place let all such amongst us as fear the Lord and rejoyce to do his Will draw much comfort to their Souls from this Spring of Consolation What is there in the World that such men can reasonably be afraid of The Counsel of the Lord that shall stand when all the World hath done its worst and this is his Will and Counsel That nothing shall harm us if we be followers of that which is good 1 Pet. 3. 13. Against all the devices of Men or Devils this is our Armour of Proof Gods Will shall stand We know not indeed what sharp chastisements our manifold Sins may require but we know this that it is his Will thus to purge away our Dross and resine us for himself that we may be bound up among his Iewels We know not what strong Physick our diseased Souls may stand in need of but this we know we have both a wise and good Physician that knows our temper and what will fit it and whose end is his own honour in our life and health and who hath no delight in our torment nor design to destroy us If God permit the devices of wicked men of what Sect or Party soever they be to create us some disturbance it is but either by the smart we feel to confirm us more in our just dislike of such Religions as are to be upheld by Blood and Cruelty or if he bring us thus to the fiery Tryal to carry us the sooner into Heaven that we may be safe out of the reach of all infection or vexation A mans heart deviseth his way but the Lord directeth his steps Prov. 16. 9. The Pilot steareth but God gives the Wind and directs the Ship whither he pleaseth And this is the never failing comfort of all good men that God is always at the Helm The Clouds are turned round by his Counsels that they may do whatsoever he commandeth them upon the face of the World or the Earth He causeth it to come whether for Correction or for his Land or for Mercy Job 37. 12 13. Blessed be God we have often tasted of his Consolation and by our former Manifold Experiences of his goodness should learn yet more to comfort our selves with hopes of future Blessings and that he who hath so often delivered us already will deliver us unto the end There are but these three things can give us cause to doubt of it Our great unthankfulness for past Mercies our present uneasiness under and disobedience to his Government and our distrustfulness of his Providence Therefore that we may be able to comfort our selves in him and the Stability of his Counsels let us make sure of these things 1. That we heartily praise his Holy Name for all the rich Mercies we injoy and the great deliverances he hath wrought for us at all times and more particularly for those singular tokens of his Mercy in the many Deliverances and continued Preservation of the Person of our Dread Sovereign Lord the King a Mercy which many years Confusion and Misery should in all reason have taught us before this time how to value and which God himself may seem to commend to our special notice by those truely wonderful Methods he hath used to confer it upon us so wonderful that hardly any thing can seem more so then that there should be yet any among us whom the observation thereof hath not convinced of the vanity of all Rebellious and Treacherous devices Many devices and much talk there hath been of late about the Succession but had our Gracious King and his Royal Highness been taken in the Nets of their Enemies an unhappy end had been put to that dispute and who should have succeeded in the Throne any or none one or many it is happy for us we are not driven to consider A long Succession in all likelyhood we should have had of intolerable Calamities and might have despaired of seeing Peace in our days It is an easie thing to lop off more Boughs in an hour then will grow again in many years Governments are like Glasses the easiest things to break in pieces but the hardest to cement again 2. Let us continue in an absolute Obedience and resignation to God in all the Branches of his Divine Will and particularly in a subordinate Obedience unto his Anointed Let the fear of God overaw us in all our undertakings and let the same fear move us to Honour the King and restrain us from all disloyal Attempts and Thoughts There is no comfort for Rebels but what they must fetch from their own devices and before they can find any solid comfort in those they must cease to be rebellious either against God or the King by submitting all their devices to the Counsel of the Lord. 2. Let us place our whole trust in God alone for vain is the help of man His Breath goeth forth and all his thoughts perish Then we best honour God when in doing his Will sincerely we trust in him only and doubt not of his Protection who is both our King and our Father and our Merciful God He is of one mind and who can turn him And what his Soul desireth even that he doth for he performeth the thing that is appointed for us Job 23. 13 14. To conclude let all our devices be only such as may concentre in the Counsel of God and Gods Counsel shall be the strength and accomplishment of all our Devices Now to the Blessed and only Potentate the King of Kings and Lord of Lords the King Eternal Immortal Invisible the only Wise God who giveth Salvation unto Kings and delivereth his Servant our Gracious Sovereign from the hurtful Sword be Honour and Glory for ever and ever Amen THE CERTAIN RULE OF Peace and Love IN THE CHURCH Phil. II. 3. Let nothing be done through strife or vain-glory but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better then themselves THat Sacred Truth which our Blessed Iesus hath revealed unto us in his Gospel is the Doctrinal Foundation whereupon the Christian Church doth stand if this were lost there could be no such thing as that which we call a Christian Church upon Earth The joynt Consent of Christians in this Sacred Truth is the erecting of this Spiritual Building upon that firm Foundation and where this consent is not in the Fundamental Doctrines of Christianity the Church cannot be one The Love and Charity of Christians which they have in the first place unto Christ their Head as Members of one body united under him and living by him and in the next place unto each other mutually and suitably to their proper stations and offices in the Body is the Cement wherewith these living stones in this Spiritual Building are held together and where this decayeth the Walls chap and the House goes to ruine All this we may read in those words of St. Paul Ephes. 4. 15 16. where the Apostle telling us what care Christ took after his Ascension into
Heaven for the planting and governing of his Church upon Earth the edifying of the Body of Christ as he expresseth himself v. 12. saith all was to this end that speaking the truth in love we may grow up into him in all things increase in or unto him which is the Head even Christ. From whom the whole body fitly joyned together and compacted by that which every joynt supplieth according to the effectual working in the measure of every part maketh increase of the Body unto the edifying of it self in love Now if this be the great end for which Christ furnished men with gifts for the Preaching of his Gospel to all Nations that by imbracing that one truth Preached they might become one Body of Christ and continue united in love as the Members of the same Body governed and directed as well as enlivened by Christ the head of the Body and mutually caring for and assisting one another according to the measure or proportion Faculty or Office of every several part for the benefit of the whole its health and growth and preservation it can be no wonder here to find the Apostle so earnest in his Exhortation to Peace and Unity If saith he there be any consolation in Christ if any comfort of love if any fellowship of the spirit if any Bowels of Mercies It must needs be a matter of exceeding great weight and concernment we must needs conclude it is something whereby God is highly glorified and the Salvation of Christians greatly promoted which St. Paul would obtain at their hands by all these affectionate obtestations yea 't is such a thing as he saith would complete and perfect his joy fullfil ye my joy saith he He was now for the sake of that Gospel of Peace and Joy to them which he had Preached unto them a Prisoner in Bonds and he seemeth to desire no more to make his Bonds easie to him and his Imprisonment a delight but only this that they be like minded or mind the same thing having the same love of one accord of one mind That they would live in Unity loving one another mutually as one Body with but one Soul having the same affections carrying on the same designs all joyning heads and hearts and hands in a vigorous pursuit of the same end by the same Methods This is a request so very reasonable that a man would wonder what need there could be of ushering it in with so much earnestness the thing he desireth is so evidently good in it self so apparently conducive to the happiness both of Church and State wherever it is practiced so much the interest of every single Member of the Body that it is almost unimaginable how any man should be so absurd as not to gratifie with all readiness I say not the Apostle but himself in a matter wherein it is so visible that every mans private welfare is so deeply concerned What man is there among us that doth not profess himself of what Party or Faction soever he be most ready to joyn with the Church in singing Behold how good and how pleasant it is for Brethren to dwell together in Unity Psal. 133. 1. It is so without all doubt and all of us willingly grant it to be so yea and all of us would be glad to see it but then it must be upon those terms only as it can never be hoped for Like two Armies in the Field ready to joyn Battel both are very willing to hear of Peace and would be content not to hazard their lives in the Fight but each will have Peace on its own terms only and neither will abate an Ace of its own demands and so still they are agreed in nothing but in being unreasonable and desiring that which cannot be All the difficulty therefore is to find out an expedient whereby all Parties may agree not only in a general desire of Unity but also in the likeliest means or effecting it And truely this would be no very hard matter to bring about were we all really as good Christians as we would be thought to be We should not need to run as far as Rome to seek for an infallible Judge to put an end to our Divisions Which why any man should see cause to do I know not except he be perswaded that no hand can heal them but that which made them Would we but only have that real Veneration for the Holy Scriptures which all Protestants pretend to have and submit our Wills and Humours which some men have been apt to mis-call the Spirit to the directions of that Holy Spirit which we all acknowledge to be infallible and follow his advice concerning the means whose exhortation to the thing we all acknowledge to be very reasonable much of the difficulty would soon disappear In order to the establishment of so excellent and desirable a Blessing of Love and Peace and Unanimity among Christians something there is which must be laid aside as that which certainly obstructs and frustrates all Peaceable Attempts and something there is which must be learn'd and practised which will mainly promote this glorious design But men are not so ready to do either the one or the other as the Principles of Christianity oblige them to be What these things are we read in the Text. Let nothing be done through strife or vain-glory but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better then themselves Here we have the best expedient in the World for the maintaining both of Unity in Faith and Doctrine and of Unanimity in Love and Affection and of Uniformity of Practice and Behaviour and consequently of the Peace and Tranquility of both Kingdom and Church O that all they who profess themselves to be desirous of the happiness and prosperity of both as certainly all good Christians are would begin to account it their greatest Wisdome to learn with Christian Politicks of such as St. Paul men indued with the Spirit of Divine Wisdom which hath this double commendâ—tion that it is first pure and then peaceable Jam. 3. 17. And would lay aside that other kind of Wisdom which they have too long admired and been in love with which is earthly sensual and devilish where by envying and strife fill the World with confusion and every evil work v. 15 16. How soon would the World look with another face How soon should we see that happily effected to the unspeakable joy and glory of Christendom which hath so long miserably baffled all the great Wits of the World The Rules here given us to this end by the Apostle are two 1. The former shews us what we must remove out of the way that Peace and Love may enter and take possession in these words Let nothing be done through strife and vain-glory 2. The other teacheth us what is that right truely Christian temper of Spirit whereby Peace and Love may be cherished and maintained in these words But in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better
then themselves Let us now suppose not only that all who read this are in profession Christians but also sufficiently convinced that it is every mans both duty and interest strenuously to endeavour all he can in his proper Place and Calling that the Unity of the Spirit may be kept in the Bond of Peace as the Apostle exhorteth Ephes. 4. 3. That our Ierusalem may be as a City that is compact together Psal. 122. 3. That we may yet see those happy days wherein we may take sweet Counsel together and walk unto the House of God in company Psal. 55. 14. And this supposed the Business of this discourse is not to perswade such men to do what they can need no perswasion to do to desire the return of Peace and Unity in the Church but to take the right way to endeavour it and to put every man his hand to the work in good earnest Acting by those never-deceiving Rules which St. Paul hath here given us And this that we may all do our present Business is to learn 1. To understand 2. To use them And that in the same order as here they lie before us I. The first Rule here given us is this Let nothing be done through strife and vain-glory Or thus These two things strife and vain-glory must very carefully be avoided by us in all our Actings if we would contribute any thing to the Peace and Unity of the Church And God knows they are every where too visible as the two Doors at which all our Disputes and Divisions and whatsoever is destructive to true Concord and Unity then which nothing is a greater stranger among us at this day are wont to enter but never can find their way out again To learn first what these things are and Secondly how we are to remove them out of the way will be enough for the understanding of the first Rule and its use 1. Let nothing be done through strife or contention This strife is a quarrelsom humour a Spirit of Opposition and Contradiction a strange crossness of temper wherewith very many men are exceedingly troubled themselves and are as troublesome to others who are never well as long as they are quiet or suffer others to be quiet their very life seems to consist in being sick of every thing almost that they see or hear and they feed upon the faults and infirmities of Mankind The chief exercise of their Souls is to be always gainsaying and contending right or wrong They study not for the Truth but for the Maistery and pester the World with disputes and invectives not to confute Errors and shame Vice but to vent the boyling humor and to vex those by whom they are vexed tho not by any thing done to offend them 't is enough that they are not of their opinion and that they are such as they are pleased to choose out for their Adversaries and to shoot their poysoned Arrows at even bitter words Men of this currish snarling temper must be snapping at every thing that comes in their way and barking at all that comes not from themselves and usually the best things are with them the greatest faults if they be not the Authors of them as rarely they are of any good excent what by following their own litigious humour they may sometimes chance to stumble upon Something they must ever have whatever it cost them to oppose to every thing that another either affirms or denies This is certainly as wicked and devilish a temper as it must needs be very uneasie and that which hath served Satan to as many evil purposes as any evil himself was ever Father of A pious and ingenious Writer calls it very fitly the Devil's Goliah-stratagem which hath served him not only to desie but even to defeat the Armies of the Living God To these men may well be applied what the Apostle saith 1 Thes. 2. 15. They please not God and are contrary to all men In a word therefore by strife I suppose we are here to understand that froward and selfish humour whereby a man is so wedded to his own will and conceit that he is always in a posture of defyance to every thing that opposeth either and prizeth his own opinions only because they are his own above the best reasons of other men is discontented with every thing that suiteth not exactly with his own Sentiments or Desires and so idolizeth his own imaginations and inventions that he thinks the publick Welfare the Tranquility of the World and whatever else will not fall down and worship them but a cheap Sacrifice unto them This or something of it is the thing which we are in the first place to remove out of the way Now how great reason every man hath to correct this peccant humour in himself when ever he finds it stirring and wholly to disburden his Soul of it will be very easily discerned by him that shall consider but these three things 1. The evil root from which it grows 2. The utter inconsistency of it with the truth of Christianity And 3. The pernicious influence which it hath upon the Church 1. The root of it is not always one but whatever it be it is never good In some men it seems to be nothing else but a certain kind of Childishness or a Pettishness and Peevishness of Nature as Children are crying earnestly for every new thing they hear of and will by no fair means nor foul be quieted till they have it and when they have got it are as soon weary of it again and as apt to cry for something else though they cannot tell you what it is and it may be for that same thing again whereof but now they were so weary and those Children above all others that are the greatest fantlings and most indulged by fond Mothers are commonly noted to be of this pettish humour such a giddy inconstancy there seems to be in many men Some little things there be for or against which they are wont to be very eager and yet can they give no considerable reason either for their like or dislike of them but they are dissatisfied with what is present and tho they cannot well tell what to call it they are very angry with those in whose power they think it is to give them what they want and give it not Their phant'sies are keenly set upon it and quiet they will not nor cannot be without it nor will they suffer those that are near them to be at quiet for them Surely this is not the temper of a sober serious Christian who like a good natured Child is content so he have his wholesome Food which his Father alloweth him tho he cannot have it dressed according to his own phant'sie and is as unwilling as afraid to make any disturbance in his Fathers Family about things that are not of very great concernment In others this looks like a contracted Disease brought upon themselves by some disorderly usage of