VeR. 14.] SERMONS UPON 1 JOHN III. 113
SEKMON XX.
We know that loe have passed from death unto Ufe^ because loe love the brethren : he that loveth not his brother abideth in death. — 1 John iii. 14.
For the connection of this verse with the former, this may be given as a reason why we should not be troubled with the wlhrld's hatred, because, as that opposite world to Christ and his kingdom are known by their hatred, and, however divided in interests, yet are united by their enmity to God's people, so are we known and distinguished by our love. Our love to those whom they hate may expose us to great sufferings, and therefore they judge us miserable ; but if by our love, though it be to the loss of life itself for owning them, and the cause for which they suffer, we may come to clear up our right to eternal happiness, we have no reason to be discouraged. In short, if the world will be known by their hatred to the brethren, let us resolve to be known by our love to them, whatever indignities and scorns we suffer for their sakes : ' We know we have passed from death to life,' &c.
In the text there is a comparison of opposites — (1.) The happiness of those that love the brethren ; (2.) The misery of those that love them not.
1. In the former clause there is — (1.) The privilege ; (2.) The quali- fication ; (3.) The conclusion thence inferred.
[1.] The privilege is a translation ' from death to life ; ' that is, from a state of spiritual and eternal death into a state of grace, peace, and liappiness ; for it is explained, ver. 15, so as to have eternal life abiding in us. By our unfeigned love to the brethren we know that we are re- generate christians, and have all the privileges which belong to such ; for we have passed from the death of sin to a life of grace, from wrath and condemnation to a life of glory. The terminus a quo, from which we turn, is death ; the terminus ad quern, to which we turn, is life. The motion between both, ' we have passed,' or we are already in a state of life.
[2.] The qualification, sign, and token of it, ' love to the brethren ; ' it is not mentioned as the cause of the thing, but as the mark whereby we know it.
[3.] The certainty of the connection or conclusion drawn from thence, ' we know.' He doth not say we think, or hope well, but we know ; it is not a conjectural, but a certain knowledge.
2. The misery of those that have not this qualification. Where — [1.] The expression of their defect is to be noted, ' He that loveth
not ; ' not he that hateth, though he be not apparently one of the opposite world : ' Marvel not if the world hateth you ; ' but ' He that loveth not.' It is not enough if a man be not found among the per- secuting world, and keeps himself from hatred and malice, if he doth not own the people of God when persecuted by others, when scorned and persecuted by others.
[2.] His danger, ' He abideth in death ; ' that is, remaineth in a car- nal state, and so obnoxious to eternal death and damnation ; he is not
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114 SERMONS UPON 1 JOHN III. [SeR. XX.
regenerate, and shall die in his sins. As it is said in the case of believing, so it is true in the case of loving : John viii. 24, ' He that believeth not that I am he, shall die in his sins.' To go to the grave before we get rid of sin, to die impenitent and unreconciled to God, is the greatest misery that can befall us.
Doct. That a sure note of our passing from death to life is our love to the brethren.
I shall — (1.) Open what it is to pass from death to life ; (2.) What love of the brethren is here understood ; (3.) Consider it as a sure note and evidence.
First, What it is to pass from death to life. This I shall show in several propositions.
1. Man before the fall did enjoy a spiritual life and communion with God, being his creature, and fitted for commerce with him ; but upon his defection lost it. The common notion that we have of death is a privation of life : we once had life by virtue of our conjunction with God, but we lost it by our defection from him. The natural life con- sists in a conjunction of the soul with the body, and the natural death is a separation of the soul from the body ; the spiritual life consists in the union of the soul with God, and the spiritual death is a separation and estrangement from him : Eph. iv. 18, ' Alienated from the life of God.' So that man by nature is wholly destitute of tlie life of God. We did once partake of the life of God, but have now lost it. It was threatened. Gen. ii. 17, ' In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die ; ' and executed, Rom. v. 12, ' Whereas by one man sin en- tered into the world, and death by sin, so that death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.' Spiritual death is one thing there included.