others, and to be prejudiced in my own favour, (since I am capable of a much more full and intimate acquaintance with my own sins and follies, than with the sins and follies of others,) that I ought rather to be habitually disposed to prefer others in honour above myself. Rom. xii. 10. Phil. ii. 3. And so, as to my neighbour's welfare and happiness, there is the same general reason why it should be dear to me, as that my own should. His welfare is worth as much, in itself, as mine; it is as worthy, therefore, to be valued, esteemed, sought after, and rejoiced in, as mine. It is true, my welfare is more immediately put under my care by God Almighty, and so it is fit it should by me be more especially taken care of; not that it is of greater worth for being mine, for it is not; but only because it is more immediately put under my care by God Almighty. The same may be said of the welfare of my family, &c.; but still my neighbours' welfare is, in itself, as precious and dear as mine, and he is my neighbour, he is flesh and blood as well as I, and wants to be happy as well as I, and is my brother by Adam; we are all but one great family, the offspring of the same common parents; we should, therefore, all be affected as brethren toward one another, love as brethren, and seek each other's welfare most tenderly and affectionately, as being sensible how dear and precious the welfare of each other is; this is perfectly right. And so we should bear one another's burthens; mourn with them that mourn, and rejoice with them that rejoice, as being tenderhearted, cordial friends to every body; and this from a real sight and sense that such a temper and conduct is perfectly right and fit, in the nature of things. And whereas there may be several things in my neighbour truly agreeable, it is evidently right I should delight in those good properties according to their real worth; it is a duty I owe to my neighbour, the possessor, and to God, the giver of those good gifts. 2. But that I should thus love my neighbour as myself, is not only, in its own nature, right, but is also enjoined upon me by the law and authority of God, the supreme Governor of the world. So that, from love to God, and froin a sense of his right to me, and authority over me, I ought out of obedience to him to love my neighbour as myself, and always, and in all respects, to do as I would be done by: and not to do so, is not only to injure my neighbour, but to rebel against God, my King and Governor, and so becomes an infinite evil. Hence, it is charged upon David, that, by his conduct respecting Uriah, he had despised the Lord, and despised the commandment of the Lord; and this is mentioned as the great evil of his sin. 2 Sam. xii. 9, 10. For he had not merely murdered one of his fellow-worms, but risen up in rebellion against the most high God; and practically said, "I care not for God, nor his authority. I love my lust, and will gratify it for all him." And therefore when David was brought to true repentance, the native language of his soul to God was, Against thee, thee only, have I sinned. Psal. li. 4. It is rebellion, therefore, it is despising the Lord, it is an infinite evil, not to love our neighbours as ourselves. 3. We have not only the authority, but also the example of God, to influence us to this great duty of love and benevolence. God is love: He has an infinite propensity to do good, and that in cases where there is no motive from without to excite him; yea, where there is every thing to the contrary. He loves to make his sun to rise, and his rain to fall, upon the evil and unthankful. He loves to fill the hearts of all with food and gladness, and to strew innumerable blessings round a guilty, God-hating world; yea, out of his great goodness, he has given his only Son to die for sinners, and offers grace and glory, and all good things, through him; being ready to pardon, and receive to favour, any poor, guilty wretch, that will repent, and return to him, through Jesus Christ. And now for us, after all this, not to love our fellow-men; yea, not to love our very worst enemies, is very vile. Since God has so loved us, we ought surely to love one another. 1 John iv. 11. Since he has treated us, his enemies, so kindly, we ought now, as dear children, to imitate him and love our enemies, and bless them that curse us, and do good to them that hate us, and pray for them which despitefully use us, and persecute us. Mat. v. 44, 45. The infinite beauty in the goodness of the divine nature lays us under infinite obligations to imitate it, in the temper of our minds, and in our daily conduct. And it is ingratitude, it is a shame, it is abominable wickedness, not to love our worst enemies, and. forgive the greatest injuries. Since the great Governor of the world has treated us worms and rebels as he has, one would think that after all this we should never be able to find a heart to hate or injure any mortal; surely, we are under very strong obligations to accept that divine exhortation in Eph. iv. 31, 32. "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking be put away from among you, with all malice: and be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." (And chap. v. verse 1.) "Be ye followers of God as dear children." Besides, there are many additional obligations to love and benevolence, and to peculiar respect and kindness between husband and wife, parents and children, friend and friend, &c. arising from their mutual relations, and dependencies, and from special kindnesses already received or hoped for. And now, THIRDLY. As to the standard by which our love is to be regulated, viz. Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. In order rightly to understand it, we must, 1. Place ourselves, sensibly, as in the presence of the infinitely great and glorious God, before whom all the nations of the earth are nothing, and less than nothing, and vanity; and in the light of God's greatness and glory, we must take a view of our own littleness and deformity, and so learn how we ought to be affected towards ourselves, compared with God; and as we ought to love ourselves, so ought we to love our neighbour. And now, in general, we ought to be disposed towards God, as being what he is, and towards ourselves and neighbours, as being what we and they are. Particularly, God's honour in the world ought to appear infinitely more valuable and precious than our own, and therefore our ownought to seem as a thing of no worth, compared with his, and as such to be freely parted with when God's honour calls for it; and as free should we be to see the reputation of our dearest friends given up for God's sake. The same may be said of our worldly interest and of all our worldly comforts, when compared with God's interest and the interest of his Son's kingdom in the world, and of the worldly interests and comforts of our dearest friends. All, both ours and theirs, is comparatively nothing, and ought to appear so to us; yea, our lives and their lives are just the same things; comparatively of no worth, and to be parted with in a moment, without the least reluctance, when God's honour or interest calls therefor. 2. In order to a right understanding of this standard, we mustalso bserve, that our love to ourselves is habitual, unfeigned, fervent, active, and permanent: so also must be our love to our neighbours. 3. A regular self-love respects all our interests, but especially our spiritual and eternal interest: so ought our love to our neighbours. 4. A regular self-love naturally prompts us to be concerned for our welfare tenderly, to seek it diligently and prudently; to rejoice in it heartily, and to be grieved for our calamities sincerely: so ought our love to our neighbours to prompt us to feel and conduct with regard to their welfare. 5. Self-love makes us take an unfeigned pleasure in promoting our own welfare. We do not think it hard to do so much for ourselves; the pleasure we take in promoting our welfare rewards our pains. The same genuine kind of love ought we to have to our neighbour: and so to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive. 6. We ought never to speak of our neighbour's sins, or weaknesses, or any way expose him to shame and contempt in the world, in any case whatsover, except such wherein it would be our duty to be willing ourselves to be so exposed by him, were we in his circumstances, and he in ours. And then we are to do it with that sensible tenderness for him that we could reasonably desire from him, towards us in a like case. Thus, then, we have briefly considered the second great command of the law, and see what that meaneth-Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. To love God with all our heart, lays a foundation, and prepares the way for us to love our neighbours as ourselves. It removes and takes away those things which are contrary to this love; such as pride, selfishness, worldliness, a narrow, stingy, envious, revengeful temper. True love to God mortifies and kills these things at the root. And, secondly, True love to God assimilates us to the divine nature, and makes us like God in the temper of our minds.But God is love: and the more we are like God, the more are our hearts, therefore, framed to love and benevolence, He . that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him. Love to God sweetens the soul, and enlarges our hearts to love our fellow-men. And, thirdly, The more we love God, the more sacred is his authority with us, and the more glorious, amiable, and animating does his example appear, and the greater sense have we of our obligations to gratitude to him; all which tends jointly to influence us to all love and goodness towards our neighbours. So that, he that knows God, and loves him, will be full of love to mankind; and, therefore, he that loveth not, knoweth not God. 1 John iv. 8. On the other hand, where there is no true love to God, there is no true love to mankind; but the heart is under the government of pride, selfishness, and other corruptions, which are contrary to love. So that a genuine love to mankind is peculiar to the godly. 1 John iv. 7, 8. And now, from what has been said, we may evidently see these following sorts of love to our neighbour are, neither of them, the love required, however nearly they may sometimes seem to resemble it. 1. What is commonly called natural compassion, is not the love here required; for the most wicked, profane man, may be of a very compassionate temper: so may the proud, the selfish, the envious, the malicious, and spiteful man-as experience plainly shows. And besides, natural compassion does not take its rise from any sense of the rectitude and fitness of things, or any regard to the divine authority, but merely from the animal constitution: and men seem to be properly passive in it. It is much the same thing in the human, as in the brutal nature: It is, therefore, a different thing from the love here required. 2. The same may be said of what is called good-nature It arises merely from animal constitution, and is not the love here required; for such a man is not influenced in his love by the reason and nature of things, or the authority of the great Governor of the world, or from a consideration of the infinite goodness of the divine nature, any more than the beasts are, who are some of them much better tempered than others: so that this sort of love has nothing of the nature of religion in it. And it is evident that many wicked and ungodly men have |