is contained in this Agreement that 's made when a sinner is truly sanctified 2. If once you were united in the Spirit and Agreed in a Holy life you would differ in nothing that could keep you out of Heaven And if we have some small differences on Earth as long as they are such as cannot hinder our salvation they may be the more easily born Paul and Barnabas had a little falling out but O how sweetly are they now reconciled Hierom and Chrysostom Epiphanius and Iohn of Hierusalem Theophilus and Chrysostom were at odds Luther and Zuinglius had their disagreements But Oh how happily are they now agreed Our imperfection of Knowledge causeth us here to erre and differ in part But if we are all united in Christ and agreed in the main how quickly shall we see that blessed Light that will reconcile all our controversies Marvail not to find some contests among the most learned and most godly unless you 'l marvail that Earth is not Heaven or that in that body we see not the face of God which is the all-disclosing reconciling light If we were all here together in the dark and were of many opinions about the things before us if one did but come in among us with a candle it might end all our differences in a moment When we are newly out of this obscuring flesh and this dark deceitful earthly world O what an unconceiveable reconciliation will be made by that blessed Light There 's no contending or quarrelling For there are none of those errors or passions that should occasion it As Imperfect Holiness produceth an answerable Imperfect Unity so perfect Holiness will prfectly Unite And is not this then the only way to Unity which will help us here to what is here attainable and secure us of eternal perfect concord in the world that we are passing to O see that you be once Agreed in the things that are necessary to salvation and then the hour is neer at hand that will end all your differences and agree you in the rest 3. If once you be but Agreed in Holiness you will have no difference left that shall destroy any Grace in you that 's necessary to salvation The power of Divine faith and Love and Hope and Fear and Zeal will still be safe Your diseasâ—s will not destroy your vital faculties And if the Head the Heart and principal parts be sound you may the better bear a small distemper The disagreements of the ungodly from God from Scripture and the Saints are mortal to them and prove them under the power of darkness and of Satan that leads them captive at his will 2 Tim. 2.26 Eph. 2.23 Acts 26.18 But the differences of the sanctified are but as the different complexions or statures of children or at worst but as their falling out which will not cause the Father to turn them out of his family so that as long as Faith and Love and Hope and other Graces are kept sound we shall certainly do well for all our differences And this is the benefit of Agreeing in Holiness 4. Moreover if once we were all Agreed in the Spirit and in Holiness of Heart and Life we should escape all Heresies or Errors that effectually subvert the Essentials of the Christian faith Mistaken we might be but Heretikes we could not be I stick not upon the bare word whether smaller errors may be called Heresie but taking Heresie as commonly it s taken a sanctified person cannot at least Habitually be a Heretick For should a man so hold a point inconsistent with any one Essential point of the Christian faith at least Habitually and Practically hold it it s as impossible that this man should be then a Christian as that contradictories should be true And therefore certainly whosoever is a true Christian is frâ—e from such Heresies And therefore as if you are sure a man so holds a Heresie you have no reason to believe his shews of Holiness so where you see a great appearance of real Holiness you must long deliberate and have good evidence before you judgâ— that man a Heretick For this is the certain Priviledge of the Sanctified that they cannot be Hereticks though they may have many errors as in sensu composito all confess 5. Morover if we were but all Agreed in true Holiness we should be freed from most of those scandalous sins which are the common occasion of our reproaches and divisions It is sin that is the greaâ— trouble of the Church and of the world Iohn 7.25 This breeds our quarrels This setteth all into a flame When a Drunkard or an unclean person or a slanderer or a raiseâ— or any scandalous person is râ—proved or openly admonished or for impenitency rejected then the Devil and sin bestir themselves and rage against the Church and Officers and Ordinances of God It is sin within that animateth the malignant to bâ— contentious And it is to defend and take part with sin that they fall out with God and his Word and Servants Now Holiness is contrary to this sin that troubleth us Mortification of sin is part of Sanctification If therefore we were Agreed in Holiness it were as ready a way to procure our Peace as quenching the fire in your thatch is the ready way to save your house I know there are too many scandals given by the best But it is commonly but by the weaker worser sort of the best And it is not a common thing with them neither And none of them make a trade of sinning nor have any unmortified reigning sin If a Noach a Lot a David be once scandalous in all his life this is not the case of all the godly and it is not like the case of the ungodly that are either often or impenitent in it And therefore though it may disturbe the Church yet not so much as the frequent and impenitent scandals of the ungodly O could we but all Agree against this make-bate this great disturber and troubler of the world what Peace might we enjoy 6. And also if once we could Agree in Holiness the matter and occasion of offences separations and contentions would cease What caused the Donatists separation of old but the scandals in the Church and the receiving of such upon repentance into Communion or ministry And so the Novatian schism also was occasioned And though the Donatists and Novatians were too blame to be against the Ordination or reception of such Penitents yet the prevention of the sin would have been the prevention of the breach What hath caused so many to turn separatists in England but seeing so many ungodly persons in our Churches and Communion You that are most offended at Schisms and Private Churches are the common occasions of it your selves If such ungodly persons were not in our Assemblies few godly persons would separate from them Though I do not justifie them yet I must needs condemn you as the cause Were it not for you we should be
leave the infallible judgement to God It is only â—eal Saints that have the internal special Unity of the Spirit and saving Communion but its Professors of Faith and Holiness thaâ— must have external Communion wiâ—h us in Ordinances as they have a visible Union of Profession with the Church But if they profess not Holiness they ought not to have any Christian Communion at all O Christians keep close to Christ the Centeâ— of your Unity and the Scripture which is the Rule of it and cherish the â—pirit which is the vital cause walk evenly and uprightly in a dark generation and give no offence to those without nor to the Church of God Know them that are over you in the Lord and be at Peace among your selves and the God of Peace shall be with you 1 Thes. 5.12 Phil 4.8.9 Object BVt may not a Profession of the same Faith procure a sufficient Vnity among us though all be not Saints and savingly regenerate Let us first be of one Religion and then we may come to be sincere in the Practice of that Religion by Degrees Answ. 1. For the Churches sake we are thankful to God when we see a common concord in Profession though most are false in and to the Religion which they profess Many wayes God doth good to his Church by unfound Professors 1. Their Professing the same Faith doth somewhat tye their hands from persecuting it And of the two we can better bear Hypocrites then Persecutors 2. And it somewhat tyeth their tongues from reproaching the Faith and arguing against it and seducing others from it And of the two it would be more hurtful to the Church to have these men open enemies to the truth and bend their wits and tongues against it and to have the multitude assaulting their neighbours with invectives and cavils against Religion then to have them falsly pretend to be Religious 3. And it is a great mercy to the Church hereby to have the benefit of these mens common parts and interests When they profess the same Religion with us though unsoundly yet it engageth them to stand for the Religion which they profess and their illumination and conviction may lead them to do much service for the truth By this means many hands are at work to build up the Church of Christ. And by this means the lives of many faithful Christians are preserved and their estates much spared Many have skill in building that are not true heirs of the house which they build Many have excellent gifts for preaching and expounding Scripture by which the Church may be edified and the Truth defended against the adversaries when yet the same men may themselves be destitute of the Power of this truth The Church hath great cause to be thankful to God for the gifts of many an unsanctified man Had the Church been denyed the Minâ—stry and Gifts of all mâ—n except Saints it would have been confined to a narrower room and many a soul might have beâ—n unconvâ—rted that have been called by the Ministry of unsanctified men By some such did God work Miracles themselves for the confirmation of the Christian Faith And in times of war if the Church had none but Saints to fight for them it could not stand without a continued Miracle And if we had not the daily help of others in civil and secular affairs we should find by the miss of it what a mercy we undervalued Were every unregenerate man an open enemy to the Church we should live as Patridges and such other birds that must hide themselves from every Passenger 4. Moreover this Profession of Hypocrites doth much restrain them from many a sin by which God would be much dishonoured and the Church more wronged and the godly more grieved and the open enemies more encouraged 5. And also it is some honour to the Gospel in the eyes of men to have a multitude of Professors Should Christs visible Church be as narrow as the mystical and should none be Professors of the Faith but those few that are sanctified Believers the paucity of Christians and narrowness of the Church would be a dishonour to Christ in the eyes of the world and would hinder the Conversion of many a soul. All this I have said that you may see that we do not despise a Unity in Profession and that we are not of those that would have all hypocrites and common professors shut out Yea that we take our selves bound to be very thankful to God for the mercy which he vouchsafeth us by the gifts and favour and help and interest of many such Professors And such a Unity of Profession we shall endeavour to our power heartily to promote as knowing that the Church as visible consisteth of such professours 2. But yet for all this I must come closer to your objection and tell you that this Vnity of meer Profession is comparatively so poor a kind of Unity that this will not this must not satisfie us and serve the turn which I desire you to observe in these discoveries 1. This Unity in meer Profession is properly no Christian Vnity because you are not properly Christians If this be all it is but in the bark and shell that we are agreed It is but a seeming agreement from the teeth outward but not an hearty agreement to be Christians What! shall we all agree to say we are Christians when with most it is not so For all this Agreement you will still have one Father and we another You will not be United with us in Christ the Head you will not have the same Holy Spirit who is the Life of the New creature You will be contrary to us in Nature or Disposition You will not have the same Intention and Ultimate End with us but you will aâ—m at one thing and we at another You will not go the same way nor walk by the same Rule and Law as we It will be but a tying â—ogâ—ther the Living and the Dead Bellâ—râ—ine himself confesseth that the ungodly are but dead members It is not life that Uniteth a dead member to the living You will bâ— stilâ— either openly or secretly betraying the Body to which you profess your selves United and taking part with its deadly enemies the flesh the world and the Devil Your very Hearts and ours will still be contrary You will love the sin that we hate and set our selves against and you will dis-relish that Holy Heavenly life which must be our business and delight Your Affections will go one way and ours another You will Live by sense when we must live by faith and you will be laying up a treasure on earth when we are laying up a treasure in heaven You will be asking counsel of flesh and blood when we must advise with God and his holy Word You will look first to your bodies when we must look first and principally to our souls It will be your business to feed those sins which it is our daily work
that the Vnity of the Church should not be laid on indifferent small or dâ—ubtfull things but that true believers that differ in such things should yet have inward Charity and outward Communion with each other not censuring nor despising nor dividing upon this account p. 323 Convincing Reasons p. 326 Several Vses or Consectaries and an Exhortation applied to our difference about Christmas Day p. 358 ERRATA PAge 90. l. 9. r. enquire p. 91. l. 6. r. except p. 192. l. 7. for now r. in time p. 275. l. 16 for or r. as p. 366. l. 12. for it r. them p. 377. l. 12. dele in Catholick Vnity EPHES. 4.3 Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace IT seems that Vnity and Felicity are near kin in that the world is so like affected to them both As our Felicity is in God and we lost it by falling from God so our Vnity is in God and we lost it by departing from this Center of Unity And as all men have still a natural desire after Felicity in general but God who is their Felicity they neither know nor desire so have we still a natural desire after Vnity in it self considered but God who is our Unity is little known or desired by the most And as nature can perceive the evil of Misery which is contrary to Felicity and cry out against it and yet doth cherish the certain causes of it and will not be perswaded to let them go So Nature can perceive the evil of Division which is contrary to Vnity and cry out against it and yet will not forbear the causes of Division And therefore as we say of Felicity Nature by Philosophy seeks it Divinity findeth it and Religion possesseth it So may we say of true Vnity Philosophy or Nature seeks it Divinity findeth it and Religion or Holiness possesseth it And as most of the world do miss of Felicity for all their high esteem of it and fall into misery for all their hatred of it because they love not the object and way of Felicity and hate not the Matter and Way of Misery Even so most of the world do miss of Vnity for all their high esteem of Unity and fall into miserable distractions and Divisions for all their hatred of Division because they love not the center and way of Vnity and hate not the occasion and causes of Division And as the very reason why the most are shut out of Happiness is their own wilful refusing of the true matter and means of Happiness and no one could undo them but themselves for all that they are loth to be undone Even so the very Reason why the world attaineth not to Unity is their own wilful refusing of the true Center and Means of Unity and it is themselves that are the wilful causes of their own Divisions even when they cry out against Divisions And as there 's no way to Happiness but by Turning to God from whom we fell that in him we may be happy and no way to God but by Iesus Christ as the Saviour and the Hâ—ly-Ghost as the Sanctifier so there is no way to true Vnity but by Turning to God that we may be one in him and no way to him but being united to Christ and being quickned by that One most holy Spirit that animateth his members And yet as poor souls do weary themselves in vain in seeking Felicity in their own wayes and devices so do they deceive themselves in seeking Vnity in wayes that are quite destructive to Unity One thinks we must be united in the Pope and another in a General Council another saith we shall never have Unity till the Magistrate force us all one way and yet they would not be forced from their own way Another turns Atheist or Infidel or Impious by observing the Divisions that be among Christians and saith It is this Scripture and Religion and Christ that hath set the world together by the ears and we shall never have Unity till we all live according to Nature and cast off their needless cares and fears of another life And thus the miserable deluded world are groping in the dark after Vnity and Felicity while both are at hand and they wickedly reject them and many of them become so mad as to run away from God from Christ from the Spirit as if he were the cause of Misery and Division who is the only Center of Felicity and Vnity And thus as it is but Few that arrive at Happiness for all their desire of it so it is but Few that attain to Vnity to such a Unity as is worth the attaining to I dare presume to take it for granted that all you that hear me this day would fain have Divisions taken away and have Unity and Concord and Peace through the world What say you would you not have us all of one â—iâ—d and of one Religion and would you not fain have an Agreement if it might be through all the world I am confident you would But you little think that its you and such as you that are the hinderers of it All the question is What Mind that is that all should be One in and what Religion that is that all men sâ—ould agree in Every man would have all men of one mind and one Religion but then it must be of his mind and of his Religion and so we are never the nearer an agreement Well! what would you give now to be certainly told the only way to Unity and Agreement There is but One way when you have sought about as long as you will you must come to that One way or you will be never the nearer it What would you give to know undoubtedly which is that One way O that the world were but willing to know it and to follow it when they know it Well! I dare promise you from the information of the Holy-Ghost here given us in this Text that now I have read to to you to tell you the Only way to true Unity and blessed is he that learneth it and walketh in it This Text is a Precept containing the work required of us with its double Object the one the means to the other The next verse is an exposition of this As the Natural man hath One Body and One Soul which constitute it a man so the Church which is the mystical Body of Christ is one Body consisting of many members united by One Spirit Every Common-wealth or Political Body hath 1. It s Constitutive causes that give it its Being and its Unity and 2. It s Administration and preserving causes as Laws Execution Obedience c. that exercise and preserve and perfect its Being The Constitutive cause is the Soveraign and the Subject conjoyned in their Relation So is it with the Church which is a Political Body but of a transcendent kind of Policy The Constitutive Cause of the Church are Christ and the members united in One Spirit And this
is the final part of the Duty here required To keep the Vnity of the Spirit The Preserving cause is the Peaceable behaviour of the members and this is the mediate Duty here required In the bond of Peace Our own Endeavours are hereto required because as every natural body must by eating and drinking and fit exercise and usage be a cause of its own preservation and not forbear these under pretence of trusting the all-sufficiency of God and as every Political Body must by Government and Arms in case of need preserve themselves under God so must the Body of Christ the Church be diligent in using their best endeavours to preserve the Being and well-being of the whole So that you see here are two causes of the Churches Unity expressed 1. The principal Constitutive cause in which our Unity consisteth and that is The Spirit 2. The Preserving cause by which our Unity is cherished and that is Peace which therefore is called the bond of it The fifth and sixth verses do open this Vnity of Spirit in its parts effects and ends There is One Hope of our Calling that is One Heaven or Life Eternal which is the end of our Christianity and Church Constitution There is one Lord Jesus Christ One Head one Saviour one Soveraign Redeemer to whom by this Spirit the members are all United There is One Faith both one summe of holy Doctrine which all that will be saved must believe which was used to be professed by the adult at Baptism and One internal saving Faith which this Spirit causeth in our Spirits and useth it as a means of our union with Christ in whom we do believe There is One Baptism or solemn Covenanting with God the Father Son and Holy-Ghost and the same promise there to be made by all And there is One God the Father of all from whom we fell and to whom we must be recovered and who is the End of all and to whom Christ and all these means are the Way So that all these are implyed in and conjunct with the Vnity of the Spirit The sense of the Text then briefly is this As all the living true members of Christ and the Church have one Spirit and so one Faith by which they are all united to Christ the Head and so to the Father in and by him which Vnion in One Spirit is your very Life and it that constituteth you true members of Christ and his Church so it must be your care and great endeavour to preserve this Spirit in you and this vital Vnity which by this Spirit you have with Christ and one another and the way to preserve it is by the bond of Peace among your selves It is here evident then that all the members of Christ and his Body have One Spirit and in that is their Union All the question is What Spirit this is And that 's left past all doubt in the Chapter For though the common gifts of the Spirit are sometime called by that name yet these are no further meant in the Text then as appurtenances or additions to greater gifts As godliness hath the promise of the common mercies of this life as well as of the special mercies of the life to come but yet with great difference the later being absolutely promised and the former but limitedly so far as God sees best for us Even so the Spirit gave to the members of the Church both Sanctifying Grace and common Gifts but with great difference giving Sanctification to all and only the members of Christ but giving common gifts also to some others and to them but with limitation for sort and season and measure and continuance as God should see good It is then the same Holy-Ghost as our Sanctifier into whose name we are baptized as wel as into the name of the â—ather and the Son and in whom we all profess to believe that is here meant in my Text. And it is only the Sanctified that are the people United to Christ and to One another This is proved expresly by that which foâ—loweth vers 6 7. It is those that have the One Hope one Lord one Faith one Baptism one God the Father vers 12. It is the Saints and body of Christ that are to be perfected by the Ministry vers 13 15 16. It is those that must come in the Vnity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect man to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ and that grow up in all things in Christ the Head It is the Body that is Vnited to him and compacted in Love and edifieth itself in Love vers 20 21 22 23 24. It is those that hâ—vâ— so leâ—rned Christ as to put off tâ—e â—ld man thâ—t is câ—rrupt â—nd are râ—neweâ— in the Spirit of their â—inâ—s and put on the nâ—w man which â—fter God is reâ—tâ—â— in righteouâ—neâ—s and true holiness If thereâ—â—re any words be plain its plain tâ—at its true â—aints only that are here spoken of that have the Vnity of spirit which they must preserve in the bond of Peace And therefore I shall make this Observation the ground of my discourse Doct. The true Vnity of the Catholick Church of Christ consisteth in this that they have all one Sanctifying spirit within them By the Holy-Ghost within them they are all United to Christ and to one another By this One Spirit they are all made â—aints or an Holy people having One Heaven for the matter of their Hopes One Christ their Head One summe of Christian doctrine which they believe containing all the Essentials of Christian Faith and One living principle of Faith to believe it One solemn Covenant with Christ and One God the â—ather their End and All. It is only the Sanctified that have true Christian Vnity and it is unholiness or ungodliness that is the cause of the miserable Divisions of the world Now Sirs you see the Only way to Vnity Even to have One Sanctifying spirit within us and be all an Holy People and there is no way but this Now you see the principal cause of Division even unholiness and refusing the Spirit of Grace In handling this point 1. I shall give you some Propositions that are necessary for the fuller understanding of it 2. I shall demonstrate the Point to you by fuller Evidence of Reason 3. I shall make Application of it I. PRop 1. Though it be only the Sanctified that have the true Unâ—on of Members wâ—th Chrâ—st and the Body yet all that make Profession of Sanctification and Null not that Proâ—ession have an Extrâ—nsick Analogical Union in profession As the wooden or dead leg is united to the body and the dead branch to the Vine And so even Hypocrites must not only dwell among us but be of the same visible Church with us as the chaff and tares are in the same corn-field And as long as they seem Saints we must value them and use them as Saints and love them
ungodly multitude have the leprosie and plague-sores from top to toe Profaneness is a hodge-podge and gally-mawfry of all the heresies of the world in one 3. Many other hereticks do err but in Speculation and only the brain is infected and they do not at the heart digest their own mistakes But the Heresies of the Profane ungodly people are Practical and have mastered the will the Poyson is working in the heart and vital parts so that it is far the more mortal for this 4. Many sects at least do not Practise their errours but the ungodly live upon them Yea their lives are worse then their opinions they say bad and do worse You may see more Heresie then you can hear from them 5. Some erring persons have the substance of Christian truth mixt with their errour by which the power of the venom is abated and they do good in the Church as well as hurt But the ungodly do not savingly heartily and practically hold fast any the most fundamental truth 6. Some sects are meek and temperate in their way But the ungodly are carried on with fury and malice against the whole body of the Holy Catholick Church 7. And some Hereticks are so thin and few that where we have one of them to do hurt we have an hundred or a thousâ—nd to contradict them But the unsanctified and ungodly are the greater number and think they should rule because they are the most and the flock of Christ is a little flock And so many thousands swarming all over the world and making up the far greatest part of the world is like to do more against truth and peace then here and there a poor Sectary in a corner 8. And lastly the errours of some others are easier cured but the whole nature of the ungodly is turned as it were into errour it is rooted so at the heart that no power on earth is able to cure it till God Almighty by insuperable light and life of grace will do the cure And now I beseech you judge impartially who they be that are the deadly and dangerous Hereticks and who are the hinderers of Unity in the Church And how unfit these miserable people are to call for Vnity and cry out against our many Religions who are heartily of no Religion themselves but against the life and practice of all To hear an ungodly man go crying out of Sects of Separatists of Anabaptists and this and that is as if we should hear a Blackamore scorn one for a spot on his face or a murderer rebuke a man for an angry word or a Souldier that kills as many as he can cry out of the Surgeons for curing no more or blame others for a foul word or a common whore reproach another for a wanton word or uncomely garments Or as if a mad man should revile men for every slip he findeth in their speeches and call them fools O that we knew how to cast out this master Devil of Vngodliness this Beelzebub the Prince of Devils and then I should not fear the rest no not all the sects and errours in the world that are found with true godliness Yet still remember these two cautions 1. I do not excuse the errours of the best and I lament that they have lamentably wronged the Church and in some respects they have the greatest aggravations 2. And I still confess that some of the unsanctified are so civil and Orthodox as to be very usefull in the Church and helpfull against sects and heresies because they are right in the brain as to speculation and right in the tongue and their errour is kept buryed deep in the heart and therefore they err more to themselves then to others I doubt not but many such are profitable Preachers and defenders of the truth and the Church must be thankfull to God for their gifts And yet all that I have affirmed standeth good that Ungodliness is the transcendent Heresie and Schism Use 2. BY what hath been said you may easily perceive how little cause the Papists or Ceremonious or any others have to glory in such members of their Churches as I have described Can they expect a Unity of the Spirit with these If they glory that they have men and multitudes on thâ—ir side so may the Turks that have more then they and so may the Heathens that have more then either And yet when a Papist hath deceived a poor licentious or ignorant man or a proud or vitious silly woman they glory in their Convert Never yet did I know any Protâ—stant turn Papist that was not an ungodly wretch before and without the power of the Religion which he professed Do not say I speak censoriously or uncharitably in this for I think upon consideration all Papists will confess it For they teach that all that be not of their Church are void of charity and cannot so be saved and that all must therefore come into their Church because there is no Charity or Salvation without it Though this be false yet you see by it that they confess that never any but graceless unsanctified Protestants did turn to them Nor can they invite any to them but ungodly people And who ever turneth Papist doth thereby confess that he was ungodly before and that he was not an honest godly man For in turning Papist he professeth to go into that Church out of which there is no salvation and consequently no Charity or saving grace And if indeed you desire none but the ungodly to turn to you take them if they will needs go and try whether you can do any more good on them then we have done I think we have little cause but for their own sakes to lament our loss of such as these and that you have little cause to glory in your Proselites And I have yet seen none that shew us any more Holiness since their change then they had before A fair Church you have that is the common stie for all that will come to you and that is glad of any to make up the number that you may have that in quantity that is wanting in quality Use 3. FRom hence also let Quakers and Papists and all reproachers of our Churches take notice how groundlesly they hit us in the teeth with the ungodly that live among us These are your Protestants say they These are your Churches These are the fruit of your Ministry say the Quakers No these are the enemies of our Ministry and Doctrine These are they that joyn with you and such as you to reproach us and revile us These are the obstinate despisers of our Ministry that instead of learning of us do revile us and instead of obeying our doctrine do make a mock at it If they are any of them brought to a sound confession and restrained from any vice they may thank the doctrine which we preach for that unless they do it only for fear of the Laws But their profaneness is it that we
to kill You will make and apprehend it to be your Interest to go contrary to us And what Agreement can there be where there are contrary Interests Under all your outward Profession you will still retain a secret enmity and hatred to the life of holiness and will not have that hearty Love to the Saints as beseems all those that are members of Christ and of the holy Catholick Church So that when you have Communion with the Saints it will be but an external and superficial communion in some common things but you will have no Communion with them in the same Head and Spirit and Promise and Holy Nature and saving Benefits of the Gospel And shall this be called Vnity that leaveth you at so sad a distance as this This is but such a Union as a wooden leg hath to the body or as the vessels of honour and dishonour have by being in the same house together In their highest Professions the Lord himself saith of unsanctified Professors that they are none of Christs Rom. 8.9 and that they cannot be his Disciples Luke 14.33 that they are not Israel though of Israel nor are they children of God nor the seed of promise Rom. 9.6 7 8. and when they plead their highest Priviledges at last Christ will tell them that he knoweth them not Mat. 7.23 25.12 Psalm 1.5 6. And if in mercy to the Church God cause the Lyon and the Lambs to lie down together yet will he not therefore mistake the Lyon for a Lamb. So that you see what a poor kind of Unity and next to none it is that meer profession maketh And therefore this will not serve our turn 2. Moreover if we have no other Unity we are unlike to live in Peace together Though it be our duty to endeavour to have peace with all men yet we can have but little hope of it As long as there is so much difference and contrariety as I have mentioned and as long as there is a secret enmity at the heart it will be working into dissention if God for the sake of his Church restrain it not The godly will be crossing your carnal Interest and hindering you in the sinful wayes of your commodity pleasure or vain-glory They will be calling you to self-denyal which you cannot endure and putting you upon duties of Holiness Righteousness and Mercy which your sinful flesh will utterly refuse If you are scandalous you will be called to Confession Repentance and Reformation or by Church-censures be cut off from them to your shame And the Magistrate also must trouble you by the penalties of the Law The very examples of a strict and holy living which are given you by the godly will displease you because they are so unlike to your lives and therefore witness against your negligence and ungodliness So that it is not possible that we should avoid offending you for our very obedience to God will offend you and our studying and following the Holy Scripture will offend you and our diligent labour to save our souls will offend you and our hateing and avoiding the Poyson of sin will offend you And how then should we live in Peace with such If you yoak a swine and a sheep together one will be drawing to the wash-tub when the other would be at grass and one will be drawing to lie down in the mire when the other would lie clean one will be rooting in the earth and eating dung which the others nature is against It is Christ before me that calleth the wicked by the name of swine and the godly sheep And if you will come no nearer us then this we are like to have but poor Agreement And as our wayes will displease you so your galled malicious hearts will manifest the offence and will be girding and maligning if not slandering deriding or openly persecuting as far as you have power those that thus offend you And what Unity is this 3. If Reason perswade you not do but ask experience it self Whether in all ages men that Profess the same Religion with zealous godly men have not been their persecutors and oft-times more cruel then Infidels themselves The Arrians that called themselves Christians were as cruel to the true Believers as the Heathens The Papists profess the same Christianity as we and take the whole Scripture as the Word of God And yet none of the Heathenish Persecutions do match or come near to their French Massacrees and Spanish Inquisition and the cruelty that in Ireland England and their part of the Christian world they have exercised upon the sheep of Christ. The many Ministers that were silenced in Germany and some imprisoned and many Families undone was by the Lutherans against men that were Protestants as well as they And they that cast out so many Learned holy Ministers in England and occasioned the expulsion of so many thousand persons fearing God were Professed Protestants as well as we And that there may not be the appearance so much as of a difference in Ceremonies to cover their proceedings abundance of conformable men are troubled and undone as well as others and they gave out that none were worse then the conformable Puritans It was a holy observation of the Lords day and opposition to the abuse of it by Dancings and it was hearing Sermons and instructing mens families and praying together that were the things enquired after that occasioned our troubles And who ever was in the right or wrong you all know that the late miserable wars among us was between men that professed themselves to be of the same Religion not only as Christians but as Protestant and Reformed in the main To this day you see among our selves in Towns and Countries that those that do not only dwell with us and come to the same Assâ—mblies with us and profess themselves of the same Protestant Reformed Râ—ligion have yet many of them a sâ—cret malignity against the godly that will not be as loose and negligent as they and will not as madly cast away their souls And also even maâ—y greater Hypocrites that rank themselves with us in the same Church-order and seem to own all Ordinances of God and Government of the Church yet when this Government crosseth them in their carnal wayes and these Ordinances open the nakedness of their miscarriages they prove stark enemies to the Government Officers and Ordinances themselves Indeed however we may abide together as the clean and unclean creatures in Noahs Ark yet still at the heart there is so much enmity or distance and in our Ends and Interests there is so much contrariety that if the Ministers and other followers of Christ will faithfully discharge the duty that is required of them they will certainly be persecuted by men of the same Profession in Religion especially by the Prouder and Loftyer sort of wicked men Because some will receive the same truth better from one then from another I will give you my assertion in the
words of a man that you shall confess did speak impartially and not out of any intemperance or singularity who in a Prosperous University in Peaceable times being himself in favour and of that Judgement and of such Learning as was likely to continue him in favour did yet write thus concerning persecution I mean Doctor Iackson in his Book of saving Faith sect 2. chap. 4. pag. 185. The Ministers of Christ may deny Christ or manifest their ashamedness of his Gospel as directly by not laying his Law as closely to the great Herods of the world as John Baptist did suppose the case be as notorious and as well known to them as if they had been afraid to confess him for fear of being put out of the Synagogues or said with those other Iews We know that God spake with Moses and gave authority to Magistrates but this man we know not whence he is nor do we care for his Counsels Yet were John Baptists kind of preaching used in many Kingdoms though by such as profess the same Religion with the Potentates they should offend with their boldness I think it would prove matter of Martyrdom in the end That any age since Christian Religion was first propagated hath wanted store of Martyrs is more to be attributed to the Negligence Ignorance and Hypocrisie or want of courage in Christs Embassadors or appointed Pastors then unto the sincerity mildness or fidelity of the flock especially of the Bell-weathers or chief ring-leaders Or if Satan had not abated the edge of primitive zeal and resolution by that dishonourable peace concluded between Christianity and Gentilism after the settling of Goths and Vandals in these parts of Christendom had he not utterly benummed mankind by locking up their spiritual senses in midnight darkness and fettering their souls in superstition since the time he himself was let loose Rome Christian had seen more Martyrs even of such as did not much dissent from her in most opinions held within six hundred years of Christ in one year then Rome Heathen at any time had known in ten Even in Churches best Reformed it would be much easier I think to find store of just matter of Martyrdom then of men fit to make Martyrs And he that hath lived any long time in these quiet mansions and seats of Muses secure from Mars his broyls or external violence hath great cause either to magnifie the tender mercies of his gracious God or suspect himself for an Hypocrite if he have not suffered some degrees of Martyrdom But unto such as have been exercised therein it bringeth forth the quiet fruit of Righteousness Thus you see this Learned Doctor though in favour with the Rulers of the age he lived in did think that a man that would not be an Hypocrite but faithfully discharge his duty was likely to suffer Martyrdom from those of the same Profession with himself and that it must be by very great mercy from God or by hypocrisie and unfaithfulness in us if any Minister do scape the hands of the wicked that are of his own Profession So that you may see that meer Profession will make but a poor Agreement or Union among us Sin will be sin still and the flesh will rage still after its prey in unmortified Professors and the Word of God will still disgrace them and condemn them and consequently trouble them and exasperate them So that if you come no nearer to us then a Profession of the Christian Protestant Religion you will still be souldiers in the Army of the Devil and be still flying in the faces of true Believers whenever they do but cross you in your sins 3. Consider also What a poor benefit comparatively it is to your selves to be joyned with the Saints by a bare Profession and no more Will it make you happy to see their faces or live among them So do the bruit beasts and so do their Persecutors Will it make you happy to be called by the name of Christians No more then it maketh a Picture Rational to be called by the name of a man And what if by your parts and moral vertues you are some way helpful to the Church So is the wooden leg to the body which yet is not a member but a crutch 4. Yea me thinks it should rather double your sorrows that you are so miserable among the happy You live with them that have part in Christ when you have none in him You joyn with those that have the Spirit of God and an holy disposition and conversation when you have none You kneel by them whose Spirits are importunate with God in prayer when your hearts are dead You sit by them that are quickned and sanctified by the Word which to you is but a dead and empty sound You are famished among them that are feasting upon Christ and upon the precious promises of eternal life You are but as carkases among the living Their company maketh not you alive but your noysom conversation is grievous unto them unless it be some of you that are embalmed and beflowered with some common graces for the sakes of those that else would be more troubled with you And is this so great a comfort to you to be dead among the living and to be heirs of hell in the midst of them that are heirs of heaven Methinks till you are sanctified it should be a daily horrour to you to look them in the faces and think that they have Christ and grace and you have none and to hear in the holy Assemblies the mention of their happiness and the name of that God that Christ that Heaven where they must live for ever and in which their blessedness consisteth when you must be turned out into everlasting misery That you may not think I am singular in all this I will add here some humane testimony for confirmation of it Zenoras Comment in Epist. Canon Can. 45. ex Basil. M. Epist. 2. ad Amphiloch giveâ— us this as one of the Canons of the Greek Church received from Basiâ— If any one receiving the Name oâ— Christianity shall be a reproach iâ— Christ that is saith Zonaras by â— wiâ—ked life his Name or Appellation is no profit at all to him Anâ— even in the Roman Caâ—on Law this is one Canon taken out of Augustine Parvulus qui bâ—ptiz tur si ad annos rationales veniens nâ—crediderit nec ab illiritis abstinuerit nihil ei prodest quod parvulus accepit Decret part 3. dist 3. p. 1241. that is A Baptized Infant if when he comes to years of discretion doth not believe nor abstain from things unlawful it profiteth him nothing which he received in his infancy If it were needful after the Canons both of the Greek and Latine Church to give you the like words from particular Fathers I could soon perform it 5. You are so far from being Happy by your visible Church-state and outward Profession and Communion with the Church that you have the greater
sin and wâ—ll have the sorer punishment because among such examples such means and calls and mercies you yet resist the Grace of Christ and are void of that Holiness which your tongues Profess The poor Indians hear not that which you daily or weekly hear nor have the opportunities in publick and private that you have had If they lie in ignorance and unbelief they can say it is because they never read or heard the Scripture nor ever had a man to tell them of the blessed tidings of Redemption or open to them the way to life But so cannot you say for your selves They were the less excusable if they had seen but one of your dayes or joyned but once in those holy Assemblies which you profane The mouth of Christ himself hath told us concerning the rejecters of his Ministers and his Gospel that it shall be easier for Sodom in the day of Judgement then for them Mat. 10.15 You will find a hotter place in Hell that pass thither from those seats from this Assembly from such a neighbourhood and such a Nation then if you had passed thither from among the Turks oâ— Indians 6. Moreover there is in some respects less hope of your salvation that have long lived unconverted in the outward Communion of the Church then of other men As a sick man is in a more desperate case that hath long used the best and only means and all in vain then he that never used any I confess you have the advantage of being still under the means and that is your hope as long as it lasteth but then you have the dreadful symptom of frustrating these means and that is your terrour above those that yet remain without 7. Moreover if you agree with us but in Profession and outward Communion you will be thereby more capable of doing us the greater mischief I know God doth benefit his Church by many of the unsanctified as I said before But many others of them are the greatest plagues to it One enemy in our own Armies or in our Councils may do more against us then ten thousand open enemies abroad False-hearted Bishops Pastors yea and Magistraâ—es that have the Name and not the Nature of Christians are they that have betrayed the Church and broken it in pieces and made the cause of Christ a stepping-stone to their worldly ends It was a Doeg that betrayed David and Abimelech It was a Iudas that betrayed Christ himself You are now our daily hearers and live some of you civilly among us and take your selves confidently for Christians and Saints as well as others and secrâ—tly scorn those that would rob you of that honour as appropriating it unto themselves and say as Zedekiah to Micaiah when he struck him 1 King 22.24 Whiâ—h way went the Spirit of the Lord from me to speeak unto thee But if the times should turn and you had but your will at least if you were but forced or driven by Authority we should soon find many of you to be blood-thirsty enemies that now are so confident that you are Christians and true servants of God A little money would hire those Iudas'es to betray Christ and his Cause and Church that now are our familiars and put their hands into the same dish with the true Disciples While they are among us they are not of us and therefore when Temptations come they will be gone from us It s well if half this Assembly that are now hearing me would stick to Godliness if Godliness were but the persecuted scorned way of the times Yea if they would not forsake even the name it self of Christian and forsake these Assemblies and outward worship if the Rulers were against it and did but persecute it so that it must cost them any thing dear to hold it 8. Moreover these hollow-hearted Christians that agree with us but in the outside and the name are capable of dishonouring Christ and the Gospel much more then if they were open enemies If a professed Heathen or Infidel live wickedly this cannot be cast upon the Gospel or the Christian name nor can Christ and his servants be hit in the teeth with it or reproached by it But when those that take on them to be Christians and joyn with Christians in their publike worship shall live like Heathens or worse then some of them what greater wrong can be done to Christ will he not one day take such wretches by the throats and sâ—y If thou must have thy Pride and Drunkenness and Coveteousness if thou must needs swear and curse and rail or live an ungodly fleshy life thou shouldest have kept thee out of my Church and not have called thy self a Christian and taken an easier place in Hell Must thou bring thy wickedness into my house and among my servants to dishonour me Must I and my servants be reproached with thy crimes And this is one great cause why Christ hath appointed Discipline in his Church to admonish and Reform or reject the scandalous And this is the reason among many others why faithful Christians though they would make no unjust divisions and separations would yet have the Church of Christ kept clean by use of holy Discipline as he hath appointed Because it is from such false-hearted Professors usually that the name of Christ is reproached in the world These are they for the most part that make Turkes and Jewes and all other enemies say that Christians are as bad as others because those that are as bad as others do take on them to be Christians When Drunkards and Fornicators and Covetous persons and profane do come to the Congregation and say they are Christians when in heart and deed they are not what wonder then if Infidels and Enemies of the Church reproach us and say You see what Christians are How could a Papist do the Protestants a cunninger and surer mischief then to take on him a Protestant and then commit fornication or other horrid lewdness or joyn with some abominable Sect to make men think that the Protestants are such as these And how can you do Christ a greater wrong then to carry the dung of the world into his Church and to cover all the crimes of Infidels with the name and garb of Christianity that it may be said All these are the crimes of Christians And therefore it is that Christ and his faithful Ministers though they would have as many as is possible to be saved yet are not so forward to take in all as others be For Christ needeth not servants but it s they that need him and he had rather have a few that will honour him by mortifyed holy lives then a multitude that will but cause his name and Gospel to be reproached It is certain from Church-history that the holy life of some one or few persons as Gregory Thaumaturgus Macarius and many the like hath drawn in multitudes and converted Countries to the faith when the wickedness of whole Towns and
avoid them and the causers and fomenters of them There was never Master so much for Unity as Christ and never was there a Law or a Religion that did so much condemne Divisions and command brotherly Love and Peace and concord and forbearing and forgiving one another as the Christian Law and Religion doth And will you yet say that our Divisions are long of our Religion or of Christ the author of it You may as wisely say that eating is the cause of weakness because that some are weak for all their meat But you will find that none can live without it Or you may say as wisely that Physicians are the causes of the diseases of the world because they do not cure them all I tell you there is none in all the world that have done so much for Unity and Peace as Christ hath done No all the world set together have not done half so much for it as he He hath preached Peace and Unity forgiving and forbearing and Loving one another yea Loving our enemies and he hath gone before us in the perfect practice of what he taught He hath offered himself a Sacrifice to the Justice of his Father that by his blood he might reconcile us unto God He is the great Peacemaker between God and man between Jews and Gentiles taking away the enmity and becoming himself the Head of our Unity and giving us One Spirit one faith one baptism that we might be One in him who is One with the Father So that to charge the Center of Unity with our Divisions and the Prince of Peace himself with our Discords or his holy Word or waies with our Disagreements is all one as to charge the Sun with Darkness and to say that our Law-givers and Laws are the causes of theft and murder and Adultery which condemne them to death that are proved guilty of them The cause of all our disagreements and divisions is because we are no more Holy then we are and because we are no more Religious So that I may leave it now as a Proved Truth that we must Unite in the Spirit and Agree in Holiness of Heart and life if ever we will have true Unity and Agreement AND now Sirs you have seen the only way of Unity opened to you It s plain and past all doubt before you If yet you will divide from God and his servants and if yet you will be numbered with the straglers or quarrellers do not say but Peace was opened and offered to you Do not say You could not have Peace but that you would not Do not say any more hereafter that there were so many Religions and so many waies that you could not tell which to joyn with Never more pretend the differences of the godly as a cloak for your ungodliness I have opened the nakedness of such pretences You shall not be able when your lives are scan'd to look God in the face with such an unreasonable impudent pretence Your consciences and the world shall then be witnesses of your shame that while you cryed out of Sects and heresies and were offended at the Divisions of the Church it was your selves that were the cause of it It was you and such as you that were the great Dividers and that obstinately proceeded in your Divisions when the way of Peace was opened to you and would not be United in the Spirit to Christ nor would not Agree in Holiness with his Church when you were acquainted that there was no other way to Peace Would you but have joyned in a firm and everlaling Covenant to God the Father Son and Holy Ghost as your only Creator Redeemer and Sanctifyer as members of the Holy Catholick Church and have lived in the Communion of the Saints you should have received the Forgiveness of sins the Resurrection of the just and Everlasting Life But in refusing and obstinate refusing these you refused all your hopes of Blessedness and wilfully cast your selves on the wrath of God and therefore must endure it for ever THE last Advice that I have to give upon the ground of this Doctrine is To all that are United in the Spirit and Agreed upon an Holy life I mean to say but little to you now but briefly to tender you these two requests 1. I beseech you Christians but to live as Christians in that holy Unity as your principles and profession do engage you to Hath true Christianity and Holiness such abundance of advantages against division and yet will you be guilty of it Against all these bonds and healing principles and helps will you be dividers Doth it not grieve you and even break your hearts to hear ungodly persons say that Professors are of so many minds and partyes that they know not which of them to follow and that we had never concord since you bore sway O do not seek by your contentious wayes to perswade people that Holiness is a dividing thing and that Religion doth but tend to set the world together by the eares Is it not a precious mercy to us of this place that we have among us but one Church and one Religion and and have not Church against Church and Christian against Christian I charge you from the Lord that you be thankful for this benefit and that you look upon divided places and compare their case with yours that if ever dividers come amongst you the sense of your felicity in this blessed Unity may cause you to reject them and that you do not suffer any Dalilah to rob you of your strength and glory Were you but once here in pieces among your selves what a scorn would you be to all the ungodly what sport would it be to them to hear you disputing against one another and reproaching and condemning one another as bitterly as the wicked do reproach you all Do you not pitty those places where divisions have made Religion to be a scorn and the tender Love and Unity of the Saints is turned into uncharitable censures and separations Take warning then that you come not to the like If you should you would be as unexcusable as any People in the world because you have tryed and tasted so much of the sweetness and benefits of Unity as you have done shew men by your lives that Holiness is the most certain way to Unity as ever you desire either to propagate Holiness or to have any evidence of it in your selves 2. Judge by this undoubted truth of any doctrine that shall be offered you and of the wayes of men and of your selves 1. Suspect that doctrine that tendeth to divisions in the Church If it be not for Unity it is not of God Rom 16.17 Christ came to heal and reconcile and is the Prince of Peace and therefore sendeth not his servants on a contrary errand He will justifie your dividing from the unbelieving world but he hateth dividing among his servants He that 's for Church-division is not in that for Christ or you 2.
What ever holiness they may pretend to adhere not to those men and think not too highly of them that are for Divisions among the Churches or servants of the Lord. You 'l see them repent or come to shame and confusion at the last You flie from Christ if you flie from Unity 3. Think not that you have any more of the Spirit or of Holiness than you have of Love to the Unity of the Saints It is the spirit of Satan and not of Christ that leadeth you to Church-divisions It is a counterfeit Holiness that maketh you not desirous of Unity with all the Saints If you be not first pure and then peaceable your wisdom is not from above As you would all take that man to be an enemy to Holiness that is an enemy to Chastity Temperance or common honesty So have you reason to think of him that is an enemy to the Churches Unity and Peace Shew that you have the Spirit by the Unity of the Spirit and shew that you are Holy by loving the Union and Communion of the Saints Rom. 14.1 Him that is weak in the Faith receive ye but not to doubtful Disputations I Have already proved to you in the foregoing Discourse 1. That the true Unity of the Church of Christ is a Unity of the Spirit and that the unsanctified are the causes of our Divisions 2. That a Unity in meer Profession is but a low and miserable Unity which will not satisfie nor serve the turn 3. That a Unity in the Spirit of Holiness is a great advantage for the healing of all our lesser differences or that we may do well for all those differences if we are truly sanctified I come now to the fourth and last part of my Discourse which is to shew you that It is not the will of God that the Vnity of his Church should consist in things indifferent or in the smaller matters or in points of doubtfull Disputation To which end I have chosen this Text in which Paul doth purposely and plainly lay down this point in order to the reconciling of a difference that was then among the Romans I shall not now stand to discuss whether the weak that Paul here speaks of were some Christians tainted with a Pythagorear conceit and guilty of some excessive Austerities which some have thought 1. Because here is no mention of Circumcision 2. and because they are said to eat herbs only or whether it were some Converts of the Jews that scrupled the forsaking of their ancient Ceremonies which is the common and likelier Exposition 1. The person here spoken of is Him that iâ— weak in the Faith that is who is yet so ignorant in the Doctrine of â—aith as not to know that these Ceremonies are abolished or these matters are no part of duty which he placeth duty in and consequently who is so weak in Conscience as that he dare not omit the observation of these days and Ceremonies The Points in which the weakness of these persons is said to be manifested are 1. In their abstaining from flesh and eating herbs 2. In their observation of certain days as Holy 2. The thing commanded is that these persons for all their weakness be Received that is 1. Into brotherly internal Charity 2. Into Christian external Communion For it seems that by reason of this their weakness there grew Divisions in the Church The weak were so self-conceited as to censure the strong because they did not observe their Ceremonies And the strong were too contemptuous of the weak and made light of them as a superstitious people unfit for their Communion Paul chides them both the weak for censuring the strong and the strong for contemning the weak and commandeth that for the future the weak forbear his judging and the strong Receive the weak whom they contemned and so that they joyn in inward Love and external Communion 3. And he addeth this caution for the manner of their reception and behaviour that it must not be to doubtfull Disputations either to the censuring of one another or to unseasonable uncharitable contendings and disputes about these smaller things Three things Paul seemeth to suppose in the matter of their controversie 1. That they were matter of some Indifferency 2. That they were small and of lowest consideration in Religion 3. That to the weak they were so dark and doubtfull as to be the matter of Disputes But for all these he would have no breach in their Charity or Communion One doubt we must not overpâ—ss And that is How this will stand with what he saith in the Epistle to the Galathians Here he saith Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not One man esteemeth one day above another another esteemeth every day alike Let every man be fully perswaded in his own minde But there he saith Ye observe days and moneths and times and years I am afraid of you lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain Gal. 4.10 11. And of Circumcision Gal. 5.2 3. Behold I Paul say unto you If ye be Circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing for I testifie again to every man that is circumcised that he is a debtor to do the whole Law â—or the understanding of this you must observe 1. That there is a great difference between Circumcision and the Ceremonies here spoken of 2. And between the outward act of Circumcision and the Sacrament of Circumcision as appointed by God 3. And there is a great difference between the using it as necessary to Justification and the using the outward part only for some lawfull end 4. And between the time when the Gospel was but newly revealed and the time when it was oft and fully declared to the world 5. And between those that are ignorant for want of full information and those that are obstinate after long instruction 6. And between those that scruple the omission of such Ceremonies themselves and those that would obtrude them as necessary upon others Observing these distinctions you may see the difficulty plainly resolved as followeth 1. In this Text Rom. 14. Paul speaketh not of Circumcision but of meats and days only For Circumcision engaged men further to Moses Law then these single Ceremonies 2. When Paul saith he was afraid of the Galathians because of their observation of days and weeks and moneths he means because they still adhered to the abrogated Law after so long and plain Instruction 3. And though he circumcised Timothy Acts 16.3 and yet speak against it Gal. 5.2 3. the difference of the Cases is exceeding great For 1. It was but the outward Circumcision of the flesh that he used with Timothy as with one that did not intend by it any engagement to Moses or necessity of it to Justification But it was the entire Sacrament of Circumcision which was pretended to continue necessary by the false Teachers and which he exhorted the Galathians to refuse And Circumcision as a Sacrament doth signifie two principal things