be healed and that an End being put to our unaccountable Separations and the Unchristian Animosities they are the Occasion of we shall all join together in one Communion and with one mind and one mouth glorifie God as the Apostle expresses it God only knows But sure I am it is the Duty of every one of us heartily to Pray for it and not only so but in our Place and Station to contribute all we can towards it It was this Consideration that put me upon the Choice of these Words of St. Paul for my Argument at this time Let us therefore follow after the things that make for Peace In treating of which I shall endeavour Two things First To Explain the Duty here recommended by reducing it to its Particular Rules and Instances Secondly To set before you the great Obligations that lie upon us to the Practice of it As to the first of these things viz. what is contained or implied in this Duty of Following after the things that make for Peace you may be pleased to take notice That this Duty hath a twofold Object according to the two different Relations and Capacities in which we are to be considered namely the Church our Common Mother and Particular Christians our Brethren In the first Relation we are considered as Subjects in the other as Fellow Christians Now with respect to the former the Peace we are to pursue implies Obedience and the Preservation of Communion in opposition to Schism and Separation With respect to the latter it implies mutual Love and Charity in opposition to Quarrels and Contentions So that you see my Business upon this first Head must be to shew what are the Particulars of our Duty or what are the Things that make for Peace in both these Respects I begin with what is due from us to the Church in order to Peace as Peace stands in Contradistinction to Schism And this Point I shall beg leave to discuss very plainly and particularly because I fear many of us have wrong Notions about it And yet it is a matter of such Consequence that the right understanding of it would go a great way to the Cure of the sad Divisions that are among us What I have to say upon this Point I shall comprize in the four following Propositions taking my Rise from the first Principle of Church-Society The first Proposition I lay down is this That every Christian is by vertue of his Christianity a Member of the Church of Christ and is bound to join in External Communion with it where it can be had For the clearing of this let it be taken notice of That the Method which our Saviour set on foot for our Salvation doth not so much consider us as single Persons as joined together in one common Society It was his Design to gather to Himself a Church out of Mankind to erect and form a Body Politick of which Himself should be the Head and Particular Christians the Members and in this Method through Obedience to his Laws and Government to bring Men to Salvation This is variously set forth to us in the New Testament Joh. 15.1 Sometimes Christ and Christians are represented under the Notion of a Vine of which He is the Root and They are the Branches 1 Cor. 12. Sometimes under the Notion of a Natural Body of which Christ is the Head and all Believers the Members And accordingly what ever Christ is said to have done or suffered for Mankind he is said to have done or suffered for them not as Scattered Individuals but as Incorporated into a Church Eph. 5.25 Thus Christ loved the Church and gave himself for it Acts 20.28 Christ redeemed the Church with his own Blood Christ is the Saviour of his Body Eph. 5.23 that is to say the Church with many passages of the like Importance The plain Consequence from hence is that every Person so far as he is a Christian so far he is a Member of the Church And agreeably hereto it is very plain that Baptism which is by all acknowledged to be the Rite of Initiating us into Christianity is in Scripture declared to be the Rite whereby we are entred and admitted into the Church 1 Cor. 12.13 Thus St. Paul expresly tells us that by one Spirit we are all Baptized into one Body Now then it being thus evident that every Christian as a Christian is a Member of that Body of Christ which we call the Church there will be little need of taking pains to prove that every such person is obliged to joyn in External Communion with the Church where he can do so for the very nature of this Church-membership doth imply it Without this neither the Ends of Church-Society nor the Benefits accruing to us there from can be attained First not the Ends of it The Ends of Church-Society are the more Solemn Worship of God and the publick Profession of our Religion and the mutual Edification one of another Now how these can be in any measure attained without associating together in publick Assemblies and mutual Offices and other Acts of External Communion with one another cannot any ways be imagined And as little in the Second place can it be conceived how without this we can be made partakers of the Benefits and Privileges that Christ hath made over to the Members of his Church For we are to consider that God hath so ordered the matter and without doubt for this very reason to unite us the more firmly in Society that the Privileges of the Gospel such as Pardon of Sin and the Grace of the Holy Spirit are not ordinarily conveyed to us so immediately by God but that there must intervene the Ministery of Men. God's holy Word and Sacraments are the Channels in which they are derived to us and those to whom he hath committed the Ministery of Reconciliation and the Power of the Keys are the Hands that must dispense them We have no promise of Spiritual Graces but by these means so that in order to the partaking of them there is an absolute necessity laid upon us of joyning and communicating with the Church It is true indeed God doth not so tie himself up to these means but that he can and will in some cases confer the Benefits of them without them as in case of a General Apostasie of the Church or of Persecution for Religion or of an unjust Excommunication or any other case where Communion with a true visible Church is denied to us But though God doth act extraordinarily in extraordinary cases where these means cannot be had yet this doth not at all diminish much less take away the necessity of making use of them when they can be had From what hath been discoursed on this first Proposition we may by the way gather these two things I only name them 1. How untrue their Position is that maintain that all our Obligation to church-Church-Communion doth arise from a voluntary admission
Religious posture of mind but upon the plain natural frame and temper of your Souls as they constantly stand inclined to Virtue and Goodness A Man that seriously endeavours to live honestly and religiously may come to the Sacrament at an hour's warning and be a Worthy Receiver On the other side a Man that lives a careless or a sensual Life may set apart a whole Week or a whole Month for the exercising Repentance and preparing himself for the Communion and yet not be so worthy a Receiver as the other And yet he may be a worthy Receiver too provided he be really honest and sincere in the matter he goes about and provided that he remember his Vows afterward and do not sink again into his former state of carelesness and sensuality But to return to my point I do verily think that most of the doubts and fears and scruples that are commonly entertained among us about receiving the Sacrament are without ground or reason and that every well disposed Person that hath no other design in that action but to do his Duty to God and to express his belief and hopes in Jesus Christ and his thankfulness to God for him may as safely at any time come to the Lord's Table as he may come to Church to say his Prayers And if the case be so as I believe it is then of what a mighty privilege and benefit do they deprive themselves who when they have so many opportunities do so seldom join in that solemn Institution of our Lord which as I said was designed for no other purpose but to be the means of our growing in Grace and Virtue in Love to God and to all the Word O therefore my Brethren let me beg of you not to be strangers at the Lord's Table But I need not beg it of you for I am sure you will not whensoever it shall please God to put it into your hearts seriously to mind the concernments of your Souls and to be heartily sensible of the need you stand in of the Grace of Christ for the leading a holy and pure Life I have but one thing more in the Sixth place to leave with you and I have done It is not indeed of the nature of those things I have last recommended to you that is a means or instrument of growing more Virtuous But it is a principal Virtue it self And I do therefore recommend it to you because it is at all times useful at all times seasonable but more especially it seems to be so now And that is That you would walk in Love and study Peace and Unity and live in all dutiful subjection to those whom God hath set over you and endeavour in your publick stations to promote the publick Happiness and Tranquillity as much as is possible But by no means upon any pretence whatsoever to disturb the publick Peace or to be any way concerned with them that do by no means ever to ingage in any Party oâ— Faction and least of all any Faction in Religion which is grounded upon a State-point I am sorry the posture of things among us gives me occasion to mention this matter but it is too visible to what a height our animosities and discontents are grown and what the consequences of them may be unless there be a timely stop put to them I tremble to think With Mens differences as to their notions about the Politicks I am not concerned let Men frame what Hypotheses they please about Government though I do not like them yet I do not think my self bound to Preach against them But when these differences are come to that pass that they threaten both the Civil and Ecclesiastical Peace there I think no Minister should be silent Church-Divisions God knows we have and have always had too many but it is very grievous that those who have always declared themselves the Friends of our Church and Enemies to Schism should at this time of Day set a helping hand to promote a Separation And yet it seems to this height are our differences come Some People among us that formerly were very zealous for the Established Worship of the Church are now all of a sudden so distasted with it that they make a scruple of being present at our Service Nay some have proceeded so far as to declare I know not upon what grounds open War against us and set up Separate Congregations in opposition to the Publick What is the meaning of this Hath Schism and Separation from the established Worship which heretofore was branded as so heinous a sin and deservedly too so changed its nature all of a sudden that it is become not only innocent but a Duty Have we not the same Government both in Church and State that we formerly had Have we not the same Articles and Doctrines of Religion publickly owned and professed and taught without the least alteration Have we not the same Liturgy the same Offices and Prayers used every day that have always been What is there then to ground a Separation upon Yes But the names in the Prayers are changed and we cannot Pray for those that are now in Authority as we could for those that were heretofore But how unreasoanble is this when St. Paul has bid us to put up Prayers and Supplications and Intercessions for all Men especially for Kings and all that are in Authority Doth he make any restriction any distinction what Kings or what persons in Authority we are to pray for and what not Doth he not expresly say we must pray for all Men and for all that are in Authority And doth not the the reason of his exhortation imply as much if his words did not Namely that we may lead quiet and peaceable Lives in all Godliness and Honesty But I pray consider what this Doctrine leads to If this Principle be admitted to be good Divinity then farewell all the Obligations to Ecclesiastical Communion among Christians For what Government is there in the World that will not meet with such Subjects as are not satisfied with it And if that dissatisfaction be a just reason to break Communion with the Established Church what Ligaments have we to tye Christians together What will become of holding the Vnity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace What is the consequence of this but endless Schisms and Separations But further I wish these Persons would consider what an unaccountable humour it is to make a Rent and Schism in the Church upon a meer point of State Great Revolutions have happened in all Ages and in all Countries and we have frequent instances of them in story But I believe it will not be easily found that ever any Christians separated from the Church upon account of them Still they kept unanimously to their Doctrine and their Worship and never concerned themselves farther in the Turns of State how great soever they were than peaceably to submit to the Powers in being and heartily to pray to God so to
of our selves into some particular Congregation and an explicit Promise or Ingagement to joyn with it in Church-Ordinances 2. How wildly and extravagantly they discourse that talk of a Christianity at large without relation to a Church or Communion with any Society of Christians The second Proposition is That every one is bound to joyn in Communion with the established National Church to which he belongs supposing there be nothing in the Terms of its Communion that renders it unlawful for him so to do For if we are bound to maintain Communion with the Catholick Church as I have before proved it is plain that we are bound to maintain Communion with that Part of it within whose Verge the Divine Providence has cast us For we cannot communicate with the Catholick Church but by communicating with some Part of itâ— and there is no communicating with any Part of it but that under which we live or where we have our Residence Well but it may be said that there may be several Distinct Churches in the place where we live There may be the fixed Regular Assemblies of the National Church and there may be separate Congregations both which are or pretend to be Parts of the Catholick Church so that it may be all one as to our communicating with that which of these we joyn with supposing we joyn but with one of them and consequently there is no necessity from that Principle that we should hold Communion with the Publick Assemblies of the National Church But as to this I desire it may be considered that That which lays an Obligation upon us to joyn in Communion with the Church to wit our being Members of that one Body of Christ doth also lay an Obligation upon us as much as in us lies to preserve the Vnity of that Body for this both the Fundamental Laws of Society and the express Precepts of Christianity do require of every Member But now to make a Rent in or separate from any Part of the Body of Christ with which we may lawfully communicate and such we now suppose the established Assemblies of the Nation to be is directly contrary to the preserving the Vnity of that Body And therefore certainly such a Rent or Separation must be unlawful And if so then it must be unlawful also to joyn with any Congregation of Men among us that have made such a Rent or Separation So that let our pretences be what they will so long as the fixed Regular Assemblies of the Nation wherein we live do truly belong to the Catholick Church and we can lawfully joyn with them it is certain we are bound so to do and not to joyn with those Congregations that have withdrawn themselves from them for to do this would be to joyn in Society with Separatists would be a partaking of their Sin and a breach of the Apostle's Precept of avoiding those that cause Divisions Rom. 16.17 The third Poposition is That the being a Member of any Church doth oblige a Man to submit to all the Laws and Constitutions of that Church This Proposition is in the general so unquestionable that no sober Man will deny it And indeed it is the Basis upon which all Societies are founded and by which they do subsist For to suppose a Society and yet to suppose the Members of it not under an Obligation to obey its Laws and Government is to make Ropes of Sand to suppose a Body without Sinews and Ligaments to hold its parts together So that all the Question here is concerning the nature and extent of the Church's Power over her Members how far and in what instances she hath Authority to oblige them Which is a Question not difficult to be answered if Men would come to it without Passion and Prejudice For it must be acknowledged in the first place that the Church must as all other Societies be intrusted with at least so much power over her Subjects as is necessary for the securing her own Welfare and Preservation For to think otherwise is to suppose God to have founded a Church and intended the Well-being and Continuance of it which are things that every one must grant and yet to suppose that he hath denied her the use of the Means without which that Well-being and Continuance cannot be attained which is monstrous and contradictious Farthermore it must be granted that the Welfare and Preservation of the Church cannot be secured but upon these two Suppositions First That Provision be made for the due and orderly performance of the Worship of God Secondly That there be means of maintaining Peace and Vnity among its Members This latter is necessary to the Welfare and Preservation of a Church as a Society the former is necessary to it as a Religious Society Now then this being admitted it follows in the general that whatever Power over her Subjects is necessary in order to either of these things all That at least must be supposed to be lodged in the Church that is to say in Those that have the Govenment of it So that from hence it is plain in the first place that the Church hath power so far to restrain the exercise of her Subjects Liberty as to oblige them to all such Laws Rules Orders and Ceremonies as she shall establish for the more Solemn Regular Decent and Convenient Administration of Religious Affairs And if it be questioned whether her Appointments do indeed conduce to that end of That She her self is to be the Judge Her Members being no farther concerned therein than only before they obey her Impositions to see that they be not repugnant to the known Laws of God This Power the Church must be supposed to have otherwise She will not be enabled to make Provision for the first thing whereon her Welfare doth depend viz. the Performance of God's Worship and Service in a due and orderly manner Secondly From hence also it is plain that the Church must be furnished with a Power to end and determine Controversies of Religion that arise among its Members that is to say to give such an Authoritative decision of them as that all Parties are bound to acquiesce in it for without this she would be defective in the second thing required to her Welfare and Preservation viz. maintaining her self in Peace and Vnity But here it may be taken notice that this Power of ending Controversies which we ascribe to the Church doth not imply any Anthority over our Judgments or that in virtue thereof she can oblige us to give an inward assent to her Determinations any farther than she gives us evidence for the Truth of them which is that extravagant Power the Church of Rome doth challenge to her self but only an Authority over our Practices that she can oblige us to submit so far to her Definitions as not to act any thing contrary to them A Power in the former sense is not necessary to the Church's Peace and the reason is because our Judgments and
Treasure He rejoiceth over them to do them good His bowels earn his heart is turned within him his repentings are kindled together when through their miscarriages he is forced to pass any severe Sentence upon them All this is the language of God in Scripture when he speaks of his People and therefore we cannot doubt of his sincere affection to them and particular care of them All the doubt is whether these expressions ought to be applied to any other people than the Jews with respect to whom the Scripture useth them But we that believe the Gospel need not make much doubt of it For it is certain the reason of all these expressions of kindness to the Jews more than to other Nations was founded in this That they were the People whom God had chosen to plant his Church among They were the People where his Religion was owned But now it is evident to all Christians that after our Saviour came into the World and Preached his Gospel to all Nations the Jews as a Nation ceased to be God's Church or peculiar People and from that time all those Nations that embraced Christ's Religion came into their place and were from thence forward to be as dear to God and as much his Care and his Treasure as ever the Jews were And upon that account we of this Nation may with as much reason apply the expressions of Scripture to our selves which declare God's kindness and concernment for his People as ever the Jews did Especially considering that God has owned us of this Nation for his People in as remarkable a manner as any Nation in Christendom As appears not only from that glorious light of the Gospel which he has for many years blessed us with above any other people perhaps in the Christian World But also from the wonderful Providences by which he has from time to time preserved our Church and with it the true Religion among us notwithstanding the various attempts of our Enemies to subvert it O may these Mercies of God to our Nation never be forgotten and may we always remember them with that due thankfulness they call for at our hands And thus much of our first Head I beg leave to draw a practical Inference or two from what hath been said before I proceed to the other First Since it appears that God sits at the Helm and steers and manages all the affairs of Mankind and that publick Societies are more especially the objects of his Care and Providence Methinks this Consideration should be a good Antidote against all those troublesome Fears and Sollicitude we are apt to disturb our selves with about the success of publick Matters If indeed all things went in the World by Chance or Fate and there was no God that did superintend human Affairs I should think it very Natural for Men to be extreamly concerned at every piece of ill News they heard It might be allowed them to break their sleep in the night and to complain dismally in the day of the sad times that were coming upon us But since we are certain as much as we are certain there is a God and as much as we are certain that the Scripture is true that all our Affairs our publick as well as our private Affairs the Affairs both in Church and State are entirely in God Almighty's disposal and that He doth really manage and order all things among us and likewise so manageth them that all shall at last turn to the good of his People and to the good of every honest Man I say since we are or may be satisfied that our Business is in so good hands I must confess I do not see what reason People have to give themselves so much trouble and uneasiness about things that may or may not come Thus far indeed it is fit that every one should be concerned nay it is fit that every one should charge his Conscience with it Namely to do his Duty to the publick in his place and station to contribute all that is in his power towards the procuring and promoting the common Happiness and to endeavour all that in him lies towards the avertting those Judgments we have reason to fear But when a Man hath done this to what purpose is it for him to trouble himself any further I should think he had better follow our Saviour's advice which when all things be considered will be found Eternally Prudent and Reasonable Matt. 6.34 Take no thought for to morrow let the morrow take care for the things of it self Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof Secondly This Doctrine ought to teach us this farther Lesson to depend altogether upon God Almighty and upon him only for the good success of our Affairs either in Church or State whenever they are in a doubtful or dangerous condition Prov. 19.21 For though many are the devices in the hearts of men nevertheless the counsel of the Lord that shall stand It is in vain to trust humane means For be our strength never so great or be those that manage for us never so industrious or be our hearts never so much united Yet it is an easy matter for God to blast all our designs and to disappoint all our Counsels in a Moment He hath often done so where Men have been confident in their own strength 2 Kings 19.34 In one night's time he made that prodigious Army of Assyrians that came up against Jerusalem and thought themselves sure of taking it to decamp and fly back into their own Country leaving a hundred and fourfcore thousand of their number Dead upon the place There is in truth no trusting to an Arm of Flesh For the successes of War depend upon a thousand Contingencies which it is not in the power of mortal Men either to foresee or remedy Eccles 9.11 Psal 33.16 So that the race is not always to the swift nor the battel to the strong nor can a King be sav'd by the multitude of an Host nor any mighty Man be delivered by his much strength But the God of Heaven that ruleth in the Kingdoms of Men it is He that preserves or destroys that gives Victory or sends a Defeat as it pleaseth him And therefore he is by way of eminence stiled The Lord of Hosts the God of Battels On the other hand If our Affairs at any time be in so very bad a posture that we cannot not avoid the having a melancholy dismal prospect of things yet let us not be discouraged let us still trust in God let us do what belongs to us to do for the obtaining his Mercy and Favour and then refer the Event to him God hath certainly a kindness for his People and if we do our parts towards the preserving his Affection to us we may still hope he will continue to be our Saviour and Deliverer Is is as easy to God to save by few as by many the Walls of Jericho at his Command Josh 6.20
that the Souls Immortality is demonstrable by the light of Nature yet there are generally these two Inconveniences in the Arguments they make use of for the Proof of this matter which render them in a great measure ineffectual for the reforming mens lives First They are generally of so great Subtilty so Nice so Metaphysical so much above the reach of ordinary Capacities that they are useless to the greatest part of Mankind who have not understandings fitted for them And Secondly They have this inconvenience likewise that a Man doth not see the Evidence of them without actual attention to a long Train of Propositions which attention it may be when a Man most stands in need of their Support he shall neither have the leisure nor the humour to give But now the Christian Method of proving another Life is quite of another strain and wholly free from these inconveniences That Demonstration which Christ hath given us of a glorious Immortality by his Resurrection from the dead as it is infinitely certain and conclusive so it is plain and easy short and compendious powerful and operative No Man that believes the matter of Fact can deny the Cogency of it Men of the meanest Capacities may apprehend it Persons in a crowd of business and in the midst of temptations may attend to it And it hath this Vertue besides that it leaves a lasting impression upon the Spirits of those that do believe and consider it Thanks therefore to our Lord Jesus Christ for this excellent Instrument of Piety that he hath given us by his Resurrection Everlasting Praises to his name that he hath thus brought Life and Immortality to light by his Gospel This very thing alone was there nothing else to be said for the Christian Revelation would sufficiently justify both the Gospel it self and our Lord Jesus the Author of it to all Mankind nay and effectually recommend his Religion above all others that ever were taught to all Persons in all Nations of the World IV. Fourthly and Lastly There is still a further Blessing coming to us by our Saviour's Resurrection from the dead and in which indeed is chiefly seen and expressed the great Power of it for the making us Holy and Vertuous That is to say Unto it we do principally owe all that supernatural Grace and Assistance by which we are enabled to vanquish our Corruptions and to live up to the Precepts of our Religion As Christ by his Resurrection did oblige us to lead new lives As Christ by his Resurrection did demonstrate the truth of the Christian Religion which is wholly in order to our leading new lives As by his Resurrection he cleared up to us the certainty of our future State and thereby gave us the greatest Motive and Encouragement to lead new lives So in the last place by the same Resurrection he acquired a Power of conferring Grace and Strength and Influence upon us by the Virtue of which we are in fact inabled to lead new lives Tho' Christ by his death reconciled us to God and procured a Pardon of Sin for us yet the actual benefit of this Reconciliation the actual application of this Pardon did depend upon our performance of certain Conditions Which conditions were that we should mortify all our evil affections and frame our Lives suitable to the Laws of the Gospel But now the Grace and Power by which we are inabled to do this was not the effect of Christ's Death but of his Resurrection It was when he ascended up on high and led Captivity Captive that is when he had vanquished Death which had vanquished all the World before It was then as the Scripture assures us and not till then that he was in a capacity of giving gifts unto men It was not till he was glorified as St. John observes that the holy spirit was given Hence it is that we every where find the Apostles attributing the business of Man's Justification and Salvation as much or more to Christ's Resurrection than to his Passion If Christ be not risen saith St. Paul 1 Cor. xv your Faith is in vain ye are yet in your Sins Indeed if Christ had perished in the Grave we had still had all the load of our sins upon us because we had no assurance that God had accepted the Atonement and Propitiation which he had made for them And much less could we have promised to our selves that we should have been assisted by any Divine Power for the subduing of them Again the same St. Paul tells us Rom. iv that Christ was delivered for our sins and raised again for our justification Christ's Death was the Sacrifice the Satisfaction for our Sins But it was by the means of his Resurrection that that Sacrifice and Satisfaction is applied to us and we for the merits of it become justified before God Lastly To name no more Texts Who saith the same Apostle Rom. viii shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect It is God that justifyeth Who is he that condemneth It is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us Here then is the great Power of our Saviour's Resurrection to make us good Christ being risen from the dead hath all Power given him both in Heaven and in Earth God as St. Paul expresseth it hath put all things under his feet and hath given him to be head over all things to the Church Eph. 1.22 Now in the fullness of that Power that he is invested with as he doth on one hand with never-failing efficacy make continual Intercession for his Church and every Member of it So he doth on the other hand out of the fulness of that Power derive and communicate so much Strength and Grace and Assistance of the Divine Spirit to all Christians that if they make a good use of it they shall not fail to perform all those Conditions of Faith and Repentance and a Holy Life that are required of them in order to their being made actual partakers of all those unspeakable Benefits which he purchased for Mankind by his Death and Sufferings Christ by his Resurrection is become both our High-Priest and our King both our Advocate and our Lord. By that Power which he then obtained as our Priest and Advocate he doth with Authority recommend us and all our concernments to his Father As our King and Lord he rules and governs us he takes care of us he provides for us he represses the insults of his and our Enemies and defeats all their attempts against us And lastly he supplies us from time to time with such a measure of Grace and Strength and influence of his Divine Spirit as he sees is needful or proper for our Condition If all this now that I have said be the effect of our Saviour's Resurrection as it certainly is Must we not needs own that there is a mighty Power in it for the making us good