Chap. tq. eXis expof:tion upon the Book of J o a. Verl.tq den'd, that it beares a part of t he burden with them ; it weepes with thole that weepe, and caufeth us to remember thole that are in bonds as boundavid, them, and them that flier adverfitie,ae being our [elves alto in the body,( Heb. t 3. I. 2. ) They who areofone heart, make both their [offs and their enjoyments common, they all {hare in what befalls any one. Fifthly, True love is as ready to owne the perfon of a friend, as to fympathize with his condition As hope makes us not afhamed of our owne eftate whatfoever it is fo love makes us not afhamed of the elate of another. (Pries. 17. 17. ) Afriend loves at all times ; He is not afhamed to profefle or ex- preffe his love at any time. He loves his friend in good report and ill report, ( if that ill report be not railed upon his ill de- fert) in honour and indifhonour, ( if that diíhonour rife not from his difhonefty) He is neither afharned of his friends po- verte, nor ofhis prifon, when ( not his owne finne, but) the chaftning handof God, or the unjuft hand ofman cafts him in- to either. Thus a friend loves at all times, and he that loves not at all times, is no friend at all. We Thal! quickly fee the endof their love, who love either God or man meerely for felfe-ene's but where the ends of love toGod or man are pure, that love will endure and hold out unto the end. Chrift forewarnes us ( Match. 24. 21. ) That in the latter times, becaufe iniquitie (hall abound, the love ofmany /hall wax cold : cold no doubt to God, and cold to man. The abounding of iniquitie in thofe dayes will make a fcarcitie of love. When iniquitie abounds, trou- ble waxeth hot. And as then all falle love waxeth quite cold, fo the true loveofTome both to God and man will wax colder then it was. The blafts of trouble whether among or againft the brethren, may ( poffibly ) blow up and more inkindle the love of Tome, but they will blow up and quench the love of many. Trouble is the fureft tryall of love ; and therefore Chrift tells us plainly (what Yoh found in the time of his perform!' trouble ) thatin times of great publicke trouble there (hall be but little love. Secondly, In that Tub complains of this fo much and fo often in his aril ic` ion. l,bferve; The
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