your foul back-biting reviling censorious contentious tongues do not prove the contrary 13. who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you Let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisedome that is Let him that would be thought more knowing and religious than his neighbours be so much more blameless and meek to all men and excel them in good works v. 14. But if ye have a bitter zeal for so is the Greek word and strife in your hearts glory not in such a zeal or in your greater knowledge and lie not against the truth 15. This wisdome descendeth not from above as you imagine who father it on Gods word and spirit but is earthly sensual or natural and devillish O doleful mistake that the world the flesh and the Devil should prove the cause of that conceited spiritual knowledge and excellency which they thought had been the inspiration of the spirit v. 16. For where zeal and strife 〈◊〉 that is a striving contentious zeal against brethren there is confusion or tumult and unquietness and every evil work O lamentable reformers that set up every evil work while they seemed zealous against evil v. 17. But the wisdome that is from above is first pure then peaceable gentle and easie to be intreated full of mercy and good fruits without partiality or wrangling and without Hypocrisie And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace when peace-breakers that sow in divisions and contention shall reap the fruit of unrighteousness though they call their way by the most religious names Thus I have briefly shewed you what Vâ—nity and Division are that wrong apprehensions draw you not to sin DIRECT VIII When any thing needeth amendment in the Church remember that the best Christian must be the forwardest to reformation and â—he backwardest to Division and must search and try all means of Reforming which make not against the concord of the Church I Do not here determine in what cases you may or may not separate from any company of faulty Christians I only say that you must never separate what God hath conjoyned the Holiness and the Vnity of believers If corruptions blemish and dishonour the Congregation Do not say Let sin alone I must not oppose it for fear of division But be the forwardest to reduce all to the will of God And yet if you cannot prevail as you desire be the backwardest to divide and separate and do it not without a certain warrant and extream necessity Resolve with Austin I will not be the chaff and yet I will not go out of the floor though the chaff be there Never give over your just desire and endeavour of Reformation And yet as long as possibly you can avoid it forsake not the Church which you desire to reform As Paul said to them that were ready to forsake a sea-wrackt vessel If these abide not in the ship ye cannot be saved Many a one by unlawful flying and shifting for his own greater peace and safety doth much more hazard his own and others DIRECT IX Forget not the great difference between casting out the wicked and impenitent from the Church by discipline and the godlies separating from the Church it self because the wicked are not cast out The first is a great duty The second is ordinarily a great sin THe question is not Whether the impenitent should be put away from Church-Communion That 's not denied But whether you should separate from the Church because they are permitted This is it which we call you to beware Not but that in some cases a Christian may lawfully remove from one Church to another that hath more light and purity for the edification of his soul. But before you separate from a faulty Church as such as may not lawfully be communicated with you must look well about you and be able to prove that thing which you affirm Many weak Christians marking those Texts which bid us avoid a man that is an Heretick and to have no company with disorderly walkers and not to eat with flagitious persons do not sufficiently mark their sense but take them as if they call'd us to separate from the Church with which these persons do communicate Whereas if you mark all the Texts in the Gospel you shall find that all the separation which is commanded in such cases besides our separation from the Infidels or Idolatrous world or Antichristian and Heretical confederacies and no-Churches is but one of these two sorts First either that the Church cast out the impenitent sinner by the power of the Keyes Secondly or that private men avoid all private familiarity with them And both these we would promote and no way hinder Thirdly but that the private members should separate from the Church because such persons are not cast out of it shew me one Text to prove it if you can Let us here peruse the Texts that speak of our withdrawing from the wicked 1 Cor. 5. Is expresly written to the whole Church as obliged to put away the incestuous person from among them and so not to eat with such offenders So is that in 2 Thes. 3. and that in Tit. 3. 10. A man that is an Heretick after the first and second admonition avoid Unless it be a Heretick that hath already separated himself from our communion And then it can be put private familiarity which we are further to avoid In brief there is no other place of Scripture that I know of which commandeth any more I have before shewed that abundance of Church corruptions or of scandalous members were then among them and yet the Apostle never spake a syllable to any one Christian to separate from any one of all those Churches Which we cannot imagine that the Holy Ghost would have wholly omitted if indeed it had been the will of God Obj. But then why did Luther and the first Pretestants separate from the Church of Rome and how will you justifie them from Schisme Ans. Its pity that sloth and sortishness should keep any Protestant or Papist either in such ignorance as to need any help to answer so easie a question at this day Let not equivocal names deceive us and the case is easie By the word Church the Scripture still meaneth first either the Universal Church which is the body or Kingdome of Christ alone Secondly or particular Congregations associated for personal communion in Gods worship But the Pope hath feigned another kind of thing and called it The Church That is The Vniversality of Christians as headed by himself as the constitutive and governing head Whereas first God never instituted or allowed such a Church Secondly nor did ever the Universality of Christians acknowledge this usurping Head Shew me in Scripture or in Church-History that either there ever was de facto or ought to be de jure such a thing in the world as they call the Church and I profess I will immediately turn
thou judge thy brother or why dâ—st thou set at nought thy brother we shall all stand before the judgement seat of Christ. Let us not therefore judge one another any more v. 13. 14. I know and am pâ—rswaded by the Lord Iesus that there is nothing unclean of it self but to him that esteemeth any thing unclean to him it is unclean v. 17. For the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God and approved of men Let us therefore follow after the things that make for peace v. 22. Hast thou faith Have it to thy self before God Ch. 15. 1 2. We that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please our selves Let us every one please his neighbour for his good to edification For even Christ pleased not himself v. 5. 6. Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like minded one â—owards another according to Christ Iesus that ye may with ONE MIND and ONE MOuTH glorifie God wherefore receive ye one another as Christ received us to the glory of God Ch. 16. 17 18. Now I beseech you brethren mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned and avoid them For they that are such serve not our Lord Iesus but their own belly and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple Act. 20. 30. Also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away Disciples after them Joh. 13. 35. By this shall all men know that ye are my Disciples if ye have love one to another 1 Cor. 11. 17 18. I hear there are divisions among you For there must be also heresies among you that they which are approved may be made manifest Math. 13. 29 30. Nay lest while ye gather up the â—ares ye root up also the wheat with them Let both grow together till the harvest 41. The Angels shall gather out of his Kingdom all things that offend and them which do iniquity and shall cast them into a furnace of fire Then shall the righteous shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father V. 47. The Kingdom of Heaven is like a net cast into the Sea which gathered of every kind which when it was full they drew to the shore and sate down and gathered the good into Vessels and the bad they cast away so shall it be at the end of the world Math. 22. 9 10. Go into the high ways and as many as ye find bid to the marriage or as Luk. 14. Compel them to come in so those servants went unto the high ways and gathered all as many as they found both bad and good and the wedding was furnished with guests And the King saw there a man that had not on a wedding garment and said Friend How camâ—st thou in hither c. Mark thus he will condemn wicked hypocrites themselves but blameth not the Ministers that compelled them or that let them in Gal. 6. 1. If a man be overtaken in a fault ye that are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of meekness Considering thy self lest thou also be tempted Bear ye one anothers burdens and so fulfill the Law of Christ Let every man prove his own work Note that Paul purified himself as having a Vow He circumcised Timothy He became a Jew to the Jews and all things to all men that he might win some Phil. 1. 15 16. Some preach Christ of envy c. as aforecited Phil. 2. 1 2 3. If there be any consolation in in Christ fulfill ye my joy that ye be like minded having the same love being of one accord and of one mind Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves 14. Do all things without murmurings and disputings Ch. 3. 15 16. Let as many as are perfect be thus minded and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded God shall reveal even this unto you But whereunto we have already attained let us walk by the same rule let us mind the same things 1 Thes. 5. 12 13. We beseech you brethren to know them that labour among you and are over you in the Lord c. and be at peace among your selves Tit. 3. 10. A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition avoid knowing that he that is such is subverted and sinneth being condemned of himself Jam. 3. 1 2 13 c. My brethren be not many Masters knowing that ye shall receive the greater condemnation For in many things we offend all who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you Let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts glory not and lie not against the truth This wisdom descendeth not from above but is earthly sensual devilish For where envying and strife is there is confusion and every evil work The wisdom from above is first pure then peaceable gentle easie to be entreated full of mercy and good fruits without partiality without hypocrisie and the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace Mat. 12. 25. Iesus said every Kingdom divided against it self is brought to desolation and every City or house divided against it self shall not stand I have cited so many Texts against division and for the Unity of the Church and concord of Christians as one would think by the very hearing of them without expositions or argumentation should utterly mortifie all inclination to divisions and hard censures in all true believers yea so many Texts as I am perswaded many that most need them will think it tedious to read them over And yet I have cause to fear lest many such will feel as little of the sense and authority of them as if there were no such words in the Scripture and none of this had been set before them Out of all these you may gather these reasons of the necessity of Unity and of the evil of schism or division First It is One God One Head One Saviour and One Holy Spirit into whose name we are all baptized Secondly It is One Covenant which all in Baptism make with this One God Thirdly It is One Spirit by which we are all regenerated and One new Nature which is in all the truly sanctified Fourthly It is One Gospel or holy word of God which is to us all the seed of our new birth the rule of our faith and lives and the foundation of our hope and must be our daily meditation and delight and the food on which the children of Gods family must all live Fifthly It is One Body of Christ whereof we are all members As Christ is not divided so his Body that is his Church both as
it He resisteth Light as an Angel of Light and his Ministers hinder Righteousness as pretended Ministers of Righteousness And he will be a zealous Reformer when he would hinder Reformation And this is the mark of Satans way of Reformation He doth it by by dividing the Churches of Christ and teaching Christians to avoid each other And to that end he zealously aggravateth the faults of every party to the rest that they may have odious thoughts of one another and Christian Love may be turned into aversation As in the Plague time every one is afraid of the breath and company of his neighbour and they that were wont to assemble and converse with peace and pleasure do timerously shun the presence of each other because they know that it is an infectious time and they are uncertain who is free even so doth Satan break the societies and converse of Christians by making them believe that every party hath some dangerous infection which as they love their souls they must avoid And he destroyeth your Love to one another by pretending Love to your selves O how careful will he be for your souls when the Devil would undo you he will do it as your Saviour And when his meaning is to save you from Heaven and from Christ and from his saving grace and from Union and Communion with his Church and from the impartial Love of one another he takes on him that he is saving you only from sin and from Church-corruptions Or rather that it is Christ and not he that giveth you counsel And he can do much in imitating Christ in the manner of his suggestions to make you believe that it is Christ indeed Perhaps his counsel shall come in in the midst of a fervent prayer or presently after it to make you believe that it is an undoubted answer of your prayers And oft times his impulses are vehement and much affecting to make you think that it is something above nature And the pioâ—s pretence will much perswade you to think that sure this can never come from an evil spirit But if you had well studied 2 Cor. 11. 13 14 15. Gal. 1. 8. Luke 9. 55. 1 Ioh. 4. 1 2. 2 Thes. 2. 2. you might be wiser and be saved from this deceit I will not recite the words because I would have you turn to them and seriously study them And in this dividing work the Devil doth as make-bates do who first goes to one man and tell him a tale what such a one said against him and what a dangerous person he is and then go to the other and say as much of the first to him So the Devil saith to the Presbyterian O take heed of the Independents and to the Independents Take heed of these Presbyterians To the Anabaptist he suggesteth Avoid these Protestants Take heed of them for they Baptize infants And to the Protestants he saith Take heed of these Anabaptists for they are against baptizing any till they come to full age To one he saith Away from that Church or think not those persons to be religious for they pray by the book And to the other he saith Take heed of those people as whimsical and proud and brainsick fanaticks for they pray without-book by the Spirit To one sort he saith Take heed of those people for they wear a Surplice or Kneel at the Sacrament or answer the Priests in the Responses of the Common-prayer To the other he saith Take heed of these disobedient stubborn selfconceited people that will sit at the Sacrament and will not conform to the orders of the Church I am not now minding whose opinion is right or wrong among all these parties or any like them But how charitable to your souls the Devil is when he would destroy your charity and your souls and how piously and kindly he would have you take heed when he would lead you to perdition and how great a Reformer he will be if he may but do it by Dividing It may be the young unexperienced Schismatick of what sect soever will distast these words and think I speak like an adversary to Reformation And so the Devil would make him think of all other Christians as well as of me except his party But if one should give such counsel for the preservation of his own health and bodily comfort as the Dividing spirit giveth him for the Church and for his soul he would quickly understand it according to my present sense If one should come in kindness to him and bid him O take heed of that mouth and belly for it getteth nothing but devoureth all that the hands do get by labour Cut off that hand for it hath a crooked finger Cut off that gouty foot that it may not trouble the whole body Rip up those guts which have such filthy excrements he would not swell against me if I advised him to suspect such kindness Fifthly Remember also that the Unity of Christians is their peace and ease as well as their strength and safety Psal. 133. 1. Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity As the amity and converse with friends is pleasant and the concord of families is their quietness and ease so is it as to the amity and concord which is the bond of Church society And the divisions and discord of Christians is their mutual pain and trouble Do you not feel your minds disturbed by it Do you not see the Church discomposed by it The itch of contention doth ordinarily make it pleasant for the time to every Sect to scratch by zealous wranglings and disputes for their several opinions till the blood be ready to follow But the smart and scab doth use to convince them of their folly But if they will go more than Skin-deep they may need a Surgeon Children will claw themselves but it is Madmen that will wound themselves The hurtâ— which we get in the Christian warfare by mortifying the flesh or by the persecution of the malignant enemy is tenderly healed by the hand of Christ and usually furthereth our inward peace But if we will hurt and wound and divide our selves what pity or comfort can we expect Sixthly Consider also that the Unity and Concord of Believers is their Honour and their Divisions and discord are their shame And consequently the honour or dishonour of Christ and the Gospel and Religion is much concerned in it Agreement among Christians telleth the world that they have a certainty of the faith which they profess and that it is powerful and not ineffectual and that it is of a healing nature and tendeth to the felicity of the world But Divisions and discords among Christians perswade unbelievers that there is no certainty in their belief or that it is of a vexatious and destructive tendency or at best that all its power is too weak to overcome the malignity which it pretendeth to resist where did you ever see Christians live in undivided
at all for what is said Back-biters and haters of God are conjoyned Rom. 1. 30. He that back-biteth not with his tongue nor doth evil to his neighbour nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour is one that hath the mark of a Citizen of Zion Psal. 15. 3. An angry countenance must drive away a back-biting tongue Pro. 25. 23. Paul was afraid of that which we all now feel the evil of even this evil spirit which I am now detectcting 2 Cor. 12. 20. Lest there be debates eâ—vyings wraths strifes back-bitings whisperings swellings tumults and so God would humble him among them Rebuke back-bitings and whisperings or you will hardly avoid the rest of these iniquities It may be the report which you hear may be all false Or it may be it is some little matter made much greater than it is Or it may be some part of the truth is concealed and some circumstance which would make it better understood However if it be true when the reporter hath no call to speak it or when the accused is not heard speak for himself and you never heard what he hath to say there is sin and injustice in the back-biter the believer and reporter DIRECT XXII Make not your selves selves judges of other mens actions much less of their state before you have a call and before you have sufficient acquaintance or proof of the person and of the case VEry common reports and very confident presumptions may all prove injurious and false You may hear that such a family is prophane and that such a person hath no religion that such a one is covetous such a one erroneous c. and when it comes to the trial it may all prove false However it must be as false to you till you know or prove it to be true you may be ignorant of another mans faults without any faultiness of your own But you cannot rashly censure another without being your self faulty though the matter should prove true Justice must be observed as well in private as in publike judging As no Judge in any Civil or Ecclesiastical Court must condemn any man without sufficient proof which made Christ say Matth. 18. 15 16. Take one or two more that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established so no man in his own thoughts must condemn his brother by any rash or groundless sentence It is safer for you to judge better of another than he is than it is to judge worse of him than he is In many cases it may be your duty to judge better of him than he is because you must judge according to proof And if the evidence or proof deceive you it is none of your fault to be so deceived And yet you are not hereby bound to believe a falshood All that you are bound to believe is that it is probable that such a person is vertuous innocent or sincere And this is no falshood for that may be probable or likely which is not true Few well consider of the meaning of Christs words in Math. 7. 1 2. Iudge not that ye be not judged For with what judgement ye judge ye shall be judged and with what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again I doubt not but part of the sense may be He that judgeth without mercy of another shall have judgement without mercy from God as St. Iames expresseth it But thatâ— not all but the rest of the sense is And he that jâ—dgeth cruelly rashly and falsly of his brother shall be so judged of by other men himself Not that God will cause it but he will permit it and therefore can foretel it and make a righteous punishment of the sin which he doth but permit Do you not know that other men will censure and backbite you as boldly and as busily as you do censure and backbite others Is it such a pleasure to you to imitate the Devil the great accuser as that you will be as much accused your selves and as hardly thought of rather than you will give it over And see here how sin doth cross it self Most of the censorious are proud persons who think others much worse than themselves and therefore speak worse of their common and more ignorant neighbours that they may be thought to be no common nor ignorant persons themselves and they are offended with the Pastor of the Church for admitting such persons into communion with such as they That so their piety may be more conspicuous than their neighbours when all this while they are but preparing for their own dishonour And others will judge as bad of them When usually the meek and humble and merciful Christian who judgeth hardly of himself and tenderly of all others is tenderly and lovingly judged of by all The Prelatist saith what obstinate persons are these Non-conformists They do all to keep the approbation of their party And are they not requited by many of them whom they censure who say What temporizing hypocrites are these Formalists and Latitudinarians They would turn Papists or any thing to save their skins or get preferment What perjury or other heinous crime will they not number with things indifferent The Papist thinks the Protestant a Heretick unworthy to live on earth and therefore thirsteth for his blood And is he not requited by the censures of them that think that he is but a blood thirsty limb of Antichrist himself If he think that the Protestant cannot be saved because he is not a member of the Pope or Roman Church the Protestant requiteth him oft times with concluding that a Papist cannot go beyond a reprobate nor a worshipper of the Beast be saved If the Independent censure the Presbyterian as a favourer of looseness and formality the Presbyterian can requite him by censuring him to be an enemy to order government peace and a turbulent cause of all confusion The same I may say of all other sects It is not now my purpose to take part with any of them nor to speak against any one of them more than the rest But to them tell all of their mistake in their censorious way how certainly they prepare for the same measure and judgement which they give to others Rom. 14. 4. Who art thou that judgest another mans servant To his own mâ—ster he standeth or falleth Yea he shall be holden up for God is able to make him stand But why judgest thou thy brother or why dost thou set at nought thy brother We shall all stand before the judgement seat of Christ So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God It is strange that those men that can understand a text against swearing and drunkenness can see no light nor feel no power in such words as these DIRECT XXIII Mistake not the nature of the sin of scandal Think not that it is the bare displeasing or grieving of another For it is the laying of a stumbling block
such is not yours No mans sin shall damn you but your own no nor bring any proper penalty on you Our suffering by other mens sin is the common way to Heaven by which Christ and his Apostles went But our own sin is that which must have the blood and spirit of a Saviour for its cure or it will undo us He came to destroy the works of the Devil and to save his people from their sins Math. 1. 21. 1 Ioh. 3. 8. But not to keep us from being persecuted by sinners Math. 5. 10 11. without escaping persecution we may be saved for every one that will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution 2 Tim. 3. 12. But except we Repent of our own sin we shall perish Luk. 13. 3 5. we must mourn for the sins of others Ezek. 9. 4. but we properly Repent of none but our own Should we not most fear that which we are most in danger of And most lament that which we are most guilty of And most talk against that which most concerneth us And all this is not other mens faults no not Magistrates or Ministers though much to be bewailed but our own Every one will confess that the true spirit of Christianity is agreeable to what I say And yet how contrary is the practise of no small number of the Religious In all companies how forward are they to talk of the sins of Princes and Parliaments of Courtiers and Nobility and Gentry especially of Ministers And not only of the scandalous that are guilty indeed but of the innocent that are not of their way whose faults they rather make than find But how seldome do you hear them tell any how bad they are themselves unless it be in formality to seem humble persons yea how impatient are they with any other that find fault with them It would be much more acceptable to God and wise men to hear you talk of your own infirmities than of the Rulers or Ministers or Neighbours The one is a work of Repentance and the other of detraction and backbiting The one is a work which you are commanded by God to judge your selves and confess your faults one to another But the other is a work which you have seldomer a call from God to do One rendeth to your pardon the other to your guilt Therefore if you fall into the company of backbiters that are dishonouring their Rulers or their Pastors or telling how bad their neighbours are labour to purifie these stinking waters or turn the stream say to them O friends how bad are we our selves what pride is in our hearts what ignorance in our minds so wanting are we even in the lowest grace Humility that we have scarce enough to make us take patiently such censures as now we are giving out upon others so selfish as dishonoureth our profession with the brand of contractedness and partiality so weak that all our duties are liable to greater censures than we can bear And our inward graces weaker than our outward duties Of such ungoverned thoughts that confusion and tumult instead of order and fruitful improvement are the dayly temper and employment of our imaginations so passionate impatient and corrupt that we are a trouble to our selves and others and a dishonour to the Gospel and a hinderance to the conversion of those whom our holy exemplary lives should win to God so strange to Heaven as if we had never well believed it And to say all in one so empty of Love to our dear Redeemer and the God of Love that our Hearts lie vacant to entertain the love of worldly vanities and draw back from the serious thoughts of God which should be our daily work and pleasure and flie from the face of Death as if we should be worst when we are nearest to our God And when we are our selves no better should we not rather complain of the sore that is so near us and marvel that our neighbours vilifie not us and that the Church doth not judge us unworthy of its Communion Nature teacheth or constraineth all men to be more sensible of their own diseases than of their neighbours and to complain of them most as loving themselves best Is it then because you love your neighbours better than your selves that you speak more of their faults and infirmities than of your own If not take heed lest it prove not to be the voice of love and then I need not tell you how bad it signifieth God is Love and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him The Devil is the Love-killer And what way can you imagine so powerful to kill love to any others as to make men think them to be very bad Doth any man love evil that knoweth it to be evil certainly therefore these speakings evil of others are love-killing words though to his face to make him know himself they might be medicinal and therefore they are the service of the love-killing spirit DIRECT XLIX Take notice of all the good in others which appeareth and rather talk of that behind their backs than of their faults IF there were no Good in others they were not to be loved For it is contrary to mans nature to will or love any thing but sub ratione boni as supposed to be good The good of nature is lovely in all men as men even in the wicked and our enemies And therefore let them that think they can never speak bad enough of nature take heed lest they run into excess And the capacity of the good of holiness and happiness is part of the good of nature The good of gifts and of a common Profession with the possibility or probability of sincerity is lovely in all the visible members of the Church And truly the excellent gifts of Learning judgment utterance and memory with the virtues of meekness humility patience contentedness and a loving disposition inclined to do good to all are so amiable in some who yet are too strange to a heavenly life that he must be worse than a man who will not love them To vilifie all these gifts in others savoureth of a malignant contempt of the gifts of the Spirit of God And so it doth to talk all of their faults and say little or nothing of their gifts and virtues yea some have so unloving and unlovely a kind of Religiousness that they backbite that man as a defender of the prophane and a commender of the ungodly who doth but contradict or reprehend their backbitings And are ever gain-saying all the commendations which they hear of any whom they think ill of But if you would when you talk of others especially them who differ from you in opinions be more in commendation of all the good which indeed is in them 1. You would shew your selves much liker to God who is Love and unliker to Satan the accuser 2. You would shew an honest impartial ingenuity which honoureth virtue where ever it is
many very good men think that publick interest may be allowed much power upon their minds though private and personal must be denied Is it not a wonder to see not only that almost all Christians are incorporated into one sect or party or other but how easily the inconsiderable reasons of their party can prevail with them and how hardly the better reasons of their adversaries seem to them of any weight or worth Not only the parties of Papists and Protestants Lutherans and Reformed c. shew this but in the same Church the Regulars and Seculars the Bishops and the Jesuits the Dominicans and Jesuits the Thomists Scotists c. declare it And the difference made by natural capacities is yet more than all this When one man is born to a duller understanding and another hath a quick and clear apprehension All that these men read and hear and meditate on is like to make different impressions on their minds And this is the greatest thing of any one which maketh many controversies endless and maketh both Divines and people run away from one another as dangerously erroneous If a few men have clearer understandings than the duller and unstudied sort they are like to be the minor part For the dull and slothful and yet self-conceited will ever be the greater part many to one till the golden age return And when all the world feeleth the consequents of this difference can we doubt of it or so far dote as to think it possible to cure it Yet the various degrees of the Grace of God do certainly also make great variety of apprehensions When God giveth to some those true illuminations those â—hirsting desires after truth those heart-experiences those delightful relâ—shes those powerful effects and victories which he giveth not to others they are made to differ must needs have different apprehensions of such things In which sense Christ saith that he came not to send peace but division that is to be such an object and preach so holy a doctrine and give such grace as would â—ccasion divisions by making his sanctified ones differ from the world and occasioning the erritation of the worlds malignity And indeed the grand difference between the seed of the woman and of the serpent the holy and the carnal seed is that which is the root of the greatest and sorest divisions in the world which will never be reconciled till Christ at the day of judgement shall say to one part Come ye blessed and to the other Go ye cursed For the carnâ—l mind is enmity against God and is not subject to his law nor indeed can be in sensâ— compâ—sito Rom. 8. 6 7 8. It was not for nothing that God permitted that great eruption of it in the first man that ever was born into the world against his innocent brothers life on the bare account of their religious sacrifices And the Cainites are still too strong for Alel's successors and too numerous And why did he kill his brother But because his own works were evil and his brothers righteous Gen. 4. 10 11. 1 Joh. 3. 12. And as Paul saith of the two sons of Abraham as he that was born of the flesh persecuted him that was born after the spirit even so it is now Gal. 4. 29. For the flesh fighteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these are contrary the one to the other Gal. 5. 17. And that which is born of the flesh is flesh that which is born of the spirit is spirit Joh. 3. 6. And they that are of the flesh do savour mind or understand the things of the flesh and they that are after the spirit do mind the things of the spirit Rom. 8. 5 6. Our heavenly teacher told his disciples that if they were of the world the world would love them but because they are not of the world but he had chosen them out of the world the world would hate them even as it hated him Ioh. 15. 18 19 24 25. Ioh. 17. 14. And every one that doth evil hateth the light Ioh. 3. 19 20. Nothing then can be surer or plainer to a believer than that there will be still as great divisions and diversitie of apprehensions as radicated enmity can breed And to prevent many objections let these three things be noted First That this grand difference which lieth in the greatest matters in head and heart must needs have influence upon abundance of inferiour controversies Both as the Persons and main cause are concerned in them Reason and experience have put this past controversie Secondly That this doth not concern only the visible Church and the world but the visible Church within it self For all the Hypocrites and carnal worshippers have still the Cainish serpentine nature Yea those that by advantages and interest are brought over to the Orthodox as well as Christian side And it is a happy Church where the Hypocrites are not the greater part And it is neither great Learning nor degrees nor the Pastoral office nor the profession of the highest zeal which will serve turn to cure the carnal enmity without the sanctifying spirit of grace So that when controversies arise we see not in the hypocrites that carnal mind which in the strictest proâ—ession or greatest learning or most venerable function will work against the interest of holiness But we are sure that there it is though we know not the persons in whom but by the full effects Thirdly And note also that there is a mixture or remnant of this unhappy root and principle even in the sanctified themselves And it is hard in a controversie to perceive in our selves much more in others how much our judgements may be moved by this party and what influence it may have into our conclusions So that all this maketh it but too manifest what a certainty there is of perpetual differences in the Church upon all these foresaid accounts Add also this great and unavoidable cause that one errour leadeth in another And no man being without some and every one being generative and inferring more what will it come to when all those also shall have their off-spring and the further they go the more they will increase and multiply And as the judgement by one is laid open to another even as truth inferreth truth so the will is engaged and espouseth mens own opinions as their interest which maketh them stretch their wâ—ts in study to maintain what once they have received and asserted And alas how often have I heard wise and reverend persons cry out against this pride and partiality in others who in their next discourse or the same have shamefully shewed it in themselves making much of their own inconsiderable reasonings and vilifying cogent evidence against them and being so intent on their own inventions and cause that they could scarce have patience to hear another speak And when they have heard him their first words shew that they never well weighed the
were but to take their tythes and honour and to be reverenced by the people and to preach once or twice a week a sermon which tendeth to their applause they could submit to this much But Paul's exhortation Act. 20. seemeth intollerable preciseness But souls will not be informed or reformed at so cheap a rate Sin hath corrupted them more than so If we will sleep the envious man will not sleep but when we awake we shall find that he hath sowed his tares Sometimes grievous Wolves will enter not sparing the flock and sometimes of our own selves will men arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them Therefore watch Study hard and meditate on these things and give your selves wholly to them that your profiting may be known to all that you may be able to stop the mouths of gainsayers and to edifie and stablish all the flock that they be not as children tossed to and fro and carried up and down by every wind of doctrine by the câ—nning slight and subtilty of men by which they lie in wait to deceive For to this end did Christ give offices and gifts Study therefore to shew your selves workmen that need not be ashamed rightly dividing methodizing opening and so defending the word of truth Act. 20. 20 28 29 30. Eph. 3. 12 14. 1 Tim. 4. 15 16. 2 Tim. 2. â— 15. DIRECT XVII Be not strange to the poor ones of your flock but impartial to all and the servants of all mind not high things but condescend to men of low estate Rom. 12. 16. ALL souls are equally precious unto Christ whether rich or poor O set the strange example of Christs condescension still before your eyes Was it the high or the low that were his familiars Did he live in fulness and ride in poâ—p and associate only with the rich and great O see him washing his disciples feet And hear him teaching them by that example what they ought to do for one another He came not to be ministred unto but to minister How sharply did he rebuke his disciples when they strove who should be greatest And setting a little child before them hath taught us what must be our ambition And that he that will be the greatest must be the servant of all Our greatness lieth in the greatest of our humility and usefulness Math. 18. 1 2 3 4. 23. 11. Luk. 22. 24 25 26. Math. 20. 28. It is lawful and meet that men in power should be honoured by us and also that the people be taught to honour them and that you keep such interest in them as is needful to the publick good and therfore all converse with them is not unlawfull But when Ministers only attend on the rich and are strange and seldome among the poor it makes them accounted carnal worldly men and is unsuitable to their Lords example and to the work of their calling The poor are far more numerous than the rich and therefore our work is more among them And death will quickly level all And when we have all done we shall find that the poor receive the glad fidings of the Gospel and the poor of the world may be rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdome which God hath prepared for them that love him Mat. 11. 5. Iam. 2. 5 6. And that the rich do hardly enter into the Kingdome of heaven Iam. 2. 6 7. But ye have despised the poor Do not the rich men oppress you and draw you before the judgement seats It is the poor that must be the chief crown and comfort of your labours Therefore be not strangers to them if you would not have them account you lordly worldly and self-seeking men If you will leave them to themselves and think your selves too good to be their companions or to come into their smoaky Cottages and then think that a lordly command or rebuke should serve the turn to keep them from errour and schism and disorder you may find your errour to the Churches cost when it is too late And it will be but a pitiful excuse for your pride or laziness to cry out of seducers for creeping into such houses which you disdained to come into your selves what do you by avoiding them but invite any others thither that will come and leave them as it were swept and garnished for such evil spirits DIRECT XVIII Spend and be spent for your peoples good and do all the good that possibly you can for their bodies as well as for their souls and think nothing that you have too dear to win them that they may see that you are truly Fathers to them and that their well-fare is your chiefest care and business ALl men love themselvs and naturally and necessarily love those that they know do greatly love them And all men are sensible of their bodily concernments and consequently of that good that is done to their bodies He that setteth himself to relieve the poor and to put on others to relieve them to visit the sick and help those that are in trouble and to comfort the afflicted to do what good he can to all and hurt to none shall find that their ears will be open to his doctrine and that they will follow him towards heaven with much less resistance than otherwise he must expect Few such Ministers do ever want success of their labours And the covetoâ—s close handed self-seeking and cruel are alwayes hated And let his mony perish with him who thinketh it better than the souls of men and the work of God DIRECT XIX Keep up the Reverence of the ancient and experienced sort of Christians and teach the younger what honour they owe to those that are their elders in age and grace For whilest the elder who are usually sober and peacaable are duly reverenced the heat of rash and giddy youth will be kept in order USually where the elder bear the sway the Church hath peace Though I know some deceive is grow worse and worse And it is where the young and rash are become the predominant most esteemed party that schism and disorders do prevail And though some tell the people what honour they owe their Elders by office yet few acquaint them what honour youths owe both to the Elder in age and in experience and grace It will therefore be much of the prudence of the Pastors to keep up the honour of the Elders of the people and to preserve in the younger a due esteem and reverence towards them DIRECT XX. The Pastors who will preserve the Churches Peace must neither neglect to preserve their interest in the Religious persons of their charge nor yet be so tender of it as to depart from sober principles or wayes to please them nor to make them their rulers nor follow them into any exorbitancies to avoid their censures BOth these extreams will tend to confusion First They that care not at all what men think of them do but despise their advantages to do
of Christ. Rom. 14. 1. Him that is weak in the faith receive ye but not to doubtful disputations Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not nor him that eateth not judge him that eateth for God hath received him To him that esteemeth any thing unclean to him it is unclean But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat now walkest thou not charitably destroy not him with thy meat for whom Christ died For the kingdome of God is not meat and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God and approved of men Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace and things wherewith one may edifie another He that doubteth is damned if he eat Rom. 15. 1 2 3. We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please our selves Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification For even Christ pleased not himself Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like minded one towards another according to Christ Jesus thaâ— ye 〈◊〉 with one mind and one mouth glorifie God Wherefore receive ye one another as Christ received us to the glory of God Phil. 3. 15 16. Let us as many as be perfect be thus minded and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded God shall reveal even thâ—s unto you Nevertheless whereto we have already attained let us walk by the same rule let us mind the same things Eph. 4. 2 3. With all lowliness and meekness with long suffering forbearing one another in love endeavouring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace 15. Speaking the truth in love 16. Edifying in love Phil. 2. 3. Let nothing be done through strife or vain-glory but in lowliness of mind lâ—t each esteem other better than themselves Look not every man on his own things but every man also on the things of others Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus that made himself of no reputation 14. Do all things without murmurings and disputings Iam. 3. 17. The wisdome from above is first pure then peaceable gentle easie to be intreated full of mercy c. 1 Thes. 2. 5 6 7. Neither at any time used we flattering words as ye know nor a cloak of covetousness God is witness Nor of men sought we glory neither of you nor yet of others when we might have been burthensome or used authority as the Apostles of Christ But we were gentle among you even as a nurse cherisheth her children So being affectionately desirous of you we were willing to have imparted to you not the Gospel of God only but also our own souls because ye were dear unto us Gal. 5. 22. The fruit of the spirit is love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness 2 Cor. 10. 1. I Paul beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ Gal. 6. 1. Brethren if a man be overtaken in a fault ye that are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of meekness Bear ye one anothers burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. Col. 3. 12 13. Put on as the elect of God holy and beloved bowels of mercy kindness humbleness of mind meekness long-suffering forbearing one another and forgiving one another c. 1 Tim. 6. 11. Follow after righteousness godliness faith love patience meekness Tit. 3. 2. To speak evil of no man to be no brawlers but gentle shewing all meekness to all men 1 Pet. 3. 4. The ornament of a meek and quiet spirit in the sight of God is of great price Lev. 19. 18. Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self Rom. 12. 9 10. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love in honour preferring one another Rom. 13. 10. Owe nothing to any man but Love Love worketh no ill to his neighbour Love is the fulfilling of the Law Ioh. 13. 35. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples if ye have love one to another Ioh. 13. 34. 15. 12 17. This is my commandement that ye love one another As I have loved you A new commandement Gal. 5. 14. The Law is fulfilled in this Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self 1 Thes. 4. 9. Ye are taught of God to love one another 1 Pet. 1. 22. Love one another with a pure heart fervently 1 Pet. 3. 8 9. Be all of one mind having compassion one on another love as brethren be pitiful be courteous Not rendring evil for evil 〈◊〉 railing for raâ—ling but contrariwise blessing knowing that ye are thereunto called that ye should inherit a blessing Pet. 2. 23. Who when he was reviled reviled not again when he suffered he threatned not Math. 5. 44 45. Love your enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you that you may be the children of your father which is in heaven For if ye love them that love you what reward have you do not even the publicans the same And if ye salute your brethren only what do you more than others do not even the publicans the same Math. 6. 14. For if ye forgive men their trespasses your heavenly father will also forgive you But if ye forgive not men their trespasses neither will your father forgive your trespasses Math. 5. 39 40 41. I say unto you that ye resist not evil but whosoever shal smite thee on thy right cheek turn to him the other allso And if any man will sue thee at Law and take away thy coat let him have thy cloak also 1 Thes. 5. 12 13 14. We beseech you brethren to know them which LABOVR AMONG YOV and are over you in the Lord and admonish you and to esteem them very highly in love for THEIR WORK SAKE and be at peace among your selves Now we exhort you brethren warn them that are unruly comfort the feeble minded support the weak be patient toward all men se â—hat none render evil for evil to any man but ver follow that which is good both among your selves and to all men 1 Cor. 9. 19. Though I be free from all men yet have I made my self servant unto all that I might gain the more And unto the Jews I became as a Jew that I might gain the Jews to them that are under the Law as under the Law that I might gain them that are under the Law To them that are without law as without law being not without law to God but under the law to Christ that I might gain them that are without law To the weak became I as weak that I might gain the weak I am made all things to all men that I might by all means save some and this I do for the Gospels sake 1 Cor. 8. 1. Knowledge puffeth up but charity edifieth if any man think he knoweth