[13.] Thirteenthly, No man can truly love grace in another, but he that Jios true grace in his own soul, 1 John iii. 10. No man can love a saint as a saint but he that is a real saint. No man can love holiness in another but he that has holiness in his own soul. No man can love a good man for goodness' sake but he that is really good. ' We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren/ 1 John iii. 14.^ Sincere love to the brethren is a most evident sign of a Christian's being already passed or translated from death to life, that is, from a state of nature into a state of grace. Such a poor soul that dares not say that he has grace in his own heart, yet dares say before the Lord that he loves, delights, and takes pleasure to see the holy graces of the Spirit sparkling and shining in the hearts, lives, and lips 1 Qu. ' road'?— Ed. * This tcit you huve ypened in the first maxim of this book.
Chap. II] a cabinet of jewels. 373
of other saints, secretly wishing in himself that his soul were but in their case ; and that dares say before the Lord that there are no men in all the world that are so precious, so lovely, so comely, so excellent, and so honourable in his account, in his eye, as those that have the image of God, of Christ, of grace, of holiness, most clearly, most fairly, and most fully stamped upon them. When a poor Christian can re- joice in every light, in every sun that outshines his own ; when he sees wisdom and knowledge shining in one saint, and faith and love shining in another saint, and humility and lowliness shining in another saint, and meekness and uprightness shining in another saint, and zeal and courage shining in another saint, and patience and constancy shining in another, and then can make his retreat to his closet, admiring and blessing of the Lord for the various graces of his Spirit shining in his children, and be frequent and earnest with God, that those very graces might shine as so many suns in his soul ; doubtless such a poor soul has true grace, and is happy, and will be happy to all eternity.^ In Ter- tullian's time, the heathen would point out the Christians by this mark, ' See how they love one another.' Now, to prevent mistakes, I shall shew you the several properties of sincere love to the saints.
(1.) First, True love to the saints is spintual ; it is a love for the image of God that is stamped upon the soul. 1 John v. 1, ' Every one that loveth him that begat, loveth him also that is begotten of him;' 1 John iv. 7. A soul that truly loves, loves the father for his own sake, and the children for the father's sake. If the image of God be the load- stone that draws out our love to the saints, then our love is real to them. He that does not love the saints as saints, he that does not love them under a spiritual notion, he hath no true affection to them. Naturally we hate God, because he is a holy God ; and his law, because it is an holy law ; and his people, because they are a holy people, Gen. iii. 15 ; 1 John iii. 12. It is only the Spirit of God that can enable a man to love a saint for the image of God that is in him. Many there are which love Christians for their goods, not for their good ; they love them for the money that is in their purses, but not for the grace that is in their hearts. Many, like the Bohemian cur, fawn upon a good suit.^ Love to the saints, for the image of God stamped upon them, is a flower that does not grow in nature's garden. No man can love grace in another man's heart, but he that hath grace in his own. Men do not more naturally love their parents, and love their children, and love themselves, than they do naturally hate the image of God upon his people and ways, Prov. xxix. 10 ; Ezek. xxv. 15. I have read of one who was so lusty and quarrelsome, that he was ready to fight with his own image so often as he saw it in a glass. Oh how many are there in these days, that are still a-quarrelling and fighting with the image of God wherever they see it ! True love is for "what of the divine nature, for what of Christ and grace shines in a man. It is one thing to love a godly man, and another thing to love him for godliness. Many love godly men as they are politicians, or potent, or learned, or of a sweet nature, or affable, or related, or as they have been kind to them ; but all this is but natural love ; but to love them because they are spiritually lovely, because of the seed of God
' Ps. XV. 1. 4, xvi. 3. He that loves hh brother, saith Augustine, better knows his love wherewith he loves than his brother whom he loves. * Dress. — G.
374 A CABINET OF JEWELS. [CHAP. II.
in them, because they are all glorious within, is to love them as becometh saints ; it is to love them at a higher and nobler rate than any hypo- crite in the world can reach to, John iii. 9, Ps. xlv. 13. The wasps fly about the tradesman's shop, not out of love to him, but the honey and fruit that is there. But,