle returns again and again to the theme of love, as though it produces the sweetest music in all of religion. Romans 13:8; Colossians 3:14; 1 Peter 1:22; 1 John 3:11; 1 John 4:21: This commandment we have from Him — whoever loves God must also love his brother. To refuse to love is to walk in the opposite direction from God's Word. Can a doctor be a good doctor who goes against the principles of medicine? Can a person be a good Christian who goes against the principles of religion?
Second, the lack of love among Christians greatly silences the spirit of prayer. Hot passions make cold prayers. Where hostility and conflict rule, instead of praying for one another Christians will be ready to pray against one another — like the disciples who asked for fire from heaven on the Samaritans, as Luke 9:54 records. Do you think God will hear prayers that rise from a bitter heart? Will He accept offerings that are soured with a bitter spirit? Will prayer rise like incense when it is offered with the strange fire of sinful passions?
Third, these burning resentments hinder the growth of godliness in our own souls. The flower of grace will not grow in an angry heart. A body cannot thrive while infected with plague — and a soul infected with malice cannot thrive either. While Christians are quarreling, grace is diminishing. As the spleen grows, health decays — and as hatred increases, holiness declines.
Fifth, it is dangerous. Divisions among God's people signal ruin. Every kind of harm enters through the gap of division. Matthew 12:25. Hostility among the saints may cause God to withdraw His presence from His temple. Ezekiel 10:4: The glory of the Lord went up from the cherub and stood over the threshold of the house. Does not God seem to be standing at the threshold, as if about to take flight? Woe to us if God departs from us. If the captain leaves the ship, it is truly close to sinking. If God leaves a nation, that nation must fall into ruin.
Question: How can we attain this excellent grace of love?
Answer: 1. Beware of the devil's messengers — those who run his errand and make it their work to fan the flames of conflict among Christians and make one group look evil to another.
2. Keep up friendly fellowship with other believers. Christians should not treat one another with suspicion and distance, as if afraid of catching a disease.
3. Claim the promise of Jeremiah 32:39: I will give them one heart and one way. Let us pray that there will be no strife among Christians except to see who can love the most. Let us pray that God will divide Babylon and unite Zion.
Application 3: If loving the saints is a mark of godliness, then those who hate the saints must be charged with ungodliness. The wicked harbor an unrelenting hatred against God's people — and how can such an opposition be reconciled? To hate the saints is the brand of a reprobate. Those who persecute the godly are a curse to creation. If all the scorching drops of God's judgment can make them miserable, they will be made so. No one who has ever made a trade of hating and persecuting the saints has prospered by it. What became of Julian, Diocletian, Maximinus, Valerian, Cardinal Crescentius, and others? Some died with their bodies giving way in horrific ways; others choked in their own blood — set up as permanent monuments of God's vengeance. Psalm 34:21: Those who hate the righteous will be condemned.
