I 8 6. John T3. tk IS. 1 a. &c. Prey. 17. 17. Chriftian friend- ihip makes fuch a knot, that great Atexander cannot cut) &c. A Box of precious Ointment : Or, gold ; Co many a poor believer is rich in grace, and preci- ous, and.glorious in the eye of Chrifi, and fh.ould be fo in ours, though like Job he fits upon a dunghil ; though in the eyes of the world he may feem to glifter moll, when adorned 1 with riches, honour and outward pomp. if grace be the true reafon wby we love any perfon, then the more grace that perfon hath, the more we fhall love him. A godly man loves all that are godly, but he loves them molt, that excel muff in the power, purity and pra6tife of godlinefs, &c. But, Sixthly and lafily, True love to the Saints is conflant, 'tis permanent, a Cor. 13. 8. Love never faileth, Heb. 13.1. Let brotherly love continue. 'Tis a love like that of Chrift's, who loved his to the end. i Joh. 4. i6. He that doelleth in love divelleth in God ,and God in him. Our love to our brother mull not only lodge with us a night and away, but we 'mull dwell in brotherly love. Look, as our love mull be fincere without hypocrifie, fo it mull be conflant without deficien- cy; that love was never true that is not conflant ; true love like the pulfe, will Dill be beating, it will ilia be working and running out to the .perfon beloved ; true love will not fawn upon a Chriftian when high, and frown upon him when low ; it will not kifs him upon the throne, and kick him up- on the dunghil. The grounds and caufes of, their love are conflant, viz.. God's commands, their fpiritual relations, and the truth of grace in their foals ; and therefore their love I can't but be conflant. friend (faith. Solomon) loves at all times, and a brother is born for adverfity. Euripides hit it, when he faid, That a faithful friend in adverfity, is better than a calm Sea to a weather-beaten Mariner. He that truly loves will love in adverfity as well as in profperity, in fiorms as well as in calms, in winter nights as well as in Summer dayes; he that sincerely loves the Saints, he will love them as well' when men frown upon them, as when they fmile upon thm ; as well when men firike them, as when they flroke them ; as well when men call them down, as when they lift them up ; as, vv ell when men cry, Crucifie them, crucifie them, as when ',thew cry 4of;ipnal Hofanna, to them. Confalvms (a Spnith Bi- fhopi
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