I o6 The Intl itution and Government Fourthly, Members had need beware, that their Love do not decay and abate towards God, nor one towards a- nother. I. Confider, Love in Church- Members may be abated: There was a Charge againfi the Church of Ephefus, that fhe had left herfirfl Love, Rev. ii. Poffibly is was her Love to God that was left, which is the Love principally here in- tended; but be it fo, if Love to God be abated, I doubt not but there will be Abatement of Love one to the other alto. Experience doth witnefs the Decay and waxing cold of Love one to another; the Want of the Effeas of Love does fometimes declare it, when there is but little bearing with and forbearing one another. 2. If there be a Decay of Love, it is much but there will be a Decay of Duty too, toward the ObjeE or ObjeEts of that decayed Love. The Lord charges the Church of Ephefus, who had left her find Love, To remember from 'whence foe had fallen, and repent, and do her frfi Works. Love is a Spring of motion to the Soul ; If the Spring be weak, the Motion will be weak : It doth in Part confill in a Propenfity to be ferviceable to the Objeál beloved : Little Love, little Service. 3. Confider, it is an Evil, as it is a negleft of Duty to God :Few Duties are oftener inculcated on Chriftians than this of Love. See that you love one another, with a pure Heart fervently. Love as Brethren. Let brotherly Love con- tinue. Walk in Love, as Chrit alto loved us. There was no Decay in Chrift's Love. Having loved his own that were in the World, he loved them to the End. His Love was great, he loved us and laid down his Life for us, and we ought to lay down our Lives for the Brethren. There are excellent Properties in Love ; It will bear and forbear, Eph. iv. 2. It fuifereth long and is kind, it envieth not, it vaunteth not it felf, is not pujèd up, feeketh not its own, is not eafly provoked, thinketh no Evil, rejoiceth not in Iniquity, but rejoiceth in the Truth ; it beareth all Things, belie veth all Things, hopeth all Things, endureîh all Things ; and betides all this, it covers a Multitude of Sins: It will readily apply a Plailler, where there is a Wound. And is it not great pity that there fhould be any Decay of Love feeing
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