I confess that Christ doth not love all men with the greatest degree of love, neither doth God bestow all blessings on them: wherefore we must examine these places from whence these Inferences are made. As for the first place, greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends, it doth import one of these two things; either it doth import, that he that dieth for his friends hath the greatest degree or height of internal love towards them, or else it imports, that a mans death for his friends is the greatest external effect and proof of his love: the first cannot be the meaning of the place; for if it be the greatest and most intense degree ⟨p. 317⟩of love to die for our friends, what is it to die for our enemies as Christ did? If it be the height and top of love to lay down our lives, how can that be done without any love at all as the Apostle supposeth, 1 Cor. 13. 3? The Apostle commands us to lay down our lives for the brethren, 1 Joh. 3. 16. but when a man doth it, he is not to have the same degree of love towards all the Brethren; for he is to love those most in whom there is most of God, and to whom he is nearest in Nature. Jesus Christ laid down his life for all the Elect, yet without doubt his love was greater to his Apostles than to ordinary Christians; nay, and among the Apostles, there was one dearly beloved, one who lay in his bosom, Joh. 13. 23. Wherefore the meaning of the words is not, that he that dieth for his friends hath the greatest degree or height of internal love towards them, but that such a death is the greatest effect and proof of his love. Christ in the 12. Verse exhorted his Disciples to love one another, and in this 13. Verse he shows what is the greatest outward evidence of love, viz. to die for our friends. Now albeit Christ died for all men, and that Death was a great and high proof of ⟨p. 318⟩his Love, nothing hinders but that Christ, over and besides his common Philanthropy to all, may bear a special affection to the Elect; the Universality of his Death infers not a Parity in his Love. If Jacob had died for all his Sons, yet he might have loved Joseph and Benjamin above the rest, and left them some special Legacies: If Christ died for all men, yet he may and doth love his Elect above others, and leave some secret Love-tokens upon their hearts.
I confess that Christ doth not love all men with the greatest degree of love, neither doth God bestow all blessings on them: wherefore we must examine these places from whence these Inferences are made. As for the first place, greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends, it doth import one of these two things; either it doth import, that he that dieth for his friends hath the greatest degree or height of internal love towards them, or else it imports, that a mans death for his friends is the greatest external effect and proof of his love: the first cannot be the meaning of the place; for if it be the greatest and most intense degree ⟨p. 317⟩of love to die for our friends, what is it to die for our enemies as Christ did? If it be the height and top of love to lay down our lives, how can that be done without any love at all as the Apostle supposeth, 1 Cor. 13. 3? The Apostle commands us to lay down our lives for the brethren, 1 Joh. 3. 16. but when a man doth it, he is not to have the same degree of love towards all the Brethren; for he is to love those most in whom there is most of God, and to whom he is nearest in Nature. Jesus Christ laid down his life for all the Elect, yet without doubt his love was greater to his Apostles than to ordinary Christians; nay, and among the Apostles, there was one dearly beloved, one who lay in his bosom, Joh. 13. 23. Wherefore the meaning of the words is not, that he that dieth for his friends hath the greatest degree or height of internal love towards them, but that such a death is the greatest effect and proof of his love. Christ in the 12. Verse exhorted his Disciples to love one another, and in this 13. Verse he shews what is the greatest outward evidence of love, viz. to die for our friends. Now albeit Christ died for all men, and that Death was a great and high proof of ⟨p. 318⟩his Love, nothing hinders but that Christ, over and besides his common Philanthropy to all, may bear a special affection to the Elect; the Universality of his Death infers not a Parity in his Love. If Jacob had died for all his Sons, yet he might have loved Joseph and Benjamin above the rest, and left them some special Legacies: If Christ died for all men, yet he may and doth love his Elect above others, and leave some secret Love-tokens upon their hearts.
