Our whole duty is contained in these words, "Love together." Therefore
St. Paul saith, "He that loveth another fulfilleth the whole law"; so it
appeareth that all things are contained in this word love. This love is
a precious thing; our Savior saith, "By this shall all men know that ye
are my disciples, if ye shall love one another."
So Christ makes love His cognizance, His badge, His livery. Like as
every lord commonly gives a certain livery to his servants, whereby they
may be known that they pertain unto him; and so we say, yonder is this
lord's servants, because they wear his livery: so our Savior, who is the
Lord above all lords, would have His servants known by their liveries
and badge, which badge is love alone. Whosoever now is endued with love
and charity is His servant; him we may call Christ's servant; for love
is the token whereby you may know that such a servant pertaineth to
Christ; so that charity may be called the very livery of Christ. He that
hath charity is Christ's servant; he that hath not charity is the
servant of the devil. For as Christ's livery is love and charity, so the
devil's livery is hatred, malice and discord.
Pages:
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158