Sermons, preached partly before His Majesty at White-Hall and partly before Anne Dutchess of York, at the chappel at St. James / by Henry Killigrew ...

I. How it is to be understood, That all the Law and the Prophets hang on these two Commandments, The Love of God, And of our Neighbour.

The Law and the Prophets, i. e. the Text, and the Gloss or Comment; whatsoever the Law has concisely commanded or implyed only, and the Pro∣phets more largely expounded and dilated on, were but to plant this one Duty, this One Master Princi∣ple in the hearts of men, Love. In every Law there are two Parts, the Matter enjoin'd, and the Rewards and Punishments annex'd, by way of Sanction, for the better Observation of it: For a bare Injunction, not animated and fortified with the Promise of Good things to the Keepers of it, and Threats of Evil to the Infringers, will find but cold Observation a∣mong men: Who, as the Psalmist speaks, are little better than horse and mule, that must be held with bitt and bridle [of Penalties] lest they fall upon you. The Office of the Prophets was to be Custodes Legis, the Guardians and Conservators of the Law, they were not to add to the Law, though they were inspired by God as Moses was, but to interpret, press, and inculcate the Duties of it, to revive in mens thoughts the Promises and Threats, and thus they were a kind of Mound or Fence to the Law to keep off Trans∣gressions. The Jews had a Sort of Criticks, who with great preciseness observed the Number of the Letters in each Book of Moses, how they were writ∣ten,

together with the Various Readings, and these were call'd the Masorites, because they were, as the Word imports, a Hedge to the Law: But with much better right the Greater and Lesser Prophets may de∣serve this Name. And upon this account it is, that these two, the Law and the Prophets, or Moses and the Prophets, are still quoted by our Lord together, who says not, The Law and the Interpretation of the Scribes, or the Law and the Determination of the Priests, (though in lesser Matters the People were also to harken to them) but the Law and the Pro∣phets, which were both of equal Divine Production, and carried on the Same Design, the one by com∣manding, and the other by preaching and inculca∣ting the Will of God and Duty of Men. Now whatsoever the one of these enjoins, and the other enforces, our Lord says, Hang all upon these two Pins, The Love of God, and the Love of our Neighbour: And though the Word [Love] is not often found in the Law and the Books of the Prophets, though they are not, as I may say, so much Canticles, as the Sermons of Christ, and the Writings of his Apostles, (in some of which there is scarce a Verse but it is even verbally repeated and ingeminated:) yet the Duties which the Prophets urge and press, are all Acts of Love to God, and Charity to our Neighbour; and whatsoever else they seem most to intend and em∣ploy their Pens about, the propagation of Piety and Charity may be seen latent in the Scheme and Con∣texture of their Discourse, and he that reads the one, shall be unawares engaged and intangled in the o∣ther.

But then it may be ask'd here, Seeing all the Law and the Prophets hang on this One Law of Love, what need was there of so many Specifications of the

Several Duties contain'd in both Tables? as, Thou shalt not kill? Thou shalt not commit Adultery? Thou shalt not Steal, &c.? For this Single Word, Love, comprehending them all in effect, so many Tautolo∣gies might have been spared. To this we may say, Men are so crafty and subtil to evade the Duties im∣posed on them, or pretend Ignorance for their Dis∣obedience, that 'twas not sufficient to set down in Generals the Obligations that lay on them, but it was necessary by Express Prohibitions, and Particu∣lar Instances to convince them, when they offended against the Divine Precepts. And for this reason the Law is fain often to descend to many trivial Specifi∣cations, to work a lively and sensible Impression of the Justice or Injustice of every Fact in their minds: As for Example, Thou shalt not reap the Corners of thy Field, nor glean thy Vineyard. Thou shalt not suf∣fer the Hire of the Labourer to remain with thee till the morning. Thou shalt not take his Garment to Pledge, his Bed, nor his Working-tools, nor his upper Milstone, and the like. Sure'y to an Ingenious Heart, disposed to Humanity, this particularizing would have been needless, I say, to a Good and Friendly Nature these things are of easie Deduction from the bare Word, Love, that all the rest might have been spar'd: we say, Verbum Sapienti, a Word to the Wise is suffi∣cient; but 'tis much truer, Verbum Amanti, a single Word to a true Lover is abundantly sufficient to make him recollect the rest of his Beloveds mind. But, I say, Men being generally of a Churlish Dis∣position, it comes to pass that the Duties both to God and Men, which are to be inferr'd from the Ge∣neral Precept of Love, are obscure, or at least pre∣tended to be so; and that they may have no Colour, from the Abridging their Whole Duty into one

Word, Love, to say, There is no Obligation upon us to do the things required, shew us where they are com∣manded, produce the Letter of the Law, and the like: all the Silva Legum, as Justinian calls them, the Fo∣rest of God's and Mens Laws, consisting of such Heaps of Precepts, were added, whereas otherwise all the Duties would have been seen to hang on this brief Syllable, Love.

This Phrase [do hang upon it] is a Figurative Expression borrowed from the hanging things upon a Hook or Pin in a Wall, which bears the Stress of their Weight. We find the same Figure used Isaiah 22.23. God determining to make Eliakim Treasurer over his House, to shew the Support he should be, by the Influence of his Wisdom and Justice, to the Inhabitants of Jerusalem, he says, I will fasten him as a Nail in a sure place—and they shall hang upon him all the Glory of his Father's House—all the Vessels, from the Vessels of Cups, to the Vessels of Flaggons: (and then it follows) In that day, says the Lord of hosts, shall the Nail that is fastned in a sure place be removed, and cut down, and the Burden that was upon it shall be cut off. But I shall shew more particularly three Ways, how all the Commandments hang or depend on the Commandment of Love.

1. As the Parts do upon the Whole, the Whole contains the Parts, and is but the Parts collected into One. And some will have this the only Dependance that is here meant of the other Commandments on that of Love, according to S^t Paul's interpretation, Rom. 13.9. He that loveth another, hath fulfilled the whole Law: For this, Thou shalt not Kill, Thou shalt not commit Adultery, Thou shalt not Steal, &c. are briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy Self. And the like may be

said of the Duties of the First Table, Thou shalt have no other God, but the God of Israel; Thou shalt worship him no other way than he has prescribed, Thou shalt not take his Name in vain, Thou shalt not break his Sab∣bath, they are briefly contained in this, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God. And if Love were deeply rooted in the Hearts of men, upon their going about any Act dishonourable to God, or unjust to their Neigh∣bour, it would pull them back from it: for this would be the immediate Question they would ask themselves, By what Rule do I do this? Will it hold according to the Precept of Love to God and to my Neighbour? This particular Fact, which I put forth by way of retail, does it not vary from the General Rule in which it ought to be comprehended as in its Body?

2. The Law and the Prophets may be said to hang or depend upon the Law of Love, because it is the Scope or Drift to which all the Commandments in particular tend: according to that Saying of S^t Paul, 1 Tim. 1.5. The End of the Commandment is Chari∣ty, or Love, out of a pure Heart, and good Conscience, and Faith unfeigned, i. e. upon the Ground of the Belief of Remission of our Sins through Christ, to love God and our Brethren for so great a Benefit, and to express our Love in the Works of a good Conscience. 'Tis not preaching the Law, though never so zealously, as those did S^t Paul here speaks of; or the performing the Outward Acts of the Law, as many of the Jews were very scrupulous in the Observation of, that makes a Righteous Man ac∣cording to the Law: but he that does according to the Design and Intention of the Law, which is Love. Ratio Legis est interpres Legis, the Purpose of the Law is the best Interpreter of the Law; and they

that mind not this, as S^t Paul says, Take their Aim a∣miss, and swerve from the End and Intention of the Law, discern not the Grace of Love that runs through it, as the Warp and the Woof do through a Web of Cloth, and wholly sustains the Contexture of it. Without Love all that is Excellent, all that is Divine in the Law would fall to the Ground, as all the Riches and Gallantry of the Veil of the Temple, all the Purple and Scarlet would have lain grovelling on the Earth, without the Tacks or Hooks on which they hung.

3. The Law, i. e. all the Vertue, Goodness, and Righteousness it commands, all the Worth and Value of its Duties depend upon Love, as the Value of Coin depends upon the Price the Stamp sets upon it: or as a thing that is Accessory depends on its Prin∣ciple, take away the Principle and the Accessory is nothing: so take away Love, and all the Command∣ments are insignificant and nothing. And this Saint Paul shews, 1 Cor. 13. That even the most Specious, and seemingly Heroick Performances of Christianity it self (as a man's giving his Goods to feed the Poor, and his Body to be burned, &c.) if they be not accom∣panied with Charity (or Love) are all nothing: the Dignity of these Works depending so absolutely upon this Grace, that in God's Esteem to suffer Injury on∣ly out of Love to our Fellow-Christian, is more than to suffer Martyrdom; not to envy, not to be puft up, not to despise our Brother, is more in his Eyes than to speak with Tongues, than to prophesie, than to understand all Mysteries. And indeed there is more true Religion in this one Benign Good Na∣tur'd Vertue, than in the Ostentation and outward Grandeur of all the other. But the Excellence of Love, and that 'tis worthy of the Honour ascribed

to it, to sustain all the Law and the Prophets, is the next thing I am to shew.

The Excellence of Love, &c.

This I shall make appear by four Reasons, 1. For the Natural, Universal pleasing Effect Love has upon All, and even upon God himself, as well as men and other Creatures: insomuch as God for his part re∣quires almost nothing else from us, Now, O Israel! what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God—and to love him with all thy heart, and with all thy soul? Deut. 10.12. To be belov'd is so grateful a thing, that men receive delight even in the Affection of Brute Creatures: and we see, that such as are not qualify'd to deserve any true Love, are taken with the Similitude only of it, the gross Flatteries of them that counterfeit it. Sinners, as our Lord tells us, love those that love them: and S^t Paul, 1 Thess. 2.15. brands the Jews for their want of Love, as with a Crime of so high Nature, as de∣served to be reckoned with their murdering the Pro∣phets, and of Christ himself, says he, Who have kill'd the Lord Jesus, and their own Prophets, and persecuted us, and are Contrary to all men.

2. Because Love easily forgives Injuries, hardly perceives any, can never possibly wrong the Party Beloved; and the Object, or Party Belov'd, of Di∣vine Love is all Mankind: So that there needs no Ad∣monitions here to suppress Malice or Uncharitable In∣clinations, for the first Motions of them never arise in the heart to be suppress'd.

3. Because Love of all other Vertues of the Soul goes forth of a Mans self, and places its Content in the Good it does to another: that so hard a Duty to

Flesh and Bloud which the Apostle commands, 1 Cor. 10.12. Let no man seek his own, but every man an Others Wealth, is its Choice and Delight. No Vertue therefore qualifies us equal to this to perform the Works of Piety, Justice, and Charity.

4. Because of the wonderful Activity of Love in the Soul, and enflaming it more than any other Ver∣tue to Great Actions: for indeed whatsoever is Vi∣gorously performed is the Effect of Love. This Grace is like a Fire in the Heart, and makes it restless in what it conceives will be acceptable to the Person beloved; it renders it also undaunted in the greatest Difficulties and Dangers, and for this reason 'tis Faiths chiefest Instrument to conquer the World and the Temptations of it, This is the Victory that over∣cometh the World, says S^t John, even your Faith: but then 'tis that Faith, which, as S^t Paul speaks, worketh by Love. 'Tis a strange word in the Original which the Apostle uses in that place for [working by Love] 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, which imports as much as being possess'd with Love, as a Demoniack is possess'd with an Evil Spirit, which kind of Persons are ordinarily indued with an Unusual Strength, to do things which na∣turally they could not do: as the Demoniack that met our Lord out of the Tombs, whom no Chains of Iron could hold, but he brake them asunder. Those that are acted by Love, are transported after the like manner to perform things above their own and other mens Measures: As the Spouse speaks in the Canticles, Love is strong as Death, i. e. conquers all things, and nothing can stand against it. 2 Cor. 5.13. S^t Paul says again, That for the Love of God, and the cause of the Gospel, and the sake of the Brethren, he had done some things that in the Eye of the World ap∣peared Wild and Extravagant, But whether we be

Beside our Selves, says he, it is to God, or whether we be sober, 'tis for your Cause, for the love of Christ Con∣straineth us: For the Influence therefore Love has up∣on all other Good Works, as well as for its own Good Nature, it is that God so highly Esteems it: and 'tis no wonder that 'tis the Favourite of his Graces, when, as S^t John says, God himself is Love: and though he be no more Love essentially, than he is Wisdom, Justice, Power, or any of his other At∣tributes: yet because he exerts and diffuses his Love more among men, and is revealed and made known more by it, than by another Attribute, it is spoken of as his Sole Being. And now after so many Excellent things have been said of this Divine Grace, namely, That 'tis the Summ of the Commandments, the Soul of all Vertue, the Favourite of God, and in a Sense God himself, certainly it will be worth our best En∣deavours to acquire it: and how we may do this is the last thing I am to shew.

How we may acquire or attain Divine Love.

That we may take the right course to attain this Vertue, we must look upon it, as upon all other Vertues, partly as a Grace of God's bestowing, and partly as that which is to be acquired by our own Labour; for there is something of Gift, and some∣thing of Industry in it. First, We must look upon it as a Grace of God's Donation: For what our Lord says of Faith, That all men have it not; and S^t Paul, That no man has it of himself, but it is the Gift of God, may likewise be said of the Love of God, and of our Neighbour, We have them not of our Selves, but they are Heavenly Gifts, born of a Divine Seed, and we must not conceive, that by our own mere

Natural Power and humane Will we can acquire them to the Soul, and that we have no more to do, but to resolve to obtain them, and the Possession will follow: But we must seek them by devout Ad∣dresses from God, and expect them from his Bounty, they being, as I say, Graces, as well as the Fruits of our Labour. As our Church therefore sets before the Epistle of Charity a Collect or Prayer to God for it, [Send, O Lord, into our Hearts the most Excellent Gift of Charity, without which all our doings are nothing worth, &c.] we must also supplicate for this Grace, before we can hope to attain it.

But then, Secondly, 'tis also an Acquisition of La∣bour, and to be arriv'd to, as other Vertues or Ha∣bits, by Industry. There are that have written of the Art of Vnchaste Love, and all the Mysteries of it, taught men how to accomplish their Wicked Ends, which it would have been happier for them if they had been ignorant of. And the Art of Godly Love may be also taught, Rules and Precepts given to make men Masters of it: And the Way in general to raise our Affections to the Love of God, is to take the same course which we do when we betray our selves into a humane Passion, reflect on what is Ex∣cellent and Amiable in God, meditate on his Unpa∣rallell'd and Glorious Perfections, which are suffici∣ent to ravish us from the Desire of all Earthly things. The reason that the Love of many waxes cold, and their Affection to God, as I may say, is without Af∣fection, without heat and ardour, is because they un∣derstand not the Beauties of his Essence, and the Glo∣rious Operations of his Power, Wisdom, and Good∣ness. Men profess to be Worshippers of God, to be brought up and skill'd in the Knowledge of him, and

his Religion, but generally they are Strangers to him and his ways; and what the Psalmist says of the Un∣godly, That they care not for God, neither is God in all their thoughts, I fear, without Injustice, may be affirmed of most men, That they care not for God, neither is he in all their thoughts: and then what won∣der is it, si ignoti nulla cupido? if men have no long∣ing after a Good that they are ignorant of, or at least never weigh and consider? The Spouse in the Canti∣cles numbers up and runs over in her Thoughts the manifold Graces that are in Christ, which made him so amiable in her own and others Eyes, before she sigh'd out her Love for him. My Beloved, says she, is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand: again, Because of the Savour of thy Ointments, there∣fore do the Virgins love thee. There must be some Fewel for the Flame of Divine Love, as well as for that of Carnal; and if men excite not their Love to God by the Contemplation of his Sublime Perfecti∣ons and Goodness, their Love will be no better than the dead Carcase of a Passion, than the cold Picture of a Flame.

And if any say, A high and abstracted Contem∣plation of the Nature, Properties, and Attributes of the Deity, is only fit for Philosophers, who have Learning and Subtilty to penetrate into them; but they come not within the comprehension of Com∣mon Men, though otherwise Godly: I answer, Nei∣ther need they be solicitous in this matter, there are other Motives to stir men up to the Love of God, no less Excellent, and subjected to the meanest Capaci∣ty, viz. those which are taken from his Love to us first, his manifold and never-to-be-enough-acknow∣ledged Benefits both Spiritual and Temporal, especi∣ally

Spiritual, which he has bestowed upon us through Christ Jesus the Son of his Love, as the Remission of our Sins, the Gift of Grace, the Ado∣ption of us to be his Children, the Promise of the Kingdom of Heaven, &c. For when all is done, there is no greater Procurer of Love or Motive to it, than to be prevented with the Acts of Love. Says David, Praise the Lord, O my Soul, and all that is within me praise his holy Name: who forgiveth all thy Sin, and healeth all thy Infirmities; who saveth thy Life from Destruction, and crowneth thee with Mer∣cy and Loving-kindness. If men would weigh and consider the accursed and dreadful Condition into which the Guilt of Sin had brought them, that the Wages of it is Eternal Damnation, they would also be sensible how inestimable a Benefit the Remission of Sin, and the Gifts of Grace, and Glory are: And as there can be no greater Motive to winde up mens Af∣fections to God to the highest Pitch, than this Ex∣ceeding great Love of God to them, so there will need no other. Instead therefore of heaping up many Motives, I shall leave this one to your Medita∣tions, and proceed to shew what Inducements we have

To Love our Neighbour. And now the whole Hour would not suffice me to give a particular ac∣count of them, some drawn from Mankinds being all at first of one Stock and Kindred; others again, from the Renewing this Relation between them, by their being made Brethren through Grace in Christ, and the adopted Children of one Father in Heaven; from mens needing one anothers mutual help, even the Greatest and Happiest as well as the Poorest and Meanest; and the like. But all these Inducements,

however weighty, I shall wave at present, not ha∣ving time to insist on them, and restrain my self to the one Motive express'd in my Text, Because the Love of our Neighbour is one of the two Hooks or Hinges on which all the Law and the Prophets hang, has the Ho∣nour to support at least one of the Tables of the Commandments, one half of the Conditions God re∣quires of men to make them Partakers of his Promi∣ses, of the Blessings of this Life, and of the Glory of that to come. And though I said it has the Honour or Dignity to support but One of the two Tables; yet there is that inseparable Connexion between the two Tables, that he that breaks the one, inevitably breaks the other, Whosoever, says S^t James, shall keep the whole Law, and yet offend in one Point, he is guilty of all. 'Tis not possible to offend against the Law, and not against the Law-giver; 'tis not pos∣sible to transgress against the Second Table, and not to violate the First; to hate our Brother, and to love God. And the School-men on this account make but one Theological Vertue, of our Love to God, and our Love to our Neighbour: and S^t John rec∣kons Uncharitable men among Unbelievers, the Ha∣ter of his Brother, and an Infidel to be the same; says he, If a man says, I love God, and hate his Brother, he is a Lyar—and again, he is in darkness, i. e. with∣out Faith or the Knowledge of God. Our Lord also, Matth. 25. pronounces, That whatsoever Love is shew'd to his Brethren, is shew'd to him; Inas∣much, says he, as you have done it unto one of the least of these my Brethren, ye have done it unto me: and a∣gain, what is denied to them, is denied to him, Inas∣much as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me. The true Love of God car∣ries

with it, as a necessary Consequence, the Love of our Brother; and 'tis but a cheap Piece of Hypocrisie, and a niggardly Lye, to pretend to love God, who is above any Material Expressions of our Love, and to harden our hearts to our Brethren, who stand in need of such things, and whom God has appointed and deputed to be the Receivers of such Tribute in his behalf. And thus as all the Law and the Prophets hang on these two Command∣ments, The Love of God, And the Love of our Neighbour: So these two again depend on one an∣other.

The Summ of all that has been said is this: Love is the End of the Commandment, all the Numerous Precepts contain'd in the Law, point only at this One grand Duty, and are but particular Instances and Exemplifications of it. Many things in the Law consist more in a Shew of Goodness, than of true Goodness; and are rather the Way to Righteousness, than Righteousness it self; all the Typical Ceremo∣nial Ordinances were but ad populum phalerae, as 'tis said, Pomps and Ornaments either to amuse the rude People, or to be Helps to their weak Understanding to bring them to the Knowledge of better things; while therefore they observed these, they learned to be Religious; but when they lov'd God and their Neighbour, they were Religious. Etiam stante Hie∣rosolyma, Jerusalem even standing, and the Law of the Sabbath being in force, the Strict Rest of it yielded to the Works of it; and our Lord tells us, Matth. 12. None broke and prophan'd the Sabbath more than the Priests toiling in killing and sleying the Beasts for Sacrifice, and were yet blameless: And upon another occasion of breaking the Sabbath,

says he, I will have Mercy, and not Sacrifice, i. e. when both cannot be performed, he prefers the Works of Mercy or Charity to a Brother, before the Outward Duties to God himself: And the learned among the Jews perceived, that even while they did perform the Outward Works enjoined them by the Law, that they were not principally intended in the Law: nay, that in respect of the Works of Love, that they were cancell'd, even when they stood most in force: that which is said of our Lord's particular Obedience, Psal. 40. Burnt-Offerings and Sacrifices thou wouldest not, but a Body hast thou prepared me—then said I, Lo, I come to do thy Will, O God! may be said in like manner of the Obedience that is required of all Men, that there is a [no∣luisti] thou wouldst not have, implyed in all Com∣mands concerning them, when they clash or come in competition with these two Great Com∣mandments, The Love of God, And the Love of our Neighbour. We see what is become of the Purifications, Vows, Sabbaths, Sacrifices, Feasts, New-Moons, &c. they are all, since the bringing in of a better Covenant, de facto done away: all that Forest of Laws was cut down by this Novum Mandatum, this New Commandment of our Lord's, Behold, a New Commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another. And not only Shadows and Figures gave way to this Divine Law, but many real and Substantial Vertues vail to this Eternal and never-to-be-out-dated Vertue of Love or Cha∣rity: Whether there be Prophecies, they shall cease; whether there be Knowledge, it shall vanish away: Nay, when Faith and Hope are no more, Charity abideth for ever. The Noblest Vertues, I may say,

are without Vertue, the most heroick Acts of Religion are without Religion, if performed with∣out Love or Charity: for where this Grace is want∣ing, they are but Acts of Ostentation, Hypocrisie, or Compliance with mens own humours. That which is therefore the chief Scope of the Law, ought to be the chief Scope of our Lives; and what we see to be the main Drift of God's Precepts, ought to be likewise the main Aim of our A∣ctions.