Purpose The Ministers of the Church of England have done worthily in their excellent and Learned Writings against Popery they have shewed their feebler Adversaries the Papists what Learning and a good Cause was able to produce to their solid Resutation And I may add The Dissenters too have done their part against these Philistines though they have been by the severity of some later Years very much discouraged yet none will deny but such as Dr. Owen Mr. Baxter Mr. Clarkson and many other Divines among us have done very considerable Service in their Learned Books against the Common Enemy 8. Do not attribute the Judgments of God that may befal us all to this or that Party There is no doubt but we are all guilty of many Provocations in the Sight of God Do not say this or that Evil is long of the Conformists nor ought they to say this or that befals us because there are so many Dissenters This would be in too great Measure to imitate the Heathens in the Time of the first Persecutions who if there were any pinching Famine or any contagious Disease that over-ran Italy or if the River Tyber did overflow his Bounds and cause abundance of Damage to the Country by that means it was immediately the Clamour of the People That the Christians were the cause of all these Evils and that the Gods were angry with them for suffering the Christian Religion Thus pretending by an unwarrantable Impudence to know the certain Cause of God's Judgments which are a great deep and the laying the Blame only on one side does necessarily make People quarrel with one another whereas upon all such Occasions there ought to be among them a common and sincere Humiliation 9. We ought to study our own Hearts more and what Work we have to do there and then we should not so easily fall out with one another Alas if we have enough to do within with our own Thoughts with our own Passions with our own Sins what Time shall we have to range abroad and busily to meddle and interpose in the Business and Opinions of other People We shall have no time to censure when we find that we our selves are bad enough In order to accomplish this let us Consider I. How many things all good Christians and Protestants are agreed in We are all agreed That God is our only Happiness and Christ our only Saviour and the Spirit our only Sanctifier We are all agreed That Heaven is our Home and Holiness the way thither We are all agreed That the Scripture is the Rule of our Faith and that Sin the World and the Devil are our greatest Enemies why should we not bear with one another in things that are of a much lower nature than these great and weighty Matters of the Law For as one of our Learned Bishops expresses it The very Basis of the Reformed Religion is this Bish Patrick 's Serm. before the Queen on Col. 3.15 p. 36. That all necessary Truths are not only plainly contained in the Holy Scriptures but plainly set down there Which single Truth being agreed it is manifest there must needs be an Union of Opinions among us in all things necessary And as for other things which are not evident in Holy Scriptures and therefore are not necessary what should hinder but that notwithstanding any different Opinions about them there be among us a Unity of Affection unto which the Holy Scriptures direct and press us as the greatest Happiness of which this World is capable We have all the same Creed and we all subscribe to the same Doctrinal Articles except some small Points relating to the Ceremonies Let but the Ministers of all sides strive as Mr. Dod used to express it to preach Christ into the Hearts of their Hearers and then they will love as his Subjects and as Heirs of the same Glory and bear with one another How much common agreed Work have we all to do How many ignorant People to instruct How many Wounded to Heal How many Troubled in Soul to resolve and pacify How many Sleepers to a waken How many Wanderers to reduce into the Right Way And is all this Work upon our Hands and have we any Time to lose in Quarrelling and Falling out by the Way Consider 2. Whenever the most pleasant and prosperous Condition of the Church shall be manifested it will be introduced by Peace and Vnion and Love will then abound Is 11.6 The wolf shall dwell with the lamb and the Leopard shall lye down with the kid and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together and a little Child shall lead them c. v. 9. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy Mountain for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea Ezek. 28.24 There shall be no more a pricking brier unto the house of Israel nor any grieving thorn of all that are round about them that despised them and they shall know that I am the Lord God Zech. 14.9 The Lord shall be King over all the earth in that day shall there be one Lord and his name One. A glorious Light shall shine from Heaven and shall shew to all good People the Right and the Comely Way of Peace the Spirit of the Lord shall reconcile those Brethren that are now somewhat strange to one another then the Lustre of Christianity which is now obscured with our Contentions shall appear in all its Brightness and all that look upon the Church then shall discern it to be full of Glory It shall no more appear in Garments died in Blood mangled and torn by open Enemies and false Friends but in Garment of Praise and then be very Beautiful without as well as she is now within Then Zion shall be a praise throughout the earth Then shall the golden Age of Peace return again then shall the New Jerusalem descend from Heaven nay then Heaven it self shall come down to this Earth and our now deformed World shall then have an Amiable and comely Face Then the Tabernacle of God shall be with men and he will dwell with them And my Friends do we hear of such pleasant Things and such glorious Times and do we not all wish to see these joyful days begin to dawn Do we wish and shall we not endeavour by our Prayers and by our Love to make this blessed and comfortable Time to hasten on apace Surely 't is Motive enough to say it will be then a Time of Love Come then let us lay aside all Backbiting and Reproaches and Heats and Quarrels with one another come my Friends my Brethren and my Fellow-Travellers God is willing to forgive us all our former Sins and Provocations let us I beseech you forgive one another Let there not be one in this Assembly that harbours a rancorous revengeful Thought against any Person whatsoever Let us not Fall out by the Way for we hope to dwell in Peace
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
Love as Brethren be Pitiful be Courteous not rendring Evil for Evil or Railing for Railing but contrary-wise Blessing knowing that ye are thereunto called that you should inherit a Blessing In the Primitive times they could forbear and forgive their Enemies much more their Brethren and were not like the Waspish Philosophers who as one says were ready to fall foul upon one another Dr. Cave's Primitive Christianity pt 3. ch 3. p. 317. for every petty and inconsiderable Difference that was among them Christians as he says were careful not to offend either God or Man but to keep and maintain Peace with both thence that excellent saying of Ephraem Syrus when he came to die In my whole Life said he I never reproached my Lord and Master nor suffered any foolish Talk to come out of my Lips nor did I ever Curse or Revile any Man or maintain the least Difference or Controversie with any Christian in all my Life Why may it not be among us as Sir William Temple says it is in the Netherlands where differences in Opinions make none in Affections little in Conversation where it serves but for Entertainment and Variety They argue without Interest or Anger they differ without Enmity or Scorn and they agree without Confederacy Men live together like Citizens of the World associated by the common tyes of Humanity and the Bonds of Peace under the Impartial Protection of indifferent Laws with equal encouragement of all Arts and Industry and equal freedom of Speculation and Enquiry According to our old saying Soft Words and hard Arguments are the best and if I may judge of others by my self harsh Expressions and a sowre Carriage will never make one regard what another says The Potion has too much Gall in it to be Medicinal whereas we cannot refuse to listen to a Man that comes to us in a mild and gentle manner It is the Spirit of Elias and not the Spirit of Jesus that is furious and violent It is an Human thing to be kind to those of the same nature with our selves but for one Professing Religion to be furious and eager and stormy is to let the Christian destroy the Man Mildness is an Offspring of Heaven the resemblance of Christ and has a strange constraining Power with it A calm and gentle Soul will govern and allay the disorder of the Tongue and keep us all quiet The very appearances as one observes of a calm Temper have a Charm in them but the effects of them in concurrence with other prudent Methods are almost irresistible And says he it is better to be over-run and ruined in the ways of Meekness than to conquer all the World by Cruelty in the one we bear the Cross and suffer for Righteousness sake in the other we Triumph in the Garments of Antichrist dyed red with the Blood of those who though in Errors yet may be good Men in the main for ought we know Sixthly Let us always Love our Brethren though we cannot he in all things of their Mind And this Love will produce all those acts of Kindness and good Will which I have newly mentioned in our different places of Worship and in the different manner of our Prayers there may be still an Union in our Hearts I can love many a good Man and wish him well with all my Soul to whose particular Persuasion I am not satisfied to joyn my self Let us love our Brethren for the Common Truths in which they and we both agree we have one Faith though we have two Names then let us commend all that we see in others that is truly good and commendable let us commend their Gifts and Graces their Learning and their Holy Lives let us pity their Faults and praise them for their good Deeds and this is the best way that I know of to keep us from falling out And if we must strive let us strive who shall be most serviceable to God and to one another Seventhly Take heed of loving needless Disputations Of all things beware of taking pleasure in them or of frivolous and curious Questions which tend to fill us with Rancour but promote not Edification Carnal Zeal as one says may put us on disputing but true Zeal will put us upon Prayer Some Men are of so strange a Palate that they love Niceties and Quelques chose rather than solid and substantial Food some love to splinter the plain Truths of the Gospel and to wrap them up in Clouds when if they left them to their native plainness they would be as bright as day For my part I had rather be a quiet Ploughman than a fiery Philosopher I had rather be a Son of Peace than the greatest Disputer in the World Disputes occasion abundance of ferment in the Minds of those who would otherwise be very quiet People and they also prove a Generation of Vipers Such as love them generally sting one another with many base and mean Reflections and which tast more of Billings-gate than of Jerusalem I thank God I have a peculiar Antipathy in my Temper to all hot and fiery Proceedings and I had rather Preach one Sermon of Vnity among Brethren than Write a thousand Follo's of Controversie We have all Reason to be thankful that our Age is pretty well delivered from a doting Admiration of the old School-men that spun Divinity into Cobwebs and made Depths and Mysteries where they found none it would pity a Man to see such excellent parts as many of them had to be so ill imployed But their Notions are now musty and antiquated and dead and I will never do any thing to revive or quicken them For as one very well observes our Fathers in the beginning of the Reformation were greatly scandalized at that School divinity which for a long time had filled the World not only with Questions vain and frivolous but pernicious also and leading Men to Wickedness What can any one think of such a manner of treating the Mysteries of Religion as they used and by Distinctions crude and sensless if it were not that all that was very likely to raise an abundance of Errors and excellently contrived for the maintaining of all such as Ignorance Passion Engagements or Interests would have produced One of the Effects of that Disorder of the Schools was the depraving of Christian Morality by the Introduction of divers destructive Maxims which tended only to corrupt Men's Minds and Hearts Instances of which see at large in Monsieur Claude 's Historical Defence of the Reformation part 1. p. 28. It would be a Comfortable Sight to see the Funeral of all needless Controversies We have seen indeed a Book lately writ by a Learned Man Mr. Baxter of The End of Controversies and I wish they were really ended that so we might Learn though not to Talk so logically yet to Live better Some Errors there are indeed that must be opposed and God leaves not his Ministers without Gifts for that very
you heard him say Fall not ought by the way These were the Words left in a solemn manner by a dying Man and I hope you and we all shall the more regard them upon that Account Excellent Advice he has given us God give us the Grace to take it It is necessary to be considered by many People in the World That to their own Reproach never Quarrel more than about the Last Will and Testament of a Departed Friend and make that an Occasion of long and troublesome Suits at Law which was designed to put an End to all Controversies and Debates But there is not the least Cause to fear any thing of this from any of you you have not so learned Christ Go on in your peaceable Carriage and Behaviour and the God of Peace shall be with you and he himself will supply this and all your other Wants Secondly To those Young Men that were the Acquaintance of the Deceased Mr. Dunwell Oh what Cause have you to admire the Petience and Goodness of God that when so many are snatch'd away that you have known he still suffers you to Live when many that were both Healthful and Stronger and Younger than you but a while agoe are at their Journey 's End and you are still Travelling in the Way You have yet Opportunities and days of Grace wherein to work out your Salvation and to prepare for another World and let me desire you that are as yet in your Flourishing and Greenest Youth not to put afar off the Evil Day do not grieve the Spirit of God do not misimprove your Sabaths nor lose your Opportunities for you may be near very near to your latter end in a Week or a Fortnight or a Months time you may be also in your Eternity It is yet Morning with you and as yet 't is a clear Day but Storms will overtake you and for ought you know your Sun may go down at Noon Oh! learn to be Wise in the Time of Health for Sickness is not the most proper Season wherein to do any thing for your Souls your uneasiness your disorder and your pains will then be so great that you 'll find your Selves unable to do any thing that requires much Thought and Care those of us that have been Sick can tell you this by our own said Experience an those that are now Sick will Confirm to you the very same thing Think you hear this your Departed Friend saying to you Oh! do not presume upon having a very long Life for you see God has cut me off in the midst of my Days Oh! never think that you can too soon be Religious or that you can do too much for God for he is worthy to be Served Whilest you mind the World Oh! take heed that you do not forget Heaven and Eternal Glory Remember that your Time hastens on apace Oh! Remember that Sickness will come to you as it came to me restless Nights and weary Days will be your Lot as they were mine a while ago Death will soon knock at your Door as he knockt at mine and painful Agonies will go before him and none but those that have felt them know what are the Pangs of Death O my Friends Do you know what it is to Die Do ye know what it is to appear before the Tribunal of an Omniscient and Infinitely Holy God and will you not make ready for it Oh! repent of all your Follies Pray in Secret Examin any Try your selves and put your Souls in Order that it may be well with you for ever-more I beg of you that are Young to consider the Example and the Practice of our Deceased Friend he was not of their Temper that spend all their Mony on their Cloaths or in Games and Taverns and needless and unprofitable Recreations but gave some part of what he had to Encourage and Promote the Gospel he was which I put upon him as a peculiar Mark of Honour a great Friend to young Ministers he knew tho many others never considered it that the young Men came to appear in the World with great Discouragements and after having undergone many great and sharp Necessities and he always was ready to assist them what he could and I question not but therein he performed an acceptable Service unto God When we had a Lecture in Exchange-Ally he was forward to help us all he could there and the continuance of many Years and very rugged and severe Times never changed his Temper but as he was then so he continued to be our Friend to his Dying day He gave us more than a Cup of cold Water and I hope he has now a Prophet's Reward And are there none of you that might save a great deal of Mony from needless Expences from Luxury and Rior and Recreation to encourage the Ministers of the Gospel And I think I might say to those Young-men that are our constant Hearers that I hope it would be no dishonour to them hereafter to be called Encouragers of the Lecture at Crosby-Square and I would not speak only to the Young but to the Aged and the Rich it would more Honour your Memory and make your Slumbers in the Grave more quiet if you made your own Hands Executors and gave yearly such a part of your Estate to the Maintenance of poor Young Scholars and Ministers You do not know but by that means you might promote the Conversion of many Souls which would be your Joy in the day of the Lord As for you that are Aged bless God that you have so long a Day and see that your Sins be not more than those of others that have a shorter date Here is a Young Man dead in the middle of his Days and so have you seen many others die Oh! take heed that you be not old in Sin take heed that all your work be done for your Clock begins to point to the concluding Twelve your Glass has remaining in it but a very little Sand your Sun is going down the Shadows of the Evening are stretched out upon the Mountains and in a few Moments it will be Night with you when you cannot Work Take heed that when the Grave opens to receive you your Sins do not lye down with you in the Dust To all of you that are here let this Warning be of Use Our Friend a few Weeks ago was a constant Attender in this Congregation and now he is at his long Home He used to sit with Reverence and Seriousness in this Place but now he will never see us nor we him till the great Day He that silled a Seat here does now fill a Grave a Coffin holds him there whom nothing could detain from Religious Assemblies while he was alive But we hope that he is gone to a better a more enlightned a more loving and a more pure Assembly even the Assembly of the First-born and the Spirits of just Men made perfect His Relations have lost a loving Relation his