as to get a time in cool blood to cast up thy accounts truely what good thou had done or what thou hast got by such and such contentions and on the other side cast up what the hurt thou hast done what sin hath been committed what evil hath got into thy spirit I fear you will have little cause to boast of or rejoyce in your gains To be freed from that expence that comes in by strife is not a little gain says S. Ambrose In strife you will find there is a very great expence of time of gifts and parts Many men in regard of the good gifts God hath given them might have proved shining Lights in the Church but by reason of their contentious spirits they prove no other then smoaking firebrands It may be by all the stir you keep you shall never get your mind if you do it will not quit cost the charge you have been at for it comes to much more then it is worth God deliver me from having my mind at such a dear rate The fifth Consider how the heart of God is set upon making peace with us and what it cost him GOd was in Christ reconciling the world to himself this work hath taken up the thoughts counsels heart of God from all eternity above any thing that ever he did this is the chief master-piece of all the workers of God There is more of the glory of God in this then in all that God hath done This is and shall be the object of the admiration of Angels and Saints the matter of their praises to all eternity The heart of God was so in this that he was resolved to have it whatsoever it cost him it cost the dearest that ever any thing in this world did yea the price of it was more then ten thousand worlds are worth it was no less then the blood of the Son of God of him who is the second person in Trinity God blessed for evermore Col. 1.14 In whom we have redemption through his blood who is the image of the invisible God the first born of every creature by him were all things created he is before all things by him all things consist in him all fulness dwells and having made peace through the blood of his Cross ver 20. What God hath done for peace with us calls aloud to us to prize peace one with another It is the Apostles argument 1 John 3.16 He laid down his life for us we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren It cost his life to make our peace with God We should be willing to do any thing we are able even to the hazard of our lives to make peace among the Saints Christ laid down his life even for this peace also Ephes 2.14 For he is our peace who hath made both one and hath broke down the middle wall of partition between us having abolished in his flesh the enmity to make in himself of twain one new man so making peace and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the Cross Christ reconciles both unto God but how it is in one body Lay this Consideration warm at your hearts and it will comfort your hearts and so preserve and encrease peaceable dispositions in you towards one another The Sixth Consider the presence of God and of Christ OUr God our Father our Master our Saviour stands by looking on us It is a most excellent passage that I find in an Epistle of Luther to the Ministers of Norimberg There were great divisions amongst them he writes to them that he might pacifie their spirits one towards another Suppose sayes he you saw Jesus Christ standing before you and by his very eyes speaking thus unto your hearts What do you O my dear children whom I have redeemed with my blood whom I have begotten again by my Word to that end that you might love one another Know that this is the note of my Disciples Leave this business ye wholly cast it upon me I le look to it there is no danger that the Church should suffer by this though it should be stilled yea though it should dye but there is a great deal of danger if you dissent amongst your selves if you bite one another Do not thus sadden my spirit do not thus spoile the holy Angels of their joy in heaven am not I more to you then all matters that are between you then all your affections then all your offences What can any words of a brother can any unjust trouble penetrate your hearts stick so fast in you as my wounds as my blood as all that I am to you your Saviour Jesus Christ Oh that we had such real apprehensions of Christ looking upon us speaking to us The Seventh Consider what account we can give to Jesus Christ of all our Divisions WHen Christ shall come will you stand before him with scratched faces with black and blew eyes 1 Thes 3.12 13. The Lord make you to increase and abound in love one towards another and towards all men To what end To the end saith the Apostle he may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God even our Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his Saints It will be a sad thing to be found in our divisions at the coming of Jesus Christ Mat. 24.50 the coming of Christ is mentioned as a terror to those who shall but begin to smite their fellow-servants We may wrangle and stand out one against another in our contentions now but it will not be so easie to answer Jesus Christ as it is to answer one another In the Name of Jesus Christ I now speak unto you yea as from him charge you let no inconsiderable reason move you to contend with dissent or separate from your brethren but live together in Love Unity The Eighth Let us consider our mortality IT is but a little time we have to live shall the greater part of it nay why should any part of it be raveld out with contâ—ntions and quarrels I have read of Pompey that upon a time passing over divers hills where there lived many people in caves but their order was that the man lived in one cave and the wise in another he asking the reason they said In those parts they live not long therefore they desired that the little time they did live they might have peace and quiet which they had found by experience they could not have if man and wife live constantly together Though the means they used for their quiet was sordid yet the good use they made of the shortness of their lives was commendable Vilgil sayes if swarms of Bees meet in the air they will sometimes fight as it were in a set battel with great violence but if you cast but a little dust upon them they will all be presently quiet Sprinkle upon your hearts the meditations of death that within a while this flesh of yours will be
some weakness in it at that time if such a fair Interpretation may be made why should not an ingenuous candid spirit mke it This very exception I find was taken against Basilius Magnus and Nazianzen in one of his Orations in which he highly commends Basil answers it and justifies him It is hard to keep unity love and peace with men who are of exceptious carping dispositions if God were strict to mark what we do amiss what would become of us God is strict to mark what good there is in his Saints if there be any little good in the midst of much imperfection Gods way is to pass by the imperfection and take notice of the good but our way is often if there be a little bad though but through a very pardonable mistake in the midst of much good to pass by all the good and to seize upon the mistake to make it the seed of contention to brood over it and so beget the brats of Contention from it The third joyning prastice If you will needs be striving strive who shall do one another most good who shall engage one another in the most and greatest offices of love THis is a good combat such striving as this is God and his blessed Angels look upon and take much delight in I find a notable story in the life of Alexander the Great which may put on and encourage Christians in such a combat as this There was a great King in India his name was Taxiles who on a time came to salute Alexander and said unto him What should we need to fight and make Wars one with another if thou comest not to take away our water and our necessary commodity to live by for which things men of judgment must needs fight as for other goods If I be richer than thee I am ready to give thee of mine and if I have less I will not think scorn to thank thee if thou wilt give me some of thine Alexander being pleased to hear him speak thus wisely embraced him and said unto him Thinkest thou that this meeting of ours can be without fight for all these goodly fair words No no thou hast won nothing by them for I will fight and contend with thee in honesty and courtesie because thou shalt not exceed me in bounty and liberality So Alexander took divers gifts of him but gave more to him Oh that our contentions were turned into such contentions as these are Let us rejoyce in any opportunity of doing any Office of love to those we differ from yea to those who have wronged us It was wont to be said of Archbishop Cranmer If you would be sure to have Cranmer do you a good turn you must do him some ill one for though he loved to do good to all yet especially he would watch for opportunities to do good to such as had wronged him Had we but a few leading men of such spirits among us how great a blessing of Peace might we yet enjoy Lastly pray much PLiny sayes of the Pearles they call Unions though they be engendred in the Sea yet they participate more of the Heavens than of the Sea Certainly this precious Union though it be amongst men yet it hath its lustre and beauty yea its very being from the Heavens You must look up to Heaven therefore for Peace for the preservation increase lustre beauty of it if you would have it Job 25.2 God maketh peace in his high places the Lord can make peace between high and low Let us carry mens rugged crooked perverse hearts to God in Prayer who is the great joyner of hearts it is he that makes men to be of one mind in a house he maketh the wars to cease Psal 122.6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem In your prayers for the Church this must be mentioned as a special blessing If praying prevail not fighting will not Those are the most peaceable men in Church and Common-wealth that pray most for the peace of them God hath more prayers for the peace of this Church and State upon the file of theirs whom some of you beloved account hinderers of it than of yours You complain much for want of peace you inveigh much against those whom you are pleased to mark out as hinderers of the peace but do you pray as much You have these means presented unto you for the furtherance of peace what other you may meet with any way make use of 2 Thess 3.16 The Lord of peace give you peace alwaies by all means And that all may be the better improved let the exhortation of the Apostle 1 Thess 4.11 sink into you Study to be quiet the words are Love the honour of being quiet There is great excellency in it CAP. V. Exhortation to peaceable and brotherly Vnion shewing the excellency of it AND now my brethren as the Eunuch said to Philip concerning his Baptism Here is water what lets but I may be baptized I shall say concerning our uniting in peace and love one with another Here are Joining Principles Joining Considerations Joining Graces Joining Practices what now le ts but that we may join in love and peace one with another surely nothing can let but extream corrupt perverse hearts of our own The Apostle Paul is mighty earnest in his desires in his exhortations for this 1 Cor. 1.10 Now I beseech you brethren by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that ye all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment The word translated perfectly joined signifies such a joining as when a bone is out of joint is perfectly set right again So Philip. 2.1 If there 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 c. The Apostle pours forth his Soul in this exhortation it is a heart-breaking exhortation Luther though a man of a stirring hot spirit yet writing to the Pastors of the Church of Stratsburg hath these words I pray you be perswaded that I shall alwaies be as desirous to embrace concord as I am desirous to have the Lord Jesus to be propitious to me I find also in a Letter that Martin Bucer writes to a godly Minister a very high expression of that high esteem he had of and earnest desires after the curing of divisions Who would not sayes he purchase with his life the removing that infinite scandal that comes by Dissention Oh that there were such hearts in us Christ expects it from us all but especially from his Ministers for they are his Ambassadors for peace to beseech men in his stead to be reconciled to God reconciliation with God will reconcile us one to another If God so loved us we ought also to love one another 1 Joh. 4.11 The faces of the Cherubims in the Temple looked one towards another which some think signified the agreement that should be amongst Ministers of the Gospel So the six branches in the Candlestick joyned all in one those who hold the light of truth before others should be united in peace in one amongst themselves The first thing Christs Ministers were to do when they came to any place was to say Peace be to that place if any sons of peace were there they were to abide otherwise not Surely then it is expected that themselves should be sons of peace The contentions of private Christians are offensive but the contentions of Ministers is a scandal with a witness Gen. 34.21 The great commendation that Hamor and Shechem give of Jacob and his Sons as an argument to perswade the men of Shechem to joyn with them in the giving their Daughters to them for Wives and in taking theirs is These men are peaceable with us A peaceable disposition is very convincing Cant. 6.6 My dove my undefiled is but one she is the only one of her Mother she is the choice one of her that bare her What then follows The Daughters saw her and blessed her yea the Queens and the Concubines and they praised her Who is she that looketh forth as the Morning fair as the Moon clear as the Sun terrible as an army of Banners Let the Saints be but one and then they will appear beautiful and glorious indeed yea they will be terrible as an Army of Banners Euagrius in his Ecclesiastical History records an Epistle of Cyrill of Alexandria written to John of Antioch upon the occasion of a Pacificatory Epistle of John unto him his Spirit was so taken with it that it breaks forth thus Let the Heavens rejoyce and let the earth be glad the mid-wall of rancour is battered down the boyling choler which bereaved the minds of quietnesse is purged from among us and all the occasion of discord and dissention is banished away for our Saviour Jesus Christ hath granted peace unto the Churches under Heaven Lastly the Saints enjoyment of the sweetness of love peace and unity among themselves what is it but heaven upon earth Heaven is above all storms tempests troubles the happiness of it is perfect rest We pray that the will of God might be done on earth as it is done in heaven why may not we have a heaven upon earth this would sweeten all our comforts yea all our afflictions But the Devil envies us this happiness Come Lord Jesus come quickly FINIS
Truth will out A SERMON Preached on the 20th of June 1683. upon THE DISCOVERY OF THE New PLOT By a Presbyter of the CHVRCH of ENGLAND LONDON Printed for Tho. Manhood and are to be sold by the Book-Sellers of London 1683. TO THE READER PLotting Treason and Rebellion and Machevilian Wilds and Ahitophelian Conspiracies to ruine Kings and involve Kingdoms and Commonwealths in Confusion and Blood hath ever been the custom of ill men in all Ages of the World who besides a natural inclination they have to mischief and rapine which makes them delight to be fishing in troubled waters are ambitious also and aspire to raise themselves to wealth and grandeur upon the publick ruine and by Sacrificing all that is Sacred to their ambitious desires and their insatiable thirst after an Vsurped Rule strive to acquire Honour and Renown and make their names swell and look big in the Rolls of Fame by the hellish Intricacy as well as the multiplicity and fatality of those Plots whereby they vainly flatter themselves into a confidence that they shall accomplish their accursed Designs yet no Age ever abounded with so many nor can any History possibly be produced that is able to furnish us with a parallel of our times wherein we live which hath abounded wonderfully nay almost to an infinite variety of those kind of Contrivances for we have found by woful experience that almost nothing else for several years together hath saluted our unhappy and amused Ears but Plots and Re-Plots real Plots and sham-Plots Plots to Murther our Sovereign Change the Government and Destroy the Pestilent Heresie that hath so long Reigned in these Northern Parts and then Plots to cover those Plots and prevent their Discovery or if discovered then to serve as a sponge to wipe out and obliterate them All which makes it a matter of wonderful Intricacy to know how to order and demean our selves in such a juncture as this is But for thy better direction therein I Commend thee to the serious perusal of the following Sermon and leave thee to the Protection of Heaven heartily wishing That He whose Power is infinite and whose Wisdom and Goodness are both equal to his Power would preserve the Kings Majesty and the English Nation from the fatal effects of All Plots and Conspiracies whatsoever TRUTH will OUT OR A Sermon occasioned on the Discovery of the New-Plot HOSEA 10.2 Their Heart is divided now shall they be found faulty CHAP. I. The Text opened and suitableness of it to our Times shewed NO Marvail though Israel be charged ver 1. to be an empty Vine seeing their heart is devided Heart-division will cause emptiness of good both in Mens Spirits and in Church and State The least dividing of the Heart in any one part from another if it be but by the prick of a Pin is Deadly a great gash in the head is Curable There may be much difference in Mens Opinions without any great hurt if this difference gets not to the Heart but if once it gets there the danger is great Now shall they be found Faulty Now shall they be Guilty or as some Diaffected Now they will Offend as if Heart-division contracted the greatest Guilt and by it Men were the greatest Offenders of any The word signifies also to Perish to be made Desolate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so Arias Montanus Desolabuntur Heart division is a Desolating Sin by the Judgment of God upon them for it they shall be convinced in their own Consciences and in the sight of all Men that they were Guilty that by such a Sin as this they had bound themselves over to the Justice of God and those desolating Evils that came upon them were the Righteous Judgments of God upon them for those Divisions that were amongst them Men will not be convinced of their Sin till Gods Judgment is upon them for it and then their Consciences will and others shall see that God is Righteous and they are vile and Sinful before him even in such things that before they pleaded for or at least could not be brought to own their own guiltiness in The Lord convince us of and humble us for the Sinfulness of our Divisions by his Word that Desolating Judgments be not upon us to convince and humble us That one Text 1 Thes 4.9 were enough alone to pierce our Hearts thorough and thorough as touching Brotherly Love Ye need not that I Write unto you saith the Apostle for ye your selves are taught of God to Love one another Oh Lord what are we in these days such kind of Christians as these were Oh that it were so with us that we had no need to be wrote to to be Preached to concerning this Does it appear by our Carriages one towards another that we are Taught of God To Love one another But Beloved that God may Teach us this day attend to what shall be said to you at this time which I shall cast into these five Heads 1. Joyning Principles 2. Joyning Considerations 3. Joyning Graces 4. Joyning Practises 5. Conclude with Exhortation Wherein we shall endeavour to set before you the Beauty and Excellency there is in the Heart Union and Mutual Love of Christians But I shall not need to be long in these For take away Dividing Principles Dividing Distempers Dividing Practises and be throughly convinced of the Evil of Divisions and one would think our Hearts should of themselves run into one another But that I may not seem to leave our Wounds open so that Air should get into them but endeavour the closing of them and so the healing I shall Speak something to these five Heads The First Joyning Principle In the midst of all Differences of Judgment and Weakness of the Saints it is not Impossible but that they may Live in Peace and Love together IF notwithstanding differences from Gods mind and many weaknesses there may be Peace and Love between God and his Saints then surely notwithstanding these things the Saints may be at Love and Peace among themselves Let this be laid for a Ground and let our Hearts be much possessed with it we shall find it very helpful to our closing Away with that vain conceit which hath been the great disturber of Churches in all Ages if Men differ in their Judgment and Practise in matters of Religion though it be in things that are but the weakness of Godly Men yet there must needs be Heart-burning and Division Let all peaceable Men deny this consequence let us not say it will be so and that our words may be made good afterwards indeed make it so certainly the connection of them is rather from the corruption of our Hearts then from the Nature of the things I have Read of two Rivers in the East Sava and Danuby that run along in one Channel threescore Miles together without any noise and yet they keep themselves distinct the colour of the waters remain distinct all along why should we not thing
had him to have revenged himself upon Arcadion What say you now of Arcadion sayes he How doth he now behave himselfe There is no man living say they speaks better of you now then he Well then sayes Philip I am a better Physitian then you my Physick hath done that which yours would never have done The like he reports of Fabius who was called the Romans Target When he heard of a souldier who was valiant yet practiâ—ed with some others to go to serve the Enemy he calls him to him and instead of dealing with him in rigour tells him he had not had recompence according to his desert and gives him Honourable gifts and so gains him to be faithfull for ever And says he As Hunters Riders of Horses and such as tame wilde beasts shall sooner make them leave their savage and churlish nature by gentle usage and manning of them then by beating and shackling them so a governour of men should rather correct by patience gentleness and clemency then by rigour violence and severity None but a cruell harsh sordid spirited man will say I had rather men should feare me then Love me God prizes most what he hath from us by Love The Third Joyning Principle My good is more in the Publick then in my self THe strength safety excellency of a Cabbin in a Ship consists not so much in the boards of the Cabbin or the fine painting of it as in the strength and excellency of the Ship It is because we have such private spirits that there are such contentions among us were we more publick Spirited our contentions would vanish When I read of what publique spirits many of the Heathens were I am ashamed to look upon many Christians Paulus Aemilius hearing of the Death of his children spake with an undaunted courage thus That the gods had heard his prayer which was that Calamities should rather befall his family then the Common-wealth The publikeness of his spirit made it very sweet and Lovely the story says of him he intreated them gently and Graciously whom he had subdued setting forward their causes even as they had been his confederates very Friends and near Kinsmen Publick Spirited men are men of sweet and peaceable Spirits The Fourth joyning Principle What I would have others doe to me that I will endeavour to doe to them WOuld not I have others bear with me I then will bear with them I would have others do offices of kindnesses to me I will then do offices of kindnesses to them I would have the carriages of others lovely amiable to me mine shall be so to them I would have others live peaceably with me I will do so with them This rule of doing to others as I would be done to is a Law of justice such justice as keeps the peace Alexander Severus the Roman Emperour was much taken with this he says he Learned it from the Christians if he had to deal with his common Souldiers that did wrong he punished them but when he had to deal with men of worth and dignity he thought it sufficient to reprove them with this sentence Do as you would be done by Chrysostome in his 13. Sermon to the People of Antioch makes use of this principle thus After Christ had spoken of many blessednesses says he he then says Those things you would have others doe to you doe you to them as if he should say There needs not many words let thine owne will be thy Law would you Receive benefits bestow benefits then would you have mercy be mercifull then would you be commended commend others would you be Loved then love Be you the Judge your self be you the Law-giver of your owne Life That which you hate doe not to another Cannot you endure reproach do not you Reproach others Cannot you endure to have others envy you doe not you Envy others Cannot you endure to be deceived do not you deceive others The fifth joyning Principle It is as great an Honour to have my will by yielding as by overcomming MAny in their anger will say I will be even with him I will tell you a way how you may be above him forgive him by yielding pardoning putting up the wrong you shew you have power over yourself and this is a greater thing then to have power over another Numb 14.17 18. Now I beseech thee let the power of my Lord be great pardon I beseech thee the iniquity of this People ver 19. and by this thou mayest Honourably prevaile with thy brother hereby shalt thou heap coals of fire upon his head I have read of two famous Philosophers falling at variance Aristippus and Aeschines Aristippus comes to Aeschines Shall we not be friends says he Yes with all my heart saith Aeschines Remember saith Aristippus that though I am your elder yet I sought for peace True saith Aeschines and for this I will alwayes acknowledge you the more worthy man for I began the Strife and you the Peace The Sixth Joyning Principle I had rather suffer the greatest Evil then do the least IF when others wrong you you care not what you do to Right your self This is your folly and madness such a one hurt me and I will therefore mischief my self he hath pricked me with a Pin and I will therefore in an anger run my Knife into my Side If in all we suffer we be sure to keep from Righting our selves by any ways of Sin there will not be much peace broke Such an one is thine Enemy and wilt thou of one Enemy make two wilt thou also be an Enemy to thy self yea a greater Enemy then he or any man Living can be to thee for all the Men in the World cannot make the Sin Except thou wilt thy self The Seventh joyning principle I will Labour to do good to all but provoke none A Father hath not so much power over his child as to Provoke him Col. 3.21 Fathers provoke not your children to wrath Surely if a man hath not this power over his child he hath it not over his friend his neighbour much less his superiour yet how many take delight in this Such a thing I know will anger him and he shall be sure to have it Oh wicked heart dost thou see that this will be a temptation to thy brother and wilt thou lay it before him dost not thou pray for thy self and for him Lord lead us not into temptation we should account it the greatest evil to us of all the evil of afflictions to be any occasion of sin to our brother but what an evil should this be to us to provoke our brother to sin if we will needs be provoking then let the Apostles exhortation prevail with us Heb. 10.24 Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works Let us not consider one another in a way of curiosity and emulation to envy or find fault with one another from whence frowardness pride hatred dissentions factions may arise saith
Hyperius upon the place but consider one another so as we may further the good of one another so as to make one another quick and active in that which is good The Eighth joyning Principle Peace with all men it is good but with God and mine own conscience it is necessary BUt how will this joyn us one to another Answ Very much both as it holdsforth the goodness of peace with all men and as it carries the heart strongly to the making and keeping peace with God and a mans owne conscience This peace with God and a mans own conscience will so sweeten the heart that it cannot but be sweet towards every one a man who hath satisfaction enough within can easily bear afflictions and troubles that come without When Saul had made great breaches between God and his soul and in his owne conscience than he grew to be of a very froward spirit towards every man before his Apostasie he was of a very meek and quiet spirit but this sowred his spirit and made it grow harsh rugged and cruel This is the cause of the frowardness of many men and women in their families and with their neighbours there are secret breaches between God and their own consciences The last joyning Principle Peace is never bought too dear but by sin and baseness WE use to say We may buy Gold too dear and so we may peace but whatsoever we pay for it beside sin and baseness we have a good bargain Suidas tels of the Emperour Trajan that he would cut his own cloaths to bind up the wounds of his Souldiers We should be very pitiful to souldiers who are wounded to keep us whole We should bind up their wounds though it cost us dear but especially our care should be to bind up those wounds that by divisions are made in Church and State and well may we be willing to cut our cloathes to bind them up when the evil of them is such as either does or should cut our hearts But though peace be a rich merchandize yet she must not sayl too far for it not so far as to sin We read 2 King 23.13 Mount Olivet is called the Mount of corruption because of the Idolatry committed upon it Though we are to prize Mount Olivet at a very high rate with the Olives growing upon it yet we must take heed that we make it not a Mount of corruption We may give peace to buy truth but we may not give truth to buy peace We may be bold with that which is our own to purchase peace but not with that which is Gods yet we must not be base in our yielding in things natural or civil for peace sake that is First we must not for our own private peace yield to that which is like to prove a publick disadvantage and disturbance There is a notable story of a Turkish Emperor perceiving his Nobles and people to be offended that he was so strongly in love with his Concubine Irene his heart was so taken with her that he grew remiss in his regard to the Stern of the State Nothing must be done but as Irene would have it whatsoever resolutions there were of any good to the State yet Irene must be consulted withall before they were put in execution and if they pleased not her all was dashed so much did he dote upon Irene This the Nobles and State could not bear he therefore at last so far considered the publick as he overcame his doting affections He brought Irene before them and says That ye may see how much I prize the content of my people I sacrifice her to them and so drew his sword and slew her with his own hands before their eyes If according to her demerits for drawing his heart away from the good of the commonwealth she had been given up to the sword of justice it might have satisfied as well But lest I be thought to be too literal give me leave to allegorize upon this Irene Her name is a Greek name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it signifies peace we must not so dote upon our Irene our private peace that the publick should suffer for the sake of it This is baseness let her be sacrificed for publick good this is true generousness Secondly that is baseness when our yielding is through ignorance cowardize base fear not from a principle of wisdom and understanding not so much out of true love to peace as a foolish ignorant sottish sordid spirit of our own whereas had we had a spirit of wisdom and courage we might have peace upon more honourable terms Indeed many think every kind of yielding baseness but they are for the most part such as are not put to any great trial themselves but when our consciences tell us that what we do is what the Rule allows us it is not because we would avoid trouble but we find through Gods grace our hearts in some measure prepared for suffering if God were pleased to call us to it in any thing wherein he may have glory and the publick may be benefited But because all things duly considered we see that God in such a way shall have more glory and our brethren generally more good therefore whatsoever becomes of our particular in regard of esteem or other wayes we are willing to yield and in this we find our hearts as much closing with God enjoying communion with him in all holiness and godly fear and in other things that go as near to us we are able to deny our selves as much as ever in this we may have comfort that it is not baseness that makes us yield but rather the grace of God enabling us to rule over our own spirits The peace that we thus purchase with the suffering much in our names and the loss of many comforts does not cost us too dear Joyning Considerations The first The consieration of the many things wherein God hath joyned us GOd hath joyned us together as we are men we are not dogs not wolves let us not be so one to another Act. 7.26 Moses speaks thus to those who strove one with another Sirs ye are brethren why do ye wrong one another The words in the Greek are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 men yet are brethren There is a consideration in this that ye are men if there were no more yet ye should not strive one with another but much more considering ye are brethren If we be men let us be humane What is the meaning of humanity but courteousness gentleness pleasantness in our carriages one towards another But still the consideration grows higher as we are the same Country-men of old acquaintance in the same imployment of the same family and kindred but above all joyned in such a blessed root the fountain of all love and peace Ephes 4.4 presents this consideration most fully to us The reason the Apostle gives why we must keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace is because there
is one body and one spirit ye are called in one hope one Lord one faith one baptisme one God and Father of all Here you have seven Ones together in two or three lines It is very much that the Spirit of God should joyn so close together seven Ones surely it is to be a strong argument for us to unite First one Body The meanest member yet it is in the body Is it comely for the body of Christ to be rent and torn any reference to Christ might perswade unity but union with Christ as the members with the body what heart can stand against the strength of this What can cause one member to tear and rend another but madness 2. One Spirit 1 Cor. 12.11 that one and the self same spirit he does not only say The same spirit but The self same spirit and as if that not enough he adds One to the self same and that yet not enough he says That one all this is in ss the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The repeating the Article hath a great elegancy in it And is not this one Spirit the Spirit of love and meekness What does a froward contentious spirit do in thee who professest thy self to be a Christian What says Cyprian does the fierceness of Wolves madness of Dogs the deadly poyson of Serpents the bloudy rage of Beasts in a Christians breast 3. Called in one hope Are not you heirs joynt heirs of the same Kingdom and do you contend as if one belonged to the kingdom of light and the other to the kingdom of darkness 4. One Lord. You serve the same Lord and Master Is it for the credit of a Master that his servants are always wrangling and fighting one with another Is it not a tedious thing in a family that the servants can never agree Mark how ill the Lord takes this Mat. 24.49 50 51. that evil servant who begins to smite his fellow-servants provokes his Lord against him so as to come upon him with such severity as to cut him asunder and to appoint his portion with the hypocrites 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he will dichotomize him divide him in two he by his smiting his fellow-servants makes divisions but his Lord will divide him It may be he pretends that his fellow-servants do not do their duty as they ought as if he were more careful of the honour of his Lord then others who are of a different way from him 5. One Faith What though we agree not together in some things of lesser moment yet we agree in one faith Why should we not then keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace The agreement in the faith one would think should swallow up all other disagreements We should rather bless God for keeping men sound in the faith then contend with them for lesser mistakes When the Pharisees Acts 23.9 understood that Paul agreed with them in that great doctrine of the Resurrection they presently overlook his other differences saying We find no evil in this man Master Calvin in his Epistle to our Countreymen at Frankford fled for their lives in witness to the truth yet miserably jarring and contending one against another there to the scandall of all the Churches of God in those Parts begins his Epistle thus This doth grievously torment me it is extremely absurd that dissentions should arise among brethren Exiles fled from their countrey for the same faith and for that cause which alone in this your scattering ought to be to you as a holy band to keep you fast bound together Their contentions were about Church-worship 6. One Baptism We are baptized into Christs death and is not that to shew that we should be dead to all those things in the world that cause strife and contention among men Our Baptism is our badg our livery it furthers somewhat the unity of servants that they wear all one livery 7. One God Though there be three Persons in the Divine Nature and every Person is God yet there is but one God here is an union infinitly beyond all unions that any creature can be capable of themystery of this union is revealed to us to make us in love with union Our interest in this one God is such a conjunction as nothing can be more Josephs brethren Gen. 50.17 looked upon this as having very great power in it to make up all breaches to heal all old grudges After their Father was dead their consciences misgave them for what they had done to Joseph they were afraid old matters would break forth and that Joseph would turn their enemy now how do they seek to unite Josephs heart to them We pray thee say they forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy Father and the Text says Joseph wept when they spake unto him Oh this was a heart-breaking speech to Joseph The servants of the God of my Father Shall my heart ever be estranged from the servants of the God of my Father The Lord forbid Their offence indeed was great but their God is my God and he was my Fathers God this argument had more in it to draw Josephs heart to them then if they had said We are your brethren we came from the same loyns you did True that is something but the servants of the God of thy Father is much more Let us look upon all the godly though thy have many weaknesses though they have not carried themselves towards us as they ought yet they are the servants yea the children of our God and of our fathers God let this draw our hearts to them If they be one with us in their interest in one God let them be one with us in the affections of our heart to love them delight in them and rejoyce in communion with them One God and Father Mal. 2.10 Have we not all one Father hath not one God Created us Is it seemly that one mans children should be always contending quarrelling and mischieving on another do you think this is pleasing to your Father It follows in that of Ephes 4. who is above all and through all and in you all You have enough in your Father to satisfie your souls for ever whatsoever you want other wayes he is above all he that is so glorious and blessed infinitly above all things hath put honour enough upon you that he is your Father why will you contend and quarrell about trifles He hath absolute authority to dispose of all things as he pleaseth let not the different administrations of his to some in one kind to some in another be matter for you to contend about And he worketh in all You will say If indeed we could see God in such if we could see grace and holiness in them our hearts would close with them but we see not this 1. Take heed thou dost not reject any from being thy brother whom Jesus Christ at the great day will own for his and God the Father will call Child