There is one Vse more yet behind and that is an Vse of Consolation to the people of God Notwithstanding all the Divisions and Distractions that are in the Kingdome This is an Alablaster boxe full of precious oyntment and it consists of foure particulars 1. Remember for your Comfort that there was never any great Reformation brought in by Godinto a Kingdome but it hath alwaies been attended with divisions and differences in Religion In Luthers Reformation How great were the differences between him and Calvin Insomuch as the Reformation was more hindred by their Divisions then by the power and policy of the Enemy and yet notwithstanding God carryed on the Worke of Reformation maugre these divisions In the Primitive times many and great were the Divisions of the Church and of the Ministers thereof Insomuch as Nazianzen saith that in his time there were sixe hundred errors in the Church and in Constantines time the differences between the Bishops were so many that they brought bundles of petitions one against another which the Emperour out of his wonderfull desire of Peace would not so much as read but burnt them all before their faces How sad was the division between Paul and Barnabas and yet God turned it to a good effect For by that meanes the Gospel was the more spread throughout the world And therefore let us not be over-discouraged For these Divisions are no new things and therefore no strange things 2. Consider for your comfort Magna veritas et praevalebit Truth is a beame of God the purchase of Iesus Christ and it shall prevaile at last Though our divisions and distractions do much weaken us and prorogue our settlement yet notwithstanding the Cause we manage is Gods Cause and it shall prevaile at last As Christ Iesus rose from the grave in spight of the Iewes that rolled a great stone before the doore of the Sepulchre to hinder him So the Cause of Christ and the worship and government of Christ shall rise and flourish and there will come a time wherein the Church of God shall be glorious here upon earth and the Motto of it shall be Cor unum via una One heart one way This will come to passe in spight of our Divisions For God hath promised it Ier. 32. 39. Zeph 3. 9. The third Comfort is That Antichrist shall downe though he be never so firmely united The Kingdome of the Devil shall be destroyed though Satan joyne with Satan And though Satan will not cast out Satan but is strongly compacted and as a Citie at unitie within it selfe yet God will cast out Satan at last and his kingdome shall perish Though Turke and Pope though French and Spaniard though the Irish Rebels and English Papists and Protestants at large should joyn hand in hand conspire together to overthrow the little flock of Iesus Christ yet notwithstanding they doe but kick against pricks Antichrist is fallen and the poore flock of Christ shall be as a burdensome stone unto all people all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it Zach. 12. 3. Bellarmine makes unitie a signe of a true Church But then there should be a true Church amongst the Devils for where he dwels there is peace And yet the Papists cannot boast much of their unitie For they have their different Sects opposite one to another and the Iesuite to them all Vnitie without verity is a signe of the Malignant Church but not of the Church of Christ And unitie without veritie shall not uphold a State For though hand ioyne in hand the wicked shall not be unpunished Prov. 11. 21. Lastly Remember in what state and condition the people of the Iewes were in when Christ came into the world It was when the government was departed from Iudah and the Kingdome given to a stranger when the Sanedrim which was their Parliament was destroyed and they themselves brought into perfect slavery Their condition was never so bad as at that time And also they never had more Sects and Divisions then when Christ was borne There were in Ierusalem the Herodians the Scribes and Pharisees There were also the Esseni though the Gospel makes no mention of them In this sad juncture of time Iesus Christ was borne Oh what abundance of consolation may be suckt out of the breasts of this truth Christ came into the world when his Church was in the greatest extremitie And are not we at this time in great extremity Are we not brought very low by our sinnes and by our divisions the fruit of our sinnes We have divided our selves from God by our sinnes and God hath divided us one from another Let us beseech the Lord Iesus Christ to come once more into the world by his Spirit of power Let us not despaire of his coming For he is Deus in monte He is our peace now the Assyrian is in the Land Mic. 5. 5. And when he comes he will come as a Conquerour to subdue his enemies under his feet This day is the day which is commonly called The Feast of Christs Nativitie or Christmas day A day that hath been heretofore much abused to superstition and prophanenesse It is not easie to reckon whether the superstition hath beene greater or the prophanenesse I have knowne some that have preferred Christmas day before the Lords Day and have cryed downe the Lords Day and cried up Christmas day I have knowne those that would be sure to receive the Sacrament upon Christmas day though they did not receive it all the yeare after This and much more was the superstition of the day And the prophanenesse was as great Old Father Latimer saith in one of his Sermons That the Devil had more service in the twelve Christmas holy dayes as they were called then God had all the yeare after Seneca saith of his time Olim December mensis erat nunc annus est There are some that though they did not play at Cards all the yeare long yet they must play at Christmas thereby it seemes to keepe in memory the birth of Christ This and much more hath beene the profanation of this Feast And truely I thinke that the superstition and profanation of this day is so rooted into it as that there is no way to reforme it but by dealing with it as Hezekiah did with the brazen Serpent This yeare God by a Providence hath buried this Feast in a Fast and I hope it will never rise againe You have set out Right Honourable a strict Order for the keeping of it and you are here this day to observe your owne Order and I hope you will doe it strictly The necessitie of the times are great Never more need of Prayer and fasting The Lord give us grace to be humbled in this day of Humiliation for all our owne and Englands sinnes and especially for the old superstition and profanation of this Feast alwaies remembring upon
Studies as Luther was once counselled and to cry Domine miserere nostri Seventhly Hereby a doore is opened to all kind of Atheisme For doe not our profane men begin to say We know not of what Religion to be and therefore we will be of no Religion If we hold of such others will condemne us and if we hold of them others also will condemne us and therefore we will rather stand Neuters and professe no Religion at all Eighthly Hereby God is necessitated to prolong our warres For all the bloud-thirstie Cavaliers are but as so many Shepherds dogs sent out by God to gather his sheep together Gods people are now as sheepe scattered one from the other to the reproach of Religion and dishonour of God and God hath sent the enemy as his dog to call them all together and till this be fully accomplished these dogs will not be taken off Ninthly These divisions open a wide doore to the utter ruine and destruction of the Kingdome For they bring in deadly hatred above the hatred that is caused by Civill dissentions even such a hatred that bursteth asunder the very bonds of nature it selfe as Christ foretels Ioh. 16. 2. They shall kill you and thinke they doe therein God good service What abominable hatred was there between the Iew and the Samaritane in so much as that the Woman of Samaria wondered that Christ would aske a little water of her that was a Samaritane From this hatred followeth Excommunications Anathematizations c. And from thence to fire and fagot and to as exquisite torments as the wit or malice of men could invent Witnesse the tenne Persecutions Witnesse the Spanish Inquisition Witnesse the Parisian Massacre of the Protestants upon Bartholomew Eve Witnesse Queene Maries bloudy dayes Witnesse the Divisions of the Greeke Churches betweene the {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} and {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} and divers others of that kind Pezelius reckons tenne which divisions first brought in the Saracens and afterwards the Turks who are the great scourge of Christendome to this day These and many more are the mischiefes that arise from our divisions about matters of Religion And therefore if there be any bowels of compassion in us towards a poore bleeding dying Kingdome let us weepe before the Lord this day and wish that our heads were fountaines that we might mourne continually for the Virgin daughter of England Let there be great thoughts of heart for the divisions of our Reuben It is reported of certaine young debauched Gentlemen that were swaggering in a Taverne in the Market-place while the Citie wherein they dwelt was in great calamitie and one of them putting his head crowned with a garland out of the window was espied by the Magistrates of that Citie whom when they saw they caused him to be beheaded because he was so insensible of the publique danger A famous Story for our Times The Lord make us more apprehensive of Englands miseries in a spirituall way And let us also this day admire the mercy of God that we are not yet consumed notwithstanding our manifold divisions And let us expect certaine ruine and destruction if these divisions continue The word of Christ must be true A Kingdome divided against it selfe cannot stand England is tottering and it will fall if these divisions last and the fall thereof will be great And therefore let us prepare for desolation and provide an Arke of safety for our selves by faith in Iesus Christ a Kingdome that cannot be shaken an house made without hands eternall in the heavens If Divisions be so destructive to Kingdomes Cities and Families This reproveth those that are the Authours and Fomenters of these Divisions that are now amongst us These are the Incendiaries of England If he that sets one house on fire deserveth hanging much more they that set a whole Kingdome on fire If he that murders one man must be put to death much more he that murders three Kingdomes Marke them saith the Apostle Rom. 16. 17. that cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned and avoid them Avoid them as the greatest enemies of England These are like the Salamander that cannot live but in the fire of contention These are of a Iesuiticall spirit And no doubt the heads and hands of the Iesuits are in all our divisions There are Seven things saith Solomon Prov. 6. 16. which are an abomination to the Lord and the seventh and last and not the least is he that soweth discord among brethren but much more he that soweth discord amongst three Kingdomes And if it was a signe of the false mother to desire to have the child divided much more is it a signe of an unnaturall and cruell child to endevour to divide his mother in pieces More particularly here are two sorts to be reproved First Such as sow divisions betweene the King and his people That labour to keepe up and to increase the wals of partition betweene them These are the Sanballats and Tobiah's that tell the King that the Parliament are Rebels that they seeke his life and would uncrowne Him and his Posteritie and bring in Anarchy and confusion These are they that tell the King as Rhehum the Chancellour and Shimshai the Scribe wrote to Artaxerxes concerning Ierusalem Ezra 4. 12. that the Citie of London is a rebellious and bad Citie hurtfull to Kings and hath alwaies moved sedition c. These give the King this Motto divide et impera But these are without my reach and therefore I shall speake no more of them Secondly and especially such Incendiaries and fire-brands that kindle the fire of contention amongst our selves at home and these are of two sorts First Such as are absolutely false-hearted and have made their peace at Oxford and are here at Westminster onely to cast in bones of contention to divide our counsels and to worke factions amongst us These are men hardened in sinne and there is little hope of reclaiming them These build their houses upon the bloud of three Kingdomes These are the Iudasses of England and it were just with God to give them the portion of Iudas Secondly Such as are discontented though not false-hearted and through discontent and dislike of the proceedings of Parliament do much hurt and create many factions amongst us These discontented persons are like pieces of soft wax ready to carry any impression that the adverse party shall stampe upon them These are of three sorts First Such as are discontented out of pride and covetousnesse because they cannot get those places of profit and honour which they expect and because they have not that credit and repute amongst the people that others have hereupon they come to dislike the publique proceedings and to make parties and factions There were many such in the Primitive Church that turned Heretiques because they could not obtaine the preferment they stood for These
Die Jovis 26. Decemb. 1644. IT is this day Ordered by the Lords in Parliament Assembled That the House doth hereby give thanks to Master Calamy for his great pains taken in the Sermon he Preached on Wednesday the 25. of this instant December in the Abby Church Westminster it being the day of the monethly Fast And this House doth desire him to Print and publish the same And lastly It is Ordered that none shall Print or publish his said Sermon without being Authorised so to doe under the hand of the said Master Calamy Io. Browne Cler. Parlamentorum I Doe appoint Christopher Meredith to Print this Sermon and no man else EDMUND CALAMY AN INDICTMENT AGAINST ENGLAND BECAVSE OF HER SELFEMVRDERING DIVISIONS Together VVITH AN EXHORTATION TO AN ENGLAND-preserving Vnity and Concord Presented in A SERMON PREACHED before the Right Honourable House of Lords in the Abby Church at Westminster at the late Solemne Fast December 25. 1644. By Edmund Calamy B. D. and Pastour of Aldermanbury in LONDON Cyprian Pacem Ecclesiae Martyrio praeferimus Peius est scindere Ecclesiam quam sacrificare Idolo LONDON Printed by I. L. for Christopher Meredith at the sign of the Crane in Pauls Church-yard 1645. TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE HOVSE OF Lords Assembled in PARLIAMENT THe differences and Divisions of England at this day are so many so great and so destructive to Church and State as that it cannot but be accounted a transcendent act of Piety and Charitie for any man to endevour according to his place to compose the one and remove the other But though this worke be very excellent yet it is also very dangerous to him that shall undertake it For it is often found that he that will step into reconcile two parties that are a fighting doth prove the party against which both of them will fight Or if not both yet alwaies the party that doth the wrong will be a bitter enemie to him that would make up the breach And therefore it is expressely said Act. 7. 26 27. That when Moses saw two of his brethren striving one aagainst the other and stept in to set them at one saying Sirs ye are brethren why wrong ye one another He that did his neighbour the wrong thrust him away saying Who made thee a Ruler and a Judge over us But yet notwithstanding happy is that man whom God shall make any wayes instrumentall to the bringing in of a holy and blessed Peace into this distressed Iland though with the losse of his owne life Famous is the example of Gregory Nazianzen who was Bishop of Constantinople eminent for Learning and Piety And yet when he saw a prevailing Faction endevouring to choose another into his place and that it would much disturbe the peace of the Citie if he did not yeeld it up he brake out into this speech Absit inquit ut mei causâ aliqua simultas oriatur in Dei Sacerdotibus Si propter me est ista tempestas tollite mittite me in mare desinet à vobis quassatio God forbid that for my cause any difference should arise amongst the Ministers of God If this tempest be raised for my cause take me throw me into the Sea that so the tempest may cease A sentence worthy to be written in letters of Gold and to be put in practise by every true hearted Englishman The like we read of Codrus a Heathen King who for the love of his people exposed himselfe to death And of Curtius and of three Decii that devoted themselves to ruine for the safetie of their Countrey The Booke of God tels us of Moses that was willing to have his name blotted out of the Booke of life and of Paul that was willing to be an Anathema that so God might be reconciled to the people of Israel with whom he was displeased But the greatest example of all is of our Lord and blessed Saviour who emptied himselfe of his Divinitie and became a servant and a curse that he might become our Peace-maker Much to this purpose is said in the insuing Sermon which is now made publique by your Commands Something also is said to keep up your spirits from being over-dismaied at the consideration of these Land-destroying Divisions Great are the searchings and tremblings of heart because of these Divisions But be not over-discouraged It is Gods Prerogative to bring light out of darknesse good out of evill unitie out of division He worketh by contrarie meanes as well as by unlikely meanes He delivered Jonah by a Whale and kept him as Basil saith vivus in sepulchro He raised Joseph by casting him into prison he cured the blind man by clay and spittle And I doubt not but he will bring a great deale of good at last out of our Divisions It is observable that Simeon and Levi that at first were brethren in iniquitie joyning together to destroy the Shechemites and for this cruel act as a sutable punishment were divided in Jacob and scattered in Israel Gen. 49. 7. Yet notwithstanding because afterwards Levi was zealous for God against the worshippers of the golden Calfe and did appeare valiantly on Gods side Exod. 32. 26. God did turne this curse into a blessing Deut. 33. 10. For Levi was consecrated to teach Jacob Gods judgement and Israel his law c. And the Simeonites as Ainsworth observes were also Teachers of the Law in the Synagogues of Jacob and the Levites in the Schooles of the sonnes of Israel This story is written for our consolation The time was when we dwelt in peace and unity but then we combined against God and his children and for this cause as a just curse God hath divided us one from another to the utter ruine one of another But yet notwithstanding if you Right Honorable will goe on to shew your selves zealous for God and his Cause and to appeare vigorously and faithfully on his side God will turne our great curse into a great blessing And as the dividing of the Red Sea was made by God a way and meanes to lead the people of Israel over into Canaan and to destroy the Egyptians So God will make our Divisions in this Red Sea of bloud into which we are plunged a way and meanes to a happy Canaan of unitie and peace and to the utter ruine of our implacable Adversaries Thus he did with the divisions of Paul and Barnabas as this Sermon relates unto you Onely be couragious for God and in nothing be terrified at our differences but make your peace with him and he at lastwill make us at peace one with another which is the earnest prayer of Your Honours Spirituall servant EDMUND CALAMY A SERMON PREACHED TO the Right Honourable House of Lords on the Monethly Fast December 25. 1644. Matth. 12. 25. latter end Every kingdome divided against it selfe is brought to desolation and every citie or house divided against it selfe shall not stand THese words are a iust Apology of Iesus
downe with teares night and day and let them not cease for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach with a very grievous blow And if a tender and dutifull child cannot without great mourning and lamentation behold his Mother rent and torne in pieces by wild Beasts surely it will be most unnaturall in us who are the sonnes and daughters of England to heare of the divisions and distractions of England with dry eyes and hard hearts It is reported of Cato that from the time that the Civill warres began in Rome betweene Caesar and Pompey he was never seene to laugh or to wash his face or to shave his beard or cut his haire This example will rise up in judgement against many of us who are so unaffected and insensible of the great and unexpressible calamities of poore England once a pleasant Paradise but now a howling wildernesse If Divisions destroy a Nation it is a miracle of mercy that England is yet a Nation for our divisions are multiplied exceedingly Our times run all upon divisions and subdivisions We may say of England as Austin of Africa That it is divided in minutula frustula it is crumbled into very little little pieces I will bring them all into two heads 1. Our Divisions from God 2. Our Divisions one from another First Our Divisions from God by our most grievous sinnes and iniquities For as smoake driveth Bees out of their Hives so doth sinne drive God away from a Kingdome And there is nothing that makes God forsake a Kingdome but sinne Isaiah 59. 2. Your iniquities have separated between you and your God and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not heare Now there is no Nation under heaven that hath divided it selfe more from God by sinne then England hath There was a time when the Parliament of England made a whip with six strings to whip many godly people to death This was in H. the eighths dayes There was a time when the Parliament of England did solemnly upon their knees abiure the Gospell and desire reconciliation with Antichrist This was done in Q. Maries dayes after which followed the bloody persecution by the Lawes then established And though these Lawes were afterwards repealed yet how often have we Apostatized from God since that time And even at this very day though there be much talke of Reformation yet alas there was never lesse practise of Reformation Our Churches indeed are Reformed but our hearts and lives are no whit Reformed Our high altars are taken down but our high mindes are not taken down The worship of God is purer but the worshippers are as impure as ever We have no bowing to the name of Jesus no bowing to Altars Images and Crucifixes There is lesse knee-Idolatry but I feare me we have as much heart-Idolatry as ever as much Covetousnesse as much trusting to an Arme of flesh as ever And though our Idolatry be lesse yet Adulteries and Fornications were never more I cannot say punished but I must rather say Never more committed and never lesse punished Doe not men boast of their adulteries and yet escape unpunished It is a mercy of God that scandalous Ministers are thrust out of their livings But I beseech you tell me Is there a Law to punish a scandalous Minister and is there no Law to punish a scandalous Gentleman and a Lord also if he grow scandalous Shall the Cheap-side Crosse be taken down wherein you have done well and shall your Cheapside iniquities your Cheapside adulteries yet remaine It is a mercy that we are freed from the tyranny and crueltie of the High Commission and Star-chamber But I am sure there is as much complaint I doe not say as iust complaint but as much complaint of oppression and iniustice in the Parliament-Committees in the Counties as ever there was of the Star-chamber or High Commission We live in times wherein there was never more iudging of others and never lesse iudging of our selves We live in the sadest dayes that ever England saw and yet what aboundance of pride is there in apparell what lustfull fashions even in these bloody dayes what securitie in sinne even whilest the Ship of the Kingdome is sinking What deadnesse of heart What coldnesse and formality in Gods worship What unthankfulnesse what unfruitfulnesse c. Indeed here is much fasting but little weeping Never more murmuring more censuring never lesse reforming then in these dayes even in these dayes of Reformation And shall we not weep bitterly before the Lord this day for these sinnes These are the sinnes that divide a Nation from God And if God once forsake a Nation it is left in a desperate condition For as the Trojans when they lost their Palladium were presently vanquished so when a Nation hath lost Gods favour it sinks into ruine irrecoverably and presently But secondly Let us mourne this day also for our Divisions one from another and first for our State-divisions and then for our Church-divisions First Let us mourne for the Divisions of the Commonwealth Is it not a sad thing to see the Head rent from the Members and that that Head that should be a preserver of the Body is now by ill counsell a destroyer of his Body that that Head that should be like a head of gold is now through ill counsell made a head of iron to crush its own body in pieces Oh! let us mourne for this this day And then let us mourne for the rent that is amongst the Members Is if not a sad thing to see the Members rent and torne one from the other Nobleman against Nobleman Gentleman against Gentleman Citizen against Citizen Father against Sonne and Sonne against Father c. And that which England never saw till this day A pretended Oxford Parliament against a true Westminster Parliament And especially Let us bemoane and bewaile the Divisions that are amongst our selves here at home That we that are all ingaged in the same Cause and in the same Covenant and that are under the same condemnation under the unjust charge of Rebellion that there should be such differences and such divisions amongst us even amongst us whose heart doth not bleed to thinke of it That though Hannibal ad portas yet the Senators of Rome should be at difference amongst themselves the Lords should divide from the Commons and the Commons from the Lords whilest the enemy is seeking to destroy both Lords and Commons But above all let us bemoane the Divisions that are in the Church about matters of Religion For * Constantine saith well That the dissentions of the Church are more terrible and more pernicious then any Civill warre And these are exceedingly increased amongst us especially in the famous Citie of London One saith I am of Paul another saith I am of Apollos a third saith I am of Cephas Some are Antinomians that is Patrons of free vice under the maske of free
is shortly to begin you would make Religion your Iewell and Peace as your golden ring on which it may be put To make Peace your boxe of Alablaster And Reformation the precious oyntment within it To make Peace as the gold and Religion as the Temple that sanctifieth the Gold Happy is the people that is in such a case Happy England if once it comes to sing the Angels Song Glory be to God on high in earth Peace And yet let me forewarne you also not to trust too much to Treaties and overtures of Peace David had a sonne whose name he called Absolom which in Hebrew signifieth a Father of Peace David promised to himselfe great felicitie in that childe But he proved a Father of warre and misery to his Father Say not This Treatie will be an Absolom for feare it prove an Absolom in a contrary sense as Absolom himselfe did It is very fatall that in the midst of our Treaties there have alwayes been great Plots to destroy us as we see verified at this day Secondly But that which I especially ayme at this day is to perswade you that are here present to be at peace and unitie amongst your selves and to ioyne together against the Common enemy But most of all you that are Earles Lords and Gentlemen of ranke and qualitie For the greater the persons are that disagree the more is the hurt that is done by their disagreement As in a House if the Master and Mistresse agree the house will stand and subsist though the inferiour servants fall out one with the other So if the Lords and Commons unite together the Citie and Kingdome will stand though there should be many divisions amongst the Common people And therefore it is your dutie above others Right Honourable to follow after those things that make for * Peace Vnitie and Concord to be ambitious of Peace as you are exhorted 1 Thess. 4. 11. to speake the truth in love * Eph. 4. 15. and to love in the truth * 2 Epist. of Iohn vers 2. Now that your hearts and affections may be fully wrought up to make it your chiefe designe to practise this dutie I shall use these ensuing Motives and Arguments First Consider how Pathetically and Emphatically the holy Apostle perswades all Gods people to the practise of this dutie I will name but two Texts 1 Cor. 1. 10. Now I beseech you brethren by the name of our Lord Iesus Christ that ye all speake the same thing and that there be no divisions among you but that ye be perfectly ioyned together in the same minde and in the same iudgement Phil. 2. 1 2. If there be therefore any consolation in Christ if any comfort of love if any fellowship of the spirit if any bowels and mercies fulfill ye my ioy that ye be like minded having the same love being of one accord of one minde c. Secondly Consider what excellent Arguments the Apostle useth Ephes. 4. 3 4 5 6. Endevouring to keepe the unitie of the spirit in the bond of peace There is one body and one spirit even as you are called in one hope of your calling One Lord one faith one baptisme one God c. These are omnipotent Arguments If one God and one Lord and one body c. Shall not his children be one And afterwards vers. 11 12 13. the Apostle tels us That when Christ ascended up to Heaven he gave some to be Apostles some Prophets some Evangelists some Pastors and Teachers for the perfecting of the Saints c. Till we all come to the unitie of the faith c. Christs intendment in appointing a Ministery in his Church was not onely to bring his people to veritie but also to the unitie of the faith This is the great worke of a Minister to bring his people to unitie as well as veritie Thirdly Consider what a horrible sinne it is to divide one from another and to be at hatred and variance one with another This is a worke of the flesh Gal. 5. 19 20 21. where it is observable that the Apostle reckons up seven synonymicall expressions to set out the greatnesse of this sin The works of the flesh are hatred variance emulation wrath strife sedition envyings of the which I told you before as I have also told you in time past that they which doe such things shall not inherit the kingdome of God This sin alone unrepented on will shut a man out of heaven Therefore it is said Revel. 22. 15. without are dogs This sinne alone makes thee unsit to come to the Sacrament Mat. 5. 23. This sinne alone makes God abhorre our Fasting-dayes Isa. 58. 4. Behold ye fast for strife and debate c. This sinne alone turnes our prayers into curses For when thou prayest unto God Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespas against us if thou beest in malice and hatred with thy brother thou prayest unto God not to forgive thee thy trespasses Notable is the speech of Cyprian Peius est seindere Ecclesiam quam sacrificare Idolo Schisme in the Church is a greater sinne then Idolatry Austin saith it is a greater sinne then heresie And this saith he God himselfe declared when he punished Corah and his company that were Schismatiques with a greater punishment then ever he punished Idolaters or Heretiques Quis iam dubitaverit hoc esse scelaratius commissum quod est gravius vindicatum Fourthly Consider the wofull mischiefes that are brought into Church and State by these our divisions If all the Iesuites in the Christian world If all the Devils in hell should joyne together to devise a way to undoe the Parliament and the good Cause they manage they could not invent a readier way then by dividing you one from another at this time This makes you to fight against your selves to murder your selves your Cause your Religion and to murder all that adhere unto you Hereby God is dishonoured Reformation hindered Religion discredited the good Cause disliked the Enemie strengthened You are weakened your Counsels disturbed the Warre prolonged the Power of godlinesse abated c. as hath beene formerly mentioned Hereby we are all tantum non destroyed and destroyed we must be if our breaches be not made up For if we bite and devoure one another we shall be consumed one of another Gal. 5. 15. Famous is the Story of Menenius Agrippa who when the people of Rome had divided themselver from the Senate of Rome came to the people and told them an Apologue of the members of the body how they did once conspire together against the belly because that the belly did live idlely devoure all the meat that the hands did work forand feet walke for c. And therefore they agreed together to starve the belly The hands refused to work for to feed it the mouth refused to take in meat the feet refused to goe to fetch it c. But within a very
from their very childhoods they did differ one from the other and never could agree But when a common enemy came against them then Aristides comes by night to Themistocles and saith unto him Si sapimus omissâ tandem iuvenili et inani concertatione contentionem de servanda Graecia salubrem honestamque suscipiamus c. Let us leave all youthly contentions and tend unanimously to the publique good Oh that this counsell might take impression in the hearts of us Christians at this time Eightly Consider further how that the very Devils in hell agree to promote their owne kingdome If Satan be divided against Satan saith Christ how can his Kngdome stand And my Text is brought as I have said as an argument to prove that Christ did not cast out Devils by the power of Belzebub because then Satan should be divided against himselfe and seeke his own ruine which he will never doe There is peace amongst the Devils in hell And certainly there cannot be better Musicke to the Divels in hell then to see the Parliament divided against it selfe and the City divided against it selfe and the Godly Ministers divided against themselves at such a time as this is Ninthly and especially 〈◊〉 Lord Iesus Christ who is the Great Peacemaker who came into the world when all the world was at peace at whose birth the Angels sang Glory to God on high and in earth peace who when he was dying left a Legasie of peace to his people and gave his Disciples a New Commandement to love one another which was therefore called a New Commandement because it was inforced with a new example even the example of Christs love to us Who when he made that admirable Prayer Iohn 17. the chiefe part of it was that God would make his children one as he and the Father were one And he gives the reason of it vers. 21. That the world may beleeve that then hast sent me The world will not beleeve in Christ when they see Christians disagree Nothing hinders men from beleeving in Christ more then the differences and divisions of those that doe beleeve in Christ It is an excellent observation of Athanasius That the very manner of Christs death doth preach the Doctrine of Vnitie and love to Christians For Christ was not sawen asunder as the Prophet Isaiah was He was not beheaded as Iohn Baptist was There was not a bone of his broken nor any whit of his garment rent or torne And all this to teach Christians saith he to be at unitie within themselves Was not a bone of Christ broken upon the Crosse and shall all his members breake in pieces now he is in heaven Was his garment kept whole and shall his body be rent and torne in pieces This is Pauls Argument to perswade the divided Corinthians to Peace and Vnitie 1 Cor. 1. 13. Is Christ divided And why are Christians divided if Christ were not divided Why doth one say I am of Paul another I am of Apollo another I am of Cephas c. And therefore if you be Christians live in love and unitie as the Disciples of Iesus Christ that so the world may beleeve in Christ Oh that these Motives might take deepe rooting in your affections And that every one in his place would labour after Peace and Vnitie That you that are Magistrates and Iustices would bind your selves to the peace It is no discredit in this sense to be bound to the peace You are called Iustices of the Peace not because you should hold your peace when God would have you to speake but because it is your dutie to make peace and to keep peace Let all godly Ministers preach up the duty of brotherly love which is quite forgotten amongst most Christians It is a dutie quite dead and buried let us labour that it may have a speedy resurrection The Apostle saith 1 Thes. 4. 9. As touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you c. But we Ministers now a dayes need to write and preach of no duty more then this And then let all Ministers and people Pray for the peace of Ierusalem and give the Lord no rest untill he make England and Ireland a praise in the earth Let us pray for peace and fight for peace and contribute our money willingly for a peace For indeed all our fighting and all our vast expences are but as wayes and meanes to a safe and well grounded peace Let us fight for peace with peace one towards another And let us not complaine and murmur at the greatnesse of our contributions but remember the story of the old covetous Miser that hung himselfe to save charges and his man comming in unawares and seeing his Master a hanging cut the rope in pieces and thereby saved his Masters life The Master being recovered instead of thanking his man fell a chiding of him because he cut the rope in pieces and so did put him to the charges of a new rope whereas he should rather have untied it then cut it This man you will say did little deserve to have his life saved Iust such is our condition Our cruell enemies are ready to devoure and destroy us All that the Parliament doth is to cut the rope in pieces with which they would hang us And if we be put to more then ordinary charge let us not grumble at those expences which are the preservation of our lives That man is unworthy to live that murmurs to lay out a little money to save his life But here I must put in three Caveats beseech you in the first place to remember that when I speake so much for unity I would also have you to remember that Vnum verum convertuntur That unity without veriy is not a true peace but a conspiracy Omnis concordia in veritate Vnity ioyned with falshood is execrable adulterie saith Cyprian When unitie and falshood are married together it is no lawfull marriage but execrable adultery If I cannot have peace with men but I must lose my peace with God farewell peace with men that I may keep my peace with God One great reason why we have so little peace upon earth is because we seek after it more then after the glory of God in heaven You will must remember in the second place that this Vnity that we must labour after must be in a Scripture way The Primitive Church for Vnity sake and to prevent Schismes set up one Presbyter as a Bishop to rule over the rest with Maiority of power in Iurisdiction and Ordination But this at best was but a humane invention and it proved an increaser of Schisme and Division The Papists set up the Pope to preserve unitie But he is the greatest Apple of strife the Christian world hath It will be our care to studie to promote a unitie in such a way which the Scriptures hold forth and this will prosper You must also remember in the third place that our unitie