Heaven for the planting and governing of his Church upon Earth the edifying of the Body of Christ as he expresseth himself v. 12. saith all was to this end that speaking the truth in love we may grow up into him in all things increase in or unto him which is the Head even Christ. From whom the whole body fitly joyned together and compacted by that which every joynt supplieth according to the effectual working in the measure of every part maketh increase of the Body unto the edifying of it self in love Now if this be the great end for which Christ furnished men with gifts for the Preaching of his Gospel to all Nations that by imbracing that one truth Preached they might become one Body of Christ and continue united in love as the Members of the same Body governed and directed as well as enlivened by Christ the head of the Body and mutually caring for and assisting one another according to the measure or proportion Faculty or Office of every several part for the benefit of the whole its health and growth and preservation it can be no wonder here to find the Apostle so earnest in his Exhortation to Peace and Unity If saith he there be any consolation in Christ if any comfort of love if any fellowship of the spirit if any Bowels of Mercies It must needs be a matter of exceeding great weight and concernment we must needs conclude it is something whereby God is highly glorified and the Salvation of Christians greatly promoted which St. Paul would obtain at their hands by all these affectionate obtestations yea 't is such a thing as he saith would complete and perfect his joy fullfil ye my joy saith he He was now for the sake of that Gospel of Peace and Joy to them which he had Preached unto them a Prisoner in Bonds and he seemeth to desire no more to make his Bonds easie to him and his Imprisonment a delight but only this that they be like minded or mind the same thing having the same love of one accord of one mind That they would live in Unity loving one another mutually as one Body with but one Soul having the same affections carrying on the same designs all joyning heads and hearts and hands in a vigorous pursuit of the same end by the same Methods This is a request so very reasonable that a man would wonder what need there could be of ushering it in with so much earnestness the thing he desireth is so evidently good in it self so apparently conducive to the happiness both of Church and State wherever it is practiced so much the interest of every single Member of the Body that it is almost unimaginable how any man should be so absurd as not to gratifie with all readiness I say not the Apostle but himself in a matter wherein it is so visible that every mans private welfare is so deeply concerned What man is there among us that doth not profess himself of what Party or Faction soever he be most ready to joyn with the Church in singing Behold how good and how pleasant it is for Brethren to dwell together in Unity Psal. 133. 1. It is so without all doubt and all of us willingly grant it to be so yea and all of us would be glad to see it but then it must be upon those terms only as it can never be hoped for Like two Armies in the Field ready to joyn Battel both are very willing to hear of Peace and would be content not to hazard their lives in the Fight but each will have Peace on its own terms only and neither will abate an Ace of its own demands and so still they are agreed in nothing but in being unreasonable and desiring that which cannot be All the difficulty therefore is to find out an expedient whereby all Parties may agree not only in a general desire of Unity but also in the likeliest means or effecting it And truely this would be no very hard matter to bring about were we all really as good Christians as we would be thought to be We should not need to run as far as Rome to seek for an infallible Judge to put an end to our Divisions Which why any man should see cause to do I know not except he be perswaded that no hand can heal them but that which made them Would we but only have that real Veneration for the Holy Scriptures which all Protestants pretend to have and submit our Wills and Humours which some men have been apt to mis-call the Spirit to the directions of that Holy Spirit which we all acknowledge to be infallible and follow his advice concerning the means whose exhortation to the thing we all acknowledge to be very reasonable much of the difficulty would soon disappear In order to the establishment of so excellent and desirable a Blessing of Love and Peace and Unanimity among Christians something there is which must be laid aside as that which certainly obstructs and frustrates all Peaceable Attempts and something there is which must be learn'd and practised which will mainly promote this glorious design But men are not so ready to do either the one or the other as the Principles of Christianity oblige them to be What these things are we read in the Text. Let nothing be done through strife or vain-glory but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better then themselves Here we have the best expedient in the World for the maintaining both of Unity in Faith and Doctrine and of Unanimity in Love and Affection and of Uniformity of Practice and Behaviour and consequently of the Peace and Tranquility of both Kingdom and Church O that all they who profess themselves to be desirous of the happiness and prosperity of both as certainly all good Christians are would begin to account it their greatest Wisdome to learn with Christian Politicks of such as St. Paul men indued with the Spirit of Divine Wisdom which hath this double commendâ—tion that it is first pure and then peaceable Jam. 3. 17. And would lay aside that other kind of Wisdom which they have too long admired and been in love with which is earthly sensual and devilish where by envying and strife fill the World with confusion and every evil work v. 15 16. How soon would the World look with another face How soon should we see that happily effected to the unspeakable joy and glory of Christendom which hath so long miserably baffled all the great Wits of the World The Rules here given us to this end by the Apostle are two 1. The former shews us what we must remove out of the way that Peace and Love may enter and take possession in these words Let nothing be done through strife and vain-glory 2. The other teacheth us what is that right truely Christian temper of Spirit whereby Peace and Love may be cherished and maintained in these words But in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better
Counsels as concentre not in the Will of God are vain and tend to no good issue but shall end in disappointment and vexation is so clear that though men are very hardly brought to make the right use of it yet is it impossible for them so long as they have any degree of reason above mere fools and children to deny it We shall at present consider but a few things to put this past all dispute 1. What we are and how little grounds of hope we can find in our selves 2. What other men are and what slender probability there is that either by their help or against their will we should effect our designs 3. What God is and how impossible it is to prevail against his Providence 1. Let us remember what we are Consider but in our selves the greatness of our ignorance and the weakness of our power and we shall easily be convinced of the vanity of our own devices 1. Our ignorance is such how great soever is the opinion we have of our own wit and policy that indeed we do not know our selves perfectly and much less our neighbours And yet we must know both before we can certainly say that this or that will fit either us or them Our hearts are very Labyrinths full of intricacies and windings and he is a wise man indeed that understands all the little secret corners of his own heart so well as to know exactly what will fit and fill them Again the nature of things is too much in the dark as to us we know but very little of it and what we seek being yet untryed by us we are very unfit to judge how suitable it will be unto us or whether any of those things which we think we now most need will fit us any better then what we have already yea suppose the best that the things which we so earnestly desire have something in them suitable to our wants and wishes yet may they also have much more against us and hurtful to us which we cannot yet discern at a distance but may feel afterwards to our sorrow Yet more so very changeable are both persons and things that what seemeth to us the best to day may seem as bad to morrow and what now if we had it would really be some ease to us to morrow may prove as great a grievance what might be now either Food or Physick may to morrow by some corruption in it or change of constitution in us be very little better than Poyson yea bodies politick change tempers as well as bodies natural and those very Laws which were with great wisdom at first enacted as the properest Medicines for curing the present diseases have in a very few years after upon this account been found a worse disease then the other Men are too short sighted to see what will be most suitable to another Age or perhaps to any considerable part of the present This our ignorance is therefore enough to teach us not to build any confident hopes on our own devices 2. But suppose our knowledge and skill were really as great as usually is the Politicians self-conceit yet must we needs confess that our strength is very little and how wisely soever we can devise and contrive we are too weak to bring about our own devices This will appear more fully anon tho indeed it is clear enough of it self Who can be so mad as to think he can do what he lists that he can over-rule providence controll the World and bring to pass all that he would have to be All which he must suppose himself able to do that can find cause in himself to hope he may accomplish the devices of his own heart Considering then our selves only all we can say is this Vain man would be wise Job 11. 12. But he is not so Mans goings are of the Lord how can a man then understand his own way Prov. 20. 24. Our eyes are too bad to see our arms are too weak to work what is best for our selves or the World no hope can we have in our selves alone 2. And therefore next let us think what other men are This consideration will make it appear a very improbable thing for any one single man or indeed for any one Party or Faction of men to be able to bring about their own devices Do we suppose these men to be our friends Are they at present our Complices or Partners Or suppose we them our Enemies and such as appear Adversaries to our designs Or lastly are they likly to sit Neuters Which of these soever they be they give us little encouragement This only we are sure of they are men and but men they are therefore subject to the same infirmities as we our selves are they are unknown they are mutable they have peculiar interests of their own they are all subject to the same overruling Power Are they in Appearance our friends Who can know whether they be so indeed Who knows whether they will prove firm and faithful to our Counsels Are we sure that their hearts are as our hearts that we may safely give them our hands and take them up into the secrets of our Bosomes Whatever they be now can we tell whether they will be the same to morrow Can we tell what the temptations of one day what the very fears and jealousies covetous or ambitious desires of their own hearts yea what the terrors of a nights dream may bring forth He that dares too confidently trust his own heart is but a fool how much more is he so that dares trust anothers If they joyn really with us now in our murmurings discontents and dislikes of that which is are we sure that they joyn also as cordially in our desires and wishes and that the future variance and disagreement of minds about that which we would have shall not breed more confusion and far greater inconveniences unto us all then the very worst of those things we now concur to oppose and remove Are these men our Enemies and such as are like to oppose our designs And are we then sure that we are equal or superiour to them in strength Or if we be are we also as sure that they are not our overmatch in policy or interest Have not they devices of their own as well as we And are they not as much in love with their own devices as we can be with ours And will they not venture as far to accomplish their designs Have they not interests of their own And shall they not be as zealous to promote them As impatient of all opposition to or attempts against them Is the party we oppose but small and inconsiderable And can we know how soon it will encrease either by the accession of others who will not shew themselves till necessity call them forth or by the revolt of some other of our own Or know we how many distinct parties there may be whose designs are as inconsistent with ours
themselves It seems to be a Sickness and Squeamishness of Soul much like unto that of the Stomach which ariseth from a disorderly Diet whereby it is come to pass that it naâ—seateth every thing but only that which is most hurtful and serveth only to feed the distemper Or as men in some diseases long for many things but relish nothing that 's offer'd them taste greedily but spit it out again with a loathing Some men having disordered their heads by poring into some of the profoundest Doctrines which are too deep for them and having confounded their Brains with at least to them unintelligible Notions are come at last to think every plainest thing mysterious and dispute like Skepticks about it Some have so baffled themselves with wandring through a Wood of Opinions that they can find no way out again but presently flie out of every Path that they enter into tho for no other reason but a phant'sie only that it may not be the right Some have been so nicely educated and taught to be so curious that they dare hardly taste of any thing that another hath made ready for them for fear of poyson or at least fluttishness every Ceremony is to some Antichristian and Idolatry and to others a very Idol and Christ himself shall rather want his Worship then it shall be indured by some or not be worshipped too by others All this is far from the healthful temper of the sound and serious Christian who whilst he can have the Daily Bread of his Soul which may feed him to Eternal Life sits down contentedly with the rest of the Family feeds heartily and gives God thanks asking no question for Conscience sake either who first invented the fashion of the Dishes or to what uses they have been sometimes put all his care is to see it be the Food his Father hath provided for him and that all things are observed about it that he hath commanded and for other things he leaves them to their ordering to whose care the Government of the Family is intrusted In others again this seems to come from an angry and waspish nature Some mens Souls seem to be all Fire or else as Tinder the least spark presently sets them all on fire They cannot hear so much as a word with any Patience or Calmness that sounds not just as they would have it and it is all one to anger them and not in every little thing to humour them And be sure of this that an angry man stirreth up strife Prov. 29. 22. A wrathful man stirreth up strife but he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife Prov. 15. 18. And as Coals are to burning Coals so is a contentions man to kindle strife Prov. 26. 21. How far this is from the Meek and Lamblike temper of a good Christian I need not now stay to shew In another sort of men this may spring from a preconceived prejudice against the persons of men and then as he that hath been taught before hand to have an ill opinion of his Physician is apt to disgust every thing that he prescribeth without so much as once examining what it is or how likely to conduce unto his health and by this means often deprives himself of the readiest means of cure by a most unreasonable jealousie of being poysoned so when men are once possessed with a prejudice against the persons of others especially of their Teachers and Governors they grow jealous of their instructions and commands and dispute where they should learn or obey and quarrel with their duty not because they think it is not so but because they know by whom it is injoyn'd and imagine they can never enough oppose what comes from those whom they have learn'd to suspect or hate Others are it may be not well pleased with their Lot and Station in the Church and cannot be pleased with any thing whilst they are displeased with that but will think themselves concern'd to dispute against every thing that comes from such as are advanced above them Envy is a very restless and quarrelsome thing and in whatever Breast it once gets entertainment that man shall never want an evil tongue if he have not wit enough to dispute he shall never want Malice enough to rail or slander Strife can never be a stranger to the Envious they are often Companions and go hand in hand in Scripture as Rom. 13. 13 c. We must not here pass by without any Notice that which is called the Root of all Evil the love of Money Where the love of this World is there is not the love of the Father and then be sure there will be too little love among the Brethren What a Multitude of Strifes and Contentions hence daily grow up in the World every one seeking who shall get most of it no man can be ignorant And as little can it be doubted that this is the cause too of some disturbance in the Church Where shall a man hope to find a Church that is Sanctuary enough against Covetousness and where Covetousness finds room it will be no news to see Altar set up against Altar If every Party in Religion have a Craft of its own to get Wealth by every Party will cry up its own Diana and no Diana shall want an Army to fight for her It hath sometimes been accounted a piece of good policy to reconcile the Factions to the Government of the Church by giving them a share in it And where this is practiced the Covetous will sure have so much policy too as rather to be Factious then to be poor There is no danger of disturbance from the moderate and peaceable let him therefore dwell poor in a corner feasting by himself on a good Conscience 't is pity to prejudice his expectation of a greater reward in Heaven by giving him preferment here on earth But the importunate man is troublesome and must be preferred lest he weary us and the turbulent and seditious man is dangerous and must be bribed to be quiet And shall we now think the worldling a fool to be either modest or peaceable when he fears to be poor by being so Again Contention keeps up a Party and a Party keeps and maintains us If we stir it not the fire will go out the Zeal and Charity of the Faction will cool together we have over-heated our opposites and made the Church too hot for us and if we keep not our friends warm they will not keep us from starving Thus 't is well if whilst God and Religion is the word and fairly writ in the Banner Mammon be not set up in the heart and the Battels that are fought be not all his Lastly I shall name but one thing more and that is Pride And perhaps it might have been enough to have named this one for all seeing we are told Prov. 13. 10. that only by Pride cometh Contention Whilst one will brook no superiour and another no equal what 's become
as great as can be Here exercise all our wrath and revenge Let us be very bitter against it have no pity on it resolve never on any terms to be reconciled unto it or be satisfied with any thing less then its death Let us strive to subdue it and mortifie it in our selves and to correct it as we have opportunity in others It is a much better work this than making sins of those things which are none of indifferent things or casting aspersions of Sin upon others for those very things whereby they labour all they can to shun all appearance of it in obeying their Superiors 7. Lastly let us strive who shall outgo others in love and meekness and tenderness of affection long-suffering and forbearing one another in love Eph. 4. 2. Putting always the best and most favourable construction upon all one anothers words and actions and exercising all our severity upon our selves our sinful flesh and lusts Seeking how we may become all things to all men that we may by all means gain some 1 Cor. 9. 20. Not to a Party or Faction of our own but to Christ. Let this suffice to have been said of the former of these two things which we are to remove out of the way in order to the introducing of Peace and Unity 2. The second thing which we are to remove and put far from us is Vain-glory. And till this be put away strife will abide the Vain-glorious man will ever be contending thinking it the likeliest way to be taken notice of for somebody This indeed is more usually the Vice of Teachers then of Learners Yet is there no rank of men which is not troubled with some spice of it In speaking whereof we must shew 1. What it is 2. Why to be avoided 3. How to be cast out 1. This Vain-glory is a Disease of Mind whereby a man swells himself up to what bigness he can in the sight of the World Either he hath a very high conceit of his own Excellencies and Perfections and is concerned that they are not as much taken notice of by others as they are admired by himself and that all the World should not be as proud and fond of him as he is of himself or else it may be he is conscious enough of his own emptiness and would make up what he wants of real worth at home by the Estimation of others Praise is the thing he thirsts for and so he can get it he cares not much what there is in him to deserve it So he may but have a Name and Reputation of Wife and Learned and Pious and other ways gifted and qualified above others and as few are and be pointed at by the Vulgar as he goeth for a few-such he is well enough pleased with himself whatever he be in truth he can fall out with himself for nothing but his obscurity and too little care to make himself known abroad or rather to deceive all men into a good opinion of him by seeming something that he is not And therefore all his Studies and Endeavours are bent upon this one thing how to be known and yet unknown to have his person had in esteem and admiration and his real worth unknown lest the knowledge thereof should abate any thing of that reputation and fame which he so insatiably thirsteth after So he may be had in honour and advanced to some hight he is well enough content what tho the Statue be but of common Wood or Stone and have nothing in it of the life of vertue or any thing else that 's good yet it stands in a publick place and is finely painted and guilt and all that pass by look upon it and call it a fine thing and fools admire it and that 's enough This is the thing in short 2. Now why we must avoid this Vice of Vain-glory we shall see cause enough if we may but be brought to see 1. How odious it is to men 2. How dishonourable to God 3. How contrary to the Gospel-spirit 4. How destructive to our endeavours and hopes and 5. What a Plague it is to the Church and the Peace thereof 1. It is certainly odious to men of what sort or complexion soever they be It is a thing which no man can indure in any man but himself and for which more then for any one thing beside good men are apt to fall out with themselves The proud man tho he can freely indulge himself in it yet can least of any man see it with any patience in another nor can he look upon him as any better then as a covetous man doth upon a Thief or Robber because all praise and honour he accounts his own due and thinks whoever gets it robbeth him of what is his He therefore is sure to condemn it in all men if for no other reason yet for this that it stands as Alexander did betwixt the Sun and the Proud Cynick too much in his light and will not let him look so shiningly as he would do And the humble hates it because he is humble and hates every thing that is sinful So that all the Vain-glorious man can get by his foolish ambition is only that which above all things he abhorreth and most studiously endeavoureth to prevent that is when ever he is discovered to be despised of all But this is little 2. Vain-glory is a thing most odious to God How should any man think otherwise that knoweth what God is and what is due to him from his Creature All Honour and Glory and Praise because all Goodness is so are his and only his and hence the Vain-glorious man is the most sacrilegious man in the World and a greater Robber of God then they that rob him of Tithes and Offerings taking to himself the honour and glory due unto God's name whereof he hath declared himself to be very jealous The Vain-glorious man may be called an Idolater without a figure making an Idol of himself and desirous that all the World should worship him This we are plainly told and that 's enough God resisteth the Proud but giveth grace to the humble 1 Pet. 5. 5. 3. How contrary Vain-glory is to the Spirit of the Gospel is so visible as nothing can be more Our holy Iesus hath more particularly commended his own example to our imitation herein Learn of me saith he for I am meek and lowly of heart Matt. 11. 29. He sought not his own glory but the glory of him that sent him Joh. 8. 50. 7. 18. He took especial care to prick this Bladder in his Disciples as soon as he espied it beginning to rise in any of them as in the Sons of Zebedee Matt. 20. 25 26. Self-denial was one of the principal Lessons he taught them and he hath left it upon record for our instruction that one great reason why no more believed on him and became true Christians was this that they received honour one of another and sought not
and think himself with the Apostle the chief of Sinners 3. We will yet go farther and suppose that other mens Vices and failings may be much more visible to us then our own and their apparent vertues by much fewer then our own yet the humble man when he comes to lay the one against the other is always ready to cast in all the advantage and make all the allowances to others that can be imagined He can partly know and as far as he can know them he is sure to take into consideration all the numerous aggravations of his own sins and is very apt sometimes to lay on too much weight even till he press down his Soul almost into despair But as he knows he cannot see into all the aggravations of another mans sins being unable to see into the heart so doth Charity restrain him alway from making any narrow search into them And hence it is that though other mens sins may be as visible to him as his own so far as they lie open and obvious to the view of all men yet shall his own be made always to out-weigh theirs in the aggravating circumstances which others cannot see And again on the other hand the humble man considereth all the opportunities advantages and incouragements himself hath had to be vertuous and then all the good he doth how much soever others value it and see great cause to bless God and love him for it shall yet seem little and even nothing to himself compared with what he thinks both might and ought to have been done by him And as much doth his Charity prompt him to excuse the little he seeth done by others by a supposition of the want in them of all those helps which he hath had Thus therefore is he always saying to himself What tho my Neighbours faults seem more than mine What tho the good that he hath done seem much below what I have done His knowledge it may be is much less then mine his opportunities of learning much fewer then I have had his natural faculties which is not his fault may be much weaker he wanted it may be the wise Instructors and faithful Monitors which I have never lacked he met with many and strong temptations and lay under many difficulties which I have been in good measure free from Were I under such Circumstances I should it may be sin much more then he and do less good then he and were he in my Circumstances had he the same means and motives and opportunities of doing vertuously and lay under the same restraints from sin it is probable he would do and live much better than I have done Thus the humble man is very apt to blame himself but any thing rather then his Brother Yea rather then not esteem him better then himself he will charge much of his evil upon himself and say if he be wicked it is much my fault who have not done what I ought to make him good 4. If the humble man be put to compare his own Vertues with other mens Vertues and his own Vices with other mens Vices which it is hard to bring him to he will set Vertue against Vertue and Vice against Vice so long that if it be possible by any means to bring it to pass the Scales of Vertues shall ascend and that of Vices descend on his own side And thus will he argue for his Brother against himself I excel him it may be in one thing but for ought I know he excelleth me in many I may possibly be free from some sins whereof he is guilty but it is not unlikely he is free from many more that I find my self guilty of If I be more sober yet may he be more Charitable and liberal and I by my sobriety do good to my self but he by his liberality doth good to many I may be less prodigal but he is less covetous I may be less careful for the World but he is more serviceable to the World I may pray oftener and longer but he prayeth more heartily I may be more zealous but he is less censorious I may be more chaste but he may be more peaceable I may be more active but he may be more meek and humble I may be more wise but still he is the better man 5. If he can none of these ways give his Neighbour the advantage of himself yet hath he not done nor can he have done till if possible he do it What saith he tho I see little good in him may there not be much that I cannot see He talketh not so much of Religion as I do it is his modesty he is afraid of Hypocrisy he is afraid it may become too vile by being made a common talk His Humility is too great to let him shew himself too openly he is afraid to deceive the World into too good an opinion of him or give occasion to any man to over-value him or lest by admiring his vertues they should be tempted to imitate his vices I dare not judge him as bad as he seems except I could see as far into his heart as I can into his outward behaviour Tho this be bad enough yet there may be some spark of Grace within that lying yet raked up in corruption and by an easiness of nature to comply with the customs of men and an immoderate bashfulness to resist the temptations of company or a timorousness of nature to venture on the cross and the like hinderances or for want of good means and helps is kept from acting and warming the Soul with true Devotion and Piety yet it may in due time get life and strength and shew it self And as I see not what good there is within him so neither do I see half that evil that is within my self the heart is deceitful above all things who can know it Yea every man is apt to be too favourable to himself and too severe a censurer of others and it is safest for me to judge my self and leave others to stand or fall to their own Master There is nothing I have more cause to fear then a spiritual Pride Publicanes and Sinners are justified sooner than a proud Pharisee that despiseth and croweth over them Humility stands more in the way of the sinner then of the conceited Iusticiary It will be seen at the last day who is best he or I. Now 't is enough that God knows it who will then judge righteously Be he better be he worse I am content he should take place of me in my own esteem It is my duty to set Strangers above me in mine own house I may lose something on earth by my Humility but Pride will certainly keep me out of Heaven I may safely esteem others better then my self till I can know both them and my self better then yet I do Thus will Humility teach us to strive who shall give place to the other and if the humble man can really think others better