contempt of another One was for Paul against Apollo another for Apollo against Paul a third for Peter against them both a fourth was neither for one nor the other but for Christ against them all i. e. they cryed down all Humane Ministry and were for the immediate teachings of Christ without any means or instruments Now thus to say I am of Christ is a sin For as we must not make a Christ of Means by resting upon them so nor may we lay aside Means expecting Christ should do all without them Be so for Christ as not to despise Ministry Be so for the Ministry of one as not to despise another Do not impropriate Christ to any party It is a dividing Spirit to say Lo here is Christ or lo there is Christ Matth. 24.23 It is to unfaint the whole World to Consecrate our own way And this is a provoking thing and must needs stir up strife and envy for every man is concerned when his right and title is called in question The Apostle discovers another Spirit and more truly Catholick when he writes to this Church 1 Cor. 1.2 To the saints at Corinth and to all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord both yours and ours He seems to check that proud and envious humour which would so inclose Christ to a party as to deny and defeat all other claims Jesus Christ both theirs and ours Like that of Christ My father and your father my God and your God John 20.17 4. See that your Union be laid in Truth and Holiness Zech. 3.19 1. In Truth That must have the first place love the truth and peace Union in Errours in false Principles is no better than a confederacy against Christ Isa 8.12 And say not a confederacy That is a cursed accommodation that is made to the disservice of Religion because while we thus make peace with Men we make a breach with God 2. Let your Union be founded in Holiness It will not stand if it be not upon this bottom Loose Zeal is not unity but compliance Heb. 12.14 Follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. A Man may see God without Peace but he can't see God without Holiness Peace is a sort of provision that will not keep if it be not well salted Therefore our Lord Christ hath taught you how to preserve it Mark 9.50 Have salt in your selves and have peace one with another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Col. 3.14 5. Keep Love in constant exercise This is a true principle of Union It is not only the knot that ties it but the bond that holds it It is the cement that holds the stones of Christs Spiritual Temple together This was the sacred sodder which united the Primitive Christians so firmly of old that they were of one heart Acts 4.32 and one soul We are united to Christ by Faith but to one another by Love And we should be careful to strengthen both the bands that neither of them be broken The true Mother would rather lose the Child then see it divided Among the Romans they had a Temple dedicated Jovi depositorio because there they laid aside their quarrels and differences before they enter'd into the Senate Shall Heathens lay aside their mutual jars for common good and shall not the Ministers of the Gospel do it much more for the Churches safety 6. Pray much for that wisdom that is from above which is pure peaceable gentle and easie to be intreated Jam. 3.17 3. Indeavour what in you lies to perfect this Union Nothing less then this will fully answer the Prayer of Christ He doth not only pray that his people may be made one but that they may be made perfect in one John 17.23 And if Christ prays for it ought not we to indeavour it that we may be perfectly joined together in the same mind 1 Cor. 1.10 and in the same judgment And because the oneness can never be fully perfected here therefore let us long for Heaven where this Blessing shall be compleat Here we injoy it by way of initiation their it will be in consummation All partition Walls shall then be destroyed There all contrary Opinions and differing Sentiments shall cease Their Luther and Zuinglius Hooper and Ridley shall be all of a mind Many Spiritual Gifts and Graces shall cease there whether there be prophecies they shall fail or whether there be tongues they shall cease Nay Faith Hope Repentance c. they shall cease too but Charity never fails 1 Cor. 13.8 Love and Union shall go with you to Heaven and shall be a part of the Saints felicity for ever It shall no more be said I am of Paul and I of Apollo but God shall be all in all I will conclude all with a short Exhortation and a Prayer as short The Exhortation is in Philip. 2. five first Verses If their be therefore any consolation in Christ if any comfort of love if any fellowship of the spirit if any bowels and mercies fulfil ye my joy that ye be like minded having the same love being of one accord of one mind Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better then themselves Look not every man on his own things but every man also on the things of others Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus That is the Exhortation The Prayer is in Rom. 15.5 6. Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like minded one towards 〈…〉 according to Christ Jesus that ye may with one mind and one mouth glorifie God even the father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Then will the Two Sticks be One in the hand of the Lord. Eph. 3.21 To him be glory in all the Churches by Christ Jesus throughout all ages AMEN FINIS These four Books are Published by Mr. Matthew Mead and sold by Tho. Parkhurst in Cheapside viz. Spiritual wisdom Improved against Temptation in a Sermon at Stepney September 16th 1660. The Almost Christian Discovered or the false Professor try'd and Cast in seven Sermons The Good of Early Obedience or the Advantage of Bearing the Yoak of Christ betimes The Vision of the Wheel seen by the Prophet Ezekiel opened and Applyed partly at the Merchants Lecture in Broad-street and partly at Stepney on January 31th 168◠being the day of thanksgiving to God for the great Deliverance of the Kingdom from Popery and Slavery
Cant. 6.9 My Undefiled is but One. Acts 4.32 The multitude of them that believed were of One heart and of One soul This is an Ecclesiastical Oneness and it is that which the Text chiefly points at Bellarmine speaks of a sixfold Oneness in the Church 1. In respect of God who calleth but this makes the Church not so much una as sub uno one as under one 2. In respect of the end the Salvation to which it is called but this makes the Church not so much one as ad unum 3. In respect of the means as Word Faith and Sacraments But thus the Church is rather by one than one 4. In respect of the Spirit as a separated Governour 5. In respect of Christ as a conjoyned Head 6. In respect of the connexion of the members among themselves and in these two last respects says he it is most properly one So that this Oneness is such in the inward principles and outward practice of Religion as concerns the people of God joyntly and reciprocally in their Church State as joynt Members of Christ and one of another And this is the Oneness here promised I will make them one stick and they shall be one in my hand But 2. what is intended in the doubling this promise I will make them one and they shall be one 1. It may point at a twofold Union Passive and Active He makes them one that 's a passive union God is alone in it They shall be one that is more active there is the operation of Man in it As it is in the union betwixt Christ and the Christian it is first passive and then active There is the operation of the spirit uniting and then the act of Faith in closing we are apprehended of Christ before we can apprehend Christ Philip. 3.12 Unition as some calls it is in order of nature before union and so it is in this union in the Text between Christian and Christian Believer and Believer Church and Church God is first in it Uniting Graces must precede uniting acts and if God thus make us one then we shall be one For 2. The doubling the promise imports the certainty of the accomplishment As Pharaohs dreams were doubled so the promise is here repeated Gen. 41.32 because the thing is established by God and he will surely bring it to pass I will make them one and they shall be one Isa 43.13 Q. d. None shall be able to hinder it I work and who shall let it Sometimes God divides a people and then none can unite them Judges 9.23 God sent an evil spirit between Abimelich and the men of Shechem So when God unites none can divide if he makes the two sticks one Job 34.29 they shall be one When he gives peace who then can make trouble 3. It implys such a union as shall be both inward and outward in principle and practice in affection and action I will make them one that is in Judgment and Principle And they shall be one i. e. in Worship and Practice For it is explained by that in Jer. 32.39 I will give them one heart and one way that they may fear me for ever One heart without one way is unfruitful And one way without one heart is hypocritical but one heart and one way is no less then Angelical for thereby his will is done on earth as it is in Heaven So that a full and compleat Union between his People is here pointed at I will make them one that is I will give them one heart And they shall be one that is they shall walk in one way Rom. 15.6 And so with one mind and one mouth they shall glorifie God But thirdly What is intended by being one in his hand I will make them one stick and they shall be one in my hand 1. It points to the influencing power of God in bringing this oneness about The Hand in Scripture is frequently put for Power So Deut. 32.36 The Lord shall repent himself for his servants when he sees that their powers are gone 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that their hand is gone Dan. 6.27 He hath delivered Daniel from the power of the lions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so the Chaldee from the hand of the lions Isa 11.11.25.10 So here the hand of God implys his power and indeed the curing the divisions of his people is a work that calls for a mighty power Odia religionum acerbissima Solomon says The contentions of brethren are like the bars of a castle Prov. 18.19 It is so of such as are brethren by place or race and it is so much more the more is the pity among such as are brethren by grace corruptio optimi pessima It made Strigelius weary of living Melch. Adam in vita and wish to depart out of the world that he might be freed ab immanibus implacabilibus odiis Theologorum Therefore Solomon compares them to the bars of a castle very strong and hardly bowed or broken None can do it but God and when he by the power of the spirit of love and union breaks these bars in sunder then they become one in the hand of the Lord. 2. It implies a union in the Truth every union is not a being one in Gods hand There may be union in sin a union in errour All the world wondered after the beast Rev. 13.3 a union to support the Antichristian Interest It is said of the ten horns these have one mind and shall give their power and strength to the beast Revel 13.12 13. Now this is so far from being a union in the hand of God that it is the quite contrary it is union in the hand of Satan If we are not united in the truth whatever our union may be yet we cannot be said to be one in the hand of the Lord. 3. It implys the reality and cordialness of this union a love without dissimulation you read of an 144000 which stand with the Lamb upon Mount Sion Revel 14.1 And here are two things mentioned concerning them to our purpose their unity and their sincerity oneness and uprightness Here is their unity in Doctrine pointed at in their number 144000 which is a number rooted in twelve to shew that they were all built upon that one foundation of the twelve Apostles of which Christ was the corner stone and that their Doctrine and worship is pure and Apostolical Then here is their unity in Profession they have all one name Ver. 1. written in one place they have his fathers name written in their foreheads that is they make the same open and visible profession of their subjection and obedience to the same authority Government Laws and Ordinances of God and our Lord Jesus Christ Then here is their unitedness in blessing and praising God This is intimated by their having the same Instruments and the sameness of their Song Ver. 2. They all harp upon their harps
dunghil And 1 Revel 19.14 the Saints are said to follow Christ cloathed in fine linnen clean and white their cloathing shows their holiness and their following him shews their oneness and when they follow him thus cloathed then you read of his sharp sword and his iron rod and his treading the wine press of the wrath of God upon his enemies v. 15. all which is explained in the following words to the end of the Chapter where you have the Battle of Armageddon fought and the Beast and false Prophet and all the rest of the Churches Enemies destroyed And if the destruction of the Churches Enemies be a consequent of their Union then when God makes the two sticks one it is a great Mercy I might add 3. The notice that God would have to be taken of it speaks out the greatness of the mercy That they may know from the rising of the Sun to the West that there is none besides me I am the Lord and there is none else I make peace and create evil Isa 45.6 4. The blessings and prosperity that flow from this Union speak the greatness of the mercy Psal 122.7 When peace is within Jerusalem 's walls there will be prosperity within her Palaces But I pass these and shall insist only on this one thing which will sufficiently set forth the greatness of this Mercy and Union and that is 5. The Evils and Divisions among God's People Their Name is Legion they are so many Nothing thrives where this Wolf sets his foot Where envy and strife is there is confusion and every evil work James 3.16 It is the root of many bitter fruits We read Gen. 38. that Pharez was the Son of Tamar Pharez signifies Fraction and Division Tamar signifies a Palm-Tree Ab amaritudine say some from bitterness Pagnine Division comes from bitterness and brings forth bitter fruits Deut. 32.31 The grapes of it are grapes of gall the clusters are bitter For instance Your Divisions are very dishonourable to Jesus Christ they cause his Name to be blasphemed in the World Rom. 2.24 Nay it is an implicite denying him to be come in the flesh For when he comes this is to be one effect of it Isa 11 6. The wolf shall dwell with the lamb c. It is one Argument the Jews have against Christ's being come because this Prophecy is not fulfilled My Brethren Is the Lord Christ come into the World or is he not If not why do ye own it If he is why don't ye manifest it It is your Union that must prove Christ's Mission Christ prays for the Oneness of his Disciples for this very end John 17.21 That they all may be one that the world may believe that thou hast sent me And again v. 23. Let them be perfect in one that the world may know that thou hast sent me As if Christ should say the World will never believe that thou hast sent me that my Doctrine is true if they that profess it live not in the power of it and are not made one by it Thou art Love and what shall convince the World that I came out of the Bosome of the Father's love when my Disciples hate one another Oh how dishonourable to Christ must this be 2. Divisions are a great grief to the Spirit of God and we are commanded not to grieve him Eph. 4.30 Grieve not the holy spirit of God Have ye not your light and life from the Spirit Did not he convince and convert and draw you to Christ Was it not he that lead you into the Secrets of God that revealed the Mysteries of the Kingdom the deep Things of God and Eternal Life to you Your Calling had never been effectual if the Spirit had not been in it to make it so Are not your Parts 2 Cor. 12.4 and Gifts and various Attainments all from the Spirit And is not every Grace and every Degree of Grace in you the Workmanship of the Spirit And is it not the Spirit that quickens you in Duties and maintains in you a frame of heart for communion with God Who is it that comforts your Souls in troubles 1 Cor. 1.4 and that teaches you to comfort others that helps you against Corruptions within and Temptations without that conquers your Difficulties and inables you to rejoyce in Tribulation Is it not the Spirit Is not he the earnest of your inheritance Eph. 1.14 Eph. 4.30 Hath he not sealed you to the day of redemption and will you grieve this Spirit Oh what an evil is this 3. There is nothing more contrary to Christianity and yet we cover our Divisions under the cloak of Religion the very Name whereof carries Union with it Religio à religando It is the Bond of God upon the Soul that binds us all to himself and one to another As God is the God of Peace Christ the Prince of Peace Eph. 6.15 the Holy Ghost the Spirit of Peace his Children the Children of Peace so the Gospel you profess and preach is the Gospel of Peace full of Precepts of Peace you are Rom. 12.18 Mark 9.50 if it be possible and as much as in you lies to live peaceably with all men much more to have peace one with another else you violate your Baptismal Covenant 1 Cor. 12.13 For by one spirit we are are all baptized into one body whether we be Jews or Gentiles bond or free And what an evil is this It is Death to force a Virgin what is it then to defile a pure and holy Religion 4. Divisions are the causes of much sin Shake a Glass of Water that hath dregs in the bottom and the shaking stirs it and spreads it all over I have often thought of that Counsel of the Apostle Eph. 4.26 Let not the sun go down upon your wrath It must be speedily suppressed for if we lie down in our heats we shall be apt to burn all the Night It was a Custom formerly in this Nation that every Night at the 8th hour a Bell was rung and then every Family was obliged to put out their Fire and this was called the Curfew Bell. We have need of such a Monition every hour to cover the Fire of our Passions least they kindle and burn up all Behold how great a matter a little fire kindles Jam. 3.5 5. Divisions are against Love as Error is against Faith It 〈◊〉 asunder the bond of Peace Amos 6.11 The great house is smitten with breaches and the little house with clefts Not only Kingdoms but Churches are destroyed when their Guides and Leaders are divided in opinion and affection One carps at anothers Gifts decries anothers Ministry stands in the way of anothers Honour like men in a Boat one justies another till among them they sink the Boat it self O the evil of Divisions It was not therefore without most cogent Reason that Christ prays for his own Apostles Joh. 17.11 that they may be one 6. Divisions
are the fruits of the Flesh The Apostle tells us The fruits of the Spirit are love peace gentleness and meekness Gal. 5.22 but the fruits of the Flesh are hatred variance emulation strife and envyings ver 20. So that a man can't evidence himself to be in the Flesh and destitute of the Spirit of God in any thing more than by a contentious dividing Spirit The Apostle says so 1 Cor. 3.3 If their be envyings and strifes and divisions among you are ye not carnal They are Salamanders that can live only in this Fire And then I may ask but who is their Father For the Wisdom that is from beneath is sensual and devilish the Mother of strife and division Jam. 3.15 Ver. 17. But the wisdom that is from above is pure and peaceable O how sad is it when the Flesh thus reigns in the Children of the Spirit 7. Division naturally runs into Tumult and Confusion It makes Zion to become a Babel It so confounds the Language of Christians that one can't understand another As when a House is on Fire some call for Water some for Ladders some for pulling down the House Such is the confusion where this Fire breaks out in the House of God 8. Nothing more obstructs the flourishing of Religion And how sad is it that the Interest and concerns of Christ should wither under our hands 9. Nothing becomes a greater stumbling block to turn others out of the way of God Division in the Church begets Atheism in the World Men charge all the faults of Professors upon the Religion they profess and thereby contract such prejudices against it as can never be rooted out O what an evil is this 10. Nothing becomes a greater Joy to our Adversaries nor gives them a greater advantage to undermine and destroy us While two Birds are pecking one at another the Kite comes and soops away both Our Contentions make us first a laughing-stock then a prey to our Enemies and therefore they are a sad forerunner of ruine Hoc Ithacus vetit c. When Abraham went to Sacrifies his Isaac he found a Ram intangled in the Briars which God had prepared for a Sacrifice and if we are intangled in these Briars we may justly fear we are prepared to be a Sacrifice These are some of the many Evils which might be reckoned up that are in the divisions of Gods People which may serve to set forth the blessing and advantage of Union And therefore when God binds up the breaches of his People and makes the two sticks one it is a great mercy Shall I not make a little Application of this I know to whom I speak which makes it needless but for Sions sake I will not hold my peace Isa 62.1 This Text affords two Uses that suit the end of this days appointment which you have set apart partly for Humbling and partly for rejoycing Here is matter of Humbling that the people of God should be two sticks Here is matter of Reioycing that God hath made the two sticks one 1. Let us Humble our selves before the Lord for our former Divisions Is their not a Cause when God calls to contend by Fire Hos 7.4 Isa 19.2 it is a Token of his Anger It is in favour to Israel when he sets the Egyptians against the Egyptians but when Ephraim and Manasseh are divided Isa 9.21 there is the Anger of God in it and that should be matter of Mourning And indeed the only way to a firm Union is to lay the foundation of it in shame and tears for past Divisions Even in this sense God lays the beams of his chambers in the waters Psal 104.3 and makes the clouds his chariot There is no building without Mortar to hold the stones together and there it no Mortar without Water When Israel and Judah come out of Babylon and inquire the way to Sion and joyn in a Covenant Union it is all done in Tears Jer. 50.4 5. In those days and in that time saith the Lord the children of Israel shall come they and the children of Judah together going and weeping they shall go and seek the Lord their God They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward saying Come let us joyn our selves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten They use in Faggotting either to twist the bands with some sap in them or to lay them for a time in water for when dry they 'l snap but they 'l bend and hold the twisting when well soaked So the deeper your Humiliation is the more durable will your Union be Their is much cause of Humbling on this account For the Pride of our hearts only by pride comes contention For the dishonour done to God by these differences For the reproach brought upon his ways For the offences and scandals given to many whereby their Souls have been eternally hazarded And should not the sense of this affect us Some diseases are called opprobria medicorum I am sure these are opprobria Theologorum O let us joyn in this one thing to mourn together till we have dissolved our hearts into tears and see if they 'l cun one into another and let us resolve that nothing shall comfort them but peace with God and peace with one another Vse 2. When we have thus passed through the valley of Baca Psal 84.6 and in this sense made it a well we may then go on to Berachah and sit down there blessing and rejoycing in God who hath made the two sticks one in his hand If any thing should affect us the great appearance of God should wherein he hath put forth so much of his Power Wisdom Love and Mercy Is it not a mercy you have long desired and prayed for And God hath this day returned your prayers like Noah's Dove with an Olive Branch in the mouth How long did our Fathers sow in Tears for this Harvest and God hath reserved the reaping time for us their Children Isa 9.3 And therefore let us joy before him according to the joy in Harvest This day hath the Lord rolled away our reproach Josh 5.9 for what hath been the reproach we have been silled with Is it not that we have been a divided people crumbling into Factions and Parties fill'd with mutual animosities and jarrs envying and hating one another Now God hath brought us to Gilgal for this day is the reproach rolled away and shall not God have the glory of this You have this day made up one great Breach at which Judgment used to enter Ezek. 13.5 Ye have gone up into the gaps and made up the hedge for the house of Israel You have this day recovered your strength Division is a weakening thing A Kingdom a House a Church divided cannot stand Untwist a Cable and it is easily broken Divide the strongest Current into many streams and it becomes shallow and weak You know the story of Scilurus