be known that due may be performed unto it Now the Cause of God meant here though it be proposed as Causa una one cause yet 't is very large and comprehends many particulars under it Some directly concerne God and some onely by reflex But God is so tender of his Iustice and his Honour that nothing can so much as touch upon him but 't is Gods cause presently In as much as ye have done it or not done it to one of these little ones you have done it or not done it to mee S. Matt. 25. And so goes the Text Gods Cause all and but one whether it be directed against him or reflected upon him Whether it be the Reproach which the Sonne of God suffered for us Or the troubles and afflictions which we suffer for him 't is Gods Cause still and accounted as one As one And yet I finde three things agreed upon to be principally contain'd in this Cause of God First the Magistrate and his Power and Justice And resist either of these and ye resist the power and the ordinance of God Rom. 13. There 's Gods cause plaine And the Eye of nature could see Aliquid Divinum somewhat that was divine in the Governours and Orderers of Common-wealths In their very Office In as much as theyare singled out to be the Ministers of divine Providence upon Earth And are expresly called the Officers of Gods Kingdome Sap. 6. And therefore the Schoole concludes that any the least irreverence of a King as to dispute of his Iudgements And whether we ought to follow and obey him Sacrilegium dicitur is justly extended to be called Sacrilege And since all Sacrilege is a violation of some thing that is holy it is evident that the Office and Person of the King is sacred Sacred and therefore cannot be violated by the Hand Tongue or Heart of any Man that is by deed word or thought But 't is Gods cause and he is violated in him And here Kings may learne if they will I am sure 't is fit they should that those Men which are sacrilegious against God and his Church are for the very Neigbourhood of the sin the likeliest men to offer violence to the Honour of Princes first and their Persons after Secondly the cause of the Church in what kind soever it be Be it in the cause of truth or in the cause of unity or in in the cause of Right and meanes 't is Gods cause too And it must needes be so For Christ and his Church are Head and Body Ephes 1. And therefore they must needs have one common cause One cause And you cannot corrupt the Church in her Truth or persecute her for it nor distract her from her Vnity nor impoverish and abuse her in her Meanes but God suffers in the oppression Nay more no man can wilfully corrupt the Church in her doctrine but he would have a falfe God Nor persecute the profession of the Church but he would have no God Nor rent the Church into Sects but he would have many Gods Nor make the Church base but he would pluck GOD as lowe were God as much in his power as the Church is And therefore the Churches Cause is Gods Cause And as Eusebius tells us when by Stephen Bishop of Laodicea the state of that Church was much hazarded it and the meanes of it were mightily upheld by God himselfe And Elias Cretensis goes full upon it in the generall 'T is Gods cause any controversie that he debates against his Enemies Now this ever holds true in whatsoever the Church suffers for the name of God and Christ And therefore if either State or Church will have their cause Gods the State must looke their proceedings be just and the Church must looke their Devotions and Actions be pious Else if the State be all in worme-wood and Injustice if the Church savour of impurity and irreligion If either of these threaten either Body neither can can call upon God then For sinne is their owne and the Devills cause no cause of Gods who punishes sinne ever but never causes it Thirdly 'T is Gods cause which is directly against himselfe when Injustice that he will not or weaknesse that he cannot Arise and Helpe are most unworthily nay blasphemously cast upon him The very Text you see calls it no lesse than blasphemy And as S. Basil tells us 't was audacter effusa most audaciously cast into the face of God But how I pray How why they persecuted the Church of Christ with great extremities and then because God did not alwayes and in all particulars deliver it Deum ut infirmum traducebant they accused God of Impotencie Rabsaches case before Christ in the flesh Which of the Gods have delivered the Nations that serve them that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem 4 Reg. 18. Pilates case to Christ Have not I power to crucifie thee and power to loose thee S. Joh. 19. Julians case after Christ For while he raged against the Christians hee turn'd the contumely upon God And charg'd omnipotence with weakenesse So you see the Cause of God what it is and withall that it is many and but one Many in the circumference of his creatures which fill up the State and the Church and yet but one in the point of that indivisible Center which is himselfe Well we have found Gods cause as 't is tumbled upon the earth But what is it the Prophet would have God doe to it What Why that followes Iudica Pleade it Judge it Maintaine it Lord. For the King and the State For thy Church and Service For thy selfe and thine honours sake Thou hast made their cause thine owne therefore maintaine it as thou doest thine owne Now this God is never wanting to doe nor never will be So farre as Justice and Religion make the cause his he will Plead it first and Maintaine it after But yet he doth not this alwayes with a Judgement that is visible to us Nor with such a one as will make enemies confesse that Gods maintenance is on our part And therefore as Ruffinus thinkes these words are not onely a Prayer that God would Arise and maintaine his cause but that he would so plead it that he would make the Justice and Right of it appeare to Enemies and Opposers and the maintenance evident to friends and defenders of it So maintaine thy Cause is as much in effect as make the world know 't is thine and thou wilt maintaine it That from Gods maintenance the cause may have lafety And from our hope of maintenance we may receive Comfort Why but why should God plead judge and maintaine his owne Cause Is the Prayer of the Prophet just Yes no question For the Cause of God is ever just and therefore ought ever to be maintained Nor is it any partiality in God to his owne Cause that he comes to judge it But he is forced
mistake not upon the East and the Palace of Solomon upon the South side of the same Mountaine to shew that their servants and service must goe together too that no man might thinke himselfe the farther from God by serving the King nor the farther from the King by serving God The Kings power is Gods ordinance and the Kings command must be Gods glory and the honour of the Subject is obedience to both And therefore in the Law the same command that lay upon the people to come up illuc thither to Ierusalem the very same lay upon them to obey the Judges and the house of David illic when they came there To obey the Sanhedrim and the Judges Deut. 17. and both them and the King after the house of David was settled as in this place For then there was seated as divers of the Fathers and later divines observe both Authorities both of the Priests and of the King and his judges So the first lesson which the people doe or should learne by going up to the Temple is obedience to both spirituall and temporall Authority but especially to the house of David Well then illic there were the Seates or Thrones of judgement Of all things that are necessary for a State none runs so generally through it as justice and judgement Every part and member of a Kingdome needs it And 't is not possible Ierusalem should be long at unity in it selfe if justice and judgement doe not uphold it And 't is in vaine for any man whether he be in authority or under it to talke of Religion and Gods service to frequent the Temple if he doe not in the course of his life exercise and obey justice and judgement And this lesson Religion ever teacheth For it was the very end of Christs comming to redeeme us That we might serve him in holinesse and in righteousnesse S. Luk. 1. In holinesse toward God that 's first and then in righteousnesse and Justice towards men that 's next And they stand so that the one is made the proofe of the other Righteousnesse of Holinesse For he that doth but talke of Holinesse and doth unjustly therewhile is but an Hypocrite This for Justice the preservative of unity Now for the Seates of it They which are appointed to administer Justice and Judgemet to the people have Thrones or Chayres or Seâ—tes call them what you will the thing is the same out of which they give sentence upon Persons or Causes brought before them And they are signes of authority and power which the Iudges have And 't is not for nothing that they are called Seates For Judgement was ever given in publike sitting And there 's good reason for it For the soule and minde of man is not so settled when the Body is in motion For the Body moved moves the humours and the Humours moved move the affections and Affections moved are not the fittest to doe Justice and Judgement No Reason in a calme unmoved is fittest for that Now the Seates stand here both for the Seates themselves And so Sederunt Sedes is Active for Passive The Seates sate for The Seates are placed or for the Judges that sit in them or sederunt id est permanserunt for the perpetuity and fixing of the Seates of Justice The Seates must be in some reverence for the persons that sit in them The persons must have their Honour for the Office they perform in them And the Seates must be fixed and permanent that the people which are fallen into Controversie may know the illic and the ubi whither to come and finde Justice The words in my Text are plurall Seates of Iudgement And 't is observable For the exorbitances of men that quarrell others are such and so many that one Seat of Judgement onely was scarce ever sufficient for any State Seats they must be and they seldome want worke In the prime times of the Church Christians could not hold from going to Law one with another and that under unbeleevers 1 Cor. 6. To meet with this frailty of man God in this Common-wealth which himselfe ordered appointed not one but many Seates of judgement And therefore even the inferiour Seates howsoever as they are setled by the King and the State severally to fit the nature of the people in severall Kingdomes are of positive and Humane Institution yet as they are Seates of Judgement they have their foundation upon Divine Institution too since there is no power but of God Rom. 13. By these Seats of Justice and Judgement the Learned in all ages understand Iudiciary power and administration both Ecclesiasticall and Civill And they are right For the Sanhedrim of the Jewes their greatest Seat of Judgement under the King after they had that governement was a mixed Court of Priests and Judges Deut. 17. though other Kindomes since and upon reason enough have separated and distinguished the Seates of Ecclesiasticall and Civill Judicature Since this division of the Seats of Judgement there was a time when the Ecclesiasticall tooke too much upon them Too much indeede and lay heavy not onely upon ordinary Civill Courts but even upon the House of David and Throne of the King himselfe But God ever from the dayes of Lucifer gave pride a fall and pride of all sinnes least beseemes the Church May we not thinke that for that she fell But I pray remember 't was Fastus Romanus 't was Roman Pride that then infected this Church with many others The time is now come in this Kingdome that the Civill Courts are as much too strong for the Ecclesiasticall and may overlay them as hard if they will be so unchristian as to revenge But we hope they which sit in them will remember or at the least that the House of David will not forget That when God himselfe and he best knowes what he doth for the unity of Jerusalem erected Seates of judgement Hee was so farre from Ecclesiasticall Anarchie that he set the High-Priest very high in the Sanhedrim And Ecclesiasticall and Church Causes must have their triall and ending as well as others I know there are some that think the Church is not yet farre enough beside the Cushin that their Seates are too easie yet and too high too A Paritie they would have No Bishop No Governour but a Parochiall Consistory and that should be Lay enough too Well first this paritie was never left to the Church by Christ He left Apostles and Disciples under them No Paritie It was never in use with the Church since Christ No Church ever any where till this last age without a Bishop If it were in use it might perhaps governe some pettie City But make it common once and it can never keepe unitie in the Church of Christ And for their Seats being too high God knowes they are brought low even to contempt They were high in Jerusalem For all Divines agree that this in prime
first Enmity betweene God and Man Sinne. And therefore if we wil quit the Enmity and be made friends the onely way to reconcile us with God and our Cause with his is by Faith and Repentance to banish Sinne. The sooner this is done the sooner we are safe which cannot be till our Cause be one with Gods One and yet when 't is one the preheminence is still with Gods Cause we must not suffer ours to step on before him For our Cause as 't is spirituall and concernes our soules if it be never so good never so close joyned with God's yet God's is to have the precedence For be ours never so good I must beg of your humility to Remember that Gods Grace did both prevent and follow to make it so And therefore we are to put his cause first and to pray chiefly for the maintenance of that which gave worth to ours And for our cause as 't is temporall and concernes this life onely Our safety life and lively-hood Gods cause is to have the precedence of that much more Father and Mother Wife and Children Brethren and Sisters Life and all must be accounted as nothing to Gods Cause S. Luke 14. And it hath ever beene a signe that the soule of a man goes right That a whole People keepe upon Gods path when they seeke first the Kingdome of GOD and the righteousnesse thereof and leave God to minister and maintaine the rest S. Mat. 6. When they are more tenderly affected to the Cause of God and more sensible of the Reproach or Blasphemy of his Name than of any calamities that might or malice can bring upon their persons And yet our giving Gods Cause the precedence in our Love to it and our Prayers for it is no exclusion of our owne Cause Nay the preferring of Gods before our owne And the making of our owne conformable to Gods is the way to make God as jealous of our safety from all extremity as he is to vindicate his owne honour from Reproach and Blasphemy And therefore though the Prophet here as Theodoret observes doth not say Arise O God and maintaine Causam meam my cause but thine owne Yet the same God that will have us prefer his cause will have us pray for our owne likewise And so the Prophet did For though he be here all for Gods cause yet we have him very earnest for his owne too Plead thou my cause O Lord with them that strive with me and fight thou against them that fight against me Psal 35. And defend my cause O God against the ungodly People Psal 43. 1. Well then Thy cause O God and my Cause O God But the Rule of Practise goes here Gods cause must leade that ours may follow it under the protection of God As we have therefore now begun so let us pray on as the Prophet did That God even our Gracious Father will be no longer like unto one that sleepes That he will Arise and blow over these feares from us 'T is but his Breath and he can dry the Cloudes that they drop not Rottennesse upon our Harvest 'T is but his Breath and he can cleare the Ayre of Infection as well all over the Kingdome as he hath beyond admiration done it in our chiefe City And 't is but the same Breath and he can shake our Enemies to peeces in the Sea That God being Arisen and come neare in providence will pleade first and after maintaine his owne Cause His owne in the hand of the King His own in the heart of the Church And his owne in the Holinesse of his Name That he will give this State and Church and every Member of both such grace that our cause may be his and his Maintenance ours That he will remember and that 's enough that if his Cause be ours our Enemies are his That we may so order our lives by his Grace that if these or any Enemies will Blaspheme it may not be Him for our sinnes but Vs for his service That our Enemies and his how-wise soever in other things yet in their plots and practises against us may be written in the Text-Letters FOOLES That we being preserved from them and all other Adversity may take warning in time to mend our lives and so hereafter live to honour and serve him that the world may see he hath beene mercyfull and we labour to be Thankefull That after the maintenance of his and our Cause here we may in our severall times be received up to him in Glory Through Jesus Christ our Lord To whom with the Father c. SERM. VI. Preached on Monday the 17. of March 1628. at Westminster at the opening of the Parliament EPHES. 4. 3. Endeavouring to keepe the Vnity of the Spirit in the bond of peace THIS Chapter is a great Scripture for Unity For here we finde there is but One Lord whom we serve v. 5. But One God and Father whom we worship and obey ver 6. But One Spirit whom we receive while he sanctifies us ver 4. One Lord One God and Father One Spirit Three in One all Three but one God blessed for ever But one Baptisme by which we are cleansed But one Faith by which we beleeve ver 5. But one hope upon which we relye ver 4. But one knowledge by which we are illightned ver 13. But One Body of which we are members ver 4. Different Graces but all tending to One Edification Divers offices but all joynt-Overseers of the same worke Till the Building be One and we One in it ver 11. This Chapter is as pressing a Scripture for Exhortation And the first Exhortation is That men would walk worthy of their calling ver 1. Their calling to be Christians their calling in Christianity And that to shew themselves worthy they would endeavour to keep the Vnity of the Spirit in the bond of peace ver 3. All for Unity And let me tell you We often reade of One in the Scripture but the word Vnity in the abstract is no where read either in Old or New Testament but onely in this Chapter and here 't is twice For we are exhorted to keep it ver 3. But how long why even till we be made perfect ver 13. that is to the end of this life Why but what need was there of this Exhortation at Ephesus what why sure very great need For Saint Anselm tells us Schisma suit there was a Schisme and a rupture there And Charismata the eminent Graces which God had given many of them was made the cause of the Schisme For Corruption at the heart of man breeds pride even out of Gods graces And they which had these gifts despised them which had them not and separated from them This gave occasion to false teachers to enter in and lye in wayt to deceive ver 14. This was the state of the Church of Ephesus
his Church purchased by one bloud to be One Body made more made other than One. And for the Common-Wealth A people is as one City yet such a one saith Saint Augustine cui est periculosa dissentio as to whom all breach of Unity is full of danger For Church and State together It was a grievous Rent among the Jewes when Manasses devoured Ephraim Ephraim Manasses and both fell upon Judah Esay 9. What followed was God pleased with this or were the Tribes in safety that were thus divided No sure For it followes The wrath of the Lord was not turn'd away but his hand was stretched out still Still How long was that How long Why Till Ephraim and Manasses which could not agree at home were with the rest of the ten Tribes carried away into perpetuall captivity And Esay lived to see his Prophecy fulfilled upon them For they were carried away by Salmanasar in the sixt yeere of Hezekiah when Esay flourished This wrath of the Lord was fierce and the people dranke deepe of this Cup. Therefore I goe a farre off both for time and place to fetch this Instance And doe you take care not to bring it neerer home And I pray observe it too The hand of God was stretched out upon Ephraim and Manasses but there 's no mention which was the first or which the greater offender Ephraim or Manasses What 's the Reason 'T is because the breach of unity scarce leaves any Innocent and the hand of God is stretched out upon all I presse Vnity hard upon you pardon me this Zeale O that my thoughts could speak that to you that they doe to God or that my tongue could expresse them but such as they are Or that there were an open passage that you might see them as they pray faster than I can speak for Vnity But what then will any kinde of Vnity serve the turne Surely any will doe much good But the best is fafest and that is the Vnity of the Spirit The learned are not altogether agreed here what is meant by the Vnity of the Spirit For some thinke no more is meant by it than a bare concord and agreement in minde and will Let 's keepe this and both Church and State shall have a great deale of freedome from danger But others take the Vnity of the Spirit to be that spirituall concord which none doth none can worke in the hearts of men but the Holy Ghost And I am apter to follow this sense because if you take it for a bare agreement in judgement Saint Paul had said enough by naming Vnity He needed have made no Addition of the Spirit And because in the Text 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which for the most points out the Holy Spirit And because else Saint Pauls words which Bucer calls Ardentia verba zealous and burning words adde nothing to any even the coldest exhortation of the Heathen to Vnity The Vnity then of the Spirit to which the Apostle exhorts includes both Both concord in minde and affections and love of charitable unity which comes from the Spirit of God and returnes to it And indeede the Grace of Gods Spirit is that alone which makes men truly at peace and unity one with another Ei tribuendum non Nobis To him it is to be attributed not to us saith Saint Augustine T is he that makes men to be of one mind in an house Psal 68. Now one mind in the Church and one mind in the State come from the same fountaine with One mind in an house All from the Spirit And so the Apostle cleerely ver 4. One Body and one Spirit that is One Body by one Spirit For 't is the Spirit that joynes all the members of the Church into one Body And 't is the Church that blesses the State not simply with unity but with that unity with which it selfe is blessed of God A State not Christian may have Vnity in it Yes And so may a State that hath lost all Christianity save the Name But Vnity of the Spirit nor Church nor State can longer hold than they doe in some measure obey the Spirit and love the Vnity This Vnity of the Spirit is closer than any corporall union can be For Spirits meete where bodies cannot and neerer than Bodies can The Reason is given by Saint Chrysostome Because the Soule or Spirit of man is more simple and of one forme And the Soule apter in it selfe to Vnion is made more apt by the Spirit of God which is One and loves nothing but as it tends to One Nay as the Spirit of God is One and cannot dissent from it selfe no more ought they whom the Spirit hath joyn'd in One and the Spirit hath joyn'd the Church in One Therefore he that divides the Unity of the Church practices against the Unity of the Spirit Now this Vnity of the Spirit so called because it proceedes from the Spirit of Grace continues in Obedience to it and in the end brings us to the Spirit that gave it is the cause of all other unity that is good and the want of it the Cause of all defects in Vnity The presence of it is the Cause of all unity that is good Of all within the Church no man doubts But 't is of all without the Church too For no Heathen men or States did ever agree in any good thing whatsoever but their Vnity proceeded from this Spirit and was so far forth at least a unity of the Spirit And for States that are Christian and have mutuall relations to the Church that is in them S. Gregories Rule is true The unity of the State depends much upon the peace and unity of the Church therefore upon the guidance of the same Spirit And as the presence of the Vnity of the Spirit is the Cause of all Vnity that is good So the want of it is the cause of all defects in Vnity For as in the Body of a man the Spirit holds the members together but if the Soule depart the members fall a sunder So 't is in the Church saith Theophilact and so in the State So little unity then in Christendome as is is a great Argument that the Spirit is grieved and hath justly withdrawne much of his influence And how is the Spirit grieved How why sure by our neglect if not contempt of Him as He is One. For as he is the Spirit of fortitude Esay 11. there wee 'l have him he shall defend us in warre And as he is the Spirit of Wisdome there wee 'l have him too he shall governe us in peace But as he is One Spirit and requires that we keepe his Vnity there wee 'l none of him though we know right well that without Vnity peace cannot continue nor warre prosper One unity there is take heed of it 't is a great Enemy to the Vnity of the Spirit both in Church and Common-wealth S. Basil
goes round about it to keepe it in And where the two ends of Peace meete there Unity is fast and knit up And the knot is of the same substance with the bond Peace too And therefore where the antient reading of the Text is To keepe Unity in the bond of peace there some will have it to keepe Vnity in vinculo quod est pax In that band which is peace This bond as 't is the bond of unity so 't is well fitted to the unity it bindes For if you marke it it bindes unity and the bond is but One In vinculo pacis in the bond of peace One band And yet that which is unum is not unius that which is but One is not onely of One For it bindes many whole Churches whole Kingdomes And both bodies are ever safest when the bond is One and that One able to hold them For when this One bond of peace cannot bind close 't is a shrewd argument either that some ill humor swells and will not endure the bond or that the bond it selfe is strained and made weake And in both these cases timely helpe must be applied or the Vnity of the Body is in Danger You may see this plaine in the Naturall body The out-bond of the body is the skinne If the body be too full of humors and they foule and in Motion the body swells till the skinne breakes So t is in the Church and so t is in the State when the body is too full of humours The inner-bond of the body is the Sinew 'T is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very word which the Apostle uses The bond or the sinew of peace If the sinew be broken or over-strained there 's much paine and weakenesse in the body and the members hang as loose as if they were falling one from another And so t is in the Ecclesiasticall And no other than so in the Civill Body If there be but a straining in the bond though perhaps the sinew be not yet broken t is high time to looke to the Unity of the Body Well What Remedy then What Why sure there 's none but Vinculum Vinculi The sinew must have a swathe And that which was wont to bind the Body must be bound up it selfe And if the Cure light not into honest and good Chirurgions hands it may prove a lame Church and a weake State ever after God blesse the Body therefore and direct the Chirurgions Now as the bond of these great bodies the Church and the State may be broken so the knot which hath ever beene hard to unty may be cutte And both Church and State have ever had Cause to feare both both breaking and cutting Saint Ignatius was afraid of this in the Church by and by after the Apostles times And therefore He writes to the Church of Philadelphia In any case to to flie and shunne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the partition or cutting off this knot And indeed t is not fit for any man imployed about this bond of peace to have his Rasor about him And David was afraid of this in the State and he had cause great cause For some wilde unruly men cryed out then Let 's break their bonds in sunder and cast their cords from us Psal 2. What bonds Why All the bonds of peace and all the bonds of allegiance too For the Consultation then was saith Calvin to depose David But he that dwells in heaven laughed them to scorne ver 4. And then brake them in pieces like a Potters vessell ver 9. Now the Breakers of the bond of peace both in Church and Common-wealth are pride and disobedience For these two cry one to another That is Pride to disobedience Come let 's breake the bond And this is very observable and with reference to this bond of peace too You shall never see a disobedient man but he is proud For he would Obey if he did not thinke himselfe fitter to govern Nor shall you ever see a proud man stoope to binde up any thing But if you see him stoope take heede of him 't is doubtlesse to breake the bond of peace The Reason's plaine if hee stoope to binde up He knowes he shall be but one of the bundle which his pride cannot endure But if he stoope to loose the bond then he may be free and shew his vertue as he calls it that is hope To runne formost in the head of a Faction Fond men that can be thus bewitched with pride against themselves For when they are bound up though but as one of the Bundle yet therein under God they are strong and safe But when the Bond is broken and they perhaps as they wish in the Head headlong they runne upon their owne Ruine Thus you have seene the Apostles care for Vnity For Unity but faine would he have it of the Spirit This Unity he desires you should keep yea studdy and endeavour to keepe as the Spirit is ready to prevent and assist that you may be able to keepe it This Unity must be kept in peace And if you will have it sure in the bond of peace That which remaines is that you obey and follow the Apostles Exhortation That all of you in your selves and with others endeavour to keepe the Vnity of the Spirit in the bond of peace both in Church and Common-wealth For good Counsell such as here our Apostles is doth not make Church or State happy when 't is given but when 't is followed And to the danger that may come it addes guilt to all such as will not obey the counsell that they may prevent the danger And let me say thus much for the Vnity of the Spirit 'T is that which ties us one to another and all to God and God to all Without God we cannot be safe either in this life or that to come And without this Vnity no man is sure of his Neighbours assistance nor any man of Gods But by this Unity GOD himselfe is content to be bound to you And that which is bound is sure and ready at need Et sortis cum debili ligatus illum portat se saith Saint Chrysostome And strength bound to weakenesse beares up both it selfe and weaknesse And in this sense I can admit of Scaligers Subtilty That Vnity is Omnipotent Keepe Vnity then and be sowre t is honourable Justice upon any that shall endeavour to breake it He deserves not to live that would dissolve that bond by which God hath bound himselfe to assist the Church and the Common-wealth Our adversaries make Vnity a Note of the Church and they perswade such as will beleeve them that we have no Unity and so no Church I would not have Occasion given them to inlarge their doctrine lest in the next place they take upon them to prove that we have no Common-wealth neither for want of Vnity Now to keepe Vnity I have made bold to direct you one