into and more uncharitable in censuring others as carnal as time-servers as Men of the World only because of the National way and not of theirs though otherwise never so worthy Many of these are growing indeed but it is farther and farther into separation till at last they commence Quakers 4. If you prize your comfort prize harmony and good agreement not among this or that sort or party only but among all that do agree in things of absolute necessity to Salvation to all For those that are living and not dead or benumb'd Members of Christ's Body cannot but be pained with the rending of one Member of that Body from another If one Member suffer all the Members suffer with it 1 Cor. 12.26 Was it not a sad sight to see the Man in Mar. 5.5 cutting himself with stones And an Argument that he was possessed with an evil Spirit And I pray you how much less doleful is it to see the People of God Members of the same Body cutting and wounding themselves For so they do when they cut and wound one another For they are Members one of another Rom. 12.5 Alas how unnatural is this For no Man yet ever hated his own flesh Certainly where thus it is they are under a Spiritual phrenzy and madness and are objects of very great commisseration as well as occasions of great trouble and disturbance in the Church of God But O the Comfort of Love as the Apostle phraseth it Phil. 2.1 and the pleasantness of Peace and the delight of harmony which is like a well-tuned Instrument where there is no jarring Behold how good and pleasant a thing it is for Brethren to dwell together in Unity Psal 133.1 A great part of the comfort of a Christian in this World lyes in his Communion with Saints David said the Saints and excellent were all his delight Psal 16.3 And therefore a breach in this must needs make a breach in a Christians comfort 5. The Christian cause and interest in in the World calls loudly upon all such as would approve themselves to have any Love for it or to be any Friends to it and not betrayers of it to Unite and to close up the Divisions that are among us and not to persist in separating practises or to do any thing that contributes thereto but the contrary One great means of facilitating the belief of the Gospel and of propagating the Christian Religion and of bringing it into reputation in the World is the Union and good agreement of all Christ's followers And therefore he prayed so earnestly as we heard before that they all might be one as he and the Father are one that they also might be perfect in one and all for this end that the World might believe that the Father had sent him Joh. 17.20 21. That Men might believe that he came from God indeed and that he was no Impostor but that his Gospel is the infallible Truth and that Religion which is taught thereby is the only true Religion For Christ's followers are those by whom the Gospel is upheld in the World and held forth and witnessed to the World They hold forth the Word of Life Phil. 2.16 they are the Pillar and ground of the Truth 1 Tim. 3.15 And the more unanimous these are in judgment affection and testimony the stronger and more authentick will their testimony be the more Men will be drawn to consider it and to lay to heart the import of it But the more they are divided about it the more this Gospel this Religion comes under suspition in the minds of many and from their differing about lesser things the ignorant the weak and unbelieving will draw arguments of suspition and hesitation about the greater and be ready to conclude the uncertainty of the whole by their differing about a part especially when their difference rises so high and becomes so notorious and publick as it does when they separate about it This is lamentably experienced not only in the continued infidelity of Jews and Turks but also in that Atheism and Sceptiscism which hath so exceedingly increased upon us since these sad times of Division and Separation among us Our Divisions unsettle the minds unhinge and distract the Souls of many that they know not whom to follow or where to fix and by this means they are exposed to be practised upon by seducers and carried away Your Divisions encourageth seducers and the Adversaries of our Reformed Religion in their designs against you and invites them to attempt upon you So that as long as you keep up your Divisions they will make an advantage of it grow upon you and get ground and by little and little draw away your strength and in conclusion over-master you if by Uniting you prevent them not Your Adversaries know the meaning of divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel if you do not and of those words A Kingdome divided against it self cannot stand It hath been no doubt their practice by all the artifice they could to raise and foment your Divisions as it is still to continue and increase them as designing ruine to the Protestant interest thereby And will you gratifie them herein And become their Instruments to accomplish your own destruction and the destruction of that cause and interest which should be more dear to you then your Lives God forbid And therefore let no lesser interests of worldly advantage be it profit be it honour among Men or reputation among a party tempt you to betray this greater interest of your Lord and Master of Religion and of your Souls Be not herein penny wise and pound foolish Revive not that complaint Phil. 2.21 All seek their own not the things of Jesus Christ Expose not Religion to loss and dammage in the main and in the substance of it by being too tenacious of mutable Circumstances Be not so concerned for your Cabbin as to expose the Ship to sinking through your neglect I have now done Only remember I pray you that the things wherein the divided parties professedly agree are such as carry in them the main of Christianity and will make good Christians indeed if lived up to Whereas the things upon which we divide are but disputable opinions the best of which on the one side or the other will never make a good Christian without the other And you know what account God made of Men's zeal though it were for his own institutions as among the Jews of old when they were greatly guilty of sins against Charity Though Men be never so Orthodox in and zealous for their opinions yet if they have not Charity they are but as sounding brass or a tinkling Cymbal A wise Man will not therefore value himself by that which is proper to such or such a party but by that Charity Humility and Sobriety of mind with other graces which are common to those that are good indeed in each party and by these he will value any man of
A PERSWASIVE TO Peace Unity AMONG CHRISTIANS Notwithstanding their different Apprehensions in lesser things 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 joyned together in the same mind and in the same Judgment Phil. 2.2 Fulfill ye my joy that ye be like minded having the same Love being of one accord of one mind Rom. 14.19 Let us therefore follow after the things which make for Peace and things wherewith one may edifie another LONDON Printed for B. Aylmer at the Three Pigeons in Cornhil near the Poultry 1672. A PERSWASIVE TO Peace and Unity AMONG CHRISTIANS THE deep sense of the very ill effects of our Church-Divisions hath put me as it should do every good Christian upon healing considerations An account of some of which I shall give in the following Discourse which I shall ground on the words of St. Paul Eph. 4.3 Endeavouring to keep the Unity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace Which contain that behaviour in part by which Christians may and ought to walk worthy of that Vocation to which they are called Unto which the Apostle doth with the greatest earnestness exhort and perswade them in this and the two former Verses And the words give us occasion to inquire into two things 1. What is meant by the Unity of the Spirit 2. How this Unity is preserved by Peace and how we are to endeavour so to preserve it 1. What is meant by the Unity of the Spirit The Unity of the Spirit is that One-ness among Christians which the Spirit of God worketh or effecteth by the Gospel which is the Ministration of the Spirit For by the Spirits operation through that Men become one in Faith or Perswasion one in Profession one in Affection and one in Communion And by their Union and agreement in these or the three former of these they become one Body or Spiritual Corporation under Christ the Head of it By one Spirit we are all Baptized into one Body and are made to drink into one Spirit 1 Cor. 12.13 For the work of the Ministry till we all come to the Unity of the Faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God Ephes 4.12 13. 1. They are by the Spirit made one in faith or perswasion touching the great fundamental truths in the Christian Religion such as the Apostle doth instance in in the three following Verses Even as ye were called in one hope of your Calling One Lord one Faith one Baptism one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all First they are all called by the Gospel to embrace Christianity in One Hope of obtaining forgiveness of sins and eternal Life Secondly they all agree in professing Faith in One Lord Jesus Christ as the only Mediator in opposition to the Lords many the many Mediators the Heathen professed to have and to worship 1 Cor. 8.5 6. Thirdly they all agree in the Belief that the Doctrine of the Gospel by Christ and his Apostles contained in the Holy Scriptures is a revelation from God touching what Men ought to believe and how they ought to live called the One Faith and the Common Faith from the Christians unanimous agreement in it Tit. 1.4 Fourthly they all agree and are one in the belief of One God and Father of all in opposition to the many Idol-gods worshipped by others Fifthly there is also One Baptism by which all the Christians with one consent make profession solemnly of their belief in and Dedication to the Worship and Service of the Father Son and Holy Ghost into whose Name they were Baptized and by which as by a sacred Rite they are solemnly declared to be of the one Body the Church By one Spirit are all Baptized into one Body 2. They all agree and are one in the Profession of the Common Faith the fundamental Doctrines of the Gospel the belief of which is of necessity to Salvation Which Profession is called The acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness Tit. 1.1 2 Tim. 2.25 The acknowledgment of the Mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ Col. 2.2 As with the heart they believe unto Righteousness so with the Mouth confession is made unto Salvation Rom. 10.10 3. So far as they are Christians indeed they are all one in affection or Brotherly Love They Love all Men even those that are not Christians with a love of compassion desiring and seeking their good but they love their fellow Christians wish a special kind of love for the appearance of good in them for their one-ness with them in the Faith called a loving or the Truths sake which is in them 2 John 1.2 And a loving them in the 〈◊〉 Tit. 3.15 By which they become One 〈◊〉 and 〈…〉 togethâ—◠〈◊〉 Love Act. 4.32 Col. 2.2 And hence it is that Faith in our Lord 〈◊〉 Christ and love to all the Saints are frequently joyned together in Scripture 4. All they that rightly be of the Unity of the Spirit are also one in Communion One in their Communion in Grace mutually loving one another and praying one for another One in Communion in Gifts edifying one another as they have opportunity And one in Communion in Ordinances communicating together in Ordinances of Divine Worship Spiritually with all and locally with those among whom they live 1 Cor. 10.17 For we being many are one Bread and one Body for we are all partakers of that one Bread These are the things in which the Unity of the Spirit doth especially consist Not that I limit it to these only for it is the work of the Spirit in the Gospel to be bringing the Believers to speak all the same thing and to be perfectly joyned together in the same mind and in the same judgment in the lesser things of Religion as well as the greater but their actual agreement lyeth mostly in the greater 2. How this Unity is preserved by Peace and how we are to endeavour so to preserve it Unity in the whole community of Christians is preserved by each Member's observing the Laws and Rules made for the Government and good Order of the whole in their carriage towards each other For while every Man Acts his own part only and keeps in his own Rank according to Rule there is no confusion no disturbance no division and peace and confusion or disorder are put in opposition to one another 1 Cor. 14.33 Christ the Head of the Church or Spiritual Corporation hath made several excellent Laws and Rules to govern the Members of his Body in their behaviour one towards another for the common good of the whole and for the Honour of their Religion and of him who is the great Founder of it As that all their things should be done in Charity That they be gentle and courteous humble and condescending in Honour
of which difference of knowledge and grace differences are apt more or less to arise among them The weak are apt to be more scrupulous than the strong as being more in the dark and so apter to stumble Whereupon the strong if they be not restrained by Humility and Charity are apt to despise them when they cannot make them understand what is plain and evident to them themselves And the weak again if they be not restrained by Humility and Charity are apt to judge and censure the strong as if they were not so conscientious because not so scrupulous as themselves And upon this despising and judging one another the bond of peace is broken and a way prepared for dividing For when the weak see themselves neglected slighted not regarded and set at nought by the strong it discourages them and takes off the pleasure of their Society and Communion and makes them weary of it and becomes a temptation to them to forsake it and to follow any opposite party that will head them And when the strong again find themselves judged and censured by the weak as if they were Men of little Conscience they are apt to look upon themselves as being by such prejudice taken up against them put out of a capacity of serving them which becomes a temptation to them to neglect them and somewhat to estrange themselves from them Or however though that temptation should not prevail so far upon them yet all endeavours of the strong to help and cure the weak are by the prejudice which the weak have against them when they once fall to judging them made very much ineffectual so mischievous and baneful to the Churches peace and Unity is proud despising and uncharitable censuring one another This was the case between the believing Jews and Gentiles upon which the first considerable breach we read of brake out in the Christian Church of which we have an account in Act. 15. and Rom. 14. and other places The believing Jews durst not use such liberty in meat as the believing Gentiles did nor did the believing Gentiles think themselves obliged to be circumcised and to observe Jewish Festivals as the believing Jews thought they were Hereupon the believing Gentiles which understood their Liberty despised the believing Jews when they could not make them understand it too And the believing Jews on the other hand fell to judging the believing Gentiles as looser than themselves and as Men of no Conscience because they did not make Conscience of Meats and days of Circumcision as well as themselves And upon this unchristian carriage of one towards another under their different apprehensions in these things great divisions sidings and disturbances among them did ensue Now that all such despising and judging one another and dividing from one another about their difference in lesser matters of doubtful disputation should be forborn by Christians so long as they agree in the essentials of Christianity St. Paul declares upon these two grounds among others 1. Because upon the Common Faith wherein they were both agreed they were at the first received by the Lord into his Church and so into a near Relation to himself And therefore their after-differences which did not destroy that Foundation upon which that Relation was first built were no sufficient ground of despising or judging one another or of dividing or withdrawing one from another This is plainly set down in these words Let him that eateth not despise him that eateth not and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth for God hath received him Rom. 14.3 And this reason is farther backed and urged again Chap. 15.7 Wherefore receivere one another as Christ also received us to the glory of God Those whom God hath received into his Church upon such and such grounds we may not we ought not to discourage or reject by despising or judging or withdrawing so long as that remains in them upon which God at first received them Which holds in all other cases of difference between Christians that agree in the main as these did as well as in this between the believing Jews and Gentiles It is upon the like reason and ground that our Apostle in the words upon which I found my discourse and those following Ephes 4. presseth upon Christians the great duty of endeavouring to keep the Unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace viz. because they were at first incorporated into one Body by a profession and acknowledgment of one God and Father of all of one Lord Jesus Christ of one Holy Spirit of the Father and the Son of one Doctrine of Faith of one Hope of one Baptism Which fundamental points believed and lived to are sufficient to Salvation And if so they are sufficient bonds of Union and boundaries of Communion whatever difference in lesser things may otherwise occur For more in profession cannot be absolutely necessary to Church-Communion then what in reality is absolutely necessary to Salvation For as the one doth constitute the Church as invisible so doth the other the Church as visible And the same thing which constitutes the Church as visible must needs invest the Members thereof in a right to its external priviledges And if the Church had kept this her ground upon which she was first built and not made more conditions of Communion she had never been cut mangled and torn into I know not how many pieces as she hath been and at this day is And I see not any probability of her recovery to her primitive Union and Communion till she return to this her first Foundation of Union and boundary of Communion But a return to this would quickly do it if all Christians would acquiesce therein And why they should not as well as the primitive Christians the best Christians that ever the World saw did I understand not nor ever could hear any good reason to make me understand it 2. St. Pauls other reason why Christians that agree in the main as aforesaid should not despise or judge or withdraw from one another for their differing in lesser things is this because both parties differing but only so are to be presumed in the judgment of Charity to aim at the pleasing of God in what they differently hold and do For Charity according to which we are to guide our selves in all such cases of difference thinketh no evil but believeth and hopeth all things concerning others in the best sence and construction their Actions are capable of This was the case of the believing Jews and Gentiles they both aimed at the pleasing of God even in those things wherein they differed He that regardeeh the day regardeth it to the Lord and he that regardeth not the day to the Lord he doth not regard it He that eateth eateth to the Lord saith he for he giveth God thanks and he that eateth not to the Lord he eateth not and giveth God thanks Rom. 14.6 Both aimed at the approving themselves to God in
in those Assemblies to be such as may not lawfully be joyned in These contain either all or the principal pretended causes of a stated separation from them For the plea upon account of the insufficiency of some Ministers is a thing but of an accidental Nature and no Universal pretence of separation And whether they are like to prove all or indeed any of these you may please to consider what follows and then judge 1. They cannot prove all the members of each parochial Assembly from which they separate to be destitute of saving grace much less to be so scandalous as to deserve Excommunication For First there is so little a difference between common grace and the lowest degree of special and saving grace as makes it impossible for one Christian to know another to be destitute of saving grace the tenor of whose Life is not worse then theirs who are the most inoffensive and best disposed in the Parishes And if they cannot make proof that they are all destitute of saving grace then 2. It s utterly against the rules of Charity indeed of all Christianity to judge such to be destitute of saving grace of which they cannot make certain proof For Charity thinketh no evil but believeth all things and hopeth all things And for one Man to judge another to have no grace or to be in a damnable condition who is not manifestly guilty of living in such sins as for which the Scripture expresly excludes Men out of the Kingdome of Heaven is a thing which the Scripture expresly condemns as a great sin Mat. 7.1 Judge not that ye be not judged Jam. 4.12 Who art thou that judgest another And again Who art thou that judgest another mans Servant Rom. 14.4 And can they prove indeed or will they undertake it that all the Inhabitants of this or that Parish without exception are guilty of such sins as for which the Scripture doth expresly bar Men out of the Kingdome of Heaven And if not dare they judge them all to be in a reprobate or damnable condition And if they dare not or cannot judge so without manifest breach of Charity then to be sure they cannot prove that they are so And if they cannot prove it what a horrid thing is it or would it be to judge whole Parishes by the lump to be such 3. I querie how they will prove it is of absolute necessity unto Lawful Communion with a Congregation that have been Baptized into one Body the Church that at least some of them should be savingly holy As Suppose the Church of Laodicea for instance had consisted all of such as had only a form of Godliness will they say and prove it when they have done that Communion with them had been unlawful I suppose they will not and am confident they cannot 2. They cannot prove that a mixture of the bad with the good makes Communion with such mixt Assemblies unlawful They can neither prove it by Scripture prohibition nor by Scripture Example 1. Let them shew where the Scripture forbids it If they say there where it saith If any Man that is called a Brother be a Fornicator or Covetous or an Idolator or a railer or a drunkard or an Extortioner with such an one no not to eat 1 Cor. 5.11 And where again it saith Withdraw your selves from every Brother that walks disorderly and the like The Answer is ready which is this That these and all other Scriptures of like Nature are to be considered either first as injunctions upon the Church as invested with the power of discipline or secondly as commands to particular Persons a part So far as they belong to the Church in a publick capacity and as invested with the power of discipline they impose the duty of using the power of the Keyes for the Reforming and Cure of the scandalous and for preventing contagion in the Church But so far as they respect Persons in a single and private capacity they prohibit personal familiarity and converse thereby to discountenance their evil and to work them to a sense of it and to caution others against it and to secure themselves from the infection of it But then there is a vast difference between abstaining from a personal familiarity and converse with such and a withdrawing from the Church for the sake of such this is a sin but the other a duty And whereas some have alledged the 2 Cor. 6.17 Come out from among them c. This was no call to the better sort of Christians to separate from the worser and such as were scandalous in the Church of Corinth but a call to those that had in part embraced the Gospel to come quite off from Heathenish Idols and from participating in the Sacrifices which were offered to them which is meant by touch not the unclean thing there This appears by the Context from ver 14. and by comparing here with 1 Cor. 8.7.10 and 10.7.14.21.22 Others alledge Revel 18.4 Come out of her my People c. If this be meant of Mystical Babylor as they understand it It is not a call to separate from those that Worship the true God only and in the Mediation of Christ Jesus only as the Parish Churches Protestant do But from her who is stiled a Harlot because she gives that Honour which is due only to God and to our only Mediator Christ Jesus to Creatures and to other Mediators together with God and with Christ When it can be proved our Parish Churches do so then and not till then will this Text be pertinently alledged to justifie separation from them 2. Let them shew if they can some approved Example in Scripture of such a practice That there have been great scandals in the Churches both in that recorded in the Old Testament and those recorded in the New is manifest as is shewed particularly and at large by Mr. Baxter in his fifth Direct for Cure of Church-divisions But where do we find any of the better sort in those Churches withdrawing themselves from the more carnal part into separate Bodies for Reformation sake We read indeed of some that went out from the Church because they were not of them and of some that did separate themselves being sensual not having the Spirit but not a word of the good separating from the Church because of the bad in it In the Church of Sardis which had a Name to live but was dead there were but a few Names but what had defiled their Garments And those few indeed are commanded and encouraged by promise of great reward for that they had kept their Garments undefiled amidst such a Society but not in the least encouraged to separate from them though all the rest were defiled They plead indeed that particular Churches ought to consist of none but of visible Saints because this is agreeable to the primitive patern the appellations or Titles which are given the Churches in the Epistles the Apostles wrote to them declare them to
dishonour but rather their glory to condescend to those that are below and that those again whose standing is in the Valley would not think it too much to travel up the Hill to meet them And if it be thought too much to strive who shall go before another in giving Honour Rom. 12.18 yet if both sorts that differ would but go as far as they well may both in respect of Conscience and prudence towards compounding the difference how soon and how easily might both ends be brought together and the bond of Peace which hath been broken be pieced again To this end consider and lay to heart those few things which I shall lay before you 1. I shall commend to you the best patern which you can imitate and against which there can be no exception and that is God himself who though he be so infinitely above all as to stand in no need of the Friendship of Men yet out of the Infinite goodness of his Nature hath humbled himself not only to behold the things on Earth but even to seek the reconciliation of his Enemies to himself and to propose new and easie terms of Friendship when the old had been violated God was in Christ reconciling the World unto himself not imputing their trespasses unto them 2 Cor. 5.19 And not to reconcile them to himself only but also to one another in their common head and center of Union Christ Jesus That in the dispensation of the fulness of time he might gather together in one all things in Christ both which are in Heaven and which are on Earth Ephes 1 10. And to that end hath sent forth Ambassadours of Peace to beseech them to be reconciled to God and to bring them all to the Unity of the Faith and knowledge of the Son of God Ephes 4.13 And how can we think our selves to be partakers of a Divine Nature unless we find some resemblance of this goodness of God's Nature in our selves inclining and disposing us to concord and good agreement with fellow-Christians by removing out of the way all that unnecessarily hinders it Blessed are the Peace-makers for they shall be called the Children of God Mat. 5.9 And why the Children of God but because herein they resemble him who is the God of Peace that loves Peace and seeks Peace and delights to see Men designing it and labouring at it with heart head tongue and hand Be ye therefore one and all followers of God as dear Children and walk in Love Eph. 5.1 2. Be perfect be of one mind live in Peace and the God of Love and Peace shall be with you 2 Cor. 13.11 Can you be ambitious of any greater Honour then to be like God A likeness to God is the highest Honour and perfection the Nature of any Creature is capable of And to live in Love and Peace and to seek Peace and to be Peace-makers is the way to be like him If we love one another God dwelleth in us and his love is perfected in us 1 John 4.12 2. If you count it either matter of Honour or comfort to be of a temper like Christ or if you think it will give you any confidence towards him for the present and at his coming as undoubtedly it will then by this be perswaded likewise to endeavour with all your might that the Unity of the Spirit may be kept in the bond of Peace For the heart and Soul of Christ is exceedingly set upon Union and good agreement of all that believe in him though they cannot all know alike and think alike in every thing yet for all that he is greatly desirous they should all hold together as one in Faith and Love And therefore in that solemn Prayer of his to his Father John 17. when he was leaving the World he singles out this in special as the matter of his request to his Father in one of the last Prayers he was to make in this World that they all might be one and be perfected in one His heart and desire was so full of this and so set upon it that he is at it over and over mentioning it no less then four times in the same Prayer ver 11.21 22 23. And why was his heart so much in this Was it think you for himself or for us For his own sake or for ours He desired no greater thing for himself then to be Glorified with the Glory he had with the Father before the World was before ever he entred upon his Mediatory Office ver 5. No it was for us Men and for our comfort and benefit that he so much desired it as knowing how much the Peace comfort and Edification of his People depended upon it and how much the Conversion of the World depended on it as necessary to make a right representation of Christ to the World that they might believe that the Father had sent him And was his heart so much in it And did he concern himself so much about it for our sakes And shall we our selves value it so little as to prefer little and inconsiderable things before it and that rather for will and humour then any tye of Conscience O God forbid If we do it is a sign we do not yet well understand the things that belong to our peace but that they are hid from our eyes And if Christ's heart was so much set upon the Unity and Concordance of his followers we must needs think they are Men according to his own heart that heartily design desire and endeavour it too And is not that honour enough Which sounds of most Honour to David That he was a King Or that he was a Man after God's own heart And who are like to be most dear unto Christ but those who are most like him and make one heart with him The more you shall find your hearts run out to this thing as Christ's did the more you find your selves of his mind spirit and temper herein the better assurance you will have and the greater comfort in that assurance of your dwelling in him and he in you Hereby we know that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his Spirit 1 John 4.13 But if any Man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his Rom. 8.9 Truly if Men were but as forward to gratifie and please our Lord in this that is so pleasing to him as they seem to be in some other things in which he never discovered himself to take any such pleasure things would be quite at another pass among us And yet if pleasing him be the business and not somewhat else why should not we be most for that in which he most delights 3. Your contentions and Divisions if you will still live in them and maintain them will hinder your Spiritual improvement and keep you from thriving by the means of grace which you enjoy It was a sad thing that St. Paul charged upon the Corinthians viz. That