prone to Civilities and Kindnesses and to all the good Offices we can for others it makes us to give them good Advice to raise them up when they fall and when they wander to bring them into the right way again Men that love Contention are usually scorched and pained with the Fires of their own kindling and 't is very fit it should be so 'T is a most grievous tiresome thing to a Man of a Quiet Soul to see others always in a Ferment and Vexation and Wounding themselves when they have none to Reproach and Poysoning themselves with Fury and Passion when they have not sit Objects whereon to spend their Venom VII Good People ought not to fall out by the Way because this will promote their common Strength and Safety The Church united is as an Army with Banners her joynt Prayers and Praises are formidable to her Enemies But when she is divided she is liable to be Attacqued and molested on every side 'T is among Christians as some observe it was among the Roman Armies so long as they were well united that their Commanders held a perfect Understanding among themselves and their Soldiers were kept in a true Obedience to their Orders other Nations endeavoured to procure their Friendship with great eagerness they esteemed it a Glory to enter into Alliance with this People But so soon as they disunited among themselves other States despised their Alliance and took up Arms against them Whilst Brethren fall not out by the way they can assist and help one another in a common Danger they can advise and warn and pray for one another but when they are divided that Division like a preternatural hectical Heat in the Body makes the Spirits more feeble and causes all its Strength and Beauty to decay All Societies of Men are both more Illustrious and Powerful when they are linked together in a common Bond of Love But our Saviour has told us Matt. 12.25 Every Kingdom divided against it self is brought to desolation And every City or House divided against it self shall not stand It is therefore the Policy of the Devil and of Wicked Men to render good Christians odious to one another and to engage them in Wranglings and Disputes and Quarrels that so the Glory of Religion may not be discerned when 't is covered with so black a Veil The whole Course of Nature subsists by the common Union of all its Parts The Heavens above us as one observes Daillee Quinze Sermons p. 129. have for many Ages rouled about with an admirable Concord The Spheres in the midst of many Motions do not disturb nor hinder one another the Stars both the Wandring and Fixt conspire to promote the Good and Perfection of the Universe The Elements sweetly communicate among themselves the Qualities they receive from Heaven The Air gives to the Earth of its Light its Winds and its Rains The Sea gives to the Air of its Vapors and Exalations and both together give to Plants and Living Creatures what is necessary for their Nourishment and Refreshment So the Seasons of the Year give Place to one another the Winter to the Spring and the Spring to the Summer and the Summer to Autumn and that to Winter again and so there is a perpetual following of Day and Night of Light and Darkness of Calm and Storm of Hot and Cold of Rain and Shine In this pleasant Commerce of the several Parts of the World does consist its Strength and Beauty and if it were Interrupted there would be nothing but Confusion and Deformity Union and Agreement is as he calls it elswhere the Soul of the Universe the Ornament of Heaven and Earth the Life and the Joy of both Worlds VIII Falling out by the Way destroys the Power of Religion It is not much Talking but a lively Practice of our known Duties that is the best Evidence of our being Christians indeed If we disputed less and prayed more if we could but Love and not Quarrel we should be far better Men Wrangling may fill our Heads with Notions but never will enrich our Hearts with Grace it may enlarge our Knowledge but not promote our Holiness It takes up that Warmth and Zeal and Time and Strength which should be spent about our own Salvation and the Good of others for a Man that is heated with Passion is not fit for Duty it is not suitable to one scorched with such a profane Flame to address himself to the God of Peace 1 Pet. 3.7 This Falling out by the Way breeds Pride and Envy and Self-conceit instead of Self-denial and Humility and Love and many other such excellent and amiable Graces A Polite Writer has well observed That that Pestilential Spirit of Division that Heat of Disputation which has for so many possessed Ages and wasted the Catholick Church and by an unhappy kind of Magick transformed the Zeal of Christian Practice into an Itch of Unchristian Dispute made the Questions about our Creed more numerous than the Letters of it and by this the Serpent got into the Paradise of Christ Causes of the decay of Christian Piety p 247. IX To live in Vnion and Concord and Friendship is the State of Heaven For that is a calm and quiet State as well as Pure and Holy There is the God of Peace there the Angels and blessed Spirits live in perfect Concord with one another there is no jarring in their mutual Praises and Hallelujahs there are no Axes or Hammers to be heard in that Eternal Temple that Land is full of the most chearful Light and Peace and we should be ambitious while we are below to be like them above for as one has well exprest it All we know of what they do above Is that they Praise and that they Love Do but suppose a Family where every part of it is agreed no bitter Words no Strife but a pleasant sincere good Will to one another and every thing is done in Love and there they live as if they were in Heaven Suppose the People of London were all agreed and had all one common Interest and all studyed and contrived to lay aside their Quarrels and Contentions and Names and Reproaches and loved as Friends and Neighbours and Fellow-Citizens not injuring not reviling not undermineing one another Oh what a blessed Place would this be it would be like the New Jerusalem If all this Nation were agreed if all the Churches and Kingdoms of the World did but live in Peace and Friendship with one another oh what an Heaven on Earth might we then see And why should not all endeavour in their several Stations that it may be so All good People hope to meet above and why should they fall out by the Way as they are going thither All their Enmities will cease there and why should they not now be Friends Why should they that hope to live in one and the same Glory now revile or reflect upon one another All their differences
Name of Christians retained among us then we might somewhat resemble the purer Ages of the Church when their Business was to live nor to talk great Matters and the Name Christian as one observes did so charm them Dr. Horneck 's Letter to a Person of Quality p. 490 that though there were various Degrees of Men among them Ecclesiasticks Lay-men Virgins Widows Married Persons Confessors Martyrs and Friends yet the Name Christian swallowed up all and in this they triumphed beyond all other Titles in the World Which as he says made Attalus in Eusebius when the Governour asked him What Countryman he was who his Father and Mother were what Trade Profession and Employment he was of whether he was Rich or Poor give no other Answer but this That he was a Christian Give to your Neighbours and to those that in some things differ from you the most kind and affable Expressions It is an unseemly thing for Christians to fix ignominious Names upon one another when one side will say That the other are Formalists and know little of the Power of Godliness And when another Party will say That all that differ from their Ceremonies do but Cant and Whine and make a Shew and that all their Profession is Hypocrisy These are both to blame What Mischief have we seen spread in the Minds of Men under several new-coyn'd Names as of Whig and Tory and the like and formerly a great deal of Trouble was occasioned by the differing Names of Presbyterian and Independent But now Thanks be to God those Names are buried and I hope and wish that they may never have a Resurrection seeing we have lately given them a very decent Funeral The Name of Vnited Ministers and People is a thousand times more Honourable And The Heads of Agreement between these two fore-mentioned Persuasions and the most eminent and learned of either side will I question not for many Ages be a Credit to us and blessed be that Day of Peace in which they were concluded Blessed be that God of Love that suggested to our Fathers and our Brethren such peaceable and uniting Resolutions which when I my self saw concluded I could not but think that Healing Day to be as one of the Days of Heaven and as a Resemblance of that Holy Place wherein all Good Ministers and People shall agree together and who could forbear saying with David Ps 133.1 Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity And especially if you would not fall out be not always ripping up Old Sores nor speaking of things that may kindle Strife and not allay it as they did that in a more unhappy Time used to be always talking of 41. and of that Rebellion not foreseeing That many of themselves would upon some parallel Emergencies use the very same Arguments and do some of the same things Neither ought we to upbraid others always with the Doctrin of Passive Obedience of which I verily believe the more Ingenuous and Learned part of the Clergy are now very much ashamed inasmuch as in the way that it was frequently though most unwarily pressed it was a very slavish Doctrin 3. That you may not fall out by the Way put the fairest Construction that you possibly can upon the Carriage and Actions of those that in some things differ from you Take every thing by the best Handle and do not wrest their Words to a Purpose which they never intended Do not load them nor their Doctrins with Consequences which they neither own nor see consider they are to stand or fall to their own Master and not to be judged at your Bar Oh! take care that you condemn none of those in your Censures whom Christ will own and justifie at the Great Day What Peace would be in Families and Churches and larger Societies if Men would not stretch Words beyond their Natural Signification nor conceive an abiding Disgust from this or that Misunderstood Expression with which the Speaker never designed to affront them or which he never levelled at them They entertain many things which were never sent them and such touchy People plant Bryars in their own Spirits they never want Vexation nor never will See what the Apostle says of Charity 1 Cor. 13.4 Charity suffereth long and is kind charity envieth not charity vaunteth not it self it is not puft up doth not behave it self unseemly seeketh not her own is not easily provoked thinketh no evil rejoyceth not in Iniquity but rejoyceth in truth beareth all things believeth all things enduring all things There are many waspish and angry People that behave themselves as if they had never heard of such a Chapter or of such a Grace I desire them to read this Description often over and also the first Epistle of St. John that Loving Disciple as also to meditate on the Life of Christ with what Meekness with what what Lowliness and Affability he carried himself to all unless that now and then he was a little sharp towards the Superstitious Scribes and Pharisees Fourthly Resist the beginnings of Strife and Falling out for how great a Matter will a little Fire kindle Jam. 3.5 a few misplaced Words many times begin a Quarrel though the Storm ought by Prudence and mutual Forgiveness to be laid as soon as it begins to rise If petty Differences among Men were but composed with a suitable and an early diligence how many Law-suits which are both tedious and very costly might be with ease prevented For continuance of Anger makes those People that are hot to be more hot it chafes and fires them more and more A Disease taken betimes admits of help or some mitigation which will not yield to all the most prudent Methods of Physick that are used after it is become strong and obstinate Therefore the Wise Man advises us To leave off Contention before it be medled with It may seem as one says a Contradiction to leave it off before it is medled with but we are so early to retire from all Contention that as soon as it appears and before we have engaged in it we must break it off for if we are once engaged Humour Honour and other peevish or designing Men will hold us to it therefore it is best to break it off in time Fifthly Carry it always towards those that dissent from you in a sweet and obliging manner Let not their different Opinions make you Morose or Froward be very Civil to those whose Persuasion is not the same with yours A Conformist ought to do all the good Offices of Kindness that he can for a Nonconformist and the Nonconformist the like again to him I see no Reason why we should be shy or unkind to one another we are both Englishmen and we are both of one Religion Remember that a Meek and Quiet Spirit is of great Price in the sight of God 1 Pet. 3.4 and vers 8. Be ye all of one Mind having Compassion one of another
at our Journeys end we hope all to come to the same Heavenâ— let us rejoyce in each other's Welfare let us relieve each other's Wants and in fine let us unite our Hearts our Praises and our Thoughts to God our Maker who is the God of Peace and as our Apostle says 2 Thes 3.16 The Lord of Peace himself give you Peace always by all Means Consid 3. Not falling out by the way will increase the number of good People Union among Brethren is in Psal 133.3 said to be as the Dew of Hermon and as the Dew that descended upon the Mountain of Zion i. e. as one very well Paraphrases upon it without Dew neither Hermon nor Zion would be any other than very barren Places so without Concord our Life would be very miserable The dew falling from Heaven covered those places with Herbs and Plants and Fruits Brotherly love makes the Church to flourish in Zeal and Patience and Diligence and Fervour and it is a very great encouragement to New Converts when they can say of the old ones Behold How these good People love one another There is nothing in all the World has so great a Magnetism and such an attractive Vertue as Love 't is the most mild and gentle of all the Passions and so consequently the most powerful and persuasive What a Sweetness and a Pleasure is there in a Family where the several Members of it treat one another with a cordial and sincere Affection How ambitions is every one to be acquainted with such a Loving Company But at what a distance will others keep from a Society where there is no Agreement but an everlasting Fighting and Scolding with one another To live in Unity and Peace would bring again that happy Temper which was common every where when Acts 4.32 The Multitude of them that believed were of one Heart and one Soul when they called one another Brethren and lived as such and were full of Condecension and Charity and good Works for then as some observe Dr. Horneck's Letter conc the Primitive Christ p. 498 Religion had mortified in the Rich and Noble all Punctilo's of honour and state and made them remember that in Christ they were all equal She in whose Veins the noblest Blood did run would say of her poor distressed Neighbour she is my Sister my Fellow-member one that hath part in my dear Redeemer if she be Ancient she is my Mother said she if Younger she is my Daughter Nor were these Expressions Names of course only but they were Written in their Hearts and their Lips spoke what their Minds believed and these Words were at once pronounced and thought If as he says one Family had any thing to do more than ordinary Id. p. 520. the Neighbouring Family would help them If one was to Fast his Neighbour Fasted with him if one Wept his Neighbour did Weep with him if one Mourned his Neighbour Mourned with him as if both had committed the same Sin they had their Joys and Sorrows common and they might be said to be all in one and one in all In these loving and amiable Times by these gentle and kind Methods many thousands were added to the Church Whereas for Brethren to fall out is very scandalous and disgraceful it makes the Religion they profess look very meanly in the eyes of Strangers When they see that it does not reconcile their Minds to one another they have not Judgment nor Patience enough to examin its abstruser Mysteries but what effects it produces they do most narrowly observe and if it avail not so far as to make Men peaceable they conclude it does them no good at all 'T is a thing more especially scandalous to the People when they see those Ministers disagree and those Lights dash against one another which should yield a pleasant an united and a Common Light therefore Christ prayed to his Father Joh. 17.23 Let them be made perfect in one that the World may know that thou hast sent me Consid 4. Not to falll out by the Way would be a great joy to your Ministers they would study their Sermons and Preach them with more Comfort if they had always to deal with a Peaceable and a Loving People nay they would have more Time wherein to study for several Hours unavoidably go away in striving to Compose Differences when their Hearers are so foolish as to quarrel with one another and then they are a great Interruption and Grief to them in their most serious Retirement and many Times their Bitterness and Wrath send them sooner to the Grave Consid 5. Falling out by the Way and bitter Contentions amongst those that should Love as Brethren may stir up the Wrath of God against them all It is no Wonder if a Father after long Patience be at last provoked to turn all his Children out of Doors when they cannot be quiet nor agree together So it was heretofore when there was in the Church great Siding one against another Pastor against Pastor and People against People some ingaged in this Faction some in that till as one observes the Brethren of the Camp brought in Dioclesian's Persecution which devoured them all And it has often been observed by Learned Men That when God had blessed his Church with Peace and Protection and after a long tryal during three Ages and ten Persecutions a nursing Father was raised up Then arose those Contests about several Speculative and Mystical Points which made the Churches of Africa very desolate and what wonderful Miseries were occasioned by the too warm and eager Contentions of the Greek and Latin Church This faling out has turned the most pleasant and fruitful Countries into a Wilderness and the most beautiful Churches into Dust and Ashes Consid 6. 'T is one of the Great Designs of the Gospel of our Saviour to promote Peace among all his Followers Nothing does he more urge than that they should Love one another and as he had loved them with the most constant and sincere Affection And for this he prayed Joh. 17.21 That they all may be one as thou Father art in me and I in in thee that they all so may be one in us His first Appearance was wellcom'd by the Heavenly Host with Songs of Love saying Glory to God in the highest peace upon earth and good Will to Men. And to be full of Love is to be Angelical it is a Resemblance of their kind and Loving Nature And which is more honourable it is the very Image of the Son of God who is the express Image of his Father And God we know is Love The Gospel does frequently urge us to live in Peace and Quietness and conveys to us that Spirit which is to mortifie our bitter and unruly Passions And the Jerusalem where our Lord does intend at last to bless all his Servants is the City of Peace and his Sacraments are designed to bind us more to himself and to one another in the