A practicall commentary, or an exposition with observations, reasons, and vses upon the first Epistle generall of John by ... John Cotton ...

Doct. THat such as love one another, they have seen, and do beare wit∣nesse of the Father sending his Son to be a Saviour of the world, John 13.4.5.

Reas. This word sight is more then believing, for the Apostle put; a diffe∣rence between them, 2 Cor. 4.3. We believe that Christ sits at the right hand of God, but we have not seen it; when he saith, They have seen, he would have you know that they have had experimental knowledge; all sight is an act of sense, and riseth from some ground of reason, reason is from sen∣sible feeling, which every loving soule hath found, that God hath sent his Son to be a Saviour of the world; a Christian knows that except his heart be warmed with the love of God, he cannot love his brethren: The woman in the Gospel, of whom Christ asked a little water; when she saw that Christ was the Messiah, and had convinced her of her sins, John 4. she left her water pots, vers. 20. and ran into the City, and saith to the men, Come see a man that hath told me all that ever I did, is not this the Christ? Vers. 29. and vers. 39, 40. When the Samaritans were warmed with his words, they besought him to stay amongst them, and many of them believed in him; so that so much sight of Christ, so much love.

Reas. 2. From the knowledg that such have of Gods love unto themselves, the Lord hath sent his Son to save the world, the Lord hath sent his Son into the world to save us from his own wrath, and shall we bear wrath and malice towards those that are his? a Christian will be ashamed that his heart should be wrathful and malicious, he will be reconciled to his hrethren; when a Christi∣an walks in love, he hath seen the Saviour of the world, and hath known him, for that makes him love them, because God sent his Son to save them. They bear witnesse.

If a man refuse the love of his brethren, he denies, that God sent his Sonne to be a Saviour of his brethren from his wrath. God sent his Sonne to save us from hell, death, and the grave, and from all evill we may meet with. God hath promised to with hold no good thing from them that feare him; but if death and sicknesse be good, we shall have them, Psal. 84.11. Now if we with-hold any good from our brethren, we bear witnesse that Christ came not into the world to save them.

Ʋse 1. This should teach us to lay down all wrath and hatred, and to be discouraged from harbouring any such distempers in our souls, for else you proclaim before God, Angels, and men, that God did did not send his Son to be a Saviour; for shall Christ come to save his people from the wrath of God, and from the Devil, and shall he not free his people from my wrath? Either make Christ a whole Saviour, else make him no Saviour at all. If Christ save from any evill, he will save from all. Agrippa was a Christian in part, but Christ was not a Saviour in part.

2 To exhort every soule to be loving to their brethren; the more you a∣bound in love to your brethren, the more you testifie that God sent his Sonne into the world to be a Saviour, and the more love will God expresse to your soules.

3 Of consolation to such as love all men, but especially to such as are of the houshold of Faith, such a man hath seen that God hath sent his Son to be a Sa∣viour of the world; As Gods will is they shou d be saved, so for his part, his will is they should be saved, such a man may be perswaded that God hath for∣given him his sins.