A Practical Commentary on the Epistle of Jude

If we should see a wise man careful to preserve the relics of what we counted a neglected weed, it would make us think there were somewhat in it. We lavish away our love upon trifles, and God prizeth every grain of it: you see he speaketh as if he would not lose one dust of love; all thy soul, all thy heart, and all thy might. When he biddeth us love our neighbour, he sets limits to it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self; but when he biddeth us love God, he requireth all the heart: The only measure is to love him without measure. The next place that I shall take notice of, where the Precept is ⟨p. 100⟩recorded, is Deut. 10. 12. And now Israel, what doth the Lord require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, and to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord with all thy heart, and with all thy soul? God doth not require of us things without the sphere of duty; that we should go into the depths of the Sea, toss mountains in the air, pluck the stars from Heaven, &c. these things lie out of the power of man: He doth not require of us barbarous austerities▪ to offer our first-born, to lance our selves, to mangle our flesh with whips and scourges: He doth not require of us absolutely such things which some men can and ought to perform; not such a measure of alms, what then would become of the poor? not such a degree of wisdom and learning, what then would become of the simple and unlearned? But O Israel, what hath the Lord required of thee, but that thou shouldst love the Lord thy God? A duty to be performed by poor and rich, learned and unlearned; what ever their estate and condition be, they may all love God: There are many in Heaven that never were in a condition to give, but to receive, that were never learned, and skilled in sciences, but none that never loved God.

If we should see a wise man careful to preserve the reliques of what we counted a neglected weed, it would make us think there were somewhat in it. We lavish away our love upon trifles, and God prizeth every grain of it: you see he speaketh as if he would not lose one dust of love; all thy soul, all thy heart, and all thy might. When he biddeth us love our neighbor, he sets limits to it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy self; but when he biddeth us love God, he requireth all the heart: The only measure is to love him without measure. The next place that I shall take notice of, where the Precept is