one single Duty which GOD has charged upon us more strictly For in the Holy Writings what is more forcibly recommended more peremptorily required more frequently and also more earnestly inculcated than Peace Seek Peace and pursue it Have Peace one with another Be at Peace amongst your selves Follow Peace with all Men. If it be possible as much as lyeth in you live peaceably with all Men. So that it is not enough for us to accept Peace when it is offered to embrace it when we meet it to hold it when we have it But when we have it not we must seek it when it flees from us we must follow it and never stop till we overtake it Though the Terms be hard yet if they be reasonable if they be lawful and so possible Our LORD commands us not to refuse them His Gospel binds us to submit to them and that with all Men. Be they who they will what they will if they be but Men we must if possible live peaceably with them And no wonder such solemn Injunctions from Heaven should be laid upon Christians to maintain Peace when it is a thing not only transcendently Excellent in it self but attended with many inestimable Benefits I beg leave to mention but a few of them It defends from many Sins He that is not at Peace with his Brother is ready to be Angry with him without a Cause To revile him and call him Racha or Fool To be reveng'd on him for his Oversights or petty Injuries To quarrel him and fight him as the unhappy Custom is it may be to kill him at least to Hate him whereby in St. John's account he is a Murtherer though he kill him not Peace is a good Defensative from these Evils and from many other which now I cannot reckon up It is a mighty Friend to Justice Then had thy Peace been as a River and thy Righteousness as the Waves of the Sea says the Prophet Isaiah 48.18 Where Peace flows as a River there Righteousness swells like an Ocean But if the River of Peace be dried or damn'd up the Sea of Justice will be at a low Ebb. It fits us for the Enjoyment of GOD's propitious Presence Live in Peace and the GOD of Love and Peace shall be with you 2 Cor. 13.11 But He that suffered not David to build Him a Temple because he was a Man of Blood will never make them Temples for Himself to reside in that are not Children of Peace For GOD's sake therefore live in Peace that so ye may be Happy in the Fruition of his Presence I might go on and add it is an Help to Duty a Safeguard to Truth a Furtherance of Love the Fewel of Joy a Support of Order an Encouragement of Learning Arts and Sciences the thing which Seasons and Sweetens all Accommodations and crowns the highest Prosperity with Happiness But I give only one Hint more of its Worth It is a main piece of our future Recompence and a Branch of the Eternal Worlds Felicity To every Man that worketh good there shall be Glory Honour and Peace Rom. 2.10 Not only a peaceful Mind and Conscience but a peaceful State and Condition above As there shall be no Difference there betwixt GOD and Man by reason of a perfect Reconcilement and no Feuds betwixt a Man and Himself by reason of absolute Contentment So there shall be no Discord betwixt one Man and another by reason of a thorough Composure of all things and an entire Pacification on all sides fixing the whole Body of Blessed ones in a sweet Agreement As our Sins shall there be turned into Innocence our Corruptions into Holiness our Sorrows into Joys and our Troubles into Triumphs So all our various Enmities and Dissentions shall exspire into endless Peace and Quietness O then let us in some measure live now as we shall do hereafter Live here upon Earth for one short Moment as we must do in the Heavenly Regions for ever if at last we be worthy to inhabit them I now conclude with one Direction which if well observed will conduce effectually to the settling of an Happy Peace amongst us Let us be sincerely Religious The Wisdom that is from above is first Pure and then Peaceable James 3.17 And where this Wisdom which is true Religion prevails in us and gets the Ascendent over all evil Principles it will certainly Impregnate us with its own noble Properties making us not only Pure in our Nature but pacifick in our Temper And nothing indeed can be more powerful either to procure or establish Peace than true Religion For the truly Religious mortifie their Lusts from whence come Wars and Strifes amongst us both Naturally and Judicially at once they subdue their Passions bridle their Tongues bear Affronts suffer Injuries shun Debates obey Magistrates submit to Ministers hate Divisions love Concord offend none oblige all So that would every one of us be sincere Christians no farther Care need be taken for Peace It would as certainly be the Result or Product of our Religion as it is the Law and end of the same And as true Religion would make for Peace verifying its Character of first Pure and then Peaceable so GOD would see that Peace should be the Effect or Consequent of it When a Mans ways please the LORD He maketh even his Enemies to be at Peace with him Prov. 16.7 So that were our ways sincerely Religious and pleasing to the LORD Peace and we should quickly meet and after that should never part our very Enemies would be unable to ravish it from us Then it would not matter in the least how Numerous Malicious Potent Politick Furious Implacable our Adversaries are or at any time prove for they should all be at Peace with us If they would not chuse to be so GOD would make them to be so and would some way or other bind them to the Peace and bind us up in it And when once we are bound up in the Bond of Peace how fast shall we stand in the Unity of the SPIRIT and how securely shall we keep it Provided that is that we always endeavour it And as it behoves us all to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 diligently and strenuously endeavouring to keep it by all good Means So particularly by the Use of those good Rules now delivered Which as I dare not so You must not call my Rules For though I have opened and urged them yet as has been noted they are the Rules of St. Paul and so the Divine Rules of GOD Himself Of that GOD Who maketh Men to be of one Mind in an House Of that GOD who best knows by what Rules and Means to make the whole Christian Church be as once it was of one Heart and one Soul Acts 4.32 Which that it may be let us humbly implore it at the hands of GOD Let us make it a daily Petition in our private Devotions And as often as we can let us joyn with the Church in her Publick Prayers and supplicate for Unity with becoming Earnestness Where she prays in the Litany That it may please GOD to give to all Nations Vnity Peace and Concord And in the Collect for all Conditions of Men That all who profess and call themselves Christians may be led into the way of Truth and hold the Faith in Vnity of Spirit in the Bond of Peace and in Righteousness of Life And in the Prayer for the Church-Militant That GOD would inspire continually the Vniversal Church with the Spirit of Truth Vnity and Concord and grant that all they that do confess his Holy Name may agree in the Truth of his Holy Word and live in Vnity and Godly Love Where our Church I say prays thus for Vnity let us humbly and heartily joyn in the Petitions pouring them out with an elevated Zeal and the highest Streins of a most intense and vehement Fervency And at present let us beg the invaluable Blessing in part of that Collect which is the last save one in the Office for the late solemn Monthly Fast Which I could wish all Holy Supplicants that are Lovers of Unity would constantly use in their devout Retirements and Addresses to Heaven till such time as they either compose or meet with a more pregnant Form O GOD the Father of our LORD JESUS CHRIST our only SAVIOUR the Prince of Peace look down in much Pity and Compassion upon this Church and Nation Give us Grace seriously to lay to Heart the great Dangers we are in by our unhappy Divisions Take away all Hatred and Prejudice and whatsoever else may hinder us from Godly Union and Concord That as there is but one Body and one SPIRIT and one hope of our Calling one LORD one Faith one Baptism one GOD and Father of us all So we may henceforth be all of one Heart and of one Soul united in one Holy Bond of Truth and Peace of Faith and Charity and may with one Mind and one Mouth Glorifie Thee O GOD through JESUS CHRIST our LORD Amen FINIS
is a BLESSED Agreement and that in several Respects In respect of its Origin as springing from Blessed Principles In respect of its Influence as producing Blessed Effects In respect of its Tendency and Subservience as promoting our present and ministring to our future endless Beatitude And thus it is distinguish'd from all other Agreements upon Earth Now to preserve and promote this Spiritual Unity I shall humbly offer some plain Rules or Directions Six of them shall be taken out of the Context and for that reason they must be of the more Weight and I hope will be of the more Efficacy They are these 1st Be sensible of the great need of Unity 2ly Learn to be deeply Humble 3ly Labour for a meek Temper of Mind 4ly Arm your selves with Long-suffering 5ly Exercise mutual Forbearance 6ly Live in Christian Love They are all couched in the two first Verses of the Chapter I beseech you that ye walk worthy of the Vocation wherewith ye are called with all Lowliness and Meekness with Long-suffering Forbearing one another in Love First Be sensible of the great need of Vnity It is absolutely necessary upon the Account of our Calling Of our high holy Heavenly Calling as it is denominated in the Sacred Volume And therefore that we might go the right way to work and be inclin'd to endeavour it from a just Sense of the Necessity of it the Apostle directs us in the first place to walk 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 worthy of the Vocation wherewith we are called Intimating we can never do that never be worthy Disciples of CHRIST without Unity For impossible it is that any should walk worthy of their Calling whatever it be unless they answer the Nature of it and advance it But there is no doing either of these as to our Christian Vocation without Unity Without Unity we cannot answer the Nature of our Calling And the Reason is evident because a main part of that Vocation is Unity As GOD has called us to Peace and called us to Holiness and called us to His Kingdom as the Divine Oracles testifie So he has called us to Unity as much as to any thing as appears there Nor must we forget that the Holy JESUS honoured Christians with many excellent and noble Gifts and sometimes with glorious or miraculous ones on purpose to bring them into Unity and keep them in it The Glory which Thou gavest me I have given them And why That they may be one even as we are one St. John 17.22 Yea the great things of our Religion not to say the whole of it seem to be design'd to this End to indear us mightily and closely to unite us The very Genius of it leads that way directly and invites and draws most powerfully to it For says St. Paul just after the Text There is one Body and one SPIRIT even as ye are called in one Hope of your Calling one LORD one Faith one Baptism one GOD and Father of all Such a Divine Sorites or heap of Arguments perswading to Unity as can no where be parallell'd Were Christians incorporate in different Bodies or were the one Body in which they are incorporate animated by different Spirits or did the one SPIRIT which animates them allot them different Callings or did the one Calling allotted them allow them different Hopes or did the one Hope allowed them tye them to different LORDS or did the one LORD they are obliged to give them different Faiths or to the one Faith given them were they admitted by different Baptisms or in their one initiating Baptism were they devoted to different GODS or were the one GOD to whom they are devoted not their Father they might then be divided and could not well help it Yea Division which is now their Sin might then be their Duty But the Case is nothing so On the contrary there is but one Body that is the Church into which true Christians are grafted But one SPIRIT the HOLY GHOST by which they are illivened But one Calling the Evangelical Religion in which they are engaged But one Hope that of Salvation by which they are encouraged But one LORD that is CHRIST by whom they are redeemed But one Faith that is of the Gospel which by them is professed But one Baptism that is of JESUS by which they are consecrated But one GOD that is the living and true GOD by whom they were created are governed and shall be preserved and this GOD is their Father too and therefore they must all be nearly related So that here is such a number of Motives to Unity and of strong Obligations binding to it that none more need and few more can be added of the same Nature Were they rightly considered how is it possible that Christians should divide When in so doing or suffering it to be done they must break the Frame or Contexture of their Religion and go against the Temper and Constitution of it and fail most shamefully in their proper Vocation If at any time therefore or upon any occasion we grow too hot and our Minds ferment and our Passions boil so as to threaten any thing of Division let us but take our Bibles in our Hands and deliberately read and seriously ruminate on this Paragraph and surely it will be enough to cool that Heat and quench that Fire which would inflame us to Dissention Let me ask are we willing to unchristian our selves Why if we do not endeavour to keep Unity we take too great a step towards it At least we fall very short of our Calling and whatever Figures we seem to make in a great measure we are no better than Cyphers Christians without Unity and without endeavouring to keep it are somewhat like Scholars without Learning and without studying to get it They want an Essential of their Profession or a most necessary Piece of it nor do they take due care to attain unto it and be accomplish'd in it And as we cannot answer the Nature of our Calling without Unity so neither can we advance it And therefore when our LORD prayed for his Disciples as we noted at first that they all might be one He gives this Reason why He sued for their Unity That the World might believe that Thou hast sent me So that Unity in the Church of GOD is to propagate Faith in the Messiah or Son of GOD and to advance Christianity in the World And is it not highly needful then and does it not behove us to endeavour to keep it amongst our selves and to promote it so far as we can with others Our Blessed LORD taught us to Pray and I hope we do it every day more than once that His Kingdom may come That His Heavenly Religion may grow great and powerful and rule in the Hearts and Lives of Men That it may take deep root in all places and yield much Fruit That it may thrive and flourish more than ever it did ascending to the highest Pitch and spreading to the
Divine Rules for Christian Vnity Opened and Vrged A SERMON Preach'd in the Cathedral Church OF NORWICH October 16. 1692. By ERASMUS WARREN Rector of Worlington in Suffolk Be of one Mind 2 Cor. 13.11 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 Phil. 2.1 2. LONDON Printed for Samuel Oliver Bookseller in Norwich and are to be sold by J. Robinson in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1692. To the Worshipful MICHAEL BEVERLY Esq MAYOR OF THE City of NORWICH SIR IT was St. Cyprian's Complaint long since and a very sad one because a very true one * Videns ille idola derelicta per nimium credentium populum sedes suas ac templa deserta excogitaverit novam fraudem ut sub ipso Christiani nominis titulo fallat incautos Haereses invenit Schismata quibus subverteret fidem veritatem corrumperet scinderet Vnitatem De Vnit Eccle. That the Devil seeing his Idols left and his Seats and Temples forsaken by a Multitude of Believing People thought of a new Cheat how under the very Title of the Christian Name he might deceive the Unwary He invented Heresies and Schisms whereby he might subvert the Faith corrupt the Truth and cut UNITY asunder And how very successful this Invention of his has been and how many and grievous Mischiefs it has wrought and may still produce Experience shews us and gives us but too good Grounds to suspect I pray GOD make us throughly sensible of it and so deeply affect every one of us with it as that the Dangers which threaten us and grow upon us from our unhappy Divisions may be timely prevented and for ever superseded by a speedy and perfect Closure of all sides And O what a Blessed Change would it be considering how we are crumbled into Sects and Factions to have our many Differences moulded up into one common Interest and all separate Parties melted down into Christian Unity Might this Discourse in the least Measure contribute to that Glorious Work I should never repent of its Publication though I was drawn to it with Reluctancy I confess Sir when I outstood your first Motions to it and those that were made by other excellent Persons while I was in your City I hoped and concluded that I had finally freed my self from farther Solicitations of that nature But when I found that they followed me into the Country and when I met with this Passage amongst others in your Letter It is not only my Opinion that your Sermon will be Serviceable to the Publick towards Healing the Breaches that are amongst us but others of better Judgment than my self do unanimously agree to the same and all People that I converse with desire that I would use my Interest to perswade you to Print it I then thought I had reason to submit and accordingly have done it And truly fear of Censure as well as force of Intreaty prevailed with me to gratifie you in the Instance For in case I had refused they who desired the Sermon might come abroad would have condemn'd me it may be for not duly practising my own Doctrin which press'd Men by all the means they could use to endeavour Unity Than which you both wisely and seriously note in your Letter aforesaid as nothing can be more seasonably discoursed on so there is not any thing more desirable by good Christians or more to be sought after in this divided Nation I heartily wish that All were of your Mind then it might be hoped that their Endeavours after Spiritual Unity would be such as GOD would Bless with Happy Success At least Sir it would make People very careful to omit nothing conducive thereunto if I may judge by your Procedure For not so much as One single Sermon tending to Union could be heard by you but as mean as it is you would have it made publick In case it proves Instrumental that way I shall greatly rejoyce in my compliance with you And if it does not I shall still have the Satisfaction of answering the Desires of many Good Men and more particularly of testifying my self to be Honoured Sir Your most Humble Servant E. Warren Ephesians 4.3 Endeavouring to keep the Unity of the SPIRIT in the Bond of Peace A Most Kind and Important Petition was that which our adorable LORD in the Days of his Flesh put up for his Proselytes St. John 17.21 That they all may be one as Thou Father art in me and I in Thee that they also may be one in us O that the GOD who heareth Prayers would please to answer it in the Fullness of it But that so great a Blessing may come down exuberantly on the Body of Christians and continue with them something must be done on their part That is the Unity their LORD prayed for they must labour after It is stiled the Vnity of the SPIRIT because as it joyns us together in one Mind or Spirit so it is wrought by the Efficiency or Operation of the HOLY GHOST It may be thus described It is a Blessed Agreement of Spiritual Persons in Spiritual Matters to Spiritual Ends. An AGREEMENT For even in Natural as well as amongst Rational Beings there can be no Union where there is no Concord An Agreement of SPIRITUAL PERSONS That is of CHRISTIANS Who though in their Natural Capacity they are like other Men yet in their Religious Profession they are distinguish'd from them it being Spiritual in all regards For the Author of it is Spiritual CHRIST The Rule of it is Spiritual the Gospel The Instruments of it are Spiritual Ordinances The Exercise of it is in Spiritual Duties The Ends of it are Spiritual Excellencies The Motives to it are Spiritual Inducements The Rewards of it are Spiritual Attainments The very Confederacy in it is by Spiritual Ligaments Whether we consider Christians as tied together in a Community amongst themselves or as a Mystical Body joyned to their Sovereign Head So that Infidels agreeing never so well must be wide of this Unity of the SPIRIT At best they can make but a Political or Superstitious Society An Agreement in Spiritual MATTERS As in Doctrin Sacraments Liturgy Government So that let Christians themselves agree never so fully as to Secular Affairs they would be much below the Unity of the SPIRIT Their Agreement would rise no higher than a Civil or Amicable Combination To Spiritual ENDS As to the Honour of GOD the Interest of His Kingdom the Good and Happiness of the Souls of Men So that should Christians agree never so throughly in Spiritual Matters to Temporal Ends they would be short of the Unity of the SPIRIT still For their Ends must either be Innocent or Sinful If Innocent they would be but a Selfish Association If Sinful an Impious and Vnlawful one And therefore lastly it
is or can be compleatly Pure Some kind of Drossiness cannot chuse but be Inherent in it as being indeed of the very Nature of it And can it consist with Reason to pull a living Body to pieces to rinse its Bowels from such an Impurity as is rather Natural than Noxious Especially if we consider that when all is done Natural Feculence will still be necessary and remain inseparable unless the Body wherein it rests be clarified from it by some mighty Change And when the Church has undergone the Change she hopes for she shall then be a Pure Church indeed For she shall be Glorious not having Spot or Wrinkle or any such thing but shall be Holy and without Blemish Eph. 5.27 But this being the Privilege of her Triumphant State it is not to be look'd for in any part of her while it is Militant As to forbearing Punishment Care is taken And I own it is my Hearts desire and I nothing doubt but it is Yours also and even meer good Nature without the additional Tenderness of Religion cannot methinks but prompt all to wish it That Penal Laws may never touch the Harmless but have the Dint of their Severity turn'd upon the Obstinate Penal Inflictions must be improper to lay upon Men of good Minds and hurtless Principles that Innocently go on in wrong ways meerly because they scruple the Right For such harsh Methods instead of inward Satisfaction the thing they want do only give them outward Trouble And as for honest well-meaning Christians who are no whit leavened with Perverseness or Contumacy and whose Fault lyes wholly in their Vnderstanding Poor Souls they are Unhappy enough in erronious Consciences and need not be punish'd too because they are miserable Again therefore I wish that all who err in Simplicity may escape with Impunity and none may smart for what they cannot help Nor needs this Forbearance which is supposed to make all Cautious Discrimination betwixt the Tender-conscienc'd and others be a Ground or Occasion of Jealousie to the State For where GOD sees it impartially exercised He will find the Government so like his Own that his watchful Providence will take due Care that such a Lenity shall rather establish than weaken or overthrow it And so I pass to the sixth Rule Live in Christian Love The Church of CHRIST in this very Chapter is compared to an Humane Body and elsewhere in Scripture to a Stone Building Now as such a Body must have Sinews to knit its Joynts and such a Building must have Mortar to cement its Stones So the Christian Church must have Christian Love to unite its Members And therefore the Apostle for preserving Unity in the sixth place exhorts us to Amity Yea he gives a broad Hint that even Toleration or Forbearance it self will no farther promote Unity than as it proceeds from this Principle by beseeching us to forbear one another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Love Love is the very Life and Soul and Essence of Unity so that where the one is not the other cannot be As there can be no Fire where there is no Heat and no Day where there is no Light As there can be no Musick where there is no Harmony and no Beauty where there is no Symetry so there can be no Unity where there is no Love Look what the Root is to the Tree or the Foundation to the House What the Basis is to the Pillar or the Center to the Circle And the same is Love to Unity It cannot be produced it cannot be preserved it cannot be increased or perfected without it Here then let us do our part again Let us Love as Brethren as we are counsel'd from on high and let Brotherly Love continue Let us be knit together in Love and be rooted and grounded in Love and walk in Love as CHRIST hath loved us And truly though Unity were not the Effect of this yet who would not chuse and study and strive to live in Love considering how delectable a thing it is Delectable I must own beyond my Ability of describing it Only this let me say It is an inexhaustible Fountain of singular Pleasure A Spring of secret but high Contentment and a Source from whence flows the incessant Streams of a noble Satisfaction There is nothing more Soft nothing more Sweet nothing more Generous and throughly gratifying amongst vertuous Passions than an exalted refined universal Love And therefore GOD has injoyn'd it and made it the second great Commandment like the First not only to give us matter of Duty but to lay a Foundation of Happiness for us And truly did we love all the World as our selves and did they love us so again according to the Tenour of the Divine Law how could we be Happier here upon Earth or what could raise us nearer to Heaven Where I dare confidently affirm that the choicest part of the Saints Felicity lyes in their Love to GOD and one another In Compliance therefore with the Holy Direction let us be kindly affectioned one to another and let us provoke one another to love Let our Love be of the right kind without Dissimulation And let it be of a just Extent reaching to all without Exception Only it must be freer and more fervent to some than it is to others according to the Grounds and Measures of a wise Distinction And since our LORD bids us love our Enemies that any are such must be no Bar to our Affections Yea there is reason enough for that Love besides His Command For if we be his unfeigned Disciples the worst our Enemies can do us be they never so bad is but to benefit us To give us occasion to act our Duties and exercise our Virtues and so to improve our Graces here and our Glories for ever And have we not sufficient reason to love the Instruments of our so great Good Yea should any prove such Enemies to us as to persecute us to the very Death they would be but our eternal Benefactors For even while they kill us their kindly cruel Hands would help to set a Crown of Life upon our Heads and a Brighter too than other Saints shall wear So that indeed we ought not only to love our Enemies but to love them for the very Injuries they think to do us for even by them they advantage us mightily and while they design us nothing but Mischief they do obliquely and beyond their Intention serve our best Interests I note but one Rule more which is included in the Text and it is this If you would preserve Unity be careful to maintain Peace As that helps to tye us fast together in one so without it we inevitably fall into Divisions as a Sheaf of Corn falls asunder that has no Band. And therefore the Apostle as a true Promoter of the Unity of the SPIRIT injoyns us to keep it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Bond of Peace And great reason we have to do so there being no