shame What! would you have us think you are against Divisions when you divide from God and Christ and the Holy Ghost from the Scripture from the holy Catholick Church and from the Communion of Saints Can you for shame say that you are for Unity and Agreâ—ment when you are dividing from us and will not agree with us unless we will be as mad as you and damn our souls for company with you To hear these ungodly men talk against sects and divisions in the Church is as if we heard a man that hath the leprosie cry out against those that have the itch or a murderer childe another for foul words 3. And I must tell you while you remain ungodly you are the great Hereticks and Separatists that trouble the Church of God more then abundance of those that you reproach I excuse not the least but none of them are like you As death is worse then sickness as being that which all sickness tends to and the worst that it can do so Ungodliness is worse then sects and particular Errours or Heresies it being the worst that any errour can do to make a man ungodly There are no such Separatists in the world as you It is not only from a particular Church or Ordinance that you separate but as I said even now you separate from God that made you from Christ that bought you from the Spirit that should sanctifie you from the Word of God that must Rule you or Condemn you from the body of Christ and the holy Communion of his people The Church would have you joyn with them in holy worship and your godly neighbours would have you joyn with them in prayer and holy lives and you will not but separate from them all They cannot have your help against the sins of the time and place you live in They cannot have your company in the way to heaven but when they go one way you go another way You are the great troublâ—rs of the world and break the Peace of Church and State and of all that you have to do with You trouble Magistrates and make work for Lawyers you trouble Ministers and frustrate their labours and make their lives grievous to them when it is much in your hands to make them joyous You trouble all the godly that are about you and you will find at last that you have most of all troubled your own souls For shame therefore before you speak any more against Sects and Separatists or any other troublers of the Church give over the ungodly separation which you continue in and come in to the Unity of the Church your selves and live in that Communion of Saints which you say you do believe and do not go on to trouble the Church abundance more then those that you speak against 4. Consider also Whether you have not as much reason to live a diligent holy life and seek God and your salvation with all your might as any of your neighbours have and therefore whether your own Necessity doth not call aloud to you to Vnite with them and to do as they do Your Godly neighbours are meditating on the Word of God when you are thinking of the world or on vanity they are discoursing of the life to come when you are talking of your worldly business or pouring out a company of idle words Ask your conferences now whâ—ther you have not as much need to study the Scripture and prepare for the life to come as they Your godly neâ—ghbours are at prayer when you are sinning and drowned in the inordinate cares of the woâ—ld and have no heart to thâ—ir employment Let conscience speak whether you have not as much need to pray as they They abhor sin and are afraid of it when you boldly venture on it Let conscience tell you Whether you have not as much cause to be afraid of sin as they Yea and an hundred times more for you are under the guilt and power of it O wonderful madness of the ungodly world that the example of the godly should not bring them to some consideration A man that is converted and reconciled to God and hath a pardon of all his sins and is in a state of salvation and walketh humbly and uprightly with God doth yet think all too little that he can do but fasteth and prayeth and watcheth against temptations and humblâ—th his flesh and followeth after God continually and lamenteth after all that he is so bad can do no more And his neighbor that liveth by him is an ignorant stupid sinner unconverted and under the guilt of his sin and under the curse and wrath of God having no assurance of salvation nay it is certain that he would be cast into Hell the next hour if he die in that condition and yet this man feels not any such need of prayer and holy meditation and conference and so religious and strâ—ct a life He that hath lost almost all the time of his life and is not only quite behind-hand in knowledge and abilities but is an unsanctified miserable wretch not sure to be out of Hell an hour this man perceiveth no such necessity of an holy life nor why he should make so much ado As if a rich man should be put to daily labour and a man that hath nothing should think it needless Or as if a man that hath the tooth-ake or a slight disease should send to the Physitian and he that hath the Plague should sit still and say What needs this trouble Sirs I beseech you look upon the holiest and most heavenly neighbours you have and bethink you whether you have not much more need to be diligent then they Have not you immortal souls to save or lose as well as they Are not you in danger of damnation as much and an hundred times more then they Should not God be your master as well as theirs and his Law your Rule as well as theirs and Heaven be as dear to you as to them Bethink your selves when you hear them praying or reading or repeating Sermons and Sanctifying the Lords day and fearing to offend Have not I as much need to do all this as any of them If then you have as much cause and need to live a godly life as others joyn with them in it and let all the Town agree together and none withdraw but he that can say I have no need of it 5. And I pray you consider also how easie it would make the way to heaven if we would but all Vnite and Agree to go together in it This is it that discourageth the weak and makâ—s it so hard a matter to be saved because there are so few that are godly but if one or two poor people be resolved to seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and to please God and save their souls the rest do either look on and refuse to joyn with them or else speak against them and make them their ordinary
What can you say to this now If you say that your way is not so dangerous it is buâ— our precise uncharitable concâ—it We have shewed you the word of God for it and fourty times moâ—e we could easily shew you And shall we believe you or such as you before God You are lyars but God cannot lye You see not what is done in another world but God seeth it You know not what is in Heaven or Hell but God knoweth And shall we not believe God that knoweth and disposeth of all better then moles that never saw it and ignorant souls that never knew it God saith that Fornicators Adulterers Drunkards Covetâ—us persons revilers or the like shall not inherit the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 6.10.11 and that they that are in the flâ—sh cannot please God and that if you live after the flesh ye shall 〈◊〉 Rom. 8.5.6 7 13. And would you have us believe you that there is no danger in a fleshly life Sirs we desire heartily to be United and Agreed with you but we are loth to buy it so dear as the loss of God and heaven comâ—s to We are willing of Concord with you but we are loth to be damned with you And do you blame us for this And alas if you should tell us a thousand times that you hope there is no such danger or that you hope to scape as well as the godly this is but poor security to us Shall we be so â—ad as to venture our selves on such words as these against the Word of the Ruler of the world What sâ—curity can you give us that we shall scape damnation if we turn ungodly Are you able to save us from the wrath of God Will you undertake to stand between us and his displeasure What say you if we will forsake an holy life and live as careless worldlings do and neglect God and our souls and please the world and our flesh wâ—ll you undertakâ—â—o answer for us in Judgmâ—nt and will you 〈…〉 bear the punishmeâ—t 〈…〉 should bear 〈◊〉 you 〈…〉 â—o save â—s haâ—mless 〈…〉 will you perâ—wade â—s to 〈…〉 do Nay â—f you 〈…〉 it he were a mad man 〈…〉 trust you and 〈…〉 on 〈◊〉 such underâ—â—â—◠〈…〉 know you are not 〈…〉 maâ—â—th 〈…〉 how unable wâ—ll 〈…〉 your selves 〈…〉 an hour 〈…〉 whe◠〈…〉 Commission to carâ—y you◠〈…〉 And shall we trust 〈…〉 your â—oaâ—â—â—g words when 〈◊〉 knâ—w you are 〈…〉 help yoâ—r selves Let us see 〈◊〉 what yoâ— can do fâ—r our selves or us agaiâ—â—â— the preferâ—â—and of God 〈◊〉 you keep off death and 〈◊〉 diseases and live here in healâ—h and wealth for ever whether God will or no How comes it to pass thâ—n that here is never a one of you near two hundred years of age Let us see you chide back approaching death and raise the dead bodies from their graves and heal all the diseases that out off mankind If you cannot do these smaller matters would you have us bâ—lieve that you can saveâ—s from damnation Why Sirs must your neâ—ghbours lie some of them in poverty and some in pain some sick of one disease and some of another and you look on them and cannot cure them or relieve them and yet must we venture our souls upon your words You cannot make an old man young again and can you make the word of God prove false or save those that God hath said shall perish and bring unsanctified men to heaven whether God will or no Well Sirs let them that hate their souls â—r care not whether they are â—aved â—r damned forsake the Lord and an holy life and joyn with you and see whether you can saâ—e theâ—e But for my part I believe the Wâ—râ— of God and upon thâ—s Word 〈◊〉 I am resolved to build my hopâ—s and venture my soul and aâ—l 〈◊〉 little that I have in this 〈◊〉 Trust you on what you please 〈◊〉 shall be my trust And they 〈◊〉 can find a surer ground to 〈◊〉 upon let them take theâ—r course But I must tell you that if you would wish us all to cast awâ—y God and Christ and heaven to agree with you you are moâ—iteâ—â— and not men and if you are sâ— cruel as to desire us to damn our souls for company we must be so careful of our selves as to abhor your motion and raâ—her to haâ—e the dearest thing or person in the world as they would draw us from Christ and everlasting life Luke 14.26 You see than what it is that standeth in our way to hinder us from turning back to you But what dangâ—r would you be in if you should turn to us Would it hurt or hazzard you to forsake your sensual ungodly lives Is there any danger in turning to God and living an holy heavenly life What is the danger Forsooth you may lose your estatâ—s or lives A great matter indeed in comparison of eternal life And must you not lose them shortly whether you will or not And are they not in the powâ—r of God and cannot he prâ—sâ—rve thâ—m if he please and if it be good for them he is liker to do it for his own then for his enemies But indeed he hath told you himself that he thâ—t will save his life shall lose it and he that loseth his life for his sake shall find it even in life everlasting Mat. 16.25 10.39 And yet as the world now goeth in England through the mercy of God your lives are in no danger It is but the scorn of ignorant miserable men that you must endure And will you stick at this in the cause of God and your salvation Nay indeed you are in most dreadful danger every day and night and hour till you forsake your former fleshly lives and turn to Christ You are all the while even within a step of death and hell till you are Converted and made an holy people It is but one stroak of death to put an end to your lives and hopes and you are gone for ever So that you have nothing to lose but an Heaven to gain if you joyn with the godly There is no danger can come to to you by turning unless it be the loss of your sins and that is a loss no more to be fâ—ared then a man should fear to lose the plague or pox or leprosie that hath it Now I beseech you Sirs as men of Conscience or of Reason set both together and equally consider how the case stands between us If we joyn with the unholy we run into Hell and lose God and Christ and Grace and Salvation for evermore But if you turn to the Godly you get out of danger and make the gainfullest match that ever was made by mortal men and you can lose nothing but the sensual pleasures of sin which are but exchanged for the joyes of Saints as sickness is exchanged for health And which now do you think in reason is the fitter that you turn to the godly or they to you Truly if
avoid them and the causers and fomenters of them There was never Master so much for Unity as Christ and never was there a Law or a Religion that did so much condemne Divisions and command brotherly Love and Peace and concord and forbearing and forgiving one another as the Christian Law and Religion doth And will you yet say that our Divisions are long of our Religion or of Christ the author of it You may as wisely say that eating is the cause of weakness because that some are weak for all their meat But you will find that none can live without it Or you may say as wisely that Physicians are the causes of the diseases of the world because they do not cure them all I tell you there is none in all the world that have done so much for Unity and Peace as Christ hath done No all the world set together have not done half so much for it as he He hath preached Peace and Unity forgiving and forbearing and Loving one another yea Loving our enemies and he hath gone before us in the perfect practice of what he taught He hath offered himself a Sacrifice to the Justice of his Father that by his blood he might reconcile us unto God He is the great Peacemaker between God and man between Jews and Gentiles taking away the enmity and becoming himself the Head of our Unity and giving us One Spirit one faith one baptism that we might be One in him who is One with the Father So that to charge the Center of Unity with our Divisions and the Prince of Peace himself with our Discords or his holy Word or waies with our Disagreements is all one as to charge the Sun with Darkness and to say that our Law-givers and Laws are the causes of theft and murder and Adultery which condemne them to death that are proved guilty of them The cause of all our disagreements and divisions is because we are no more Holy then we are and because we are no more Religious So that I may leave it now as a Proved Truth that we must Unite in the Spirit and Agree in Holiness of Heart and life if ever we will have true Unity and Agreement AND now Sirs you have seen the only way of Unity opened to you It s plain and past all doubt before you If yet you will divide from God and his servants and if yet you will be numbered with the straglers or quarrellers do not say but Peace was opened and offered to you Do not say You could not have Peace but that you would not Do not say any more hereafter that there were so many Religions and so many waies that you could not tell which to joyn with Never more pretend the differences of the godly as a cloak for your ungodliness I have opened the nakedness of such pretences You shall not be able when your lives are scan'd to look God in the face with such an unreasonable impudent pretence Your consciences and the world shall then be witnesses of your shame that while you cryed out of Sects and heresies and were offended at the Divisions of the Church it was your selves that were the cause of it It was you and such as you that were the great Dividers and that obstinately proceeded in your Divisions when the way of Peace was opened to you and would not be United in the Spirit to Christ nor would not Agree in Holiness with his Church when you were acquainted that there was no other way to Peace Would you but have joyned in a firm and everlaling Covenant to God the Father Son and Holy Ghost as your only Creator Redeemer and Sanctifyer as members of the Holy Catholick Church and have lived in the Communion of the Saints you should have received the Forgiveness of sins the Resurrection of the just and Everlasting Life But in refusing and obstinate refusing these you refused all your hopes of Blessedness and wilfully cast your selves on the wrath of God and therefore must endure it for ever THE last Advice that I have to give upon the ground of this Doctrine is To all that are United in the Spirit and Agreed upon an Holy life I mean to say but little to you now but briefly to tender you these two requests 1. I beseech you Christians but to live as Christians in that holy Unity as your principles and profession do engage you to Hath true Christianity and Holiness such abundance of advantages against division and yet will you be guilty of it Against all these bonds and healing principles and helps will you be dividers Doth it not grieve you and even break your hearts to hear ungodly persons say that Professors are of so many minds and partyes that they know not which of them to follow and that we had never concord since you bore sway O do not seek by your contentious wayes to perswade people that Holiness is a dividing thing and that Religion doth but tend to set the world together by the eares Is it not a precious mercy to us of this place that we have among us but one Church and one Religion and and have not Church against Church and Christian against Christian I charge you from the Lord that you be thankful for this benefit and that you look upon divided places and compare their case with yours that if ever dividers come amongst you the sense of your felicity in this blessed Unity may cause you to reject them and that you do not suffer any Dalilah to rob you of your strength and glory Were you but once here in pieces among your selves what a scorn would you be to all the ungodly what sport would it be to them to hear you disputing against one another and reproaching and condemning one another as bitterly as the wicked do reproach you all Do you not pitty those places where divisions have made Religion to be a scorn and the tender Love and Unity of the Saints is turned into uncharitable censures and separations Take warning then that you come not to the like If you should you would be as unexcusable as any People in the world because you have tryed and tasted so much of the sweetness and benefits of Unity as you have done shew men by your lives that Holiness is the most certain way to Unity as ever you desire either to propagate Holiness or to have any evidence of it in your selves 2. Judge by this undoubted truth of any doctrine that shall be offered you and of the wayes of men and of your selves 1. Suspect that doctrine that tendeth to divisions in the Church If it be not for Unity it is not of God Rom 16.17 Christ came to heal and reconcile and is the Prince of Peace and therefore sendeth not his servants on a contrary errand He will justifie your dividing from the unbelieving world but he hateth dividing among his servants He that 's for Church-division is not in that for Christ or you 2.