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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A56702 A sermon preach'd before the Queen at Whitehall, March 1, 1688/9 by Symon Patrick ... Patrick, Simon, 1626-1707. 1689 (1689) Wing P848; ESTC R22949 15,746 40

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it as Members of it live peaceably together as the Members of the Natural Body do which are made to love and have a care one of another and keep all together without any division for that certainly tends to its dissolution But above all others the Christian Body or Society is disposed and bound hereunto by its very Constitution and by various Obligations As for its Constitution It is founded upon the Law of love and kindness and mutual care of each other By which our Saviour hath told us all his Disciples are to be known as by their very Badge and proper Character And as for their Obligation St. Paul reckons up a great number of things wherein we are united and thereby tied to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace Ephes IV. 5 6. There is one Body That 's the first and general obligation And what can be more unnatural than for the Members of the same Body to quarrel and fall out and tear one another in pieces And one spirit that 's the second the Spirit of Love and Truth which suggests the same peaceable inclinations to every one that it doth to any one and what more unchristian than to throw off the Government of this one Heavenly Guide and to live as if we were severally acted by so many Infernal Furies Even as we are called in one hope of our calling that 's the third we must all be Friends in Heaven if we ever meet there Why do we bite then and devour one another in the way thither One Lord that 's the next who redeemed us all at the same rate of his own most precious Blood And is it agreeable to this relation for the Servants of the same Master to make disturbance nay confusion in his Family Is this think you for his Service Or can it turn to our good account when he reckons with us One Faith delivered to us by his Apostles How come we to fall out about that which teaches us to agree For faith worketh by love as the Apostle speaks Gal. V. 6. One Baptism whereby we are received into Christ's Family upon the same terms and conditions We are marked with the same Cognizance as an excellent Writer of our own glosses upon it * Bp. Bramhall's Answer to S. W. p. 5● Edit 1. we use the same word we march under the same banner How come we to mistake one another for Enemies Lastly There is one God and Father of all who is above all by his most excellent Nature and through all by his Providence and Care of the whole World especially of every Member of the Church and in all by the operations of his Grace in our hearts For Christians then to contend and quarrel and fight What is it but to divide this one God to commit him against himself to disown his Government to cross his Motions to refuse to follow the conduct of his Graces which works in us and by abandoning our selves unto our own passions to throw our selves out of his Fatherly care of us and Favour towards us and to expose our selves to all the sin and all the mischief unto which the malice of the Evil Spirit can hurry us Behold here not one or two alone but seven Bands of Unity and Peace among Christians whereby they are tied to such mutual care of each others welfare that they cannot vex much less destroy one another unless they forget all these Obligations and break these Bands in sunder Nay there is not a Leaf in the whole Book of God wherein we read these things but it teaches us this blessed accord The very Body of the holy Scriptures we might easily see if we did observe from the one end of them to the other is a most lively Image and Type of this unity of the spirit in the bond of Peace which the Apostle commends unto us in this place For though the Writers of them lived in divers Ages in distant places and were of different tempers yet they all most admirably agree together having the very same relish in their writings carrying on the same design and aiming at the self same end without the least ground for suspicion that they had any private respect to themselves Let us but remember then that we have so many ties upon us and endeavour to have a feeling of them and then as the consideration that we are Members of the same civil Society moves us to be at peace one with another in the State which cannot otherways subsist but must be dissolved So the serious consideration that we are Members of the same Sacred Body of Christ linkt together by so many strong ligaments will much more move us to study the Peace of his Church which cannot be preserved but by a firm Union of those parts of which it consists and is made up To end this let it be considered that the peace of God here mentioned is a branch of Charity as appears by the foregoing words v. 14. And above all these things put on Charity which is the bond of perfectness And let the peace of God rule in your hearts c. Which tell us that peace is the natural effect and product of a lively and sincere Love in the Heart Especially of such a love as is between the Members of the same Body 1. For we naturally fear to do any harm to those we love And it is from the injuries we do one another of several sorts that abundance of quarrels and contentions arise among us 2. But suppose any hurt be done the affection we have to those whom we dearly love disposes to look upon all the faults we commit against them as great and all that they commit against us as small Which stops up the very source of quarrels which for the most part spring from those false Ideas which make all things that concern our selves look very bigg and those that concern other men seem very little 3. Nay we are so far from being disposed to hurt those we love that we cannot but perceive an inclination we have to serve and succour them the best we are able Which it is not possible for us to do unless we be at peace with them For Peace is the very gate by which we enter into their Hearts which is barred against us when men have an aversion for us and are upon terms of Enmity or opposition to us Therefore if we be bound to help we are bound to be at peace one with another And all that have any sense of Humanity cannot but confess that we are made by God to be helpful one to another which Christianity cannot but make us more sensibly acknowledge Because of the ardent love which above all things it commends to us and is no where so strong as between Members of the same Body especially of such a Body as theirs which hath Christ for its Head and the Spirit of God for its Soul and Life Which inclines them