And therefore it was that he prayed so earnestly for his Disciples before he left them That they may be on That 's the first Secondly Vnity amongst Christians is very necessary that God thereby may be glorified because it is a special Means to bring the world to believe the Truth and receive Christ See this is twice affirmed to be the consequent of unity Joh. xvii 21 23. That the world may believe thou hast sent me It is a special way to convince all the enemies of the Truth What confirms the Papists and Hereticks and Prophane persons in Errours and Wickedness nothing more then the differences and strange Opinions that are amongst us Do they not by Books and otherwise in derision say One Sect says That ha's the Spirit of God Another saith That hath and yet both are contrary one to another Can the Spirit of God be contrary to it self Can it be a Spirit of Truth in one and a Spirit of Falshood in others This is a great stumbling-block in their way and confirms them in their evil ways So that if nothing else should make us tender about causing any breaches in the Church of God this should Wo be unto us if we hinder others from embracing the Faith by our divisions Oh then in these Times of differences and breaches amongst us what should we run unto what should we plead for in Prayer but this O Lord it is a sad Judgement to be thus miserably divided as we are to have Altar against Altar Church against Church Minister against Minister what is preached one day is decryed the next Is this to have one heart and one way is this to be alike-minded one towards another according to Christ Lord what will become of us if we continue thus Oh that all those that do confess thy Holy Name may agree in the Truth of thy holy Word and live in unity and godly Love because this is a special Means to bring the world to believe the Truth and receive Christ That 's a Second Thirdly Vnity amongst Christians is very necessary that God thereby may be glorified because hereby a serviceable and beneficial helping one another in spiritual things is preserved There is strength in unity Vis unita fortior A Kingdom divided against it self cannot stand says our Saviour When one piece of the wall divides from the other it foretells ruin As that Heathen to his Sons giving them a Quiver of Arrows intimating thereby as long as they agreed they were invincible All the united power of the Church is little enough against their common enemies and shall they weaken themselves The People of God are compared to living Stones built up together now whilest the stones keep in the Building they bear up one another but if once removed it falls down They are compared to Members in the Body while they are joyned togather there is a mutual Ministration to each other but when divided from the Body no part can receive any nourishment Thus it is with us while we are in union Oh the wonderfull help we shall be one to another We provoke one another to love and to good works but take these Coals from one another and the Fire goes out Fourthly Vnity amongst Christians is necessary that thereby God may be glorified because God many times suffers sad and heavie Persecutions to befall them that thereby their discords and divisions may be removed and they be more endeared to one another Times of Prosperity in the Church made the greatest Heresies and Schisms but the times of bloody Persecution made the godly more united Thus the Martyrs some of them in Queen Mary's days did bewail their differences and contests they had formerly one with another but the Prison and Persecution made them highly prize one another Joseph's Brethren in their Plenty envied and fell out with one another but in their distress they were glad to cleave together and truly so it may one day come to pass with many of us who are now so shie and strange to one another God may in time work so that we may be glad to enjoy one another's company to have society and communion one with another The Sheep that are scattered one from another when a sudden Storm arises it makes them company together And therefore if love and godliness do not unite us take heed God does not make some outward Trouble and Affliction to put us together If we will not embrace one another willingly he may bind us in chains together and then we 'le be glad to hug one another That 's a Fourth Lastly There ought to be unity and concord amongst Christian Brethren that God may be glorified thereby because they are but a Few in comparison to those that bandy themselves against the Church therefore they had need united * Fear not says Christ little Flock Christ's Flock is but a little Flock the Divel 's is a great Herd And one says excellently upon that Place Justorum tanta paucitas ut unitas videatur And the Apostle tells us 1 Cor. ix 24. All run in a Race but one receives the Prize to teach us unity in all our undertakings And Luke xvii 15. when ten Lepers were cleansed there was but One returned to give Thanks intimating to us that we should join unanimously in blessing and praising God for his Mercies Deo grata Vnitas ingrata Divisio It 's worth our Notice that when Christ's Body was rent and crucified they did not suffer them to break his legs john xix 33. Now Expositours give an excellent reason for this They understand the Church Christ to be as his Bones Signifying that he suffered his real Body to be rent and torn and wounded but his Mystical Body which is his Church he would not have any Discord or Rent amongst them His Coat was without Seam they said therefore amongst themselves Let us not rent it John xix 24. Intimating to us that we should not onely be united but as One as many Members in one Body Though a Multitude of Spiritual Gifts yet joyned in the unity of the Spirit And therefore when the Apostle heard there were Divisions amongst the Corinthians he tells them Ex parte credit non ex toto that He partly believed it He could not altogether It seemed almost an incredible thing that Members of one and the same Church should be so much to pieces You see the wicked Multitude unites in Sin and Prophaness Oh that we were once united in Truth and Holiness Now the God of Patience and Consolation grant you to be alike-minded one towards another So much shall serve for the Proof of the Point Come we now to make some Practical Improvement of it to our selves Vse 1. Is it so that Christian Unity is to be preserved That thereby God may be glorified then there are a great many People amongst us liable to a sharp Reproof who delight to sow the Tares of Strife and Contention amongst their
Christian Brethren Who because all things go not according to their minds presently fly out into open Railings against Authority Because some differ a little from their Humours Fancies and Opinions they quickly make a Separation and disagreement in Society and Conversation And that which at first perhaps begun in a friendly and Neighbourly dispute by Degrees takes flame and grows up to a mortal Feud and Hatred This is not according to Christ Such are Incendiaries and Firebrands of Christian Society Such as boggle at a few Ceremonies and make no Conscience of Committing Sacrilege Such as cry down an Organ in a Church but are pleased with it in a private House Such as are afraid of a Gown or a Surplice or a Canonical Habit but make nothing of being cloathed with Malice Envy and Vncharitableness Such as cry down all Forms but a Form of Godliness which they onely have and deny the Power of it This is not to be Alike-minded according to Christ It 's a sad thing that people of the next door should be no longer Neighbours one of another but ready to devour and pull out one another's Throats for a few shadows or Husks of Religion a few Senceless Aery Sapless Empty Notions and Opinions whereas the Life Substance Kernel Pith and Marrow of Christianity the Power of Holiness in our Lives a Conformity of our Wills to God's Will is not so Zealously Contended for but God knows is too much neglected by us This is not to be alike-minded according to Christ There is nothing can prevail to bring us to an happy agreement or union untill we unite in the Spirit of holiness and righteousness If we once could prevail to bring men to this we should be the more easily able to bear with one another under all our lesser differences untill the time of full agreement come We should hold our differences with love and compassion and not with hatred and division We should lovingly consult together upon Rules or-Terms on which we might manage our unavoidable differences to the least disadvantage to the Cause of Christ or those common Fundamental Truths which we all maintain Oh that we would but observe that Apostolical Canon Let all things be done decently and in order Let not the foot or the hand take upon them to govern the Head but let us submit to our civil and Ecclesiastical Superiours and not disturb the Peace of the Church by crying Popery is coming in when they that say so are the greatest Idolaters and Worshippers of their own imaginations And seeing we agree in things of the greatest Moment and Weight let us bear one with another in smaller matters and manage our differences with more meekness and peace and Christian charity This is to be alike-minded according to Christ If we were once united I say thus in the Spirit of Holiness we should not differ so much as we do The very Fore-thought of an everlasting union in heaven would have a continual influence upon our hearts for the healing of our breaches We should be thinking with our selves Shall we not shortly be of one mind and one heart and all be perfected with the blessed vision and reconciling light of the face of God There will then be no dissension or division or unbrotherly censures or separations And shall we now live so unlike our future life Shall we now be so unlike to what we must be for ever Shall we now cherish those Heart-burnings and Dissensions that must not enter with us into Heaven but be cast off among the Rest of our Miseries and shut out with the rest of our Enemies Must we there be Cloathed in perfect Love and Vnity and be all imployed in the same Holy Praise of God and our Redeemer And does it beseem us now to be Censuring Contending and Separating from each other Oh Beloved Brethren Let me tell you it had been better you had never been Born then to make any Sinfull Divisions in the Church As Joshuah once faid to Achan Joshua vii 25. Why hast thou Troubled Vs The Lord shall Trouble thee this Day So I may say to some Troublers of our Churche's Peace Why trouble ye the Church and hinder Unity You shall one day have trouble your selves for this Mark them saith the Apostle that cause dissensions and avoid them who they are that make our breaches and keep them Open and shun them VVe are willing to agree to any thing that is reasonable or possible and yet they make us the Authours of our present divisions As Nero set Rome on Fire and then persecuted the poor Christians for it as if it had been done by them they pluck up the Hedg and yet complain that others let in wilde beasts into the Vineyard If they heartily desired Vnity and Peace with us they durst not make so great a breach in charity nor so arrogantly condemn or sleight their Brethren whose Piety and Soberness they cannot deny Beloved If any man desire to be contentious we have no such Custom neither the Churches of God 1 Cor. xi 16. That 's the first Vse Secondly Give me leave to lay down some few Rules by way of Direction to Peace and Vnity and then I will close up in a word of Exhortation First So far as there is an Agreement in Judgment let us close heartily and embrace one another in that It 's a Mercy that the difference is not in the very Fundamentals and Vitals of Religion Seeing therefore there are common Opinions wherein the Godly do agree let that Unity be nourished and this will be a Means to produce further Vnion amongst us It 's a great Frowardness in the Rigid Lutherans that they will not own the Calvinists as Brethren So far as men do retain Christ and Fundamental Truths with an humble godly Disposition desiring to be further informed Let not the want of what they should have make us despise the good things they have So far as there is an Agreement in Judgment let us close heartily and embrace one another in that That 's the first Secondly Let Private Christians highly esteem and submit to the Ministry God hath set over them For commonly there begins the Breach When they begin to be offended at them when men will not own that Publick Office which God hath appointed then they wander into By-paths See Eph. iv 12 13. There you may see a twofold End of the Ministers of Christ The One is to keep them from being carried about with every Wind of Doctrine The other for a Spiritual Edification till we come in the Vnity of the Faith So that a due and fit Obedience and Ackowledgment of them would in a special manner prevent Divisions Thirdly Get a Pitifull and Compassionate Spirit to those that go astray We are indeed I confess to have Zeal and an Holy impatience in the things of God Yet this is to be accompanied with Pity and Compassion Of some have compassion
A PEACE-OFFERING IN THE TEMPLE OR A Seasonable PLEA for UNITY among Dissenting BRETHREN IN A Sermon at St. Paul's Church London before the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor c. on the 14th of October 1660. By RICHARD HENCHMAN Rectour of St. James-Garlick-Hyth {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Rom. xii 18. If it be possible as much as lyeth in you live peaceably with all men Hebr. xii 14. Follow Peace with all men and Holiness c. Per Discordias Civiles Externi tollunt animos Livy LONDON Printed by Thomas Roycroft for William Grantham at the Sign of the Black Bear in St. Paul's Church-yard near the little North-Door MDCLXI Honoratissimo Domino Dno HVMPHREDO EPISCOPO SARISBVRIENSI Patruo Patrono meo Colendissimo QUamprimum hanc Concionem Almae Pacis sobolem ad Sancti Pauli editam exponendam concesserim favoris Vestri clientelae submitten dam consului Praesul Venerande qui es ipse ex Alumnis Pacis Primogenitis Pacisquefiliorum Pater juxta ac Pateonus Clementissimus Si insolens nimis videatur atque importunum Chartulâ tam minutâ Seriae vestra graviora interpellare eo amplius debetur Excellentiae Vestrae quo minsugrave s tenuitas nostra indigentia promereri possit Ea siquidem est Virtutis Nobilitatisque indoles faciendi benevolendique argumenta à seipsa expetere nec in alio quopiam viri Principes similiores estis altissimo qui misellos nos homunciones non ad merita nostia sed ad Gratiam suam rependit Sicolim Doctor ille Gentium ad coe lum usque laudibus effert divinam {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} quae {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} potiùs {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} quam {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} commendat pro eo quod habemus non pro eo quod non habemus nos dignabundus accipie animus modo promptus adsit Liberalis Sic etiam Magnus ille animarum Episcopus Viduae paupellae Dodrantem in Arcam sui Foederis benevolus recepit Sic Infantulorum Hosannah non seciùs quam Angelorum Sanctorumque Hallelujah in Libro Vitae commemorat Sic denique ne in infinitis immorer poculum frigidae solum Prophetae suo nomine erogatum non minùs sibi gratum fore pollicetur quam poculum Aureum aut Thesauros̄ ingentiores Non despondeam itaque Praesul Honorande quin ad pedes Vestros devolutus gratus accedam eoque gratior excusatior quo magis me profiteor Ambirionem hanc captare non ad favorem Vestrum in me conciliandum quam ad merita Tua in me collata beneficia gratis memoranda Pluribus certè nomimbus Dominationi Vestrae me agnosco obaeratum quam aut voto aut studio solvendo siem Deus Optimus Maximus ut Dominationem Vestram salvam servet incolumem ad Regnum coeleste Regnum Pacis tandem perducat supplex obnixe petit est sem. per petiturus Honorande Praesul Humillimus Vester Tuique Observantissimus Ri. Henchman TO THE READER A Word spoken in season says Solomon is both gratefull and success full which is the Blessing that I beg of God upon these poor and mean endeavours It was the fittest Subject that in this Juncture of Time I could fix my Thoughts upon to Preach and Pray for Unity among dissenting Brethren especially seeing some men so strangely averse and indisposed to an Agreement and Conformity in Things Indifferent that they rather endeavor to widen then close up to make new Breaches then heal the old What tends this to think you but to lay our selves open to the scorn and Reproach of our Enemies at home and abroad that both Parties being zealously busied one against another may spend themselves in endless and unnecessary Debates and Controversies while a third secretly and insensibly grow up and destroy us Blessed be God our Differences are not yet so great seeing we agree in the Vitals and Fundamentals of Religion that we should stand at such a distance for some Opinions and Ceremonies and hazard the welfare and Happiness of our Church Besides His most Excellent Majesty our Gracious Sovereign like a good nursing Father having sweetly and prudently indulged some froward and peevish Children by his late seasonable Declaration concerning Ecclesiastical Affairs that so if possible he may compose the Spirits and allay the rigidness of some violent Tempers till a Learned and Pious Synod can be convened to Determine Matters But if after all these Means men shall continue obstinate and refractory and will not submit to the wholesom Orders of Decency in the Church it will be just with God and Man to punish us more severely for our Peevishness Thus Parents use to do if Children cannot agree among themselves they whip them both into better Manners And every one knows that no man shall gain by the differences between Brethren but he that is an Enemy to both For my part I alwaies feared our own Divisions more then all our Enemies Combinations or Conspiracies And what was once said of England may be as truly said of all that fear God in it It is a mighty Creature that can never die unless it kill it self In Saint Cyprian's Time they could keep the unity of the Spirit in the Bond of peace with those that did not onely think but teach that which was contrary to what was received in things of lesser concernment and surely we might in our Differences at least so far agree as to Act together if Pride and Party were laid aside and we acted by the same Spirit of Humility and Brotherly-Love that the Antient Saints and Churches did God knows my Heart I should rejoyce exceedingly from my Soul if I could but see that Primitive Order and Unity take place again Oh that I may in that small Sphere I move in be any whit instrumental to this great Work either by preaching praying or writing For this very End I first set upon this ensuing Subject and for the same I was perswaded to set it forth Correct with thy Pen what thou findest amiss in the Printing Pardon my weakness in the composure amd accept of my willingness in doing good If thou reapest any Benefit by it thank not me but the Lord who enabled me and think of me in thy Prayers as of the poorest unworthy Minister of Christ who shall ever be ready upon all occasions to contribute my Mite to this good Work of Peace and Unity among Christian Brethren and Study to approve my self a true Son of the Church of England and From my Study Novemb. 7. 1660. Thy true Friend in all Christian Offices to be Commanded R. Henchman ROM. XV 5 6. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} c. Now the God of Patience and Consolation grant you to be like-minded one towards another according to Christ Jesus c THe
Searcher of all Hearts knows I have no other Design in making choice of this Subject in this Place but that I might cast in my Mite and apply some Sovereign Balsame to cure the Epidemical Distemper of this Age That so if it be possible I may be Instrumental to the Healing of the Hurts to the closing up of those Wounds and Rents which many Empericks and Mountebanks in Religion have caused in this our Church The Romanes to whom the Apostle Saint Paul wrote this Epistle were at this time at much Variance and Discord amongst themselves censoriously Condemning and Passionately Contemning too one another for things indifferent Now the Apostle fearing that this Difference in Opinions would breed an Alienation in Affections and afterwards increase into more bitter Oppositions he frames a very prevalent Argument by way of Caution to avoid such Offences in the precedent Chapter at the 12th Verse So then saith he every one of us shall give an account of himself to God let us not therefore judg one another any more An admirall Inference that They kept such a stir about Days and Meats censuring and controling one another Nodum in Scirpo quaerentes for Toys and Trifles they did so vex and offend one another conilnually and therefore the Apostle in that Chapter uses both his Rhetorick and his Logick too to allay those storms and appease those contentions as you may read at large in the 14th 17th and 19th Verses And here in this Chapter he goes on and prosecutes his Argument in the first Verse We then saith he that are Strong that is strong in Faith strong in Knowledg strong in Grace ought to bear the infirmities of the Weak We that have received a greater measure of Gifts ought to exercise more charity towards our Christian brethren then others If they be hasty or froward or peevish or vexatious let us use Indulgence towards them bear with them help and relieve them their Deportment is inconsiderable because they are not so well-grounded and instructed as we are Let us not therefore Judg them Censure Disdain or Scorn them If such * be overtaken in a fault we that are spiritual should endeavour to restore them with the spirit of Meekness If they be impatient yet in your Christian Patience possess ye your Souls This is the Sum and Substance of the Apostle's former Discourse And having used these weighty Arguments to evince them he closes up with fervent Prayer in the words I have read for unity peace and concord amongst them Now the God of Patience and Consolation grant c. An excellent sweet Close indeed And it is brought in by a Prolepsis as if some should Object to the Apostle thus much True indeed You have brought many strong Reasons and notable Arguments to perswade us to unity concord but there is such a vast Difference amongst us our Wounds are so festered that they seem incurable we are so much divided that it seems impossible For can you imagine to bring the Weak to yield to the Strong or the Strong to forbear the Weak by Reasons or Arguments No I fear we are too much heated already to hearken to Reason Now to this the Apostle here may be supposed to Reply True indeed I see it so to my great grief Ye are very much to pieces strangely disjoynted and distracted yet though your Passions may seem to impede an harmonious Agreement in things indifferent my fervent Prayers may obtain it If I cannot effect it by Reason I 'le endeavour to do it for you by my hearty Supplication to God And if any thing in the world will prevail I am sure this will Now the God of patience c. Thus you see the Cohaerence and Dependance of these words with the former Before I proceed to the opening of them give me but leave to hint this Observation to you by the way Observ. 1. That 't is the Duty of every faithfull Minister of God in their several places when they perceive there are Divisions Strifes and Contentions amongst the People if sound and solid Arguments will not prevail with them to unity and concord to add hearty and fervent Prayers to God to move their hearts to it This you see here is Praxis Apostolica 't was the Apostle Paul's Practice and it is the Duty of every Minister Oh that we could all endeavour to write after this Copy The words themselves contain a Prayer and in this Prayer there are two things most remarkable First The thing that is prayed for and that is unity and concord That they may be alike-minded one towards another that is mind the same thing among one another as Learned Doctour Hammond Glosses {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} That they may be united in Thoughts Judgments and Affections that as they are concorporated into one outward Profession so they may be coanimated into one inward Love in Christ Paraeus Interprets it Consensum in Fide a mutual consent in Faith He prays says he that they may be of one Judgment and Opinion concerning the use of Indifferent things But I rather understand and referr it to Consent in Jugment and also Concord in Affection because 't is expressed one towards another where he touches all the Causes of this Concord First The Authour and Efficient Cause God Secondly The Material to be Alike-minded one towards another Thirdly The Formal According to Christ Jesus Fourthly The Final That ye may with one voice glorifie God That 's the first here considerable The thing prayed for viz. Vnity and Concord Secondly Here 's the Amplification or Enlargment of this Prayer and that is briefly in these three Particulars First From the Authour God who is here described by two admirable Properties Patience and Consolation Now the God of Patience and Consolation Origen says that he stiles the Lord The God of Patience and Consolation Quia Deus cum his est c. Because God especially is most with such who inherit such Virtues But I rather adhere to Haymo's Opinion who says he is therefore called a God of Patience and Consolation Quia ipse tribuit Patientiam ab illo solatia veniunt in illorum cordibus habitat that is Because it is he that gives us Patience in our Tribulations and comforts us in all our Afflictions according to that of the Apostle 2 Cor. i. 4. The God of Patience and Comfort because the Authour Approver and Rewarder of Patience and Hope and Comfort And therefore incomparable Grotius hath this excellent Note upon this Place Genitivus says he in his libris modò Objectum modò Causam Effectricem denotat Though these Graces come from us Instrumentally yet Effectually they are from God as the Giver of all good Gifts Object But why here stiled the God of Patience before the God of Consolation Answ. I Answer by giving you this to observe Because the way to true solid and serious Comfort is patiently
as his Majesty does in his late seasonable Declaration enjoyn We have but one God and therefore we must worship by one Rule We have but one Sepherd and therefore must be commanded by one Voice We have one Head and therefore must follow one direction He that rends himself from the Church of God in God's Worship and Service here will one day be rent from Christ and the Church for ever hereafter Cain was the first Separatist we read of and what became of him When he went out of God's presence the Text says Gen iv 12 15 16. he was a Fugitive and a Vagabond and a Mark of Infamy was set upon him all his days Corah and his rebellious company they were the second sort And they made a cleft in the Congregation and God made the earth to cleave and open upon them and swallowed them up Numb. xvi Oh let us take heed of their Sins lest we also partake of their Punishments The * good Mother you know had rather lose her childe then divide it so a good Son of the Church will rather suffer any thing then cause divisions Oh therefore let us be alike-minded one towards another according to Christ Jesus and let us endeavour to keep this unity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace This is the crown honour ornament and glory of a Christian a salt seasoning all our actions We read that there was a kind of concord between the Stones in Solomon's Temple they were so fitted and disposed that there was no Noise heard in the Building thereof such a sweet conjunction of affections should there be betwixt God's People that no noise no clamour no brawlings should be heard amongst us Oh that the Lord would cement us thus once again This would sweeten all our Possessions and all our Afflictions as the Tree sweetened the Waters of Marah Indeed my Brethren without this love unity peace and concord the Fulness of the world will be uncomforatable to us And with this the greatest afflictions will seem but light and inconsiderable A Wilderness with peace and unity is better then a Paradise with discord and dissension I beseech you remember that your God is a God of peace your Jesus is the Prince of peace your Gospel is the Gospel of peace your Calling the Calling of peace and your Way to heaven the Way of peace I beseech you therefore seek and pursue it Acquaint your selves with God and be at peace one with another Follow the example of the Apostolical Primitive Church Acts ii 1. They were all with one accord in one place Oh what sweet and heavenly harmony must there needs be when all the strings were so in tune I would to God it were so with us of this miserable divided Kingdom Oh my Brethren we must never expect the Spirit of Vnityto enter into our Hearts but where there is Vinity of Spirits There cannot I am sure be a more fatal and forceable Opposition to the Holy Spirit's Entry then discord disunited Hearts I remember what Homer observes of Agamemnon that whilst he was in Love and Amity with all and bare no Malice he was like Jupiter in Feature Mars in Valour c. but when once he became Passionate Envirous Malicious he was as a Lion Tigre or Savage Beast So it is with us So long as we are unanimous ruled by reason Correcting our Inordinate Appetites and conforming our selves to the rule of God's Word we are as so many Living Saints nothing can prejudice us but when once we let loose the reins óf our affections to lust anger ambition pride envy malice or uncharitableness then we overthrow all and bring in a Chaos of confusion amongst us provoke God's anger against us and are like so many divels roaring and ranging about seeking whom we may devour It is recorded of a city in Spain that there was not known any quarrellings Law-suits or contentions for twenty years together but all quiet and Peaceable having excellent Trading and Commerce Oh that this and all our Cities were thus disposed How contentedly might we live and enjoy God's blessings sweetly and have a more free and blessed intercourse amongst us It was the praise of the Primitive Church that they sang their confessions joyntly and aloud and their Amens as Saint Hierome reports were like a clap of thunder and their Hallelujahs were as the roaring of the sea Oh that we would imitate those Primitive Christians that we may praise God with one heart and one mouth This was their practice Oh that it was ours when they prayed they prayed all together when they brake Bread they communicated together when they heard t was all together * They were all with one accord in one place met together to perform God's Worship and Service Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be alike-minded one towards another according to Christ Jesus The same Spirit that loves unity loves uniformity Thus the Church was began and thus it should be continued That we may be as St. Paul speaks Ephes. iv 4 5 6. One body and one spirit having one Lord one Faith one Baptism one God and Father of all That yet it may be said of us Protestants in England which now are the scorn the hissing and by-word of other Nations because of our divisions that it may yet be said of us as of the children of Israel in Judges xx 1. A Congregation gathered together as one man Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be alike-minded one towards another according to Christ Jesus If after all this that I have said there be any so proud and selfish and uncharitable that they will set up their own conceits and wills against the plain commands of Christ and hinder Christian unity impede the peace of their Brethren and the unity of the Church and will have no agreement unless all others will be conformed to their Wills I shall say no more to such but that these are not the Sons of peace nor the living compassionate Members of the Church but self-Idolaters that God is engaged to pull down and let me tell you that 't is not by such as these that the Church must be headed and repaired but it is by them that are sensible of their own infirmities and compassionate to others by them that are of a meek humble Christian spirit Principles and affections whom I pray God bless that they may endeavour to settle this poor distracted Church Now the God of patience and consolation grant us all to be thus minded Let all bitterness and wrath anger and clamour and evil-speaking be put away from you with all malice And be ye kinde one towards another tender-hearted forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you Let there be no divisions amongst you that hear me this day Let us be alike-minded one towards another according to Christ
Jesus There are jars discords and divisions too many God knows amongst others the Lord stand in the gap and save us that we be not utterly destroyed by ours For our divisions we have great reason if we have any grace to have sad thoughts of heart to see so glorious a Church and People as once we were so miserably shattered and divided as now we are to see our dear Mother thus set upon the Rack and her bones as it were put out of joynt surely this if any thing must needs make a good Christian's heart to bleed and to wish his eyes were a Fountain of tears c. And to pray and weep and weep and pray for the peace of this our Jerusalem that all they that confess thy Holy Name in this city and Nation may yet agree c. Now the God of patientce and consolation grant you to be alike-minded one towards another according to Christ Jesus I 'le conclude with that Excellent conclusion of St. Paul in the second Epistle to the Corinthians Chap. xiii II. Farewell Brethren be prefect be of good comfort be of one mind live in peace and the God of Love and Peace shall be with you And let all of us jointly to this say Amen Amen So be it FINIS Prov. xxv II Vide Cyprian ad Jubajan Epist. 73. The Occasion * Gal. vi 1. He seals up his former Exhortation with a word of Benediction so should we pray for the People as well as Instruct them so would our Labours bring more comfort to our selves and more profit to our hearers It is either meant of God's Patience or ours that is either of that Patience which God uses towards us or of that Patience which God by his Grace and Holy Spirit works in us Now he is the God of both And the God of Consolation because sound Comfort is from God alone and therefore the Holy Ghost is called by his proper Name when he is called {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Vide Psal. xxiii 4. Patience is an help to Vnity for what is it but Pride and Heat of mens spirits that both sets Contentions afoot at first and afterwards keeps them so See Prov. xiii 10. and Prov. xv 1. Patience is the true Peace-Maker And as Patience is an help to Unity so is Comfort a special fruit and effect of it See Hebr. x. 36. Pax cum bonis custodienda est non cum sceleratis iniquis qui pacem inter se habent in peccatis suis Pax cum bonis Bellum cum vitiis semper habendum est Aug. Tom. 10. De Temp. Ser. 166. Maneat potius nobis adversus Manichaeos pro veritate certamen quam cum illis in falsitate concordia Aug. Tom. 6. contra Faustum Manich. lib. 29. cap. 2. Charitas laudat Deum discordia blasphemat Aug. in Psal. 149. * {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Coagmentati sive coadunati at compacti as Learned Beza reads it Satanae Triumphus est Christianorum dissentio Aug. Tom. 10. Serm à Lâ—van edit. Serm. 74. It is a Shame for Christians to be like other men as Sampson was after he had lost his Hair It ill becomes them to Contend and quarrel as those Terrigenae fratres use to do These Overflowings of the Gall and Spleen domâ— from a Fullness of bad Humours Christians should be as Sâ—ul was Higher then the people by Head and Shoulders Something singular is expected from them If ye wrangle and quarrel the World will think you mad Vide locum Ecce quám bonum â—â—â—cundum Gen. xiii 8. Gen. xlv 24. Scilurus that Scythian King in Plutarch De Garr * Luke xii 32. See Dr. Sanderson Bishop of Lincoln in his Sermon ad Câ—erum on Rom. xiv 3. and pag. 21 22 23. Men must grant though they be unwilling that every particular Church hath Power for Decency and Order's sake to Ordain and Constitute Ceremonies See Salv. Lib. 4. Instit. 〈◊〉 10 27. Alass whereto serves all this Ado about Gestures and Vestures and other outward Rites and Formalities that for such things men should make such Clamours against the Times I say whereto serves all this but to give scandal to the Enemies of our Church and Religion Believe it we shall never grow to Christian unanimity in any tolerable measure so long as every man seeks but to please himself onely following his own liking and is not desirous withall to please his Neighbor Dr. Sanderson pag. 168. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} I Cor. XV ult. V. See Arch-Bishop Laud's Speech at his Death Ne veniant Romani c. Jude 22. Heb. iv 14. 1 Cor. 12.2 How have the Divisions among the Christians made may for and given advantage not a little to the Turk for the making of and Inrode into Christendom Vlysses demonstrates it to Achilles that the discord between him and Agamemnon would in probability prove the ruin of the Greeks Hom Iliad {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Frangimur si collidi mur Simul colligamus neè dividendo perdamus Aug. De 5. Haeres cap. 6. We should be insupe rabiles if we were once inseparabiles Quisquis ab Ecclesia Catholica fuerit separatus c. ab unitate Christi disjunctus ext c. Aug. Epist. 152. ad Pop. fact Don. * 1 Kings iii 26. 1 Kings vi 7. Exod. xv 25. Ubi Pax ibi Christus quia Christus Pax saith St. Ambrose Tom. 3. Epist. 82. If ye bite and devour one another take heed that ye he not consumed one of another Gal. v. 15. I remember Saint Augustine thus argues against the Schism of the Donatists Tom 8. in Psal. LV Fratres sumus saith the there Vnum Deum incocamus in unum Christum credimus unum Evangelium audimus unum Psalmum cantamus c. Quid in foris ego intus sum c And elswhere Qui Adoramus unum Patrem cur non agnoscimus unam Matrem Tom 6. De 5. Haeres cap. 6. * Acts ii 1. Ephes. iv 32. Jer. ix 1.