{2dli/.) If we love him not so much as we ought to do, or not so much as we love some other thing ; for a lesser love is hatred in the sacred dialect, as we see in the law of the hated wife, not that the one was not loved at all or absolutely hated, but not loved so much as the others-, Deut. xxi. 15, 16 ; so in that proverb, Prov. xiv. 20, ' The poor is hated even of his own neighbour, but the rich hath many friends.' There hatred is taken for slighting, or a less degree of love; so in this case between us and God, Mat. x. 37, ' He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me ; ' in Luke it is said, Luke xiv. 26, ' If any man hate not father and mother, and brother and sisters, he cannot be my disciple.' Here to love less is to hate ; so Mat. vi. 24, ' No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one, and love the other, or he will hold to the one, and despise the other ; ye cannot serve God and mammon.' God is of that excellent nature, that to esteem anything above him or equal with him is to hate him. Now because men love the world, and the things of the world as well, yea more than God, they hate him, and are enemies to him. Now all car- nal men are guilty of this, 2 Tim. iii. 4, ' Lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God,' (^tXrjhovat ixaXkov tj j>Ck66eoi\ and therefore it is positively said, James iv. 4, ' That the friendship of the world is enmity with God ; and whosoever is a friend of the world is an enemy to God.' Oh ! that men would look upon things as the scripture expresseth them ; that the love of the world is the highest contempt and affront
298 SERMONS UPON 2 CORINTHIANS V. [SeR. XXXIX.
which can be offered to God. In comparison of our love to him, all the pleasures and contentments of the world should be hated, rather than loved. So far as we set our hearts upon tliese things, so far the)' are deadened and estranged from God, and God is easily parted with for the world's sake. If a father should come to a child and say, If yon love such a young man or woman, you cannot love me, and I shall take you for my utter enemy, .would not any ingenuous child, rather than be an enemy to his father, part with his vain and enticing company ?
(Sdli/.) By interpretation still we are said to hate God and to be enemies to him, if we rebel against his laws, and love what God hateth : so, ' The carnal mind is said to be enmity to God, because it is not sub- ject to the law of God/ Eom. viii. 7. Love is determined by obedience, 1 John V. 3, and hatred by disobedience : ' That hate me, and keep not my commandments.' We apprehend God standeth in the way of our desires, because we cannot enjoy our lusts with that freedom and security, as we might otherwise, were it not for his law ; we hate God, because he commaudeth that which we cannot and will not do ; there- fore an impenitent person and an enemy to God are equivalent expressions.
(4.) There is a twofold hatred: Odium ahominationis and odium inimicitice, the hatred of abomination and the hatred of enmity ; the one is opposite to the love of goodwill, the other to the love of com- placency : Prov. xxix. 27, ' The wicked is an abomination to the righteous.' He hateth not his neighbour with the hatred of enmity, so as to seek his destruction, but with the hatred of offence, so as not to delight in him as wicked. In opposition to the love of complacency, we may hate our sinful neighbour, as we must ourselves much more ; but in opposition to the love of benevolence, we must neither hate our neighbour, nor our enemy, nor ourselves. Apply this now to the case between God and us : it will be hard to excuse any carnal men from either hatred, certainly not from the hatred of offence or abomination, there being such an unsuitableness and dissimilitude between God and them. In pure nature we were created after his image, and then we delighted in him, but when we lost our first nature, we lost our first love, for love is grounded upon likeness : (^IXov KoXovfxev ofiolov ofxoLoy Kar' apeTTjv ; we love those that have like affections, esjiecially in a good thing. Now there being such a dissimilitude between God and us, we love what he hateth, and hate what he loveth ; therefore how can there choose but be hatred between us ? How can we delight in a holy God, and a God of pure eyes delight in filthy creatures ? What can carnal man see lovely in God ? Zech. xi. 8, ' My soul loathed them, and their soul abhorred me.' And therefore from this hatred of loath- ing, offence, and abomination, none can excuse them. Till they come to hate what God hateth, and love what God loveth, there is still the hatred of offence : Prov. viii. 13, ' The fear of the Lord is to hate evil,' <fec. And for the hatred of enmity, which is an endeavour to do mis- chief, and seeketh the destruction of the thing hated, we cannot excuse the wicked from that neither, for there is a secret positive' enmity, as you have heard before.