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
that it is impossible that Unity should consist in these 3. Furthermore if our Unity were laid on these Religion would be for none but the learned and as the Ancients ordinarily argue against the Heathens that cavilled at the plainness of the Scripture God should be then Partial and should make a way to Heaven that poor men cannot go For the poor cannot possibly attain to so much Learning and spend so much of their lives in study as may bring them to the knowledge of all these lower difficult points 4. Yea if our Unity or Salvation lay on these it is certain it would shut us out all both from Unity and Salvation so that there would no two be at Unity in all the world and no One be saved For all men on earth are Ignorant in many lesser truths even such as are revealed to us in the Scripture and we should endeavour to understand What man dare affirm that he understandeth every word of the Holy Scripture Did the Pope himself think that he had attained to this Infallibility he would ere this have written us an infallible Commentary If the best must say with Paul himself we know but in part then sure those smaller doubtful things which all the truly sanctified know not are not the matter of the Unity of the Church 5. I have shewed in my Discourse of the Catholick Church that to shut out all from the Church and our Communion that differ from us in such lower things is utterly against the design of Christ and the tenour of the Gospel and very dishonourable to him and to his Church God hath more mercy then to shut out the weak and will you dishonour him so far as to perswade the world that he hath no such mercy The design of the Gospel is Grace and Love How tender was Christ even of his little ones that believe in him How compassionate is he to them in their infirmities And would you go about to perswade the world that he hath so little of this compassion as that he will admit none to Heaven or to the Communion of his Church but those that attain to Knowledge and Agreement in all these lesser doubtful Controversies and indifferent things The Church is small enough already but if you would cut off all that do not Agree in every circumstance you would make it small indeed This is no better then under pretence of Faith and Unity to un-Church the Church and damn your selves and all the world 6. The Arguments in the Text are very forcible verse 3. For God hath received him As if he should say Dare you despise or cast out him that God receiveth ver 4. Who art thou that judgest another mans servant ver 10. Why dost thou judge thy brother or why dost thou set at naught thy brother we shall all stand before the judgement seat of Christ The Church doth not censure men for small or doubtful things nor must we condemn those that God doth not condemn 7. The laying such stress on smaller things doth multiply controversies and fill the minds of men with scruples and ensnare their consciences and engage men in parties against each other to the certain breach of Charity and ruine of the Peace of the Church and of their souls The fire of Contention will never go out for want of fewel if unnecessary things be made necessary and small things pretended to be great uncertain things pretended to be certain Abundance of vice will be daily set and kept at work upon this borrowed stock 8. And what a world of precious Time will be wasted by this means while men are Studying and Reading to maintain their own opinions and when they must waste their hours when they are together in Conferences and wrangling-Disputations to the discomposing of their own and others minds and certain troubling the Church of God! Oh what use have we for those precious hours for surer greater and more needful things 9. The things that our salvation and the Churches Peace are indeed laid upon are so great so necessary so pleasant and so profitable that it leaveth us the more without excuse to waste our time in things unnecessary We have our great Creator to know and honour we have the mysterie of Redemption to search into and admire we have the Nature and Life and Death and Resurrection and Ascension and Glorification and Intercession of Christ to study and believe and all the Love and Wisdom of God the Mercy and the Holiness and Justice that was revealed in him we have Judgment to prepare for all the Graces of the Spirit of Christ to be received or cherished increased and exercised in our Souls We have a Hell to scape and a Heaven to obtain and the foreseen glory of it to feed upon for the strengthning and delighting of our Souls we have many particular duties of Holiness and Righteousness to attend And in the midst of all this great employment should we make more work and trouble to our selves and that about unnecessary things 10. These unnecessary or lower things when once they are advanced above their ranck do undermine and wrong the greater matters which they pretended to befriend They divert the thoughts and speeches from them and take up the affections and will not be contented with their due proportion but are as the Proverb is like a Begger on horse-back that will never light If men be but set upon Ceremonies or private opinions of their own they are upon it in all companies and you shall sometimes have almost nothing else from them And that 's not all but the Interest of their unnecessary or lower points is ordinarily set up against the Interest of that Body of Christian Verities which we are all agreed in so that they can be contented that Christianity lose much advantage in the greater points that their cause may be advantaged If this were not so we should not have had ceremonies formalities have cast out such abundance of excellent Preachers heretofore Nor private Opinions have set so many against the labours of faithful Ministers as to our grief and shame we have lately seen And the mischief is that unnecessary things made necessary do so involve the Imposers interest with their own that they think they are Necessitated to drive them on and see their Impositions obeyed or else their wisdom or authority is 〈◊〉 â—1 And thus they directly lead men to persecution and occasion those that must needs have their wills to Lord it over Gods heritage 1 Pet. 5.3 when the desire of being the Churches God hath prevailed so far with any of its members as to set them upon a course of Law-giving and domineering and bringing others into a conformity to their wills they look upon all men as sinners that disobey them and think that their power will warrant them to force â—â—edience to their commands or 〈◊〉 to deprive the Church of her Pastors Many a Congregation have I known change
out against Divisions when your hearts are thus divided from God and his servants You must learn to Love them with a special Love and Christ in them before you can be United with them 14. There is no Unity to be had wiâ—hout a Love to the Body that you are United to You must Love the Church and long for its prosperity and the success of the Gospel and the downfall of wickedness Thus do the Saints but thus do not the ungodly Nay many of them are glad when they hear of any evil befall the godly 15. There is no true Vnity without a singular respect to the special members that are the ligaments and chief Instruments of Unity even the Officers of the Church and most useful members The Overseers of the Church must be highly esteemed in Love for their work sake 1 Thes. 5.12 Thâ—s do the godly but not the ungodly 16. There must be an inward inclination to the Communion of Saints before there can be any agreement and Unity All that are of the Holy Catholick Church must desire the Communion of Saints Their delight must be in them Psal. 16.3 But the ungodly have no such delight in their Communion 17. If you will have Vnity and Communion with the Church you must have a Love to the Holy Ordinances which are the means of Communion as to the Word of God heard and read to Prayer Sacraments Confession c. But the ungodly have either a distaste of these or but a common delight in the outside and not in the Spirit of the Ordinance And therefore they cannot agree with the Church when you loath that which is our mâ—at and drink and we cannot feed at one Table together what Agreement can there be 18. If you will Agree you must wâ—rk in the same Vineyard and labour in the same employment and walk the same way as the sanctified do And that is in a way of holiness and righteousness giving all diligence to make your calling and election sure 2 Pet. 1.10 If you live to the flesh and they live to the Spirit Rom. 8.5 13. What Unity and Agreement can there be 19. There is no Unity to be had unless you will joyn in a defensive and offensive league and in an opposition to that which would tend to our destruction What Common-wealth will Unite with them that defend their enemies and rebels There is an enmity put in the beginning between the seed of the woman and of the Serpent Gen. 3.15 Because we are not of the world the world will hate us Iohn 15.19 If you will be United to the Church and people of Christ you must be at enmity with sin and hate it and joyn for the destroying of it and you must be souldiers in Christs Army which the Devil and his army fight against and you must fight against the flesh the world and the devil and not live in friendship with them But this the unsanctified will not do 20. And therefore because you will not be United to them in the state and Kingdom of Grace you shall not be United with them in the state and Kingdom of Glory And thus I have made it plain to you that none can have true Union with the Church of Christ but only they that are sanctified by the Spirit Use I. BY this time you may see if you are willing to see who it is long of that the world is all in pieces by divisions and who are the greatest hinderers of Unity Even unsanctified ungodly men And you may see how fit these men are to cry out against Divisions that are the principal causes of them And how wisely they deal to cry up Unity and in the mean time resist the only ground and way of Unity As Ioshua said to Achan 7.25 Why hast thou troubled us the Lord shall trouble thee this day So I may say to all the ungodly Why trouble you the Church and hinder Vnity you shall one day have trouble your selves for this They cry out against the Ministry and others that fear God as Ahab did to Elijah Art thou he that troubleth Israel But saith Elijah It is thou and thy Fathers house that trouble Israel in that ye have forsaken the Commandment of the Lord 1 King 18.17 18. Sirs I tell you and I may confidently tell you when I have proved it so fully that it is the ungodly that are the great Dividers of the world It s you that make the breach and keep it open We are willing to agree to any thing that is reasonable or pâ—ssible but there is no possibility of Agreeing with the ungodly unless they will turn It would make any honest heart to ake to see these wreâ—ches set all on fire and then cry out against others as the Authors of it As Nero set Rome on fire and then persecuted the Christians for it as if it had been done by them They pluck up the Foundations and hold most damnable practical errours and when they have done they go about reviling other men as erroneous I speak not in the excuse or extenuation of other mens errours I have spoke my part against them also But I tell you it is the prophane and ignorant rabble and all the ungodly whether Gentlemen Schollars or of what rank soever that are the great dividers and stand at the greatest distance from Christian Unity O what a happy Church should we have for all the sects that trouble us so much if it were not for ungodliness that animateth some of those sects and virtually containeth many more Had we none but men fearing God to deal with we should have no opposition to the Essentials of Religion and we should still have the comfort of agreeing with them in all things necessary to salvation They would carry on their differences in Christian meekness charity and moderation and at the worst our Agreement would be greater then our disagreement But when we have to deal with haters of holiness or at least with men that are strangers to the sanctifying work of the Spirit we have predominant Pride and Selfishness and Covetousness to strive against We have radicated Infidelity and enmity to God and holiness giving life and strength to all their errours and making them stubborn and wilful and scornful against the clearest truths that can be shewed them There is no dealing effectually with a carnal heart for any but God himself Unless we can create light in them as well as reveal the truth to them what good can we do them What good doth the Sun to a man that is blind They have understandings left and therefore they can err but they have no heavenly light in them and therefore they cannot choose but err They have wills and therefore are capable of sin but they have no holy rectitude of them and therefore sin they will with obstinacy When we dispute with the godly that err through weakness we deal with men that have eyes in their heads and
life in their souls and some favour and experience of the matters of God But when we dispute with the ungodly we deal with the blind we talk to the dead we offer the bread of life to men that have no appetite or savour of it yea we speak for God to enemies of God and for truth to the natural enemies of such truths and the more obstinate enemies because they know it not Had we nothing but mistakes to argue against and had we but to do with men that have the free use of their reason we should do well enough with them But when we must perswade the deaf the distracted and the dead when we must dispute with Pride and Passion and Enmity and perswade a Lyon to become a Lamb and a Serpent to lay by his venom no wonder if we find a difficult task of it Had we none but the Godly to deal with we should have abundant advantage for success we should deal with men that Love the truth and are willing to use right means to discover it They would pray with us for truth as well as dispute they would with meekness search the Scripture and see whether these things be so or not They would yield to light when it appeareth to them and not in prison it in unrighteousness And it would move us to more tender dealing with them while we see and love Christ in them and when we remember that the men that we now dispute with we must live with in Heaven and join with in the everlasting Praises of the Lord. I profess Sirs I speak to you from sad experience I have been troubled with Antinomians and Anabaptists and other errours in well-meaning men as much as most And many a daies work they have made me in writing and disputing against them But alas this is nothing to the trouble that the profane ungodly do put me to I thank God I have dealt with all these errours with so good success that I live in peace by them and I know not of an Anabaptist or Socinian or Arminian or Quaker or Separatist or any such sect in the Town where I live except half a dozen Papists that never heard me But Infidels Atheists ungodly wretches I am pestered with still One heresie called Drunkenness that denyeth the use of reason it self doth still walk the streets in despight of all that I can say or all that the Magistrates will do and none of us all are able to confute them In one hours time they will fetch more arguments from the Alehouse then all the reason in the Town can effectually answer And as the ungodly are most desperately principled of any Hereticks in the world both for the quality and the radication of their errours so there are far greater numbers of them then of all other Heresies set together It may be we have one or two Anabaptists in a Parish and in some Parishes none in some few it may be twenty But O that I could say I had not twenty and twenty and twenty and twice twenty more unsanctified ungodly persons in my Parish though I hope there is as many better as in any Parish I know Alas Sirs into how many Parishes may you go and find gross ignorance profaneness worldliness contempt of God and heavenly things to be their common air which they breath in and the natural complexion of the inhabitants as blackness is to Ethiopians It is a blessed Parish that of three thousand inhabitants hath not above two thousand natural hereticks even ungodly persons that are strangers to sanctification And who then do you think is likest to be the cause of our distractions and divisions Moreover let me tell you Profaneness and Ungodliness is not a single errour or heresie but it is the summe of all the heresies in the world You will think this strange when you see so many that joyn with us in a sound profession and some of them zealous defenders of the truth and many of them cry out against errours But alas they believe not that which they think they do believe They hold not that which they say they hold There 's much in their Creed that was never in their Belief Doubtless ungodliness is the nest of all the Heresies in the world Will you give me leave to instance in some particulars The greatest errour in the world is Atheism when men deny the Godhead it self And do not the most of the ungodly deny him in their hearts If he be not Just he is not God and they deny and hate his Justice If he be not Holy he is not God and they deny in their hearts and hate his Holiness If he be not True he is not God And they commonly believe that he is not true shew them where he hath said that none but the converted the sanctified the regenerate the heavenly the self-denying shall be saved and they will not believe that this will be made good but hope its false If he be not wise and be not the Governour of the world he is not God And these wretches quaâ—rel with his holy Laws as if they could tell how to mend them themselves and were wiser to make a Law then God is and by flat Rebellion deny his Government So that we may truly say with David Psal. 14. that these fools say in their hearts that there is no God or else they durst not say and do in his presence as they do Moreover Idolatry which is the setting up of false Gods is a most abominable damning sin And every ungodly man is guilty of it Covetousness is idolatry Eph. 5.5 and the sensual make their belly their God Phil. 3.18 And Pride and Selfishness which are the heart of the old man are nothing else but making our selves our Idols Every unsanctified man is his own Idol giving to himself the honour and pleasure and love that 's due to God alone and setting up his own will instead of Gods Polutheism which is the feigning of many Gods is a most damnable errour And how many Gods have all that are ungodly No man departeth from the one true God but he makes to himself many false Gods in his stead His wealth and his credit and his throat and his recreation 〈◊〉 Rulers that are capable of hâ—rting him are all as his Gods and to them he gives that which is due to God only Infidelity is one of the most damning errours in the world when men believe not in Christ that bought them But this is the case of all the unsanctified An Opinion they have that the Gospel is true and Christ is the only Lord and Saviour but Infidelity is predominant in them and therefore should denominate them or else they should be saved if they were true Believers Never did they give an hours true entertainment to Christ in their hearts To set up a false Christ is one of the most damning sins in the world And what else do all the ungodly that place
they do not know their worth will you therefore think that swine are happier then men The Living are vext with strifes and controversies about almost all the matters in the world when the dead carkasses in the grave lie still in peace and are not troubled with any of these differences And will you say therefore that the dead corps is happyer then the living Sirs the case is very plain if you will see that thus it is as to the matter in hand It is a Death in sin and complyance with the times and carnal Interest and a disesteem of spiritual holy things that is the cause of the Agreement of the wicked But the godly know the worth of the things that you set light by and therefore make a greater matter of them then you and therefore no wonder if they have more debates and controversies about them 3. And this also is another Reason of the difference It is the Interest of Satan to Divide the servants of Christ but to Keep his own in Unity and Peace and therefore he will do what he can to accomplish it He knows that a Kingdom divided cannot stand And therefore he will do his worst to Divide Christs Kingdom and to keep his own from being divided By a deceitful Peace it is that he keeps his servants to him And by casting among them the matter of contentions and divisions he hopeth to get Christs followers from him So that the Devil himself is the promoter of your Unity and Concord but the destroyer of ours and therefore no wonder if you have fewer differences 4. Besides the way that ungodly men go in is so suited to the common corruption of nature that it is no wonder if they be all agreed All the world can agree to eat and drink and sleep And therefore all the sensual sinners in the world may easily agree upon an overloving of meat and drink and sleep and so of riches and honours and pleasures And as its easy so it is not much desirable no more then if you should all agree to cast your selves headlong into the Sea when every house is infected with the Plague there is an Agreement among them But had you not rather be one of those that disagree from them But to Agree in a holy heavenly life is contrary to corrupted nature and therfore no marvail if it be more difficult When a Physician hath an hundred Patients in hand he may easily get them all to Agree to eat and drink that which they desire But if he require them to forbear the things that they most Love because they will hurt them the understanding sort will agree to him but so will not the rest In a rotten house the fall of one bearer may occasion the fall of all the house because their weight inclines them downward But if you take up one stone and cast it upward all the rest of the stones in the heap will not flie upward with it It s easier to draw others with us down hill then up the hill 5. And it is considerable that the differences among the servants of Christ are not alwayes from themselves but from the ungodly enemies that contrive their dissentions and set them together by the ears that they may fish in troubled waters and the better attain their wicked ends It is the envious man that soweth these tares while we are asleep and casteth in this wildfire among us 6. Moreover one of the greatest causes of the troublesome breaches and divisions in the Church is because there are so many unsanctified persons among us that seem to be of us and to be truly godly when it is not so You think it is the godly that have these divisions when the most and worst of all our Divisions proceed from the ungodly that have an unsound and unrenewed heart under the cloak of piety and zeal For if they were truly gracious persons they durst not do as many of them do 1. They durst not so rashly and easily venture on novelties as they do without deliberation and reading and hearing what can be said on the other side 2. They durst not so easily make a division in the Church of Christ. 3. Nor so easily cast a stumbling-block before the weak and matter of reproach to our Christian profession before the wicked 4. Nor durst they so easily reproach and condemn and cast off the unanimous faithful Ministers of Christ. 5. Nor durst they so easily censure the universal Church in former ages as many of them do 6. Nor durst they sacrifice the success and honour of the Gospel and the common acknowledged Truths and the saving of mens souls thereby to their private opinions and ends 7. Nor durst they make so great a breach in Charity nor so arrogantly condemne or slight their brethren whose piety and soberness they cannot deny These with many other evidences do let us know that ungodly men crept in among us are the causes of most of our most dangerous divisions And will you lay the blame of this upon Religion which the Devil and the secret enemies of Religion do perform It s your dâ—shonour and not ours For these men are of your party though they seem to be of us Satan knows well enough that if he have not some of his followers to be spies in Christs Army and to raise mutinies there and betray the rest he is like to be the more unsuccesful in his attempts Was Iudas more a dishonour to Christ or to the Devil He was among the followers of Christ indeed but he told them beforehand of him that he was a Devil and he never betrayed Christ till Satan had entered into him 7. Lastly the Saints themselves are sanctified but in part and many in a low degree and being Imperfect in Holiness must needs be as Imperfect in holy Unity and Peace It is not their Holiness that causeth their contentions but the remnants of their sin And therefore it s but small credit to the way of sinners Were we but perfectly rid of the vices which you cherish and perfectly separated from the waies that you so much delight in and had we no remnants of your disease and sinful nature in us we should then have perfect Unity and Peace Do you think that its long of our Religion that we disagree No if we were but perfectly Religious we should be perfectly agreed It is because we are Holy in no greater a measure and not because we are Holy at all It is not because of the way of Godliness that we have chosen but because we walk no faster and no more carefully in that way It is our too oft stepping out of it and not our walking in it that breaketh our Peace with God and man and our own consciences Search all the Scripture and see where you can find that ever God encouraged his servants to divisions No but on the contrary he oft and earnestly cries them down and warneth all his followers to
Catholick Vnity OR The only way to bring us all to be of one Religion By Rich. Baxter To be read by such as are offended at the differences in Religion and are willing to do their part to heal them JAMES 3.17 But the Wisdom that is from above is first Pure then Peaceable Gentle easie to be intreated c. London Printed by R. W. for Thomas Underhill and Francis Tyton and are to be sold at the sign of the Anchor and Bible in Pauls Church-yard and at the three Daggers in Fleet-street 1660. To all those in the severall Parishes of these Nations that complain of the disagreements in matters of Religion Men and Brethren AS in the midst of all the impiety and dishonesty of the world it is some comfort to us that yet the Names of Piety and Honesty are still in credit and ungodliness and dishonesty are terms of disgrace so that those that will be ungodly and dishonest are fain to use the Mask and Vail of better names to hide their wickedness so also it is some comfort to us in the midst of the uncharitableness and discords of this age that yet the Names of Love and Concord â—ound so well and are honoured by those that are furthest from the Things For thus we seem agreed in the main cause and have this advantage in our debates that whatever shall be proved to be against Love and Unitâ— and Peace we are all oâ— us obliged by our professions to dâ—sown I may suppose that all that read these words will speak against the uncharitableness and contentâ—ons and divisions of the present times as well as I. Doth it grieve my soul to hear professed Christians so censoriously condemning and passionately reviling one another while they are proudly justifying themselves I suppose you 'l say It grieves you also Do I mourn in secret to see so many divisions and subdivisions and Church set up against Church and Pastors against Pastors in the same Parishes and each party labouring to disgrace the other and their way that they may promote their own I suppose you will say You do so tâ—o Do I lament it as the Nations shame that in Religion men are of so many minds and manage their differences so unpeaceably that it is become the stumbling block to the ungodly the grief of our friends and the derâ—sion of our enemies I know you will say that this also is your lamentation And is it not a wonder indeed that such a misery should be continued which all men are against and which cannot be continued but by our wilfull choice Is it not strange that we are so long without so great a blessing as Unity and Peace while all men say they love it â—nd desire it and while we may have it if we will But the cause is evident while men love Unity they hate the Holiness in which we must Unite While they love Peace they hate the necessary means by which it must be obtained and maintained The way of Peace they have not known or knowing it they do abhor it As well as they love Unity and Peace they love the Causes of discord and division much better The drunkard and whore-monger and worldling say they love the salvation of their souls But yet while they love and keep their sins they will miss of the salvation which they say they love And so while men love their ungodliness and dividing wayes we are little the better for their love of peace If men love Health and yet love Poyson and hate both medicine and wholsom food they may miss of health notwithstanding they love it Where know you a Parish in England that hath no disagreements in matters of Religion In this Parish where I live we have not several Congregations nor are we divided into such parties as in many other places But we have here the great division some are for Heaven and some for Earth some love a holy diligent life and others hate it some pray in their Families and teath them the word and fear of God and others do not some spend the Lords Day in holy exercises and others spend much of it in idleness and vanity some take the service of God for their delight and others are weary of it and live in ignorance because they will not be at the pains to learn Some make it the principal care and business of their lives to prepare for death and make sure of everlasting life and others will venture their souls on the wrath of God and cheat themselves by their own presumption rather then be at this sweet and necessary labour to be saved Some hate sin and make it their dayly work to root out the relicts of it from their hearts and lives and others love it and will not leave it but hate those that reprove them and endeavour their salvation And as long as this great division is unhealed what other means can bring us to any happy Unity It would make a mans heart bleed to consider of the folly of the ungodly rout that think it would be a happy Union if we could all agree to read one form of prayer while some love and others hate the holiness which they pray for and if we could all agree to use the sign of the Cross in Baptism while one half either understand not the Baptismall Covenant or wilfully violate it and neglect or hate and scorn that mortified holy life which by that solemn Vow and Covenant they are engaged to They are solicitous to bring us all to unity in the gesture of receiving the Sacrament of the Lords Supper while some take Christ and life and others take their own damnation When they should first agree in being all the faithfull servants of one Master they make a great matter of it that the servants of Christ and of the Devil may use the same bodily posture in that worship where their hearts are as different as spirit and flesh Poor people think that it is the want of Uniformity in certain Ceremonies of mans invention that is the cause of our great divisions and distractions When alas it is the want of unity in matters of greater consequence even of Faith and Love and Holiness as I have here shewed If once we were all children of one Father and living members of one Christ and all renewed by one sanctifying Spirit and aimed at one end and walked by one Rule the word of God and had that special Love to one another which Christ hath made the mark of his Disciples this were an Agreement to be rejoyced in indeed which would hold us together in the most comfortable relations and assure us that we shall live together with Christ in everlasting blessedness But alas if our Agreement be no better then to sit together in the same seats and say the same words and use the same gestures and Ceremonies our hearts will be still distant from each other our natures will be contrary and the
and conceits fulfilled even in the holy things of God or else they will revile the Pastors and make divisions in the Church And this is done by them that in other cases do seem sufficiently to reverence the place of publick Assembly as the house of God and that speak against private meetings though but for prayer repeating Sermons or singing to the praise of God while yet themselves are wilfully bent for such private meetings as are set up in opposition to the publick and that for the administration of so great an Ordinance as the Sacrament of Baptism and in cases where there is no necessity of prâ—vacy And who knows not that our Sacramentall Covenant with God and engagement to a Christian life and reception into a Christian state and priviledges is fitter to be done with the most honourable solemnity then in a conventicle in a private house Too many more such instances I could give you which shew who they be that are the enemies of our Unity Even those that cry out against divisions while they cauâ—e them and cry up Unity concord and obedience while they destroy them And shall we thus continue a division that doth prognosticate our Everlasting division Is there no Remedy for so great a misery when yet our poor ungodly neighbours mâ—y heal it if they will What if the Ministers of the severall Parishes should appoint one day of publick Conference with all the people of their Parishes together and desire all thâ—t are fit to speak to debate the case and give their Reasons why they concur not in their hearts and lives with the holy diligent servants of the Lord and let them heâ—r the Reasons why the godly dare not and cannot come over to their negligent ungodly course and so try who it is long of among them that they arâ— not of One mind and way what if the Ministers then urged it on them to agree all before they parted to unite on the terms which God will own and all uâ—animously to take that course that shall be found most agreeable to his Word and whoever doth bring the fullest proof that his course is best in reason the rest should promise to joyn wâ—th him What if we call the people together and bespeak them as Elijah did 1 Kings â—8 21 How long halt ye between two opinions If the Lord be God follow him but if Baal then follow him If a carâ—less ungodly worldly fleshly life be best and most please God and will comfort you most at death and judgement then hold on in the way that you are in and never purpose hereafter to repent of it but let us all become as sensuall as you But if it be only the life of faith and holiness and seeking first the Kingdom and Righteousness of God that God and Scripture and reason will justifie and that will comfort the soul in the hour of extremity and that you shall with a thousand times you had followed in everlasting misery when wishing is too late if now you continue to neglect it doth not câ—mmon reason then require that we all now agree to go that way which all will desire to be found in at the last One would think if a Minister should treat thus with his Parishioners and urge such a motion as this upon them they should not have the hearts or faces to deny or delay such a necessary Agreement and Engagement that would make their Parish and their souls so happy and which nothing but the Devil and the befooled corrupted minds of sinners hath any thing to say against And yet its likely we should either have such an answer as Elijah had even silence v. 21. The people answered him not a word Or else some plausible promise while we have them in a good mood which would quickly be broken come to nothing For indeed they are all engaged already by their baptismall Covenant and profession of Christianity to the very same thing and yet we see how little they regard it But yet because it is our duty to use the means for the Salvation and Concord of our people and wait on God by prayer for the success I have here shewed you the only way to both Read it impartially and then be your selves the Judges on whom the blame of our greatest and most dangerous divisions will be laid and for shame either give over complaining that men are of so many minds and profess your selves the enemies of Unity and Peace or else give over your damning and dividing course and yield to the Spirit of Christ that would Unite you to his Body and walk in Communion with his Saints and let not these warnings be hereafter a witness against you to your confusion which are intended for your salvation and the healing of our discords by An unworthy servant of Jesus Christ for the Calling and Edifying of his Members Rich. Baxter Decem. 10. 1659. The Contents THE Introduction and Explication of the Text to p. 14 Dâ—ct The true Vnity of the Catholick Church of Christ consisteth in this that they have all one sanctified Spirit within them p. 14 Explicâ—tory Propositions p. 16 Twenty Arguments to prove that Ungodliness is the great divider and that if ever there be a Vnion it must be by the ungodlies comeing ovâ—r to a holy life p. 19 Use 1. Shewing plainly who are the causes of our great divisions p. 37 Vngodliness is all Heretical opinions combined and reduced to practice p. 43 c. It is against every Article of the Creed and every one of the Commandments and every Petition of the Lords Prayer and every Ordinance of Worship p 65 They are worse then meer Sectaries p. 73 Use 2. How little cause the Papists have to glory when they draw an ungodly man meerly into their Church p. 80 Use 3. How falsly Papists and Quakers tell us that the ungodly persons are the fruit of our Ministery p. 83 Use 4. A serious Motion for Vnity and Peace to all that would have us of one Religion p. 88 Some more undenyable Reasons to prove that there is no other way of Vnity but this one p. 100 Quest. What is that Godliness that we must all unite in p. 136 Quest. What the nearer an Agreement should we be Do not the godly differ among themselves p. 178 Use 5. How little hope of perfect Vnity on earth And how much Vnity may be expected among the Godly p. 195 Quest. Whether Vnity in the Profession of one Faith Government and Worship may serve turn Ten discoveries of the insufficiency of a Vnion in meer profession p. 203 How much true godliness would conduce to heal our lesser differences and that we might do well notwithstanding them p. 234 Manifested in twenty four particulars Quest. How then comes it to pass that there are so many differences among those that you call godly Answered p. 288 Advice to the godly p. 308 Rom. 14.1 Explained p. 313 Doct. It is the will of God
admittance and access to God And will you now reâ—use and undo your selves The sanctâ—fied are Gods Jewels Mal. 3.17 his treasure and peculâ—ar people the beloved of his soul and his delight and the only people in the world that shall be saved This is true for God hath spoken it And you may be of this blessed number if you will God hath not separated you from them or shut you out by forbidding you to come among them O do not you separate and shut out your selves You see your godly neâ—gâ—bours in possession of this priviledge And may not you have it if you will May not you study the Wâ—rd of God and call upon him in prayer and seâ— your selves for heaven as well as they Where doâ—h the â—cripture command them to it any morâ— then you or forbâ—d yâ—u any more then them The door â—s open you may come in if you will You have the same means and call and offer and 〈◊〉 â—nd leave to 〈…〉 life as thâ—y And wâ—ll you 〈…〉 much of thediffâ—renâ—â— yâ—â—rselves as to be the only râ—â—users God hath done so much for you by the deâ—â—h of Christ and so orderâ—d the matter in the promises and offers of the Gospel that none of you shall be able to say at â—â—st I wâ—uld â—uin have bâ—en 〈◊〉 the blâ—ssed 〈◊〉 anâ—â—ain hâ—vâ— livâ—d in the Vniâ—n and Communiâ—â— of Saints but I 〈…〉 nâ—t give 〈◊〉 and Christ â—nd his Church wâ—ulâ— nâ—t râ—ceivâ—â—e and entertâ—in me Not a man â—r woman of you shall have this excuse And thâ—reforâ— come in and joyn with the Saints thank God that you may 8. And consider also that if you will not Agree with us in matter of Holiness we can never well make up the rest of our differences Our smaller Controversies will never be well agreed if you will not agree in the main But if this were Agreed we should in season certainly heal the rest It would make a mans heart ake to hâ—ar wretched sinners talk of our differences about Bishops and Ceremonies and Common-prayer and Holy-daies and Infant-Baptism and the like that are dead in their sins and are yet disagreed from us in the very bent of heart and life Alas Sirs you have other matters then these first to talk of and trouble your selves with A man that is ready to die of a Consumption should not be taking care to cure the warts or freckles in his face We have greater matters wherein we differ from you then kneeling at the Sacrament or observation of daies or other Ceremonies or doubtful opinions in matters of doctrine Let us first be Agreed all to serve One Master and seek One End and be Ruled by One Law and hate known sin and live a holy life and then we shall be ready to treat with you about a further Agreement But to talk of small matters when we differ in the greatest matters in the world as much as your souls are worth and in matters which Heaven or Hell lyeth on this is but childish trifling and whatever we may do for the Peace of the Church with such yet to your selves that will be small advantage Nay I must tell you that it is usually but the cunning of the Devil and the hypocrisie of your own hearts that makes you turn your talk to these controversies when the great breach is unhealed between Christ and you It s commonly made a shift to delude and quiet a debauched conscience Our poor people will not by any perswasion be drawn to an holy heavenly life but live in worldliness and fleshliness â—n swearing and drunkenness and lying and deceit and filthiness and proâ—anâ—ness and hate the Minister or Christian that doth reprove them and then forsooth they talk of Common-prayer Boâ—k and Holy-dayes and Bishops and knâ—eling at the Sacrament to makâ— oâ—hers and perhaps â—heir deluded hearts believe that this is the controversie and diffâ—rence And so a wretched drunkaâ—d or worldling peswades himsâ—lf that he is a Râ—ligious man as if the difference between him and he godly were but about these Ceremonies or Church-Orders When alas we differ in greater matterâ— as light and darkness life and death yea next to the difference between Heaven and Hell And I must tell you that you do but wrong the party or cause that you pretend to when you will â—eeds engage your selves among them What hath done more to the dishonour of the Bishops and Common-prayer Book and other late Orders and Ceremonies of the Church then to see and hear the rabble of drunkards swearers scorners at holiness and such like to plâ—ad for them and be violent defenders of them If you would devise how to shame these things and bring them down you can scarce contrive a more effectual waâ— thâ—n â—o set all the ungodly scandalous wretches to cry thâ—m up and become theâ—r Patrons For it wâ—ll make abundâ—nce of soberer people begin to question whether it be liâ—ely to be good that hath such Defenders on one side and Adversaries on the other side And therefore Sirs let us begin our closure and agreement in the main if you would be ever thâ— better for it and have Unity indeed And if you say What the neâ—rer shall we be for Agreement in the other things Do not the Godly still differ about Church-Government and Orders and Ceremonies I answer 1. If we never should be Agreed in these on earth we might bear it the more quietly because our very hearts and souls are United in the main even in matters abundance greater and in all that salvation is laid upon and therefore we have this comfort in thâ— midst of our differences that we shall all shortly come to Heaven and that perfection and blessed face of God will Unite and perfectly agree us in all things 2 In the mâ—an time we could hold a holy Communion with them in the substance of Gods Worship and we have a daily Communion with them in the Spirit and and an endeared Love to one another 3. And the Holiness of their natures will encline them to mannage our remaining differences with meekness humility self-denyal moderation and with great râ—spect to the safety of the whole Church and the honour of God and of the Gospel 4. And yet I must add that with such there is a far greater advantage to hâ—al the smallest difference that remains then with any other When we have one God to awâ— us and one Heaven to draw us and one Christ for our Head â—nd one Spirit and new nature to principâ—e us and dispose us and one Law to Rule us and have all one ultimaâ—e End and Interest heâ—e is a greâ—â— advantage for healing of any particular differences that may arise If the livâ—r or splâ—â—n or stomack or brain or lungs be unsound the sores that are without will hardly be cured yea if there were none these inward diseases may breed thâ—m but when all is well within the strength of nature without a medicine will do much
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
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
more of a mind among our selves But when your rotten ulcers and corrupted lives have raised a stink in our Assemblies this causeth our Division The Separatists stop their noses and are gone and will come here no more and the rest of us think that for your sakes and the Peace of the Church we should stay as long as well we can like Patient Surgeons that will not forsake their Patient because of a rotten stinking sore as long as there is any hope of cure or of saving the body by cutting off the rotten member And thus while some are more patient and charitable towards you and some are more impatient of your sin or else afraid of Gods displeasure for having communion with you here comes our divisions among our selves for your sakes And therefore if we were but Agreed in Holiness all this were ended There would then be no habituated Drunkard or worldling or railer or swearer or other ungodly persons in our Churches and then who could scruple communion with them and so what should hinder but we might all be one and yet will you not agree in this 7. Yea if we were united in the Spirit of Holiness the very Dividing unpeaceable Disposition of men would it self be healed and so we should have Peace For an uncharitable dividing disposition is part of the old man and of that unholiness which we must forsake And charity and meekness and a peaceable healing temper is Holiness it self And therefore this must needs do much to heal and reconcile us Read but Iames 3. throughout and it will satisfie you of this if you will be satisfied Those that pretend to be wiser then the rest of the godly and to have more illumination if yet they have bitter envying and strife in their hearts they Glory in vain and lie against the truth For this Wisdom descendeth not from above but is earthly sensual and devilish He that is truly wise and endued with knowledg in the Church must shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of Wisdom For the wisdom that is from above is first pure then Peaceable gentle easy to be intreated full of mercy and good fruits without partiality and without hypocrsie But where envying and strife is there is confusion and every evil work James 3.13 14 15 16 17. See here what a spirit sanctification doth contain and whether this be not the only healing way It is first indeed Pure but next it is Peaceable gentle and easy to be intreated They that cause Divisions and offences contrary to the Doctrine which is taught do not serve the Lord Iesus what ever they may pretend or think Peace and Holiness must be followed together Heb. 12.14 Yea Peace with all men if it be possible and in our power Rom. 12.18 so that by changing the unpeaceable Disposition and drying up the fountain of our strifes an Agreement in the Spirit would reconcile us 8. Moreover if we would all Agree in the spirit of Holiness it would destroy that Carnal selfish disposition and that end which is the dividing Interest and take away the bone of our contentions It is selfishness that causeth the great Divisions in Church and State and sets the world together in wars and quarrels Every unsanctified man is selfish his self and selfish interest is more to him then God and his interest And such men as these will never live with any man in peace any longer then they may have their will and way They will not agree with neighbours if self be but toucht by any They will have the Magistrate when ever he would punish them They will hate the Pastors of the Church if they faithfully discharge their offices in reproving them and calling them to Repentance and such Confession as is necessary to their cure If it were Father or Mother a selfish person cannot bear it if they go against his selfish interest There 's no living at peace with selfish men if you do but cross them in their credit or profit or sensual delights and this we must do unless we will incur the displeasure of our Lord. We are cast upon an Impossibility of living in Peace with wicked men For God hath commanded us to to rebuke them plainly and not to suffer sin upon them And if we disobey God to please men it will cost us dearer then their favour can repay But if we obey God and do our duty we are as sure to be hated and reproached with the most as that the earth is under our feet Give a wicked selfish sinner as plain Scripture and Reason as can be given and you shall not stir him from his selfish interest If you punish him or reprove him openly or exercise Church-censures on him or any way touch his carnal selfish interest and when you have done go about to satisfie him with Reason you may as well almost go Reason a hungry dog from his carrion or Reason a Wolf into the nature of a Lamb or Reason a Mastiff to be friends with a Bear Many a tryal I have made and many a time I have stopt their mouthes and satisfied them in reason that they ought to deny themselves and confess and forsake their sins and yield to God or made them confess so much at the least But their selfish minds were no more satisfied for all that then if I had never spoken to them Scripture is no Scripture nor Reason is no Reason to them nor God shall be no God to them if self do but contradict it and that is when ever he contradicteth self They can no more believe and Like and Love that doctrine or duty or counsel or course of life that crosseth self and calls them to any great self-denial then a child can love to be corrected So that self being so certain a Peace-breaker and disturber of the world and yet being the Reigning Principle in all that are unsanctified you may easily see that this is the hindrance of our Vnity and Concord and that sanctification must needs be the Principal remedy For sanctification is the destruction of selfishness and teacheth men self-denial and centreth all men in one Interest which is God Among the unsanctified there are as many Ends and Interests as Men For every one of them hath a self to Please And then what Unity can there be But the sanctified are all United in God as their common Principle End and All and therefore must needs be reconciled 9. Moreover if we could but all Agree in the Spirit of Holiness We should then overcome that pride and self-conceitedness that breaks our peace and raiseth errors and puts us into dissentions What makes us all so hardly to Agree and to be of so many minds and ways but that every man naturally is proud and self-conceited and wise in his own eyes and confident of every fancy of his own All his own Reasons seem strong to him and Gods own Reasons do seem unreasonable to him And can
pray themselves into Agreement 15. Moreover were we once United in the Spirit We should be under the Promise of Divine assistance which the unsanctified have no part in When we Pray for Light and Peace and Concord we have a promise to be heard and helpt at least in the time and measure as shall be fittest we have a promise of the Spirit to be our Teacher and to lead us into Truth We have promises for the maintaining and repairing of our healing Graces and our Communion-Graces our Love to Christ and one another our Patience and Meekness and the rest Aud this must needs be a great advantage to Unity and Agreement For God is partly engaged for it 16. And if we were United in the Spirit and Agreed in the main The Great Truths which we are agreed in would very much direct us to find out the rest which yet we differ in For these have an influence into all the rest and the rest are all connext to these and also linkt and knit together that we may finde out many by the help of one All holy Truths do befriend each other but especially the Great and Master points which the rest depend upon and flow from There is no way to a right Agreement in other points but by agreeing first in these Fundamental Rudiments 17. Also if we were once Agreed in Holiness we should have that continually within us and before us that would much take us off from vain contendings and from an over-zealous minding of smâ—ller things We should have so much to do with God in holy Duties and so much to do with our own hearts in searching them watching them and exciting them and mending them reproving and correcting them supporting and comforting them by the application of the Promises that we should have less time for quarrelling and less minde of it then the unsanctifyed have We should have so many great and practical Truths to digest and live upon that lesser and unnecessary matters which are the common causes of Contention would find less room Or at least we should allow each Truth its due proportion of our study and talk and zeal and so that lesser would have comparatively so small a share and be so exceeding seldom and remissly medled with that their would be the less danger of Contentions 18. Yea if once we were united in the Spirit the very forethought of an Everlasting Vnion in Heaven would have a continual influence upon our hearts for the healing of our breaches We should be thinking with our selves Shall we not shortly be all of one mind and heart and all be perfected with the blessed vision and Reconciling Light of the face of God! There will then be no dissention or division or unbrotherly censures or separations And should we now live so unlike our future life Shall we now be so unlike to what we must be for ever Shall we now cherish those heart-burnings and dissentions that must not enter with us into Heaven but be cast off among the rest of our miseries and shut out with the rest of our enemies and hated for ever by God and us Must we there be closed in perfect Love and be all imployed in the same holy Praise of God and our Redeemer and does it beseem us now to be censuring contending and separating from each other Thus the belief of the Life to come will be a more effectual means with the godly for Agreement then any that unsanctified men can use 19. Moreover they that have the Spirit of Holiness have a dear and special Love to Truth as well as unto Peace And therefore they have a great advantage for the receiving of it in all debates and consequently they are fairer for a just Agreement They are friends with the most searching spiritual truths But the ungodly have at enmity to all that Truth that would shew them their sin and misery and duty and make them holy and lead them up from the creature unto God And as the Proverb is He that would not know cannot understand When you deal with a wicked graceless heart you do not set Reason against Reason for it that were all we should soon have done but you set Reason against Will and Passion and Appetite and fleshly Interest and when you have convinced them you are little the neerer prevailing with them You may as well think to satisfie a hungry belly with Reasons or to tame a wild beast with Reasons or to humble the Proud and bring the sensual person to self-denial by all your Reasons For they Love not the Truth because they Love not the Duty that it would perswade them to and because they Love the sin that it would take from them There are two sorts of Satan in a wicked man that none but God can batter so as to win them that is A Proud and Ignorant mind and a Hard and sensual Heart Many a year have I been battering them by the Word of God from this place and yet with many can do no good But the sanctified heart that Loveth the Truth will meet it and welcome it and thankfully entertain it Love maketh a diligent hearer and a good schollar and giveth us hope that informations and debates may be succesful A godly man is so far from hating truth and flying from it that he would give all the riches of the world to purchase it He prayes and reads and studyeth for it and therefore hath great advantage to attain it 20. Moreover if we were all Agreed in Holiness and united in the Spirit of Christ we should Love the Truth in a Practical manner and we should know that every Truth of God hath its proper work to do upon the soul and therefore we should Love the end of each Truth better then the Truth it self And therefore we could not pretend the Truth against the Ends of Truth And therefore we should see to the security of those ends in all our debates and controversies We should not make havock of the Church of Christ nor easily be guilty of divisions nor quench our Love of God and of our Brethren under pretence of standing for the Truth which unsanctified men will easily do Truth is for Holiness and Love as its proper end Ungodly men will tread down Love and Holiness or at least disadvantage it and hinder it in the world for the exalting of their own conceits under the name of truth They will cure the Church by cutting it in pieces or by cutting the throat of it and are presently dismembering for every sore But with the godly it is not so 21. Moreover the sanctified have a great advantage for Agreement in that they have hearts that are subject to the Truth and will be True to it when they understand it Did they but know the right way they would presently walk in it Nothing is so dear to them that should not be forsaken for it or sacrificed to it But the wicked are false to
the Truths which they are acquainted with They hold it or imprison it in unrighteousness Rom. 1.18 and therefore is wrath revealed against them They like not to retain God in their knowledge and therefore God doth oft give them up to a reprobate mind Rom. 1.28 They receive not the truth in the love of it that they might be saved no wonder therefore if God give them up to strong delusions to believe a lye that all they might be damned that believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness 2 Thes. 2.10 11. When they know the Iudgement of God that they that do such things are worthy of death yet they do them and have pleasure in them that do them Rom. 1.32 We may well think that God will sooner reveal his Truth to them that will obey it then to them that will but bury it in the dunghil of a corrupted heart And that he will rather hold the candle to his servants that will work by it then to loyterers that will but play by it or thieves or fornicators that had rather it were put out or to enemies that would do mischief by it and will throw away the candlesticks the Ministers and put the candle into the thatch Is there not many an ungodly person that hears me this day that is convinced in his conscience that a holy life is best and yet will not follow it and obey his conscience Are there not convictions at the bottom that the diligent heavenly Christian whom thou reproachest is in a safer condition then thy self and yet thou wilt not imitate such Can you expect that God should acquaint such with his truth that are so false to it 22. If we were but all Agreed in true Holiness we should have the great advantage of a tender conscience together with an illuminated mind For spiritual wisdom with tenderness of conscience is a great part of sanctification And it is a great advantage in controversies and debates to be wise and tende-conscienced For wisdom makes men able to discern and a tender conscience will make them afraid of mistaking and contradicting the truth and will keep them from rashness and unadvisedness and levity so that such an one dare not venture so easily upon new conceits and will be more suspicious of himself and of any thing wherein himself is much concerned Especially if he see grâ—at probabilities against it or the judgment of the Universal Church or of many wise and godly men against it and see that its like to have ill effects in all such cases a godly man will be tender-conscienced and therefore cautelous But is it so with the ungodly no but clean contrary None so bold as the blind Solomons words describe them exactly Prov. 14.16 The fool rageth and is confident If he be in an error or entangled in any evil cause or way you know not what to say to him for his recovery The less he knows the more he despiseth knowledge and sets his face against his Teachers as if they were but fools to him and scorns to be Ruled by such as they whom God hath made his Rulers Will you go to dispute or debate the case with one of these why be sure of it they will put you down and have the day It would do a man good to dispute with a wise and learned or sober rational man and to be overcome by Reason and by Truth But no man will have so sure a conquest against you as he that hath the least of sense or reason He will go away and boast that you could not convince him As if a mad man should boast that the Physicians could not all of them cure him An obstreperous proud selfconceited fellow will never yield to the clearest reason nor never be put down We have a Proverb that Ther 's no gaping against an Oven especially if it be hot If he have passion as well as ignorance and a tongue he will have the best He that speaks nonsence sayth nothing while he seems to speak These men have the faculty of saying nothing an hour or two together in abundance of words And there 's no confuting a man that saith nothing Nonsence is unanswerable if there be but enough of it Who would dispute against a pair of bagpipes or against a company of boyes that whoote at him If you will make a match at barking or biteing a curre will be too hard for you And if you will try your skil or strength at kicking a horse will be too hard for you And if you will contend with multitude of words or by rage and confidence a fool will be too hard for you as you may see by Solomons descriptions and by daily experience But if you will dispute by equal sober Reasoning it is only a wiser man by evidence of Truth that can overcome you And to be thus overcome is better then to conquer For you have the better if Truth overcome you and you have the worse if you overcome the truth So that you may easily perceive what an exceeding hindrance to Unity and Peace it is to have to do with ungodly persons that are blind and proud and brazen-faced and of feared consciences that fear not God and therefore dare say anything as if they could out-face the truth and the God of Truth But the sanctified have Illuminated minds and therefore are the more capable of further information and they have tender consciences and therefore dare not be unadvised and contentious and strive against the light and therefore have great advantage for Agreement 23. And if all these Advantages should not yet so far prevail as to bring us up to a full Agreement yet if we be but united in the Spirit and a Holy life we should be the more easily able to bear with one another under all our lesser differences until the time of full Agreement come We should hold our differences as Brethren their diversity of statures and complexions or at least as common human frailties with Love and compassion and not with hatred and divisions We should Lovingly consult together upon Rules or terms on which we might manage our unavoidable differences to the least disadvantage to the cause of Christ and to the common Truths that we all maintain and to the work of God for other mens conversion and to the least advantage to sin and Satan and the malice of ungodly men And I think this is a fair Agreement for Imperfect persons short of Heaven to have Unity in the Spirit and Agreement in things of greatest weight and to bear with one another in smaller matters and manage our differences with meekness and with Peace 24. Lastly If all this be not enough there is yet more for our encouragement 1. If we are but once United in the Spirit and Agree in an Holy heart and life we have the infallible promise of God that we shall shortly all arrive in Heaven at the place and state of full