But as it was that solicitous care I had of your present and everlasting Welfare that did at first engage me to Preach upon these subjects so the very same fire burning still in my heart being earnestly desirous the truths herein delivered may not be forgotten by you even while you have use for them this almost irresistibly urged me to enter upon the stage to encounter the harsh Censures I seriously expect for it These Sermons you know together with others upon other texts relating to this subject which to imprint also would swell the book to too great a bulk was preached both in Church and Chappel The design of them was evidently to deal with your Consciences and inform them aright in this present juncture of publick affairs what your Obligation is to your own Pastors and to prevent your Chismatical forsaking the Publick Assemblies to joyn to an Independant Conventicle Pardon me if I mistake it for I believe it cannot as it is circumstantiated consist with the principles of the old sober Presbyterians nor yet with the Modern that have any remains of settled principles concerning Church unity and Church Assemblies in them But having preacht them I easily perceived all my labours utterly lost and useless to many that either would not or could not hear them or else basely without any shew of reason reflected on them Hence I began to desire they might have some way of approving themselves further to the World and especially that they might be exposed with better advantage to your more serious and retired consideration and perusal and if it were possible that they might be known unto and narrowly examined by all under my charge These and other Motives especially knowing that other books of better worth of this or like subjects have never reacht your hands nor in likelyhood ever will do being entertained prevailed and wrought a trembling resolution in me to offer them first to some Christian friends perusal and after to put them upon this publick tryal though at first in composing them I never purposed more than the delivering them vivâ voce to your private audience It is admirable to consider how this perticular national Church suffers by Traduces and Blasphemies on all hands Meet as Christ was crucified betwixt two thieves so on the one side the Papists Anathematize us the Faithful Ministers and Members of the Church of England because we are the most professed enemies to their usurpations Idolatries and superstitions on the other side the separating Members of our Church do hate and maligne us and sometimes saucily and petulantly brand us with Popery and Idolatry and so make us limbs of Anti-christ and therefore no true or faithful Churches of Christ and that meerly for those few innocent indifferent significant ceremonies which we retain and observe for the order and decency of the Worship of God Thus are Christs sheep in the midst of Wolves His Spouse a woman in the Wilderness of wilde Beasts of all sorts this is Ephraim against Manasseh and Manasseh against Ephraim but both against Juda Herod and Pontius Pilate made friends Pharisees and Sadduces combining and agreeing against Christ But blessed be God so safe is our Church and so warrantable is our standing in it that this Flag of Defiance we can hold out against all Sadduces and Opponents that we have in most of our adversaries confessions those things in the Midst of us that in the judgements of all the Reformed Churches as may appear by the Harmony of their confessions are the only undoubted marks and infallible characters of a true Visible Church where ever they are Such are the pure preaching of the Word of God and the Right Administration of the Sacraments And this I made good to you upon that text Acts 2.42 which I trust you will remember Now whoever is once assured that the National Church he lives in and in which he was baptized is a true Visible Church of Christ He can never have just cause while it remains such essentially to separate from it but ought to live and rest with quietness and chearfulness of Spirit in communion thereof For it is every mans duty to profess himself a Christian and to own his Religion publickly and therefore publickly to partake of and frequent the Ordinances and Sacraments of the Gospel in order thereunto but this he cannot do without society and communion with some Church or other Every Christian as such is bound to look upon himself as a member of a Body viz. The Visible Church of Christ but how can he be known to be a member who is not united with the other parts of the Body Hence follows that upon all Christians there lyes an Obligation to engage in a Religious society with others for partaking of the ordinances of the Gospel Now a Christi an being actually joyned in Church society with other Christians is so long bound to maintain society with them till his communion with them becomes sin The separatist must prove that every one sins that keeps in the Communion of the Church of England or else he himself must inevitably lye under the guilt of sin for separation from it there being nothing that can justifie the withdrawing from the society of that Church wherein a Christian was baptized but the unlawfulness of continuing it Nor is it any corruptions that are crept into a Church which still remaines true and and Faithful as to its constitution and Essentials that will make it a Christians duty to withdraw from it or to gather new Churches in and out of it though it be upon pretence of purer administrations Which by the way is all that is pleaded by most of our adversaries against us viz. Some defects or Corruptions in the exercise and administration of Church order and discipline for there is no Church on earth perfectly free from these and as it is proved in these ensuing Sermons especially upon the latter text So is it excellently done by the famous Mr. Norton in his answer to Apollius as I find him quoted by Dr. Edward Stillingfleet in his Irenicum p. 111. That it is Lawful for Christians to joyn with Churches so defective and if it be Lawful to joyn with them it must needs be unlawful to separate from them for how can the God of Love and Vnity endure any rents or Schismes in the Body of Christ and then how dare any one forsake the Communion of that Church whereof they are natural and immediate members if they be not assured that it is either no Church or a false one or that it is unlawful to hold communion with it This is evidently is the Case of our Church in her separation from the Church of Rome the main ground hereof being the sin of Communicating with that Church in her Idolatry and superstition and the impossibility of Communicating with her and not partaking in her sins the practice of her Idolatry being made a necessary condition of her
unto you Pharisees saith Christ for ye tithe Mint and Rue and all manner of Herbs and pass over judgement and the love of God these ought you to have done and not to leave the other undone Well if men will submit to the word of God the antidote against this strange partiality in the matter instanced of Christian union and concord is easily provided there being almost innumerable rules and precepts in the Scriptures to convince us of it Amongst which this Text is as full as any Now I beseech you Brethren by the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ that ye all speak the same thing and that there â—e no divisions amongst you but that ye be perfectly joyned together in the same mind and in the same judgement Thus St. Paul wrote with his Brother Sosthenes to the Church of God which was at Corinth nor wrote he so to them onely but b verse 2. with them to all that in every place call upon the name of the Lord Jesus both theirs and ours The words then are spoken to us also and all Believers in all places to the Worlds end Now the Apostle intending to condemn many vices in these Corinthians that he might not seem to do it out of malice or spleen or envy he begins first with a true commendation of their gifts and vertues that they were inriched in all knowledg and in all utterance that they came behind others in no gift c verse 7. But alas as knowledge is apt to pusse us up so these Corinthians began in their pride to divide themselves from each other So that d verse 12. one cryed I am for Paul another I am for Apollo and a third I am for Cephas therefore to make way for a sharp reproof hereof the Apostle brings in this grave obtestation in the text Now I beseech you saith he though I might be bold in Christ to enjoyn and command yet for love sake I rather beseech you I beseech you Brethren I do it in the bowels and affections of a brother Nay and by the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ that is by the power and authority of Christ and for the honour and glory of Christ I Paul so speak as if Christ himself did speak unto you For alas how the name of God and how the Doctrine of Christ is blasphemed through your divisions he that runs may read it and therefore for his sake I beseech you By the Name of our Lord that is by vertue of that commission and authority I have received from him who is our Lord and if he be our Lord where is his honour and in the Name of our Lord Jesus he who is your Saviour and as you hope for Salvation by him Our Lord Jesus Christ he that is the anoynted of God anoynted to be our Prophet Priest and King every word in the obtestation hath a sufficient weight to awaken us to attend it What even this exhortation I beseech you Brethren by that Name of our Lord Jesus Christ that ye all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions amongst you but that ye perfectly be joyned together in the same mind and in the same judgement It is a strange kind of earnestness and importunity the Apostle useth as elsewhere so here in this matter He was deeply sensible of the evil of divisions how they prejudice Gods truth for whilest they that profess it cannot agree in it the Fool is ready to scoff at it and to say in heart there is no God and how they endanger the Church and weaken it no engine that Satan and Anti-christ can use more than this the cutting of it into shreds like the Levites Concubine the blowing of the Coals of contention in it yea how they endanger the Souls of men by separating them from the Church and so from Christ who is the head thereof The Apostle was deeply sensible of the evil of divisions and therefore is strangely and more than ordinarily importunate in this Exhortation ushering it in with manifold obtestations See Phil. 2.1 2 If there be any consolation in Christ if any comfort in love if any fellowship of the Spirit if any compassion and mercy fulfil my joy that you be like minded having the same love being of one accord of one mind Ephes 4.1 I the Prisoner of the Lord beseech you that you walk worthy of that vocation wherewith you are called with all lowlyness and meekness with long-suffering forbearing one another in love endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace Rom. 16.17 18 Now I beseech you Brethren mark them that cause divisions among you and avoid them for they serve not our Lord Jesus But to name no more this in the Text is full enough Now I beseech you Brethren by the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ that you all speak the same thing c. that there be no divisions among you Which words being apparently an exhortation must be handled in such method as best sutes with the nature thereof 1. I must explain and propound it 2. I must enforce and urge it by explication I shall lay open the nature and extent of the objectum quod or duty to which we are exhorted And then for the enforcing of it I shall press sundry powerful motives upon your Consciences to engage you to endeavour to practise it and lay down wholesome rules and directions for the better performing it if the Lord inable me the time permit and your christian patience give encouragement 1. To propound the Exhortation I need not at all insist upon the words they are so plain and intelligible in themselves that being read they may as easily be understood and to offer to give any sense of them particularly one by one might render them more dark and obscure Let it suffice to tell you that the matter of duty in them contained is the unity of the Church and the concord of Christians An universal accord amongst them is to be endeavoured so far as is possible in judgment affection and action this is the sum and substance of the Text. 1. The Exhortation is to an unity in judgement so the Apostle expresly prescribes it in the latter words that ye be perfectly joyned together in the same mind and the same judgment It is a thing much to be desired and by all good means to be endeavoured that according to our Churches prayer God would give to all Nations Unity Peace and Concord but especially that all that do profess his holy Name may also agree in the truth of his holy Word at least in the main and most substantial truths thereof and so that they may be perfectly joyned together in the same mind and in the same judgement But if this cannot be hoped for and attained in this life yet 2. That we must be sure of to endeavour to preserve an unanimity in heart and affection Desired it must be but hoped for it cannot
necks they are properly stiled children of Belial their hellish design is clean contrary to the Text to cause divisions and offences amongst you 2. As it is necessary to prevent divisions that you submit to the same Government so that you walk by the same rule What is that It is either Principal or Subordinate Principal even the Law and the Testimony the sacred Scriptures Subordinate even according to the Scriptures the rules and canons and Customes of the Church without a due respect to both these rules in their right places it is impossible Christians should speak all the same things but there will be divisions among them I dare assert and think it not difficult to maintain by the Scriptures as well as clear reason that there is an obligation upon the members of that Church in which they were born baptised and bred up to submit unto and obey the rules and canons and customes thereof if they be not able to prove them contrary to the Scriptures or the clear light of natural reason in us or at least such conclusions as are properly directly and evidently deduced from them There is much in that argument of the Apostle to confirm the sober-minded herein p 1 Cor. 11. If any man be contentious we have no such custome neither the Churches of God And in that of our Saviour If the Offender will not hear the Church let him be to thee as an Heathen and a Publican and again he that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me Do not think I ascribe to the Church any Popish infallibility or call for any blind obedience unto it O no if any of its rules or injunctions appears to be contrary to the Word of God like Nebuchadnezzar's to the three Children to fall down to his Image or Darius his to Daniel not to pray to any other God or the High-Priests to the Apostles not to speak in the name of Jesus then must we answer with them whether must we obey God or man judge ye But then we must not deny our obedience to such Church rules and canons as repugnant to God's Word upon light surmises and slender presumptions this were to speak evil of the things we know not q Jude 10. O no r As I take it this is the excellent Bishop Sanderion in one of his Sermons No worse for that as in the Courts of Civil Justice men are not ordinarily put to prove themselves honest men but the proof lieth on their accusers part and therefore it is sufficient for the acquitting any man in soro externo that there is nothing of moment proved against him it being requisire to the condemning a man that there be a clear and a full evidence against him So in these moral trials when enquiry is made into the lawfulness or sinfulness of our Churches rules and customes and our Governours commands it is sufficient to warrant them if there can be nothing produced from express Scriptures or sound reason against them and to condemn or disobey them upon remote consequences and weak deductions though it be from Scripture-Texts can ne'r be excused of rashness and unrighteousness Sure obedience is an unquestioned duty obey them that have the rule over you saith the Apostle for they watch for your Souls and therefore unless it be manifest that their Lawes and injunctions be against the Word of God all our questions are but carpings and needless stumbling blocks laid in our way by the Troublers of Israel The safest way is obedience which also is absolutely necessary among Christians that they may speak the same things and that there be no divisions among them Then 3. More particularly still to this end that as Christian Brethren ye may speak the same things without divisions it is necessary that ye all joyn in the same form of prayer praise and manner of worshipping God It was David's earnest desire O magnifie the Lord with me Psal 34.3 and let us exalt his Name together And the Holy Ghost in the Acts mentions this Uniformity in the Churches Infancy and time of her first love to be one chief cause of its prospering and inlarging Acts 4.24 The multitude of Believers lifted up their voice in praises with one accord Acts 4.24 The people with one accord gave heed to the things that Philip spake Acts 8.6 And it s a great part of the blessedness of the heavenly Jerusalem Rev. 4.10 that the Elders sing with one voice unto the Lord. So doth the Apostle make it his earnest prayer for the Romans Rom. 15.6 that they might be like minded one towards another that with one mind and with one voice they might glorifie God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ with one mind and with one mouth too while men think to glorifie God in several ways and several forms it is scarce intelligible how they can do it in this desirable manner with one mind and with one mouth so many several ways so many several mouths and that can never tend to the glory of God The Apostles expression intimates that like-mindedness unanimity and uniformity are very subservient to the glory of God What an honour is it to the God of Israel when all Israel came in as one man to do him worship when that admirable variety of Gifts and Administrations and Offices that are in his Church do not jar and clash one against another but sustain and mutually supply out of their stores the wants each of other and all conspire together in their several kinds to glorifie God What else is musical harmony but concord in discourse variety in consort it makes the musick full and delightful when there is a well-ordered variety of voices and instruments in it but if all instruments were perfectly well tuned yet if the men could not agree what to play but one would have a nimble Galliard another a frisking Jig another a grave Air and if all of them should be so wilful as without yielding to the rest to scrape on his Tune as loud as he could what a hideous hateful noise may you imagine would such a mess of Musick be no less odious to God and equally grievous to every godly man it is when such Vices as these are heard in the Church of God I am of Paul and I of Cephas 1 Cor. 1.12 and I of Apollo When one Pamphleteer will have the Church governed after this fashion another after that when one Mountebank in Religion will have this way of Worship and form of Prayer another that to the great scandal of the Reformed Religion and the manifest dishonour of God Surely beloved such an Uniformity as of all Christian Members of the same Church to be of one mind and worship God in one place and in one way and form and manner with one accord would be the most beautiful and comely and happiest thing in
thought he need say no more to his Brethren to prevent their falling out by the way than to remind them that they were all one mans Children and Brethren to each other Gen. 45.24 And Abraham to procure an everlasting Amity and utter cessation of all Debates thenceforth between himself and his Nephew Lot and their Servants made use of this one Argument the most prevalent of all others that they were Brethren Gen. 13.8 Psa 133 1. Ecce quam bonum Behold how good and joyful a thing it is Brethren to dwell together in unity Prophane Esau durst not avenge himself on Jacob lest he should vex his Father Isaac Gen. 27.4 And shall not Christians then who are Brethren not only by Generation but by Regeneration much more tender the displeasing of their one Father by disagreements and molestations of one another the nearer the dearer we use to say and there are few Relations nearer than that of Brotherhood but no Brotherhood in the world so closely and surely knit together and with so many and strong tyes as the Fraternity of Christians in the Communion of Saints which is the Brotherhood in the Text And therefore as we are Brethren and tender the glory of that God who is the Father of us all it concerns us to speak the same things and that there be no divisions amongst us 2. Consider also God the Son we are all redeemed by that one price of his precious Blood and methinks that calls for love and unity It 's implied in that of the Apostle One Faith Eph 4.5 One Faith is fixed on one and the same object the Mercy of God and Merits of Christ or Gods Free Grace in Christ and being ingrafted into one and the same Vine should we not all bear one and the same fruit We are all Fellow-Captives redeemed by the same Saviour Fellow-Patients cured by the same Physitian even Jesus Christ the object of our Faith Hence he that redeemed us did in like manner pray for us that we may be one John 17.21 23. perfectly one that the world might know that God sent him but this can never be if we speak not the same things but there be divisions amongst us 3. There is also but one Spirit and that 's the Apostles Argument also There is one Body one Spirit Eph. 4. and therefore endeavour the unity of the Spirit The Spirit is a Spirit of Unity this Spirit is the very Essential Unity Love and Love-knot of the two Persons the Father and the Son of God with God yea it was the very Union and Love-knot of the two Natures in Christ of God and Man he is the Spirit of Unity and therefore cannot delight in us unless we keep the unity of the Spirit That Spirit the Soul of man that gives life to the natural body yet can it not animate and give life to members dismembred unless they be first united and compact together Ezek. 35.7 8 9. We read there of the dead and scattered bones that to the end they might be revived they first came together every bone to his bone then the sinews came and knit them then the flesh and skin covered them and then and not before the Spirit came from the four Winds to give them life So the very natural Spirit the Soul doth not inform the body unless there be an accord and unity in it much more is this required as a proper disposition to make us meet for the habitation of the Holy Ghost even this quality that is like that his Nature and Essence Unity and Unanimity for us to be of one mind and judgment and to speak the same things and that there be no divisions amongst us divisions are a token we are led by divers Spirits and not by this one There is a Spirit indeed in these divisions but it is an evil spirit such as was between Abimelech and the men of Shechem Judges 9. And such as are for a toleration of such divisions we may write upon them as our Saviour did upon the man possessed Legion for they are many pretend they to the Spirit as they will of walking and praying by the Spirit we need not believe them unless we list to be led by any other than a devillish spirit The Devil shews himself to be a Devil by his Cloven Foot if we would receive and not grieve nor quench nor dishonour the one Spirit by which we pretend all to be governed let us speak the same things that there be no divisions amongst us As we tender the glory of God the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost we must do this 3. So while we look upon the Church of God for that is but one body which is the Apostles argument also It is but one and only one My Love my Dove Eph. 4. Cant. 6. my undefiled is one she is the only one of her Mother So are we Christians made all up into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one mystical body Eph. 3.6 and that by such a real though mysterious incorporation as that we become thereby 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as all of us members of Christ Rom. 12.5 so every one of us members one of another Noâ— the sympathy and supply that is between the members of the natural body for thâ—ir mutual comfort and good of the whoâ—e The Apostle setteth it forth elegantly and applieth it very fully to the Mystical Body of the Church at large 1 Cor. 12. It were a thing prodigiously unnatural and to every mans apprehension the effect of a frenzy or madness at the least to see the head plot against the tongue revile the hands buffet the teeth devour his fellow-members No if any one member be it never so small and despicable be in anguish the rest are sensible of it There is a mutual sympathy and communication betwixt them there are no terms of bitterness stood upon in the natural members I am better than thou and I than thou no terms of disgrace heard I have no need of thee nor I of thee but they are all ready to contribute their several supplies according to their several measures and abilities to give ease and relief to the grieved part 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That there be no rent or schism 1 Cor. 12.25 saith the Apostle using the very word of the Text no division or disunion of parts in the body And as we may consider the Church as one Body so as one Houshold and our selves as fellow-servants of the same Family Gal. 6.10 the same houshold of Faith So ought we then to behave our selves in the House of God 1 Tim. 3.15 which is the Church of the Living God as becometh fellow-servants that live under the same Master We all wear one Livery 1 Cor. 10.3 4. having all put on Christ by solemn profession at our holy Baptism and we are all fed at one Table eating the same spiritual meat
and drinking the same spiritual drink in the holy Communion and therefore all reason that as members of the same Body and servants of the same Family we speak the same things and there be no divisions amongst us Mr. Baxter in his Cure of Divisions urgeth two or three things well in this Topick of the Church as that our union with the Church is a sign of our proportionable union with Christ and our separation from the Church is a sign of our separation from Christ nay that union is not only an accident but of the very Essence of the Church without which it is no Church and without which we can be no members of it Unity being necessary to the very being of the Church and of Christianity and that our union is necessary to our nourishment from and Communion with Christ and his Church but I refer you for these to him See it page 66. whom perhaps some will rather hear than us if we should speak the same words I shall amongst many particulars urge only four things with reference to the Church that shews the need you have to speak the same things and that there be no divisions amongst you 1. This is the only way to forward the work of God for the building up of the Church which Faction and divisions on the other hand obstructeth so as nothing more You often read in Scripture of edifying the Body of Christ Eph. 4.12 2 Cor. 12.19 and of doing all things to edifilcation The expression is metaphorical taken from material buildings often used by the Apostle with application to the Church of God and the spiritual building thereof 1 Tim. 3.15 for the Church is the House of the Living God and all Christian-members of this Church are as so many stones of this building whereof the house is made up and the bringing in unbelievers into the Church by converting them to the Christian Faith is as the fetching of more stones from the Quarries to be laid in the building Now the building in it self and that is edification is the well and orderly joyning together of Christian men as living stones in truth and love that they speak the same things and that there be no divisions amongst them that they may grow together as it were into one entire building to make up a strong and comely house for the Masters use and honour a 1 Pet. 2.9 Indeed there is nothing more conduceth hereunto than Peace Love and Concord Knowledge is very little or nothing but a puff in comparison of Charity in order to Edification b 1 Cor. 8.1 It may swell and look big and make a shew but Charity doth the deed c 1 Cor. 1.10 It lays the stones together and makes them couch close one to another and binds them up with Fillings and Cement to make them hold Hence that wise Master-builder S. Paul that knew well what belongs to this work when he speaks of compacting the Church into a building mentions the edifying of it self in love d Eph. 4.16 Indeed when all the Workmen intend the main business each in his place and office performing their appointed task with chearfulness and good agreement then doth the work go on and the building gets up apace and strongly but when one man draws one way and another another way one will have things done after this fashion another after that one mars what another makes pulls down what another sets up how is it possible while things go thus that ever the building should be brought to any perfection or handsomness and therefore well doth the Apostle joyn these two together 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 e Rom. 14.19 Let us follow after the things that make for peace and things wherewith we may edisie one anot her Where the hearts and tongues of the builders are divided the building will either come to nothing or prove but a Babel of confusion for where envy and strife is there is confusion and every evil work f James 3.16 Strife will make ill work it will build up nothing unless it be Babels walls It is peace and concord that builds up the walls of Jerusalem which as it hath its name from peace so hath it also its perfection from peace and then and not before shall Jerusalem be built as a City that is at unity in it self g Psa 122.3 whe◠they that build Jerusalem are first at unity amongst themselves when they speak the same things and there is no divisions amongst them 2. As this is the way to build the Church so it is the way to preserve in both in peace beauty and safety 1. In peace The concord of Familie is their peace so is amity and concord in the Church whereas the divisions and discords of Christians disturbs their minds and discomposeth the Church Pray for the peace of Jerusalem h Psa 125. saith the Psalmist but by different forms and ways there is a breach of that peace such divisions in the Church are like wars and tumults in the Commonwealth they discompose and set it out of order It was Sir Henry Wotton's excellent saying Disputandi pruritus Scabies Ecclesiae The Itch of Disputing doth cause the Scab of the Church Every Sect finds some little pleasure in scratching by zealous wranglings and disputes for their several Opinions till the blood be ready to follow and at length it proves the bain of peace and charity and love which is the very life and soul of Christian Religion Now is not this or should it not be an effectual Motive to this Unity Unamity and Uniformity How dear should be the Churches peace to every member thereof Dulce nomen pacis the very name of peace sounds sweetly to the ear there is such a mixture of pleasantness and profitableness in it as wrapt the Psalmist into admiration ut prius miraretur quà m ostenderet he admires it himself and rouzeth others to the like admiration i Psa 133.1 Behold how good and pleasant a thing it is Brethren to dwell together in unity some things are pleasing not good as Epicurism and Good-fellowship some things good not pleasing as Fasting and Martyrdom but this both for pleasure it is like the Oyl poured out on Aaron's Head for goodness it is like the Dew on Hermon's Hill which made the Valleys fruitful So good and pleasant it is that nothing can be pleasant without it It is the desire of all hearts the rest of all Nations the end of all Contentions pacem te poscimus omnes nothing more desirable in Families in Kingdoms much more in the Church And therefore lest we violate the Churches peace it concerns us to speak the same things lest there be no peace but divisions amongst us 2. It is the way to preserve the Church in beauty and honour the concord of Christians is their beauty and honour and their divisions and discord is their deformity and shame The Church
stands upon two Staves the Staff of Beauty and the Staff of Bands if the Staff of Bands be once broken the Staff of Beauty cannot long stand but by divisions our Beauty becomes deformity Reformation deformation as when one hand is black and another white one cheek pale another red so whilst we become several Churches several Bodies what do we but make a Monster of the Church the Body of Christ Indeed nothing more tends to the Churches dishonour and Christs dishonour than this there is no such scandal to the Churches Enemies of all sorts than this the common Enemies of the truth of Religion are chiefly Atheism and Superstition and wherefore serveth the home-differences of Christians especially about indifferent things about Gestures and Vestures and other indifferent Rites and Formalities that for such things as these things in their own nature indifferent and never intended to be otherwise imposed than as matters of circumstances and order men should desert their Ministerial Charges fly out of the Church as out of Babylon stand at open Desiance against lawful Authority and sharpen their tongues and pens with so much petulancy and virulency as some have done wherefore serveth this but to the dishonour of Christians and Christianity and to give scandal to the Enemies thereof 1. To the Athiest for he till all men be of one Religion and agreed in every point thereof too which I doubt will never be whilst the World lasteth thinketh it the best wisdom to be of none nay makes it his best pastime to jeer at all The agreement of Christians is an ocular demonstration to the World that they have a certainty of the Faith which they profess and that it is of a healing nature and tendeth to the felicity of the world so that never was Christians observed to live in an undivided Unity and unfained love but the very Infidels and ungodly round about them did reverence both them and their Religion for it whereas their discords and divisions give occasion to Atheists and Unbelievers to blaspheme as if there were no certainty in their belief or as if it were of a vexatious and destructive tendency so that never were Christians divided implacable and bitter against each other but it made them and their profession a scorn to the unbelieving and ungodly World Their despising and vilifying one the other teaches the wicked to despise and vilifie them all as a well ordered Army and a City of uniform and comely building is a pleasing and inviting sight to beholders whereas a confused Rabble and ruinous heap bree is abhorrence even so the very sight of the concordant society of Christians is amiable to those without whereas their disagreements and separations makes them odious Hence the former conduceth much to the conversion and salvation of men and the latter hardens men in wickedness and hinders their coming into the Church and their obedience to the truth Who loveth to thrust himself into a fray and what wise men will joyn with drunken men that are fighting in the streets A more effectual way cannot be devised to drive men from Christ than to represent Christians like a company of mad-men that are tearing out the threats of one another when one Faction slies upon and speaks ill of one another what wonder if the Atheist and Infidel speak ill of and flies further from them all whereas contrarily the best means to win the World to a love of Holiness is if they can see that holiness makes men fervent and unfeigned in the love one of another k 1 Pet. 1.22 Christs words in his prayer are notable to this purpose l John 17.20 21 22 23. I pray saith he for them that shall believe on me through their word that they all may be one As thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us that the world may believe that thou hast sent me c. It plainly implies that the Unity of Christians is a great means of converting the World to the Christian Faith and convincing Infidels of the truth of Christ as sent by God and so on the contrary their divisions must needs be a scandal to them Upon which account also we have reason to take heed to speak the same things and that there be no divisions amongst us 2. Such divisions give scandal to Papists You read how loth was Abraham to fall out with Lot and how desirous he was to compound the differences that were between their Herdmen and one reason is hinted in that it is said m Gen. 13.7 the Canaanites and Perizzites dwelt at that time in the Land So have we in our Land many Canaanites and Perizzites at this day that take offence at these divisions of ours and makes it a chief occasion to alienate their hearts from the Truth of God There be many Papists and Romanists confirmed and made obstinate in their Opinion of the Catholickness of the Romish Faith Hereby when they hear of so many things which have been ever and are still retained in the Church of England in common with the Church of Rome as they were transmitted both to them and us in a continued Line of Succession from our Godly and Orthodox Forefathers who lived in the Ages next to Christ and his Apostles to be now inveighed against and decryed as Popish and Superstitious And when they see men pretenders to Piety Purity and Reformarion more than others not contenting themselves with those just Exceptions that had been formerly taken by the Church of England and her regular children against some Erronious Doctrines and Forms of Worship taught and practised in the Church of Rome and endeavoured to be unduly and by her sole Authority imposed upon other Churches when they see them not contenting themselves with these things but even so far transported with a spirit of contradiction as that they care not so as they may but run far enough from Rome whether or how far they run although they should run themselves as too oft they they do quite beyond the bounds of Truth Allegiance common Reason and even common Humanity also Besides we know it hath been and is one grand objection of the Papists against the Reformed Churches that the Fanatical dissentions amongst our selves are evident signs of an Heretical spirit as Bellarmine Stapleton Kellison and others argue and Fitz Simon an Irish Jesuite hath written a whole Volumn on this argument which he â—alls Britanio-Machia It 's true how unhappy they have prov'd in this pretended Unity which they make a note of their true Church any one may judge that will but read the writings of Doctor Field Discourse concerning the Idolatry practised in the Church of Rome by D. Edw. Stillingfleet Bishop Jewel and even the late Book of the Excellent Doctor Stillingfleet upon this argument which proves them nevertheless faulty however we be blame-worthy As Gregory Nazianzen did answer those in his time that used the
same argument 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 onely by this methinks we should be warn'd if by no other consideration to let such a spirit of peace and meekness shew it self in our lives and doctrines ut nihil de nobis male loqui sine mendacio possint that they may never have advantage with the same breath to speak both truly and reproachfully against us And to this end to preserve the Churches beauty and honour and to stop the mouth of the Adversary and take away the occasion of scandal letâ—us speak the same things and let there be no divisions amongst us I add 3. This want of Unity Unanimity and Uniformity among those that keep within the pale of the Church gives scandal to those of the Separation See Toleration not to be abused such Schismaticks and Hereticks as are clean gone out and have renounced all kind of communion with us for they must needs think very jollily of themselves and their own singular way when they shall find those very grounds whereon they have raised their Schism to be so stoutly pleaded for and pursued by some that are yet content to hold a kind of communion with us For there are many that will hold those Principles besides which there can be nothing colourably pretended for inconformity in point of Ceremony and Church-Government that will not yet admit of such conclusions naturally issuing thence as will necessary inâ— an utter separation The Separatists Tenents are but the Nonconformists Principles improved and then it is to be feared that the Nonconformist gives the occasion of offence and boasting to the Separatist he lays the foundation for the others division from us and so may happily have a right in that of our Saviour n Mat 18.7 Offences will be for the tryal of the faith and patience of the Saints but vae homini woe to the men without repentance by whom the occasion of those offences comes In all these respects then for the Churches honour and to avoid that scandal that is thereby given to Atheist Papist and Separatist let us speak the same things and let there be no divisions amongst us and as for the Churches beauty and honour so 3. For the safety thereof for divisions 1. Invite and incourage the Churches Enemies 2. They weaken them to resist them 1. They invite and incourage the Enemy as it is noted of the Ancient Brittains their intestine contentions invited the Enemy to conquest Nothing so much hearteneth and advantageth the Enemy abroad as the fractions and dissentions that we have at home Per discordias civiles externi attollunt animas said Livy once of old Rome Whence our Countryman Gildas complained of old of this Island then imbroiled in wars fortis ad civilia bella infirma ad retundenda hostium tela that by how much more her valour and strength was spent upon her self in managing of intestine and domestick broils by so much the more she laid her self open to the outrages and incursions of forreign Enemies commune periculum concordiâ propulsandum saith Tacitus The Churches peace and concord is the Tower of David from whence we may repel our Adversaries whom else we shall by our intestine differences cause to rejoyce If all the members of the Church were but fast joyned together saith Dr. Reynolds †In his excellent Sermon of the peace of the Church vinculo fidei glutine charitatis in the bond and cement of Faith and Love if Governours Teachers and People would but joyn hand in hand the one to rule with Authority and Meekness the other to teach with wisdom and compassion the third to honour both by humble submission to their judgment and willing obedience to the guidance of their Governours and Pastors then would they cut off all occasion from those that seek occasion and disappoint the expectations of those that do captare tempora impacata inquieta would be fishing in troubled waters The Devil as Optatus speaks is tormented with the peace of Brethren but is quicken'd and put into hopes of success in his attempts against the Church by the mutual ruptures and jealousies that the members thereof foment and cherish amongst themselves as when by Jeroboam's defection Judah and Israel were rent asunder then came Shishak and troubled Jerusalem o 2 Chro. 12.2 and as divisions invite and incourage the Churches Enemies so 2. They weaken her to resist them The unity of Christians is their secondary strength saith Mr. Baxter their primary strength is Christ and the Spirit of Grace which quickneth them and their secondary strength is their union amongst themselves Separation from Christ depriveth men of the first and separation one from another depriveth them of the second evermore vis unita fortior but divisions weaken the Church and dividers are certainly the weakners and destroyers of the Church even Satan is sensible that his Kingdom divided cannot stand and therefore he keeps an admirable unity in the members thereof so that a whole Legion consisting of many thousands of them had but one name one action and one habitation in the man possessed with them Concordiâ res parvae crescunt discordiâ dilabuntur the wall is hollow and loose where the stones stand off one from another and couch not close Now brotherly love and unity is it that bindeth all fast and makes of loose heaps one entire piece Observe the expression in the Text I beseech you Brethren saith the Apostle that there be no divisions amongst you but that ye be perfectly joyned together in the same mind and in the same judgment Like-mindedness you see is the thing that joyneth all together and in the well joyning consisteth the strength of any structure Whence we read of the bond of peace p Eph. 4.3 and the bond of perfectness q Col. 3.14 An expression of the like importance you have r Phil. 1.27 That I may hear of your affairs saith he that ye stand fast in one spirit with one mind Christians never stand so fast as when they are of one mind whence there is a Greek word sometimes used in the New Testament as Bishop Saunderson observes Å¿ Bishop Saunderson's Sermons p. 270. viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is commonly translated Confusion and sometimes Tumults neither of which Translations are unfit for the sense but in the Literal Notation it rather imports a kind of unstableness or unsettledness when a thing doth not stand fast but shaketh and tottereth and is in danger of falling And this S. Paul opposeth to peace God is not the Author saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of confusion but of peace Intimating by the very opposition that it is mostly for want of peace that things do not stand fast but are ready to fall into discords and confusion S. James speaks out what S. Paul but intimateth and tells us plainly that this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the effect of discord and that contention is
the Mother of Confusion for where envying and strife is saith he there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unconstancy unsettledness confusion and every evil work The Builders do but make ill work where the building is not like to stand but threatneth ruine and is ready to drop down again by that time it be well up yet such ill work doth envying and strife ever make it is concord and union only that maketh good work and buildeth strong Let Jerusalem be built as a City at unity in it self a Psa 122.3 and Jerusalem is like to stand the faster and longer for it like Seleucus his bundle of Sticks insuperabiles dum inseperalis they could not be broken insuperable while inseparable such is a Church a Land a Corporation while it is at unity But O how weak is it when it is divided like those Rods pulled asunder out of the bundle which the weakest Câ—ild could snap asunder is not this so in all other things An Army is stronger than a man a Kingdom than a Single Person a Flame burns more strongly than a single Spark the Waves of the Ocean are more forceable than a single drop a threefold Cord is not easily broken Hence weak Commonwealths seek to strengthen themselves by Confederacies with other Sates Alas Brethren many are our spiritual and temporal Enemies and strong is the League of Impiety that we are to encounter with in this world our most united Forces and joynt endeavours are all little enough against them And can a few single straglers hope for Victory when whole Troops of Moab Ammon and Mount Seir are to encounter them Shall Brittains still retain that folly whereof Tacitus of old branded them dum singuli pugnant universi vincuntur whilst they resisted singly they were overcome universally being divided they were destroyed Thus it was with the Kingdom and thus it will be with the Church if we do not speak the same things but there be and contifiue to be divisions amongst us By several ways and several forms we make the Church a very Babel of Confusion and if Babels confusion go before Babels destruction will follow after Dividers are certainly Abaddons Destroyers destroyers of the Church what good soever they pretend * Mr. Baxter's cure As those means which best corroborate the body and fortifie the spirits do best cure many particular diseases which no means would cure while Nature is debilitated so are the Church Diseases best cured by uniting fortifying remedies which will be encreased by a dividing way of Reformation dividing is wounding and uniting is the closing of the wound It 's Satans usual way to pretend to a good work when he purposeth to destroy it he resisteth Light as an Angel of Light he will be a zealous Reformer when he would hinder Reformation and it is Satans mark of Reformation he doth it by dividing the Church of Christ and teaching Christians to avoid each other and he destroyeth their love to one another by pretending love to themselves as if he would have them but to avoid sin and Church-corruptions and in this dividing work the Devil doth as Make-bates use to do that first goes to one man and tell him what such an one said against him and what a dangerous person he is and then go to another and faith as much of the first to him So the Devil zealously aggravates the faults of every party to others that they may have odious thoughts of one another and so as they love their Souls avoid them So this dividing Spirit just gives such counsel to men for the preservation of their Souls as if a man should thus in pretended kindness counsel a man for the preservation of his health and bodily comfort O take heed of that Mouth and that Belly for it getteth nothing but devours all that the hands do get by labour or cast off that hand for it hath a crooked finger or that gouty foot that it may not trouble the whole body or rip up those guts which have such filthy excrements in them is not such kindness to be suspected * Thus far Mr. Baxter Behold the Devils wiles and stratagems be wise and avoid them I beseech you and therefore for the Churches peace and beauty and honour and safety be exhorted to labour after unity unanimity and uniformity to speak the same things and that there be no divisions amongst you These are the third sort of Motives while you look upon the Church of God But 4. Though ye should have little regard either to God or the Church of God yet look upon your selves even in point of wisdom and out of self-love it concerns Christians every one in his place to labour to speak the same things with other Christians and to avoid divisions from them 1. For your own safeties sake for if the whole be in danger so is every part Hence the Marriners called upon Jonah What meanest thou O sleeper arise call upon thy God as if they had said if the whole Ship be lost so will every Soul in it and thou amongst the rest Perhaps some may think their own safety obligeth them to be dividers to hold up a Faction and Division or at least not to meddle in their Stations towards the healing them but to such I say as Mordecai did to Esther Think not thou alone shall escape if thou hold thy peace O no O no deliverance may arise another way but thou and thy Fathers house shall be destroyed therefore if you have respect for your own safety labour for peace and unity and unanimity and uniformity with your Brethren that you speak c. 2. For your own peace also for this is one way for Christians to attain a peace with God and man and themselves The Apostle speaks of some b 1 Thes 2.15 that please not God but are contrary to all men I think it may be said of Dividers Authors or Fomenters of division they cannot please God while they study how to be contrary to all men I shall not need saith Dr. Reynolds in his Sermon of the Peace of the Church to load them with any other guilt than the Apostle doth that they are not the servants of Christ c Rom. 16.17 For how can he who is without peace and love serve or please that God who is the God of Peace and whose Name is Love and whose Law is Love Non habent Dei charitatem qui non diligunt Ecclesiae unitatem saith S. Austin d A known Place it is lib 3. ch 16 de Baptism not need I to dismiss them with a more fearful Curse than that of the Apostle too I would they were even cut off that troubles you The Achans the Troublers of Israel must expect trouble and no peace from the God of Israel nor can such have any peace in themselves for being given to change they are but like Noahs Dove fluttering from place to place having no rest for the soles
leave not thy place E sede itio may with a little heat turn into sed itio saith Doctor Reynolds Quidam in corpore Christi oculi quidem manus saith S. Basil All are not eyes and hands in the Body of Christ to take upon them the burden of great affairs Are all Apostles saith S. Paul are all Prophets are all Teachers hath not God dealt to every man a several measure hath he not placed every man in a several order have we not all work to do in our own places must we needs rush into the labours and intrude our selves into the business of other men Haec magistro relinquat Aristoteli canere ipse docet It was a sharp rebuke of Tully against Aristoxenus the Musitian who would needs turn Philosopher whereunto agreeth the Answer of Basil the Great to the Clerk of the Emperours Kitchin when he jeered him for his soundness against the Arrian Faction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Your business it is to look to the seasoning of your Broth and not to revile the Doctrine or Doctrines of the Church All these do commend the Apostles Exhortation unto you let every one study to be quiet to do his own business * 1 Thes 4.11 The Connexion more than intimates the next way to be quiet abroad is to be busie at home We shall never learn well to be quiet unless we learn also to keep our own business The excellent Bishop Lany hath fully discovered See Doct. Lany Bishop of Ely upon this Text. how guilty of the contrary hereof are both the Pope the Covenanter and Sectary in his Sermon on this Text Quietness is the natural and genuine effect of orderly keeping in our Callings and Stations and our own business For all discord must be between two either persons or parties and that which commonly kindles the Fire is envy or some supposed injury Now he that minds his own business only can give no occasion to others of either envy or complaint and so in recompence of keeping to his own business he shall sit quietly under his own Vine and under his own Fig-tree Let none of us then out of ambition discontent emulation or any other Polipragmatical distemper grow weary of our own imployments and interpose our selves in things that are without and above our order But according to the Apostles rule n 1 Cor. 7.24 Let every one abide in his calling and keep the station wherein God hath set him and this will be an excellent help to our speaking the same things our unity unanimity and uniformity and that there be no divisions amongst us 8. To this add also Remember that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 injoyned by the Apostle o Rom 12. be wise unto sobriety When you are 〈◊〉 deal with things divine set bounds 〈◊〉 your selves that you break not through to gaze p Exod. ◠12 21. think not to draw every thing in Religion to the rule of your own crooked presumptuous Reason to give a quo modo of every thing in Faith Upon this account it is that S. Paul charges the Colossians q Col. 2.8 to take heed of Philosophy and vain deceits not but that there is admirable use of sound Philosophy and of Reason raised and rectified so long as it is subordinate to Faith but when Reason shall be so proud as to judge of Faith it self and admit or reject it as it shall be consonant or disagreeing to her prejudice this is a Tyranny which will quickly overthrow all Other cause than this there hath been none of the desperate Heresies wherewith the Socinians have pestered the World but that they will have all truths to stand or fall at the Tribunal of their presumptuous Reason Happy we and the Church of God if all curious Novelties in sacred things be esteemed prophane Modesty becomes Christians especially cum de Deo agitur as Seneca said be we wise to sobriety This would confer much to our speaking the same things and to take away divisions from amongst us and of this advice the two next will be a sull explication and improvement So let that be the 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 keep your selves close to the form of sound words r Rom. 10. ◠2 Tim ◠13 Those words and Doctrines which accord best with the grounds of Faith and love in Christ those which ascribe most glory to God and the Grace of God and which most conduce to the humbling and abasing of the pride of man which most tends to the practice of godliness to the purifying of Conscience and edifying of the Body of Christ It is a weighty saying of S. Austin ſ De Civ Dei lib. 10. c. 23. Non parum inter est ad Christianam pietatem quibus vocibus utamur It is of no little moment to Christian Piety what words we use they must be according to godliness t 1 Tim. 6.3 and our knowledge the knowledge of the truth according to godliness To which add 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Be sure to retain and bear reverence to the customs of the Church of God Contra fundatissimum morem nemo sentiat u Aust ep 28. Let no man be in love with his private sentiments contrary to the Churches well-grounded Customs Nemo nobis molestias exhibeat sic enim sentit ac docèt Sancta Dei Ecclesia ab origine Epiphan in Anchorat Let no man trouble us in these things for thus the Holy Church thought and taught from the beginning In quibus nihil certi statuit Scriptura mos populi Dei instituta majorum pro lege tenenda sunt saith S. Austin * A known place Where the Word of God determines no certainty and where there is no express and evident variation from Divine Authority there must be the Customs and received practices of the Ancient and pure Ages of the Church and Constitutions of her Pastors be retained as a Law and to contemn and oppugn them he somewhere calls it insolentissima insania a most proud or insolent madness only this Rule must be qualified with this necessary limitation that no Authority hath any Authority in matters of Faith Worship or Doctrine of Religion to prescribe or deliver any thing as in it self and immediately obligatory to Conscience which is either contradicted or omitted in the Word of God for that we believe to be fully sufficient to make the man of God perfect and thoroughly furnished to every good work x 2 Tim. 3.16 17. but as for matters accessary of indifferency order decency and inferiour nature and in matters of testimony to the truths of Scripture and for manifesting the succession flourishing and harmony of Doctrine through all Ages of the Church the godly Learned hath ascribed much to the Authority and usage of the Ancient Churches the study of the Doctrine whereof Vide Littler's Reformed Presbyte rian Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity Mr. Baxter's Disputation with several other Authors the
Learned Vsher calls a Noble Study And that the Church both have had a constant use of such Customs and right to make and impose them I could largely shew by the judgment of all Reformed Divines Ancient and Modern Beza Bucer Zuinglius Chrimenitius P. Martyn and Calvin himself saith that such Customs as serve for the furtherance of Devotion are not purely Humane but Divine * Cal. Inst lib. 1. cap. 10. Sect. 30 Sure I am that we should retain and observe them seems to be injoyned by Scriptures Inquire of the former time saith Bildad and prepare thy self to the search of their Fathers y Job 8.8 Look the old way saith the Prophet z Jer. 6.16 It was not so from the beginning saith our Saviour a Mat. 19.8 And what a high valuation S. Paul sets upon the Customs of the Church appears by his arguing b 1 Cor. 11.16 If any man seems to be contentious we have no such Custom neither the Churches of God He is there reproving the Corinthians Innovation of Women praying uncovered and men covered This ill fashion S. Paul confuteth with several reasons drawn from the power of Man over his Wife appealing also to natural decency therein and at last concludes with this close that they could alledge no such Custom in Gods Churches and to run counter to the Universal practice of Christianity is a note of contentiousness if any man seem c. Now if a Church-Custom carried weight with it in S. Paul's time when among Christians it could not be of above forty years standing what a Reverence is due then to those Customs that are continued in Gods Church ever since it was gathered which are like Melchisedecks c Heb. 7.3 without Father without Mother or without dissent whose first original cannot be found out which began at the first or near the first and so should in all reason and good manners be continued till the last coming of our Saviour * See this well answered in Dr. Edw. Stillingfleet's Irenicum page 56. The great Objection I know is that these Customs and Ceremonies injoyned are an impeachment of our Christian Liberty but methinks to scruple at them and hazard the Churches Peace and our Superiours displeasure for them should rather impeach our Liberty indeed especially considering that they are not urged as obligatory to Conscience per se in themselves but only as they are imposed by Lawful Authority for Orders sake And whatever such are commended by the Churches Customs or our Superiours Commands or convenient circumstances our Christian Liberty consists in this that we have leave to do them and our refusing to comply with these can hardly proceed from any thing better than a proud affectation of singularity or at best a superstitious scrupulosity in us Sure I am the Apostle implicitly brands it with contention and therefore to submit to them and retain and observe them it is an excellent way to this speaking the same things and that there be no divisions amongst us 11. To this end also I exhort you to an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a not having the Faith of God with respect of persons d James 2.1 Take heed of partiality or making your selves the servants of men e 1 Cor. 7.23 an enthralling your judgments to the fancies of any Sect or Party but rather cast to bear an equal affection to Truth and Piety by whomsoever it be professed for Truth and Piety is Gods wheresoever it grows as a Mine of Gold or Silver is the Princes in whose ground soever it be discovered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The contrary to this is as great an occasion of divisions as any I know of It was S. Austin's complaint of the Donatists in his time if one came amongst them and assured them of his Religion Christianus sum that he was Baptized fidelis sum that he lived in the Churches Peace Catholicus sum Christianus fidelis Catholicus all would not serve the turn to be imbraced by them an Unity with Christians in his Catholick Church would not do it he must hold of another head or else be no Saint Donatus his Ear-mark must be set upon him or he be rejected It is the very case this of the dividers of this Age be a man never so good a Christian never so pious or peaceable damned he is to hell he must go if he joyn not himself to a Side and Faction which by many is nick-named their Friends their Brethren by way of appropriation the Godly the Kingdom of Christ and the like Every one is partial to his own side he takes to beyond all reason ready to justifie them in their most suspitious Enterprizes and to extenuate their most palpable excesses and as ready to misconstrue the most justifiable actions of the adverse part yea to aggravate to the utmost their most pardonable and smallest aberations what is this but at once to justifie the Guilty and condemn the Innocent either of which alone is an abomination unto the Lord f Pro. 17.15 Hitherto appertains that which the Apostle calls having mens persons in admiration g Jude 16. for there be many that have such a high Opinion of some men that they are apt to receive whatsoever they deliver as the undoubted Oracles of God though perhaps wanting both probability and proof And on the other side they have such a prejudice against some others though perhaps of better worth greater Learning and more real Piety and sounder judgment as to suspect and disgust every thing that comes from them especially if it doth not sapere ad pallatum let them lay down their Doctrine never so clearly or prove it never so substantially Thus partial affections to a Side or to a Party corrupts the judgments of men and inclines them very naturally to divisions And so long as men are thus carried away with such partialities and prejudice they shall never rightly perform their duties either to God or man Now I beseech you Brethren let us otherwise learn Christ let us content our selves with Christs Livevery and as such hear his Voice We have our Faith and Appellation from Christ not from any other person let us not upon any these undue respects to any party of men hold or let go Truth or Piety or Unity and so make Merchandise of it contrary to that of Solomon h Pro. 28.23 Buy the Truth and sell it not The Orthodox Believers in the Primitive Church did ever keep themselves to the stile of Antioch Christians refusing the Name of Petriani or Pauliani or Pais Donati I am of Paul or I of Peter or I of Donatus thus let us do let us lay aside all dividing names and affections to any party for those do naturally hinder us from speaking the same things and do uphold divisions amongst us Therefore laying aside all such partiality 12. Let us all joyn our forces unanimously against the Common Adversary Just as David
our peoples into sides and parties they set our people a cockloft in rebellion against us they do in a few dayes annul all that we have done in many years towards the bringing our people into a way of order and obedience they fill the peoples mouths with insultations against their Pastors they set them in a posture of defiance against us they render it most difficult for us either to keep an amicable Correspondence with our people or procure our tithes and just maintenance from them they enslave us to their humors for if we displease or reprove them in the least or deny them any Common courtesie presently they tell us they can go to these separate meetings and be welcome and so many mischiefes hereof we daily feel that I may justly Conclude this with that which our Adversaries hate even an c. for they certainly Unhinge the Government both of the whole Church and of every particular Parish But perhaps these Chappels of ease are for the peoples ease or profit if they be it is just as Jeroboams Dan and Bethel was * 1 Kings 12 28.29 for them he intended as Chappels of ease to the people Saying it is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem but his meaning was least the people going up to do sacrifice there should turn again to their Lord Rehoboam * Vers. 27. He pretended the peoples accommodation and ease as a cloak to cover his own diffidence and cursed policy Just the like plea is used by some for these Chappels of ease the Parishes are too large it is too much for them to go to the Church for then perhaps in time we might bring them back again to their just duties and obedience or if you will they are such Chappels of ease as Samaria was to Jerusalem * See Mr. Joseph Meed Diatribae pag. 205. Nehe 13.28 Manasse brother to Jaddo the High priest of the returned Jewes had married the daughter of Sanballat then governor of Samaria and for this he was expelled Jerusalem by Nehemiah and therefore he fled to Sanballat his father in law and after his example many other of the Jewes of the best ranks having married strange wives likewise and loath to forgo them betook themselves thither also Sanballat willingly entertained them and made his son in Law Manasse their Priest for whose greater reputation and State when Alexander the great subdued the Persian Monarchy he obtained leave of him to build a Temple upon Mount Gerizim where his son in Law exercised the office of the High Priest Now this became an occasion of a Continual Schisme for those that were discontented or excommunicated at Jerusalem presently betook themselves to Samaria and just so do our people in the same case to these new licensed Chappels of ease and the Samaritan preachers thereof which whether it be a schisme and a breach of the Unity of the Catholick Church I leave to those to judg who have read how ill the Bishops in the primitive Churches resented it when other their fellow Bishops received those they had excommunicated into their Communion And now Reader do but Consider that not one of these pretences but they serve the turnes of all Sects one as well as other Independents Anabaptists and Quakers as well as the better sort of non-Conformists all alike and so they are by Mr. Baxter lovingly coupled together as brethren and indeed to them all these pleas are equally subservient Consider but this and then I submit all that is said both here and in the Sermons to this equal and impartial censure and as I freely give leave thou should reject whatever is tart or sarcastical above what the nature of the thing requires or whatever to thy more Sound judgment shall appear false and untrue so do I only request of thee this favour to which even thy self interest obligeth thee that is to believe me wherever thou seest reason or Scripture for what I say Consider all and the Lord give thee understanding in all things THE OBLIGATION OF CONSCIENCE Not to forsake PUBLICK ASSEMBLIES Hebrewes 10.25 Not forsaking the assembling of our selves together as the manner of some is BEfore I close with my Text give me leave to shew you in a few words what great reasons I have to make choice of it for the subject of my present discourse These are three My duty Your necessity and all Our comfort 1. My duty in respect of the Church of God as a Member but especially as a Minister thereof As a Member for it is every Christians duty to inform himself by the best meanes he can how it fareth with the Church of God but especially to take notice of and be affected with the State of that particular Church whereof he is an immediate member Men are most what too inquisitive of news behold this is the news we should inquire after When Gods people were in battel against the Philistines and had the Ark of God with them in the Camp it is said a 1 Sam 4.13 that old Eli sate upon a seat in the way side watching and hearkning how Gods people sped and the reason is given for his heart trembled for the Ark of God therefore he sate watching that he might hear what became of it So when there came one to David out of the Camp of Israel b 2 Sam 1.3.4 David was very inquisitive how it fared with the Lords host How went the matter saith he I pray thee tell me The like you see in Nehemiah c Neh. 1.2 so soon as Hanani came to him the first question he asked him was concerning the state of Gods people that dwelt at Jerusalem though he wanted nothing himself being a Courtier in great place and favour with that mighty King yet could he not but inquire of and be affected with the state of Gods people Nay Moses being in the height of honour in Pharoahs Court did not onely inquire but went out to his brethren and looked on their burdens d Exodus 2.11 All these examples teach us that it is our duty as to inform our selves about so to consider the burdens of Gods Church and be affected with the miseries thereof and every one in our several places to have a care of the cause of Religion in the world and especially we ought continually to inportune the Lord in behalf thereof and never forget it in our prayers to God Ye that have escaped the sword e Jeremiah 51.50 Stand not still remenber the Lord afar off and let Jerusalem come into your mind Ye that are the Lords remembrancers saith the Prophet Esay f Isaia 62.67 keep not silence and give him no rest till he establish and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth Jerusalem is like to become a reproach an hissing to the world more and more if things go on as they do but we therefore that are the Lords Solicitors and Remembrancers as all the
in time of tryal upon any condition forsake it Now this exhortation he strengtheneth by giving of directions for furthering their obedience thereunto the first is Christans mutually stirring up and sharpening one another amongst themselves that is a special help to constancy in the true Religion and a preservative against Apostacy together with a godly striving one with another who shall be first in love and well-doing vers 24. Let us consider one another to provoke to love and good works And 2. Another means to this end is the frequenting Christian congregations assemblies So comes in my Text. Not forsaking c. In the words you have evidently two parts 2. A Taxation of some for the neglect of that duty 1. The duty is to keep close to and not to forsake the Assemblies of the Church 2. The fault taxed in some amongst them is that in Schism or pride or purpose of Apostacie they withdrew themselves from these Church assemblies and so fell back again or were in the way of falling back to the open denial of Christ for separation from the true Church or the Christian society of the faithful therein is a remarkable sin tending to lead men by Schism to Apostacy from the profession of the true faith 1. Of the duty of Christians in order to their proving constant in the true Religion even to keep close unto and not forsake the assemblies of the Church The word for assemblies in the Text hath a very great emphasis in it it is a tricomposite 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as both Calvin and Hemingius upon the place observe signifies novam accessionem an increase or addition of some more members to a body congregated And these were the converted Gentiles that being converted to the faith became one with the Jews one and the same body of Christ Estius observes that because the Apostle here writes to the Jewes therefore for the Christian Assemblies he useth the word Synagogue because he would not vary from their phrase or custome of Speech any more then needs But might it not be some private meetings some separate assemblies in a corner that he calls by this name and here speakes of O no Interpreters with one consent generally interpret it of the publique assemblies of the Church in such publique places as are by Christian Magistrates or by the Rulers of the Church if the Magistrates be not Christian appointed for the publique worship of God Not forsaking the Assembling of themselves that is saith the London Annotations the publique congregation of the faithful wherein the word of God is taught the sacraments administred and common prayer and publique Thanksgiving are offered up unto God for unto such publique congregations hath God promised his blessing where hath he promised it Marke the Scriptures quoted by the Assembly for it are these d Psal 27.4 one thing have I desired of the Lord that I might dwell in the house of the Lord all the dayes of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his holy Temple for herein is implyed this promise that in the Temple the house of God there will God let us see his beauty Another text quoted by them is e Psal 122.1 I was glad when they said let us go into the house of the Lord our feet shall stand within thy gates O Jerusalem thither the tribes go up the tribes of the Lord unto the testimony of Israel to give thanks unto the name of the Lord. Of such assemblies therefore even of such as go into the said House of God whither the tribes the Multitude of the right worshippers of God go up to pray unto and praise him of these doth our Text speak Not forsakeing the assembling c. And to these Assemblies the Annotations quote that special promise as belonging unto them f Mat. 1 20. Where two or three are met together in my name that is for prayer and other Religious offices there am I in the midst of them Christ promiseth his gracious assistance to and presence with his Church be it great and numerous or be it small and with the publique and solemn congregation thereof Yes say the Schismaticks where ever two or three are met together there is he in the midst of them therefore the promise is to us or any of the Saints wherever or how few soever they be that thus meet together There is no Text wherein the separatist take Sanctuary more then this but very unsoundly For as the Reverend Mr. Ball expounds that place in his tryal of the grounds tending to separation pag 280 by the contextit appears Christ is there speaking of the Validity of the sentence of excommunication and certainly Christs meaning is not that every Society that consisteth of two or three believers met together to pray or preach have the power to excommunicate for no one example can be Alledged out of Scripture or Ecclesiastical History of the ancient Churches wherein any number of the Faithful did ever lawfully excommunicate or judg any Member of their Society without their Guides and lawful Officers moderateing the action There is no promise can be shewed out of Holy Writ wherein any such authority is bequeathed to two or three private Believers Disciples or Brethren O no but the very tenour of the words is to argue from the less to the greater thus If Christ be present with two or three gathered together in his name to ask things agreable to his will he will much more confirmin heaven what ever his officers and servants that have power from Christ to do this service in the Church in his name shall determine and conclude according to his will but they cannot meet together in his name for this or any other holy office that meet together in way of Schism contrary to his will Quomodo possunt duoaut tres in non mine Christi colligi quos constat à Christo ab ejus Ecclesià seperant saith S. Ciprian how can they be met together in the name of Christ that do manifestly separate themselves from Christ and his Church Cum Haereses Schismata nata sint dum conventicula sibi diversa constituunt veritatis caput originem reliquerunt when Heresies and Schismes arise the maintainers of them make separate conventicles for themselves they forsake Christ the Lord and fountain of Truth peace It is the Church and they that keep within the pale of the Chuch by unity and concord to whom this promise runs to give them what they meet together in his name to ask of him and to be in the midst of them I will be saith he in the midst of them That is of them that fear me and keep my precept of peace and truth Non homines ab eccelsia dividit qui fecit instituit ecclesiam sed exprobrans discordiam persidis fidelibus pacem suâ voce commendans ostendit
run us upon the rock of bold and unsafe conjectures in those matters the knowledg of which we may well spare without the least prejudice of our present comfort or our future salvation So come we to the. Though the Angels Prop. 4 being pure spiritual beings are not yet the sons of men being of a mixt nature partly Spirit and partly Body by their very beings are determined both to time and place in their rendring to actual worship unto God The very same reasons that do evince a necessity of worship to be given unto God by such creatures as are partly body and partly spirit will insert necessity of makeing time and place the inseperable adjuncts thereof 1. Nature dictates clearly that some time is necessary to worship God in For man being part body and part spirit is naturally obliged to worship God with both external and internal worship to glorifie God both with body and spirit which are his a 1 Cor. 6.20 Now all especially external actions of man must necessarily claim some time for the performance of them nor can man conveniently set upon Gods worship unless some time be set a part wherein he may be sreed and disintangled from his ordinary workes and inployments Thus far time and worship seemes to fall under one and the same command for as God in creating the world did concreate time together with the world so when God commands any religious worship to be performed by men he withal implicitely commands the necessary circumstance of some time wherein it may be performed and it being highly rational that the disposal of that time should be at the pleasure of God whose the worship is therefore hath it pleased him to set a part some portion of our time even a seventh part when he might have required all indulging us the rest even the six parts to be imployed according to the necessity of our nature Such is Gods infinite goodness and condescention of love unto us to allow us so large a portion of our time for our selves And therefore they act most basely and disingeniously not to say highly dishonourably against God who grudge him so small a pitance or who would rob him of it or by worldly imployments or pleasures drinking or sports or idleness prophane it 2. Very light of nature also teacheth some place to be necessary for man to worship God in because every body such as man hath must by the very necessity of its being Tâ—ese 4 first proposition may be seen handled more largly by Dr. John Stilling â—eet in his Shenna be contained in some real place and indeed to be in a place is so proper for a body as we may as well suppose it not to have a being as not to admit of a local circumscription neither can a body be nor exist not operate nor perform any action unless it be in some place and therefore the worship of God being an external action necessarily require a place for it So come I to the 5. Prop. That worship that is due unto God from these rational Beings the more publique it is the better it is so you see I come near to the matter of my Text. I say the worship which is due unto God the more publique it is the better it is the greater and the more visible is the joynt concurrance and Assembling together of several worshippers for the performance of the same action of religious worship the more acceptable it is to God This appears by several considerations 1. By Gods manifold precepts both in the old and new Testament injoyning several acts of publique worship such were the commands of circumcision and the solemne convocation and ordinance of the Passeover under the Law their several feasts and their sacrifices with the infinite rites appertaining to them and the sundry precepts for Baptism and the Lords Supper and publique Prayers and confessions unto God and collections for the poor those sacrifices well pleasing unto God under the Gospel These and others are outward visible publique acts of divine worship required by God himself 2. By publique performing of worship to God we stir up and mutually inflame each others zeal and devotion unto God and so the more publique religious worship is the mâ—re acceptable it is unto God inrespect of others St. Austin in his confession saith that he was almost ravished with the Songs and Prayers of the Church Congregation so that the spiritual comfort which he conceived by the sweet and heavenly matter which then the Christians joyntly and orderly made and in their publique Assembles made him weep for joy And Ibelieve there 's scarce any Christian but he hath sometimes felt his heart moved and affected towards God in actions of publique worship especially if uniformely and lively performed more then at other times 3. Publique worship is excellent as publique in respect of our selves for our joyning in them is a badge of our profession it s a wearing of Gods livery and confessing God before men it shewes to all the world that we are not ashamed to profess his word and Gospell and our beliefe thereof end obedience thereunto And on the contrary our forsakeing the publique assemblies wherein God is rightly and purely worshiped borders upon a Apostacy and is the next door to a denying of God and our profession of Gatholick Christianity 4. It is excellent as publique in respect of God for the more publique it is the more it tends to the honour and glory of God being a publique testimony and acknowledgment of our dependence upon and piety to him before all the world as with the heart we believe so with the mouth we make publique confession of God unto Salvation as we have light of grace within us so hereby it shineth forth before men that they may see our good works and glorifie our Father in heaven Christ tells us that a candle is not lighted to be put under a bushel Bono debetur manifestatio saith the Father our good must be made manifest therefore candles that have bonum lucis the goodness of light must not be thrust Sub malo tenebrarum under the evil of darkness So that if the candle of light be in our soules that is if we inwardly worship God in our hearts and spirits we must set it upon a candlestick our inward piety and worship must appear in our outward and publique worship of God before all the world 5. The acception of publique worship with God above private is de facto notorious by manifest reason of the thing particularly it is evident in publique prayer for if the prayer of one righteous man can avail much how much more will it when the prayers of many ascends up to the Lord. This must needs offer violence to the Kingdome of heaven and the violent shall take it by force Surely in every congregation there are some truly righteous and their presence cannot but bring down mercies on those others whose prayers
they care not for hearing them having itching ears they hunt out or up heap teachers to themselves To these men I shall first offer two or three things that directly tend to their better information concerning their Obligation to their own Pastor and then I shall answer their complaints of him and shew how groundless their forsakeing the solemn assemblies is in this respect The notes I shall give tending directly to your better information are Mr. Hildershams again who I believe gives in them the sence of all the old Nonconformists in this point and if they be well weighed I do believe they startle those of he Presbyterian perswasion that separate themselves from our Church or set up private meetings in time of publick worship and consequently in oppositito it They are these 1. Doubtless it is Gods own ordinance that every Pastor should have his own flock to attend upon and labour amongst them for so it is written Å¿ Acts 14.23 the Apostles ordained Elders in every congregation so speaks S. Paul to Titus t Titus 2.5 for this cause left I thee in Creet that thou shouldest ordain Elders in every City as I had appointed thee 2. By necessary consequence from the former it must needs be alike the ordinance of God that every one of Gods people should have a Pastor of his own to depend upon attend unto For the duty of Pastor and People is relative and mutual if the one be obliged by Gods ordinance to attend to a particular people then is that particular people obliged by the same ordinance to attend to their particular Pastor He may discharge this duty indeed though they be so head strong as not to submit to his ministry though they will not hear or be warned by him as their watchman yet may he by a Faithful fulfilling the work that he hath recieved of the Lord deliver his own soul but then all this while they by their own perverseness may lose the benefit of his ministry and by forsaking him deprive themselves of those holy warnings and instructions which he from the Lord prepareth for them as the straying sheep doth of that inspection and provision which his careful shepheard would have over it had it continued in its just bounds so that it is every ones duty by the ordinance of God to expect the Law at his own Pastors mouth To depend upon his ministry and hear what the Lord shall speak to him Yea he is obliged to this even in order to his own benefit 3. It is Gods ordinance also because requisite by good order in the Churches which is Gods ordinance that Christians should be distinguished sorted into congregations according to their dwellings that they that dwell next together should be of the same congregation and assembly The general equity of these rules shewes that it is Gods ordinance u 1 Cor. 14.33 and 40. God is not the Author of confusion but of peace as in all the Churches of the Saints And let all things be done decently and in order the word Parochia signifying parish doth evidently in its Element denote a compass or circuit of Inhabitants dwelling next together and so belonging to the same Congregation this as it evidently took place for order sake amongst the Jewes Moses being read to every particular Congregation in their particular Synagogues in every Church every Sabbath day Acts 15.21 So for the same same good Orders sake which was the undoubted ordinance of God the same is still on force under the Gospel For St. Paul left Titus in Creet to ordain Elders in every City So that they that lived together in the same town was apparently to be under the charge of the same Pastor and Elder x Titus 15. Feed the flock of God which is among you taking the oversight thereof not by constraint c. y 1 Pet. 5.2 Stilling fleet Irenicum 353. Alii 4. Our Author while he with other moderate Dissenters from the Church have in some respects allowed mens leaving their own Pastors to hear others better pleasing to them yet have they so far acknowledged the evidence of the truth of these particulars shewing peoples obligation to their own Pastors that they taught it thus That men might not ordinarily or usually leave them and when they leave them they must carfully approve their hearts to God that they have no other ends in so doing but their own sound edification onely and that they go to another Pastor onely because they find they can profit more in knowledg or Faith or Sanctification than by their own they complain that many Christians make choice of and applaud and admire some particular teachers without any judgment or discretion That some admire another Pastor rather then their own because he makes more ostentation of eloquence or reading or learning or such like humane gifts As the Corinthians did preferring other teachers before St. Paul himself because he was rude in speech z 2 Cor. 11.5 6. And some onely leave their own Pastors to go to others for variety sake they have itching ears and so must have a heap of teachers a 2 Tim. 4. one teacher let him have never such excellent gifts cannot please them long And some preferrs others before their own Pastors onely because they shew more seeming zeal in their voice and gesture and Phrase of speech and manner of delivery though perhaps their teaching be nothing so powerful wholesome or fit to edifie their consciences as is the Doctrine of their own Pastor These and other particulars they complain of which shewes that people are fickle and giddy headed and leave their own Pastors for want of knowledge and judgment So that whoever they be that leave them must be sure to approve themselves to that God that searcheth the heart that they do it not for any other end or upon any other account but for better edification Nay the Authors urge that when a man leavs his own Pastor go to another though he doth it in uprightness of heart onely in a desire to edifie himself yet must he seek to do it with his own Pastors good leave and consent why It is his unquestioned duty to acknowledge that by the ordinance of God he owes duty to him as to his superior in things belonging to the soul b Thes 5. ii Know them that labour among you and are overseers in the Lord and admonish you and esteem them very highly in love for their work sake Nay he is bound to seek his Pastors comfort and give him all good incouragement that he may do the work of his ministry with joy chearfulness according to the Apostles rule c Heb. 13.17 Obey them thâ—t have the rule over you and submit your selves for they watch for your souls as they that must give an account that they may do it with joy not with grief for that is unprofitable for you See here what