may be devoured one of another We read Ezek. 5. 3 4. the Prophet was bid to bind up a few hairs in his skirt which was to signifie a few of the people which were preserved from that common calamity but after these were cast into the fire and fire came forth from these to all the house of Israel Polanus upon the place hath this note that grievous evils may come upon those who have been preserved from former common miseries and those who for a while have been preserved by their contentions and divisions may be the cause of woful evil to others God forbid that this Text should be fulfilled in us Let not a fire come from us who yet are so graciously preserved to devour the house of Israel 4ly God in this work of his hath joyned severall sorts of instruments men of severall opinions he hath made them one to do us good why should not we be one in the enjoyment of that good Let the one part and let the other part have their due honour under God in the mercy God hath made use of both and why may not both enjoy the fruit of this mercy together in the Land Fiftly We were not without some feares lest God should leave us in the work of Reformation begun but now God speaks aloud to encourage us he tels us he owns the worke Now what doth this require of us A little Logick will draw the consequence Hath God declared himself that he intends to go on in this work he hath begun Then let us all joyn together to further it to the uttermost we can let us not exasperate the spirits of one another in ways of strife and opposition but let every one set his hand and hand to this worke that he may be able to say Oh Lord God thou that knowesâ— the secrets of all hearts knowest that upon this great mercy of thine my heart was so moved that whatsoever I could possibly see to be thy will for the furtherance of this great work of Reformation and that I was able to doe I did set my selfe to doe it and am resolved to spend my strengâ—h and life in it If every one did thus oh what glory might God have from this mercy of his 6ly When the Lord comes to us with mercies and such great mercies he expects we should rejoyce in them and sing praise but how can we sing without Harmony Prayer requires an agreement Mat. 18. 19. If two of you shall agree on earth touching any thing they shall aske it shall be done for them Surely Praise requires agreement much more Psalms out of tune are harsh to the eare disagreement of heart is much more to the Spirit of God 7. Surely when God hath done so much for us it must be acknowledged to be our duty to study what sacrifice would be best pleasing to him some sacrifice we must offer If there be any more acceptable to him then other surely he deserves it no. If a friend had done some reall kindness for you you would be glad to know what might be most gratefull to him wherein you might testifie your thankfulness Is this in your hearts Do you now say Oh that we did but know what is the thing that would be most pleaâ—ing to God what sacrifice would smell sweetest in his nostrils The Lord knowes we would fain offer it whatsoever it be I will tell you That we would lay aside our divisions our frowardnesse that we would abandon our contentions and strife that we would put on the bowels of mercies kindnesse humblenesse of minde meekenesse long-suffering forbearing one another forgiving one another If any man hath a quarrell against any even as Christ forgave you so also do ye Col. 3. 12. And 1. Pet. 3. 4. A meeâ—e and a quiet spirit is in the â—ight of God of great price it is much set by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal 15. 17. The sacrifice of God that which is in stead of all sacrifices is a broken spirit Our hearts have been broken one from another in our unhappy divisions oh that now they could break one towards another in love and tenderness Here would be a sacrifice more esteemed of God then thousands of Rams and ten thousand Rivers of Oyle Loving mercy and walking humbly is preferred above such sacrifices Micah 6. 8. 8ly God might have sodeâ—'d us together by the fire of his wrath he might have made our blood to have been our cement to have joyned our stinty hearts together but it is otherwise God seeks to draw us to himselfe and one to another by the cords of love the allurings of his mercy Ninthly what can have that power to take off the sowrnesse of mens spirits like mercy the mercy of a God surely if any thing possibly can sweeten them that must needs do it We read 1 Sam. 11. 11 12 13. a notable experiment of the efficacy of mercy to sweeten mens hearts After Saul had slain the Ammonites some of the bosterous spirits would have had him to have slain those who formerly had rejected him but mark Sauls answer ver 13. There shall not a man be put to death this day Why For this day the Lord hath wrought salvation in Israel Though Saul at another time was a man of a harsh and cruell spirit yet now mercy sweetens him that which he was one day by the sense of mercy that should we be not only in the day of our Thanksgiving but in the course of our lives When salvation came to the house of Zacheus O what a sweet temper was he in Behold halfe of my goods I give to the poore and if I have wronged any one I restore foure-fold Salvation is this day come to the Kingdome O that all we had hearts to say If wee have wronged any wee will restore if wee have wronged any in their names by word or writing any way we will restore Mercy and love calls for mercy and love if we were in a right tune there would be a sympathy between the bowels of God and ours as in two Lures if the string in one be wound up to be answerable to the other if you then strike one string the other will move though lying at a distance Now Gods love Gods bowels move let our love our bowels move answerably 10. God shewes that he can owne us notwithstanding all our infirmities Was ever Kingdome in a more distempered condition then ours hath been of late and yet the Lord hath owned us Why should not we own our Brethren notwithstanding their infirmities Why should our divisions cause uâ— to call off one another seeing our divisions from God hath not provoked him to cast us off 11. Is it not in our desires that this great Victory might be pursued that it might not be lost as others in great part have been Surely it cannot be pursued better then to take this advantage of it to unite our selves more together then ever we have done
another so as one would think it impossible that ever in this world there should have been that distance between them that now there is How often have we prayed Oh that once we might be blessed with such a mercy as to worship God according to his own mind that we might be delivered from conscience oppression from spirituall bondage Oh that we might be delivered from the inventions of men in the service of God that the Saints might joyn and serve the Lord with one shoulder There were never such hopes that the Saints should enjoy their prayers so as of late there hath been and yet never were they so divided as now they are they now seek to bring one another in bondage If five or six years since when many of us were praying together making our moans to God for that oppression we were under God should have then presented as in a Map such times as these are to our view could we have beleeved that it were possible that there should be such a distance in our spirits as now there is Fourthly our Divisions are very dishonourable to Jesus Christ were it that they darkned our names onely it were not so much but that which darkens the glory of Jesus Christ should goe very neere unto us I have read of Alexander Severus seeing two Christians contending one with another commanded them that they should not presume to take the name of Christians upon themselves any longer For sayes he you dishonour your Master Christ whose Disciples you professe to be It is dishonour to a General to have his Army routed and run into confusion The Devill seems to prevaile against us in these our divisions so as to rout us John 17. 21. 23. is a notable Scripture to shew the sinfulnesse of our divisions in the dishonour they put upon Christ and it may be as strong an argument against them as any I know in the Book of God Christ praying to the Father for the union of his Saints uses this argument O Father let this be granted that the world may beleeve that thou hast sent me And againe ver 23. Let them be perfect in one that the world may know that thou hast sent me If they be not united one to another in love and peace but have a spirit of Division ruling amongst them what will the world thinke surely that thou didst not send me that I who am their head their teacher and Lord never came from thee for thou art wisdom holiness and love if I had come from thee then those who own me to be theirs and whom I own to be mine would hold forth in their conversations something of that spirit of holinesse wisdome and love there is in thee but when the world does not see this in them but the clean contrary they will never beleeve that I came from thee those truths that I came into the world to make known as from thee O Father will not be beleeved but rather persecuted if those who professe them by their divisions one from another and oppositions one against another shew forth a spirit of pride folly envy frowardnesse therefore O Father let them be one as thou and I am one if this Petition be not granted how shall I look the world in the face I shall be contemned in the world what am I come down from thee for such glorious ends as indeed those were for which I came into the world and when I should come to attaine those ends for which I came shall there be such a carriage in those who doe professe my Name that by it the world shall perswade themselves that thou didst never send me O what a sore evill would this be surely any Christian heart must needs tremble at the least thought of having a hand in so great an evill as this is Fifthly Divisions are sinfull because they grieve the holy Spirit of God Ephes 4. 30 31. Grieve not the holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed to the day of redemption Surely there is no godly heart but will say O God forbid that I should doe any thing to grieve the good spirit of God it is the Spirit that hath enlightned me that hath revealed the great mysteries of God of Christ of eternall life unto me it is that Spirit that hath drawn my Soul to Jesus Christ that hath comforted it with those consolations that are more to me then ten thousand worlds the Spirit that hath strengthned me that helpes me against temptations that carries me through difficulties that enables me to rejoyce in tribulations the Spirit that is an earnest to assure me of Gods electing love the spirit thet hath sealed me up to the day of Redemption and now shall I be gâ—ily of so great a sinne as to grieve this blessed Spirit of the Lord If I did but know wherein I have grieved it it could not but make my soul to bleed within me that I should have such a wretched heart to grieve this holy Spirit by whom my soule hath enjoyed so much good I hope should for ever hereafter take heed of that thing I would rather suffer any griefe in the world to mine owne spirit then be any occasion of grief to that blessed Spirit of God But would you know what it is that hath grieved it and what it is that is like to grieve it further mark what followes ver 31. Let all bitternesse wrath anger clamour and evill speaking be put away from you with all malice And would you doe that which may rejoyce it Oh! God knowes it would be the greatest joy in the world for me to doe it then ver 32. Be ye kind one to another tender-hearted forgiving one another even as God for Christs sake hath forgiven you Sixthly these divisions doe grieve and offend our Brethren this should not be a light matter to us Christ accounts it a great evill to offend one of his little ones We may thinke it a little matter to give offence to some of Gods people who are poore and meane in the world so long as we have the bravery of it and the countenance of great men no matter for them But friend whatsoever slight thoughts thou hast of it Christ thinks it a great matter you may look upon them as under you the times favour you more then them but if you shall give them cause to goe to God to make their moanes to him of any ill usage they have had from you Lord thou knowest I was for peace to the uttermost that I could so farre as I was able to see thy Word for my guide but these who heretofore were as Brethren to me now their spirits are estranged their hearts are imbittered their words their carriages are very grievous and all because I cannot come up to what their opinions their ways are certainly this would prove very ill to you regard it as lightly as you will it may be when others carry themselves towards you
bellum that Souldier is a murtherer that sheds bloud not in reference to peace The Swords and Ensignes of Souldiers should have this Motto upon them Sic quaenimus pacem Thus we seek Peace Hercules his Club was made of the Olive the emblem of Peace The ninth joyning Principle No man shall ever be mine enemy that is not more his owne then mine yea more the enemy of God then mine IF a man offends me meerly through weakness this is his affliction in this he is neither an enemy to himself nor me he mourns for it and I will pitty him in his mourning he is more troubled for what he hath done then I have cause to be for what I have suffered If he offends willingly and purposely he is his own enemy more then mine When Latimer was cousened in buying a commodity his friends telling him how he was cheated of his money he fell a mourning for him that had cheated him He hath the worst of it sayes he If my heart rises against a man in this and I seek to oppose him in his way it may very well be interpreted to be out of love to him for my heart rises against his enemy I oppose his enemy even himself but an enemy to himself more then to me he hath hurt me a little but himself more I am troubled a little for the wrong I suffer but more for the evill he hath done If his wayes be enmity to God I will oppose him because I love God and no farther then wherein I may manifest my love to God rather then hatred of him When Servetus condemned Zuinglius for his harshness he answers In other things I will be milde but not so in Blasphemies against God Let us keep our enmity within these bounds and the peace of God will not be broke The tenth joyning Principle I had rather suffer the greatest evill then doe the least IF when others wrong you you care not what you do to right your self This is your folly and madness Such a one hurt me and I will therefore mischief my self he hath pricked me with a pin and I will therefore in an anger run my knife into my side If in all we suffer we be sure to keep from righting our selves by any wayes of sin there will not be much peace broke Such an one is thine enemy and wilt thou of one enemy make two wilt thou also be an enemy to thy self yea a greater enemy then he or any man living can be to thee for all the men in the world cannot make thee sin except thou wilt thy self The eleventh joyning Principle I will labour to do good to all but provoke none A Father hath not so much power over his child as to provoke him Col. 3. 21. Fathers provoke not your children to wrath Surely if a man hath not this power over his child he hath it not over his friend his neighbour much less his superiour yet how many take delight in this Such a thing I know will anger him and he shall be sure to have it Oh wicked heart dost thou see that this will be a temptation to thy brother and wilt thou lay it before him dost thou not pray for thy self and for him Lord lead us not into temptation we should accout it the greatest evill to us of all the evill of afflictions to be any occasion of sin to our brother but what an evil should this be to us to provoke our brother to sin if we will needs be provoking then let the Apostles exhortation prevaile with us Heb. 10. 24. Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works Let us not consider one another in a way of curiosity and emulation to envy or find fault with one another from whence frowardness pride hatred dissentions factions may arise saith Hyperius upon the place but consider one another so as we may further the good of one another so as to make one another quick and active in that which is good The twelfth joyning Principle Peace with all men it is good but with God and mine owne conscience it is necessary BUt how will this joyn us one to another Answ Very much both as it holds forth the goodness of peace with all men and as it carryes the heart strongly to the making and keeping peace with God and a mans own conscience This peace with God and a mans own conscience will so sweeten the heart that it cannot but be sweet towards every one a man who hath satisfaction enough within can easily bear afflictions and troubles that come without When Saul had made great breaches between God and his soul and in his own conscience then he grew to be of a very froward spirit towards every man before his Apostacy he was of a very meek and quiet spirit but this sowred his spirit and made it grow harsh rugged and cruell This is the cause of the frowardness of many men and women in their families and with their neighbours there are secret breaches between God and their own consciences The thirteenth joyning Principle If I must needs erre considering what our condition is here in this world I will rather erre by too much gentlenesse and mildnesse then by too much rigour and severity MAns nature is more propense to rigour then to lenity but the account of overmuch lenity is easier then of too much rigour Men who are of harsh sowre spirits themselves are ready to think that God is so too As the Lacedaemonians because they were of a warlike disposition they represented their Gods all armed But God is love there is anger and hatred in God as well as love but God is never said to be anger or hatred no not justice it self but he loves that expression of himself to the children of men God is love If God intended that all things amongst men either in Church or Common-wealth should be carryed with strictnesse of justice he would rather have governed his Church and the World by Angels who have right apprehensions of justice who are themselves perfect altogether free from those evils that are to be punished then by men whose apprehensions of justice are exceeding weak unconstant partiall as often false as true and have much of that evill in themselves that they judge in others The last joyning Principle Peace is never bought too deare but by sin and basenesse VVE use to say We may buy Gold too deare and so we may Peace but whatsoever we pay for it beside sinne and baseness we have a good bargain Suidas tells of the Emperour Trajan that he would cut his own cloaths to binde up the wounds of his Souldiers We should be very pitifull to souldiers who are wounded to keep us whole We should binde up their wounds though it cost us dear but especially our care should be to bind up those wounds that by divisions are made in Church and Common-wealth and well may we
shift for himself In mens lusts there are contradictions no vertue is contrary to another but vices have nothing but contrarieties and contradictions in them Mens lusts oppose and fight against one another in mens hearts no marvail then when there are such stirs within though they break forth into quarrels and contentions without If a man be quarrelsom in his family no wonder if when he comes abroad he quarrels and contends with his neighbours also Sixtly In mens lusts there is violence violence and peace cannot stand together Isa 60. 18. God promises peace and there promises that violence should be no more heard in their Land Mens lusts are boisterous and unruly especyally when they have been acting a while at the first venting they seem to be fair but after a while they grow outragious violent and boisterous dispositions are unfit for society You shall find in experience men who seem to be of weake spirits of softly tempers very remisse in what they do ordinarily yet let the lusts of these men be engaged in any cause to any side O how violent and impetuous will they be they care not what they say or do they will divide from God from the publique from their dearest friends from their neerest relations from what themselves have made profession of heretofore from their credit profit from their own peace from any thing and all to serve a lust engaged in such a businesse it is a dangerous thing to have a mans lust engaged nothing can stand against an engaged lust a man runs on head-long he will break his conscience he will desperately endanger his eternall breaking to maintain the engagement of his lust 7ly In the lusts of mens hearts there is an antipathy against God against his wayes purity of his Ordinances his Saints Gen. 3. 15. I will put enmity between thee and the woman between thy seed and her seed In Antipathy the opposition is 1. In the nature of the things therefore it s deeply rooted it comes not in accidentally you may find two sheep fighting upon some accident but the natures are not opposite like the Wolfe and the Sheep 2. The cause of this opposition is secret wicked men have their spirits rise against the godly but they are not able to say why The husband loved his wife while she was carnall now God hath turned her heart she is more obedient then ever she seeks to give him content in all things more then before she is more usefull to him in all occasions more faithfull every way more lovely then before only she is godly now and was not so before but his heart is now quite off from her he dares not say that it is for her godlinesse if he hath any conviction himself but so it is that now he looks upon her with an evil eye an estranged heart So a wicked Father or Mother who loved their child exceedingly before God was pleased to work upon him yet now the child is more dutiful then he was but the heart of the father or mother is taken off from him can hardly endure him ready to take any exception against him their countenances are lowring and sadd towards him they can give no reason for this their change but as they were wont to say of Christians Such a man is a good man but he is a Christian Bonus vir Caius Seius sed Christianus non amo te I love you not but I can give no reason Hoc tantum possum dicere Non amo te all that I can say is this that I do not love you 3. It is a setled constant opposition This hath been in all generations the great cause of division between the men of the world and the Saints and still it continues the same you may see the same spirit of the old opposers of godlinesse and godly men working in our days the names of things may be changed but the same kind of men for the same things are opposed and hated now in the same manner as in former generations 4. It is very strong ungodly men are exceedingly imbittered against the Saints Ezek. 26. 6. Because thou hast clapped thine hands and stamped with the feet and rejoyced in heart with all thy despight against the Land of Israel This spirit of bitternesse and indignation that was in them against the people of God is seminally at least in all wicked men 5ly The enmity of Antipathy is incurable it can never be taken away except one ceases to be in its nature what it was there can be no compounding things that are so contrary one of them must cease to be or turned into another nature or else the â—pposition will be everlasting The great divisions amongst us are those that are between the seed of the woman and the seed of the Serpent some division there are between those who are the seed of Christ but the great stirs in the Kingdom come from the evill spirit there is in the seed of the Serpent against the godly in the Land In the beginning of the Parliament when mens liberties and estates being involved in one there was good agreement all men rejoyced generally the countenances of those who were not Popish and Prelaticall were serene they had comfortable aspects one upon another but when those whose spirits were opposite to the power of godlinesse saw how the godly amongst them rejoyced how their heads were lifted up how their hearts were filled with hopes of good dayes wherein Religion should be countenanced and honoured that Antipathy that was in their hearts against the ways of God boy-led in them though they were glad that they should be freed from some burdens yet to see those whom they hated in their hearts to rejoyce so much they could not beare but their spirit rose against them and in opposition to them they have raised these stirs they have made these woful distractions that are amongst us Lastly the lusts of mens hearts are the cause of our divisions because God requires every man according to his place to make opposition against them the cause of the strife lyes not in those who oppose them they do but their duty but in in those who nourish such lusts within them yet we finde it ordinarily that those who are most corrupt will cry out against those who oppose them in their wicked wayes as the cause of strife and divisions as if they were the troublers of Israel whereas indeed themselves the wicked lusts of their own hearts are the troublers of Israel those who oppose their lusts desire all good to their persons I remember Augustine in his Book about the unity of the Church hath this passage The Son doth more grievously persecute his father by living naughtily then the father him by chastising him duely Sarahs Maid did more trouble her by her wicked pride then shee her Maid by her deserved correction Those men who are most faulty are the men who are to be charged to be the
This would strike as great a terror into the hearts of our Adversaries as the victory hath done Lastly we had need take heed of breaches lest God should be provoked to change his administrations toward us if there be so much choller in the stomack that sweet meats are turned into choller it were just with God to come with bitter and sowr pils to purge out our choller We read Jude ver 5. The Lord saved the people out of the land of Egypt yet afterward he destroyed them that believed not the Lord hath granted us a great salvation from our Enemies who would have brought us into Egyptian bondage We have been singing the song of Moses we have been praising God according to that Apoc. 15. 3. but let us take heed that yet God be not provoked against us for we are not out of all danger as they by not believing so we by not agreeing but contending and quarrelling may at lâ—st be destroyed You know how the Lord of that servant to whom 10000. talents were given tooke it that he should presently go to his fellow-servant who ought him but a hundred pence and lay hands on him and take him by the throat and say Pay that thou owest and cast him into prison Mat. 18. 28. If men be not mollified by this mercy they will be hardened they will use their brethren worse then they did before the rather because they would declare to all the world that they make no such interpretation of this mercy as that God would have them have further tender regard towards to seek union and peace with to beare with or yeeld unto their Brethren more then before it is not unlikely but temptation may be suggested to do some act the more against them either now or within a while to wipe away any conceit of any such an interpretation of this gracious work of God for us But those who are of gracious peaceable spirits should take the hint of this and goe to all they know who have been at distance one from another of whom they may have hope to doe good and seek to mollifie their spirits to know what it is they have one against another what prejudices what hard thoughts have been entertained by them and by all meanes they are able to remove them that so we loving delighting in one another the Lord may love us and delight in us nad shew mercy to us yet more and more CHAP. XIX The fifth Dividing Distemper Rigidnesse the sixth Rashnesse the seventh Wilfulnesse the eighth Vnconstancy RIgid harsh sowre crabbed rough-hewn spirits are unfit for union there is no sweetness no amiableness no pleasingnesse in them they please themselves in a rugged austereness but are pleasing to none else in all their ways they will abate nothing of their own nor yeeld any thing to others this is against the rule of the Apostle Rom. 15. 1 2 3. We must not please our selves but let every one please his Neighbour for his good to edification and this according to the example of Christ who pleased not himselfe This is the duty not of weake men only who had need please others because they have need of others but ver 1. those that are strong ought not to please themselves but seek to please others Men who are of austere spirits affecting a gravity which turns to a dull sullen sternnesse they think it to be the commendations of the strength of their spirits that they can carry themselves as they doe towards others seeking altogether content to themselves without any yeeldableness to others no that is but lightnesse and weaknes in men they are of a more staid and strong temper then to do so These men by their wisdome do very much sinn against the wisdome of the holy Ghost in this Scripture yea and against the example of Jesus Christ who as in his whole course manifested tenderness gentleness affableness amiableness towards weak ones who were infinitely beneath him and here is set forth unto us to be one who pleased not himself far from this rigid harsh temper Those swords are not of the best tempered metall who will not bend but stand stiff but such as yeeld and bend with most ease and stand streight again neither are those dispositions the best who are the stiffest but such as are most yeeldable and yet stand streight too This harsh and rigid spirit makes mens gifts and graces to be very unuseful When Plato saw Xenocrates of an austere rigid temper he advised him to sacrifice to the Graâ—es that he might have more mildnesse fearing that otherwise his parts and learning would be unprofitable The Jews observe upon Exo. 25. 3. That no Iron was in the stuffe of the Tabernable rigid iron spirits are very unfit for Church work Levit. 17. 7. They shall no more sacrifice to Devills The word translated Devils signifies rough ones Devils had their names from thence this is the name of a Satyr Isa 34. 14. The rough one The Spirit of God is a Dove-like sweet spirit but the spirit of the Devill is a rough harsh spirit the spirit of a Satyr Prov. 11. 17. He that is cruell troubleth his owne flesh That word here translated cruell the Septuagint elsewhere translates it by a word that signifies rigid stiffe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jer. 30. 14. Men of such tempers are very troublesome to themselves to their families to all with whom they converse If a Smith would joyn two pieces of iron he must first file them or beat them smooth If the Joyner would joyn two pieces of wood he must plain them Except our spirits be filed beaten smooth or plained they are unfit for joyning The sixth dividing Distemper Rashnesse ACts 19. 36. Ye ought to be quiet and do nothing rashly Doing thingâ— rashly and quietnesse are opposed 1. Rashnesse makes men engage themselves suddenly in businesse before they have examined it well This causes much trouble for if a man be engaged he lies under a temptation to goe on in it As 2 Chron. 25. 9. When the man of God came to Amaziah to take him off from a businâ—sse he was engaged in O but says he what shall I do for the hundred Talents I have given out already thus many answer to the truth of God that would take them off from what they are engaged in but what shall I do for my credit that lyes engaged 2ly Rashnesse causes men suddenly to provoke others whereas did they consider what ill consequences might come of it they would forbear Rash men quickly take hold of the sword of Justice to hack and hew they think that what they do is according to reason but they do not wisely weigh things in the ballance of Justice Remember Justice 〈◊〉 a Ballance as well as a Sword Prov. 29. 11. A foole uttereth all his mind The Sept. translate it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 utters all his anger Rash fools by uttering their anger
cruelty and revenge her husband delighting in her caused her Image to be made lively representing her and apparelled with costly garments but indeed it was an Engin to torment men withall he made use of it thus when he could not have his will upon men by his owne perswasions he tooke them by the hand telling them that perhaps his wife Apega who sate by in a chaire could perswade more effectually so he led them to the Image that rose up and opened the armes as it were for embracement those armes were full of sharpe iron nayles the like whereof were also sticking in the brests though hidden with her clothes and herewith she griped these men to death At which Nabis standing by laughed to see the cruell death of these miserable men The Lord deliver us from revengefull spirits CHAP. XXVII The evill of Divisions They hinder much good EVsebius reports of Constantine That he was more troubled with the dissentions of the Church then with all the warres in his dominions that he took them so to heart that he could not sleep quietly for them yea although he had a spirit full of heroick valour yet the dissentions of the Church were such evils to him as to cause him to cry and sob Thus he writes in an Epistle to Alexander and Arius Let me enjoy the dayes in peace and the nights without molâ—station that the pleasure which riseth out of the pure light of concord and quiet life may henceforth inviolably be conserved if it otherwise happen it behoveth us to sob and sigh and to shed many a salt teare What heart that hath any tendernesse in it bleeds not in the sense of those sore dreadful heart-divisions there are amongst us The evill there is in them is beyond what tongue or pen can expresse Take a view of it under these three Heads 1. The good they hinder 2. The sinne they cause 3. The misery they bring First the quiet comfort sweetnesse of our spirits is hindered by divisions They put the spirit out of tune men who heretofore have had sweet spirit full of ingenuity since they have interessed themselves in these Divisions have lost their sweetnesse their ingenuity is gone When the Bee stings she leaves her sting behinde her and never gathers Honey more men by stinging one another doe not lose their stings but they lose their honey they are never like to have that sweetnesse in their hearts that heretofore they had Shall I lose my sweetnesse sayes the Fig-tree and goe to be promoted over the trees Why doest thou not reason thus with thy spirit Shall I lose my sweetnesse in contending to get my will to be above others God sorbid There was a time that both my my selfe and others found much sweetnesse in the temper of spirit there was nothing but peaceablenesse quiet calmnesse contentednesse in it and how comfortable was such a temper of spirit me thought when my spirit was in that sweet frame all things were sweet to me but since I have been interested in quarrels and contentions it hath beene farre otherwise with me Prov. 15. 4. Perversnesse in the tongue causes a breach in the spirit Contentions cause much perversnesse in mens tongues and this causes a breach in their spirits Your contending costs you deare though it were in nothing else yet the losse of this sweetnesse of spirit makes it very costly to you All the wrong that you should have put up if you had not contended had not been so great an evil to you as this one thing is There is nothing more contrary to ingenuity then quarrelsomnesse It is reported of Melancthon that when he was to dye he had this speech and Strigelius at his death had the same I desire to depart this life for two causes First that I may enjoy the desired sight of the Sonne of God and the Church in heaven Secondly that I may be delivered from the fierce and implacable hatred of Divines There was much disputing contending quarrelling in those times which was so tedious to the spirits of these good men as it made them the willinger to dye that they might be where their souls should be at rest That Saint of God old M. Dod never loved to meddle with controversies he gave that reason He found his heart the worse when he did Men seldome come away from hot disputes or any other contentions but their spirits are altered for the worse They finde it so and others finde it in them If a man has beene abroad and met with company with whom he hath been contending his wife children servants finde that he comes not home with the same spirit that he went out with Secondly they hinder the freedome of a mans spirit which a wise man sets a high price upon the strength of many mens spirits is spent in contentions they have no command of them to any thing else When a man is once engaged in a contest he knows not how to get off Contention is a great snare to a man he wishes he had never medled with it he is weary of it but knowes not how to come off fairely I have read of Francis the first King of France consulting with his Captaines how to lead his Army over the Alpes into Italy whether this way or that way Amarill his Foole sprung out of a corner where he sate unseene and bad them rather take care which way they should bring their Army out of Italy back again It is easie for one to interest himselfe in quarrels but the difficulty is to be disengaged from them when you are in Thirdly they hinder the good of the body many men contending with their Brethren are so full of stomach that they have no stomach they hinder their sleep men lye tossing up downe a great part of the night sometimes whole nights musing plodding and contriving how they may make their party good what advantages they may get of those they contend with Have the thoughts about the breach sinne hath made between God and thy soul broke thy sleep so much as the thoughts of breaches between thee and thy neighbours and brethren We reade of Moses Deut. 34. 7. that he was an hundred and twenty yeeres old when he died his eye was not dimme nor his naturall force abated Some give this to be one reason of such a wonderfull preservation of his health and strength the meeknesse of his spirit God witnesses of him Numb 12. 3. That he was the meekest man upon the face of the earth That good old man Mr. Dod came very neere to Moses in the one and in the other Fourthly they hinder mens judgements if the water be muddie we cannot see what lies at the bottome These dissentions disturb the medium of our sight you cannot weigh gold in the middest of blustring windes you cannot consider and give a judgement upon truth except the heart be calme Gregory Nazianzen hath this similitude As the
earth sayes he is fixed to men whose braines and eyes are sound but to those who have a vertigo in their heads it seems to turne round so we are deceived in our apprehensions of things we have not the same judgment of things when we love and when we doe not love Fiftly they hinder the sweetnesse of Christian converse and communion you know your communion with the Saints was wont to be farre more sweet then now it is ye were wont to have your hearts spring at the sight of one another Ipse aspectus boni viri delectat sayes Seneca The very sight of a good man delights the sight of a godly man was wont to delight us otherwise then now it does you look one upon another now sowrely with lowring countenance and withdraw from one another your comforts were wont to be double treble seven fold an hundred fold according to that society of Saints you conversed withall one godly man accounted it the joy of his heart that he had any thing that he could communicate to another godly man and the other had the like joy that he had any thing to communicate to him thus comforts were multiplyed but now your comforts are single Oh the sweetnesse the sutablenesse there was wont to be in the spirits of Christians Shall I say sutablenesse it was a blessed onenesse of heart they did as it were exchange soules one with another every day their soules did close claspe one with and cleave one to another Oh how did they love to open their hearts one to another what delight was there in pouring forth their spirits one into another What cheerfulnesse was there wont to be in their meeting they eate their bread together with singlenesse of heart and joy praising the Lord. There were no such merry meetings in the world as the meetings of the Saints were wont to be They parted one from another with their soules bound up one in another their hearts warmed enlarged resolved strengthened in Gods waies But now they cannot meet together but they fall a jarring contending one with another and part with spirits estranged from sowred and imbittered one against another their hearts weakned and more unsetled in the things of God then before Heretofore when they were absent one from another yet the remembrance one of another was joyfull but these dayes seeme to be gone Where is there that opening of secrets one to another as formerly every one is afraid of another What sweet visits were there wont to be what bearing one anothers burdens what heart-encouraging Letters It was with the Saints as in Tertulliâ—ns time Christians called Brethren and were ready to dye for one another but now they are burdens to one anothers spirits they bring evils one upon another Those who heretofore were forward Professors whose society was onely amongst the Saints now they can suit well enough with those who are carnal they close with them their converse is most amongst them Oh Lord what fire is it that is kindled amongst us The nature of fire is Congregare homogenea segregare heterogenea to gather things of a like nature together and separate things of a different but our fire does quite contrary it separates things that are Homogeneall and joyns things Heterogeneall Surely this is no other then the fire of hell Sixthly they hinder our time Abundance of time is spent about our divisions which we are not able to give account to God for When men are engaged in contentions they will follow them night and day whatsoever business be neglected to be sure that must not yea the choice of our time that was wont to be spent in meditation reading prayer is now spent in contending and wrangling Those retired times that we were wont to converse with God in are now spent in the workings of our thoughts about our divisions and when we come abroad then a great part of our time is taken up in going first to this body and then to the other to help forward and foment matter of division Of all the time of a mans life that time that is spent in lawing and quarrelling is the worst and happy it were for many that it might not be reckoned amongst the days weeks or moneths of their lives Seventhly they hinder our prayers If two or three agree together touching any thing they shall aske it shall be done for them by my Father sayes Christ Mat. 18. 18. 1 Tim. 2. 8. I will that men pray lifting up their hands without wrath When Daniel was in a strait he goes to his companions and desires them to lift up prayers to God for him Dan. 2. 17. There was a a sweet agreement between them Hence their stock and trade in prayer went in common but divisions do exceedingly hinder prayer either one with another or one for another 1 Pet. 3. 7. the Apostle giving rules for a peaceable loving life between man wife the woman must be meek and the man live with his wife as a man of knowledge and they must walk together as the heires of life Why so That your prayers may not bee hindred Private contentions in families are great hindrances of family-prayers So our publick divisions and contentions are the great hindrances of the prayers of Christians in a more publick way How were they wont to pour forth their hearts in prayer together then their hearts closed but now it is otherwise Men do not walk now together as the heirs of life therefore their prayers are hindred God accepts not of our gift if we offer it when our hearts are at a distance from our brethren When breaches continue and we are not reconciled you know Christ requires us to leave our gift at the Altar till reconciliation be made It is the Spirit of God in the Saints that is the spirit of prayer now Gods Spirit is a Dove-like meek quiet and peaceable spirit Eighthly they hinder the use of our gifts When Vessels are sowred with vinegar they spoil liquor that is poured into them they make it good for nothing Many men have excellent gifts but they are in such sowre vinegar spirits that they are of little or no use in Church and Common-wealth 1. In these times of division many men exercise their gifts and parts in little or nothing else but in matters of division do you think that God hath given you such parts for no other end but this 2. They have no hearts to impart to their Brethren their gifts in counselling admonishing strengthning comforting No their hearts are estranged from them they care not to have any thing to do with them but do you think that you are so far your own men that you may keep in or imploy your talents as you please Are you not the Stewards of Christ are they not given to you for the edification of your Brethren as well as for good to your selves Can this satisfie your consciences such a one differs from you he hath
he might tell Joseph that his heart did close much with him and if he had any opportunity to be useful to him oh what a happinesse should he think it to himselfe Surely it should be improved for the good of Joseph to the uttermost But when he was preferred when he had respect amongst great ones and Joseph still was kept low then he is not the same man that he was when he was Josephs fellow-sufferer Now he hath other things in his head Joseph is forgotten by him Where this evill is be sure God will find it out for it is an evill very grievous to his Spirit Put these together and it will appeare that it is no time now to contend whatsoever we doe at other times I remember I have read of Sir Francis Drake having a dear friend of his slaine by a bullet as he sate with him at supper Ah sayes he I could grieve for thee but now is no time for me to let down my spirits So when any shal do such things as might cause contention do you speak to your own heart Ah I find my anger stirred I could contend but now is no time for me to let my spirits rise in a contending way these times call for peace and union not for strife and debate This is the 11. aggravation we are divided in such a time as this The twelfth is we are divided notwithstanding we are all convinced of the evill of divisions We cry out exceedingly against them we tell one another that of all the tokens of Gods displeasure amongst us these are the greatest Yet scarce a man does any thing or leaves any thing undone towards any help against divisions or furtherance of our union Every man cries out of the Theefe but who stops him We all say we would have peace oh peace is an excellent thing But where is the man who is willing to be at any cost for it either in putting up any wrong which he conceives is done to himself or bearing with his brother in any thing differing from himself The Lord may justly judge us out of our own mouths 13. We have complained of others who are in place of power to be of harsh cruel dispositions We have sayd if they had been of gentle loving peaceable dispositions tendring the glory of God dearly the good of their brethren as their own what abundance of good might they have done We have thought in those times Oh if such men were in place who were then our dear brethren whom we conceived to be of holy humble sweet peaceable spirits very tender-hearted towards any they saw godlinesse in had they power in their hands what safety peace rest would the Saints have How comfortably should they goe on in their work How would they be edified praysing the Lord What a heaven upon earth should we have And yet we finde it otherwise We may say we looked for light and behold I will not say darknesse but behold dimnesse even from them for brightnesse but behold obscurity Oh how doe the carriages of these men in some degree justifie the harshnesse sowernesse domineering and cruelty of some of the Prelates We hope nothing shall ever befall us as to be such a temptation to us as to justifie their places But some of their persons are so farre justified as there is occasion given to think they were not such vile men as heretofore we thought they were For now we see what a temptation there is in having the times shine upon me in having power put into mens hands We see now that men who have other manner of principles then ever they had yet how sadly they miscarry when they come under the like temptations How can we answer Christ Jesus for these things 14. We are still divided though we have seen the wofull evils that divisions have brought upon others yet we cannot be warned by other mens harmes Those who are acquainted with Ecclesiasticall Histories may furnish themselves with Volumes in this kind Who can read that short but sowre History of the troubles at Frankford but his heart must needs bleed within him And of late what evills have almost all the Protestant party in Germany and through the Christian world suffered by divisions And yet we engage our selves in them and are every day engaging our selves more and more How deep we shall sink the Lord knowes 15. In our very labouring for union we are divided in our endeavours for peace we are at variance Nazianzen in his 12. Oration rebuking this strange miscarriage of men hath this notable expression While we would have charity we study hatred while we seek to set up the corner stone which unites the sides together we are loosned our selves we are for peace and yet we fight one with another Our wayes of late have been little else but doing and undoing yea we crosse our selves in what we would do by doing what we doe We are all full of contradictions in our own spirits and actions and we cry out of others that they are not consistent to their own principles Lastly the sin of our divisions is the greater because we make Religion to patronize them We divide from one another and all under a pretence of Religion Surely this Virgin is forced for there is nothing more contrary to the name or nature of Religion then to cause or further divisions The name carryes union strong union with it Religio à Religando from binding us againe to God and to one another after we were divided by our sin To father our wicked divisions upon Religion is no other then to bring down the Holy Ghost in the likenesse of a Dove to be like a Vultur or a Raven What spirit is it that we professe our selves to be acted by when we are working for Religion is it not the Spirit of God and is not that a Dove-like spirit although we dishonour our selves by discovering the basenesse of our own spirits by our divisions yet let us not put dishonour upon the blessed Spirit of God this makes the sin to be abhominable Nazianzen in his fore-named Oration inveighs against this in those in his time In our pleadings for the truth we sayes he belye one another as if this were the way to maintain truth CHAP. XXIX The wofull miseries that our divisions bring upon us THey are themselves fruits of the curse therefore there can come no other but cursed fruits from them except God contrary to their nature be pleased to over-rule them which he only is able to do It was the curse of God upon the ground Briars and thorns shall it bring forth It is no lesse curse of God upon mens hearts that they bring forth such briars and thorns by which they tear one another First our divisions provoke the wrath of God against us though the wrath of man accomplisheth not the righteousnesse of God yet it may accomplish the wrath of God Esay 9. 21. Manasseh against
is done our work is done for this world The second joyning Principle That shall never be got by strife that may be had by love and peace VVE would all fain have our wills now that which lies uppermost upon many mens hearts that which is the first thing they do if their wills be crossed is presently to strive and contend but this should be the last thing after all other means are tried this should never be made use of but in case of pure necessity We should first think Is there any way in the world whereby it is possible we may have our desires satisfyed with peace let us try this and another way a third a fourth yea a hundred wayes if they lye between us and the way of strife before we come to meddle with that This rule you will find of very great use to order all our businesses in Churches Common-wealths of Townes Families yea whatsoever concernes any of your persons in reference to any other The Apostle 1 Cor. 12. rebuking the divisions of that Church of which they are guilty more then any for they had many among them of raised parts of eminent gifts and therefore puffed up more then others Except God joynes eminency of grace men of eminent gifts joyne lesse then others whose gifts are meaner Among those meanes he directs for union when he speakes of love I will shew you sayes he a more excellent way ver last 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a way of the highest excellency beyond any expression The way of love of the engaging hearts one to another is the only way to bring men to unity of judgement yea the only way when all is done for men to have their wills I may give you this or the other rule to bring you to think and do the same thing but that which hath an excellency in it with an Hyperbole is the way of love If you could get your mindes by other wayes certainly you cannot enjoy it with that sweetnesse and comfort as you may if you have got it this way Marcus Cato repented that ever he went by sea when he might have gone by land it seems the skill of those times for Navigation was not great but certainly there is no man living but hath cause to repent him that ever he got that by strife contention that he might have got by love peace What hinders why soft and gentle words may not prevaile as well as hard and bitter language Why may not a loving winning carriage do as much as severe rigid violence If it may thou providest ill for thine own peace and comfort to leave this way and betake thy self to the other Tell me were it a signe of valour in a man to draw his sword at every Whappet that comes near him yea at every Fly that lights upon him Were it not folly and madnesse Why he may by putting forth his finger put them off from him Thy froward cholerick spirit is ready to draw at every thing that thou likest not This is thy folly thou mayest with lesse adoe have what thou hast a minde to If I would put a Feather from me I need not strike violently at it a soft gentle breath will do it better Why should a man labour and toyle till he sweats again to take up a pin Have none of you sometimes made a great stirre in your families about that which when the stir is a little over you plainly see you might have had as well with a word speaking and hath not your heart secretly upbraided you then Try the next time what you can do by faire and gentle meanes Why should we let the strength of our spirits run waste Let this be a constant rule never make use of severity till you have tryed what clemency will do there is more power in that to conquer the hearts of men you would faine have yeild to you then you are aware of Plutarch reports of Philip of Macedon that when one Arcadion railed on him the Courtiers would have had him dealt severely with but Philip took another course he sends for him and spake gently to him and shewed great love and respect to him upon this Arcadions heart was turned so as there was no man in the world that Arcadion spoke more honourably of then of Philip wheresoever he came After a while Philip met with those who would have him to have revenged himself upon Arcadion What say you now of Arcadion sayes he How doth he now behave himself There is no man living say they speaks better of you now then he Well then sayes Philip I am a better Physitian then you my physick hath done that which yours never would have done The like he reports of Fabius who was called the Romans Target When he heard of a souldier who was valiant yet practised with some others to go and serve the enemy he calls him to him and in stead of dealing with him in rigour tels him he had not had recompense according to his desert and gives him honourable gifts and so gaines him to be faithfull for ever And sayes he As Hunters Riders of Horses and such as tame wilde beasts shall sooner make them leave their savage and churlish nature by gentle usage and manning of them then by beating and shackling them so a governour of men should rather correct by patience gentlenesse and clemency then by rigour violence and severity None but a cruell harsh sordid spirited man will say I had rather men should fear me then love me God prizes most what he hath from us by love The third joyning Principle It is better to doe good then to receive good ACtive good is better then passive only God himselfe his Angels and Saints do good all creatures can receive good This principle would quickly joyne us for if this were in mens hearts they would study to do all the good they could to one another and so gaine upon one anothers hearts and the more good we doe to any the more will our hearts be inclinable to love them The very communication of goodnesse if it be out of a good spirit carryes the heart along with it to the subject this good is communicated to the more good God doth to any the more he loves them God hates nothing that he hath made but loves what there is in any thing of his work but when he communicates his grace his Spirit when he gives his Christ in these gifts he gives his heart they do not only come from love but they make the subject further lovely in his eyes So it is with us in our proportion if you take a poore childe from the dunghill or out of the Almes-house and make him your heyre you do not only do this good to him because you love dim but you also love him more because you look upon him as an object of your goodnesse as one raised by you Titus accounted that day lost a day
be willing to cut our cloathes to binde them up when the evill of them is such as either does or should cut our hearts But though peace be a rich merchandize yet we must not saile too far for it not so farre as to sinne We read 2 Kings 23. 13. Mount Olivet is called the Mount of corruption because of the Idolatry committed upon it Though we are to prize Mount Olivet at a very high rate with the Olives growing upon it yet we must take heed that we make it not a Mount of corruption We may give peace to buy truth but we may not give truth to buy peace We may be bold with that which is our own to purchase peace but not with that which is Gods yet we must not be base in our yielding in things naturall or civill for peace sake that is First we must not for our own private peace yield to that which is like to prove publique disadvantage and disturbance There is a notable story of a Turkish Emperour perceiving his Nobles people to be offended that he was so strongly in love to his Concubine Irene his heart vvas so taken vvith her that he grevv remiss in his regard to the Stern of the State Nothing must be done but as Irene vvould have it vvhatsoever resolutions there vvere of any good to the State yet Irene must be consulted vvithall before they were put in execution if they pleased not her all was dashed so much did he dote upon Irene This the Nobles and State could not bear he therefore at last so far considered the publique as he overcame his doting affections He brought Irene before them and sayes That ye may see how much I prize the content of my people I sacrifice her to them and so drew his sword and slew her with his own hands before their eyes If according to her demerits for drawing his heart away from the good of the Common-wealth she had bin given up to the sword of justice it might have satisfied as well But lest I be thought to be too literall give me leave to allegorize upon this Irene Her name is a Greek name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it signifies peace we must not so dote upon our Irene our private peace that the publique should suffer for the sake of it This is baseness let her be sacrificed for publick good this is true generousness Secondly that is baseness when our yeilding is thorough ignorance cowardize base fear not from a principle of wisdome and understanding not so much out of true love to peace as a foolish ignorant sottish sordid spirit of our own whereas had we had a spirit of wisdome and courage we might have peace upon more honourable terms Indeed many think every kinde of yeilding basness but they are for the most part such as are not put to any great triall themselves But when our consciences tell us that what we do is what the rule allowes us it is not because we would avoyd trouble but we find thorough Gods grace our hearts in some measure prepared for suffering if God were pleased to call us to it in any thing wherein he may have glory and the publick may be benefited But because all things duly considered we see that God in such a way shall have more glory and our brethren generally more good therefore whatsoever becomes of our particular in regard of esteem or other wayes we are willing to yeild and in this we finde our hearts as much closing with God enjoying Communion with him in all holinesse and godly fear and in other things that go as near to us we are able to deny our selves as much as ever in this we may have comfort that it is not baseness that makes us yeild but rather the grace of God enabling us to rule over our own spirits The peace that we thus purchase with the suffering much in our names and the loss of many comforts does not cost us too dear CHAP. XXXII Joyning Considerations The first The consideration of the many things wherein God hath joyned us GOd hath joyned us together as we are men we are not dogs not wolves let us not be so one to another Act. 7. 26. Moses speaks thus to those who strove one with another Sirs ye are brethren why do yee wrong one another The words in the Greek are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 men yet are brethren There is a consideration in this that ye are men if there were no more yet ye should not strive one with another but much more considering ye are brethren If we be men let us be humane What is the meaning of humanity but courteousness gentleness pleasantness in our carriages one towards another But still the consideration growes higher as we are the same Country-men of old acquaintance in the same imployment of the same family and kindred but above all joyned in such a blessed root the fountain of all love and peace Ephes 4. 4. presents this consideration most fully to us The reason the Apostle gives why we must keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace is because there is one body and one spirit ye are called in one hope one Lord one faith one baptisme one God and Father of all Here you have seven Ones together in two or three lines It is very much that the spirit of God should joyn so close together seven Ones surely it is to be a strong argument for us to unity First one Body The meanest member yet it is in the body Is it comely for the body of Christ to be rent and torn any reference to Christ might perswade unity but union with Christ as the members with the body what heart can stand against the strength of this What can cause one member to tear and rend another but madness 2. One Spirit 1 Cor. 12. 11. that one and the self same spirit he does not only say The same spirit but The self same spirit and as if that not enough he addes One to the self same and that yet not enough he sayes That one all this is in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The repeating the Article hath a great elegancy in it And is not this one Spirit the Spirit of love and meeknesse What does a froward contentious spirit do in thee who professt thy self to be a Christian What sayes Cyprian does the fierceness of Wolves the madnesse of Dogs the deadly poyson of Serpents the bloudy rage of Beasts in a Christians breast 3. Called in one hope Are not you heyres joynt heyres of the same Kingdome and do you contend as if one belonged to the kingdome of light and the other to the kingdome of darknesse 4. One Lord. You serve the same Lord and Master Is it for the credit of a Master that his servants are alwayes wrangling and fighting one with another Is it not a tedious thing in a family that the servants can never agree Mark how ill
the Lord takes this Mat. 24. 49. 50 51. that evill servant who begins to smite his fellow-servants provokes his Lord against him so as to come upon him with such severity as to cut him asunder and to appoint his portion with the Hypocrites 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he will dichotomize him divide him in two he by his smiting his fellow-servants makes divisions but his Lord will divide him It may be he pretends that his fellow-servants do not do their duty as they ought as if he were more carefull of the honour of his Lord then others who are of a different way from him But in the meane while he inveighs against others smiting them with the tongue and otherwise as he is able He sits at full Tables eats and drinks of the best with such as are carnall and sensuall but they are great men to have their countenance is brave this is extreme sutable to a carnall heart who yet keeps up a profession of Religion hath some forme of godlinesse he is afraid to lose his fleshly contentment therefore he smites those who stand in his way Thus divisions and troubles are made in Gods family The Lord the master of it will reward accordingly he will divide such by cutting them asunder and appointing them their portion with the Hypocrites 5. One Faith What though we agree not together in some things of lesser moment yet we agree in one faith Why should we not then keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace The agreement in the faith one would think should swallow up all other disagreements We should rather blesse God for keeping men found in the faith then contend with them for lesser mistakes When the Pharisees Acts 23. 9. understood that Paul agreed with them in that great doctrine of the Resurrection they presently overlooked his other differences saying We finde no evill in this man Our Brethren agree with us in more Fundamentals then this and yet we can finde evill in them and aggravate their evill beyond what it is and improve it all we can against them This is worse then Pharisaicall Master Calvin in his Epistle to our Countreymen at Frankford fled for their lives in witnesse to the truth yet miserably jarring and contending one against another there to the scandall of all the Churches of God in those parts begins his Epstle thus This doth grievously torment me it is extremely absurd that dissentions should arise amongst brethren exiles fled from their countrey for the same faith and for that cause which alone in this your scattering ought to be to you as a holy band to keepe you fast bound together Their contentions were about Church-worship 6. One Baptisme We are baptised into Christs death and is not that to shew that we should be dead to all those things in the world that cause strife and contention among men Our Baptisme is our badge our livery it furthers somewhat the unity of servants that they weare all one livery 7. One God Though there be three persons in the Divine Nature and every person is God yet there is but one God here is an union infinitely beyond all unions that any creature can be capable of the mystery of this union is revealed to us to make us in love with union Our interest in this one God is such a conjuction as nothing can be more Josephs brethren Gen. 50. 17. looked upon this as having very great power in it to make up all breaches to heal all old grudges After their Father was dead their consciences misgave them for what they had done to Joseph they were afraid old matters would break forth and that Joseph would turn their enemy now how do they seek to unite Josephs heart to them We pray thee say they forgive the trespasse of the servants of the God of thy Father and the Text sayes Joseph wept when they spake unto him Oh this was a heart-breaking speech to Joseph The servants of the God of my Father Shall my heart ever be stranged from the servants of the God of my Father The Lord forbid This offence indeed was great but their God is my God he was my Fathers God this argument had more in it to draw Josephs heart to them then if they had said We are your brethren we came from the same loynes you did True that is something but the servants of the God of thy Father is much more Let us look upon all the godly though they have many weaknesses though they have not carryed themselves towards us as they ought yet they are the servants yea the children of our God and of our fathers God let this draw our hearts to them If they be one with us in their interest in one God let them be one with us in the affections of our heart to love them delight in them and rejoyce in communion with them One God and Father Mal. 2. 10. Have we not all one Father hath not one God created us why do we deale treacherously every man against his brother Job 31. 15. Did not he that made me in the wombe make him and did not one fashion us in the wombe Is it seemly that one mans children should be alwayes contending quarrelling and mischieving one another do you thinke this is pleasing to your Father It followes in that 4. of Ephes who is above all and through all and in all You have enough in your Father to satisfie your soules for ever whatsoever you want other wayes he is above all he that is so glorious and blessed infinitely above all things hath put honour enough upon you that he is your Father why will you contend and quarrell about trifles He hath absolute authority to dispose of all things as he pleaseth let not the different administrations of his to some in one kinde to some in another be matter for you to contend about And he worketh in all Those gifts and graces especially that are in his children are his workings that some have more then others it is from his working You may see the workings of your Father in the hearts of your Brethren He is in all Men may have children in whom little or nothing of their Father appeares but God is in all his children notwithstanding all their weaknesses therefore our hearts should be in them and with them This Scripture is one of the most famous Scriptures for the union of the Saints in one that we have in all the book of God You will say If indeed we could see God in such if we could see grace and holinesse in them our hearts would close with them but we see not this 1. Take heed thou dost not reject any from being thy brother whom Jesus Christ at the great day will owne for his and God the Father will call Child 2. Suppose thou canst not be satisfied in their godlinesse yet the gifts of the Spirit of God that are in them should cause some kind
of closing common gifts are of a middle nature between nature and grace as the spirits of a man are neither of the same nature with the soule nor of the body but between both and serve to unite the soule and body together which otherwise are of natures very different The common gifts that men who are not yet sanctified have may and should cause some union between the godly and them while they live in this world so far as to be usefull one to another in what God hath given them The second joyning Consideration Let us consider how farre we can agree VVE differ thus and thus but what doe we agree in doe we not agree in things enough wherein we may all the dayes of our lives spend all the strength we have in glorifying God together Many men are of such spirits as they love to be altogether busied about their brethrens differences their discourse their pens and all their wayes are about these and that not to heale them but rather to widen them You shall not hear them speak of or meddle with their agreements their strength is not bent to heighten and strengthen them if at any time they do take notice of their agreements it is to make advantage of them to render their disagreements the more odious or to strengthen themselves in what they differ from them they desire to get in men and to get from them only to serve their owne turnes upon them this is an evill spirit No marvaile therefore though some be so loath to discover to them how near they can come to him Pliny tells us of Apelles that drawing the face of Antiochus the King who had but one eye that he might hide this deformity he devised to paint him turning his visage a little away so he shewed but the one side of his face and from him sayes Pliny came the invention first of concealing the defects and blemishes of the visage But the Painters of 〈◊〉 time are quite in another way if there be any deformity or defect on any side they will be sure to paint that side in all the linâ—â—ments of it that must be set forth fully to the view of all men yea if it may be made to look more ugly and monstrous then it is all the skill they have shall be improved to do it But my brethren this ought not to be God doth not so with us he takes notice of the good of his children but conceals their evill There was but one good word in Sarahs speech to Abraham Gen. 18. 12. she called him Lord the speech otherwise was a speech of unbelief yet the holy Ghost speaking afterwards of her in reference to that speech 1 Pet. 3. 6. conceals all the evill in it and mentions only that reverend title she gave to her husband commending her for it Thus should we do had we peceable hearts thus we would do all the good of our brethren we would improve to the uttermost and what is evill so far as with a good conscience we might we could conceal When I shall see this temper in mens spirits I shall hope there will be peace The third joyning Consideration Let us consider of mens tempers spirits temptations education yeeres gifts THere must be a due consideration of all these and we must indulge something to them all This would allay much strife as we read Numb 31. 23. Every thing that may abide the fire ye shall make it goe thorough the fire and all that abideth not the fire ye shall make goe thorough the water We must deal with every man according to his temper Some men are by their complexions of a more harsh and rugged temper then others Consider what is the best way of dealing with such in the main they are faithfull and usefull they will joyn with you there and spend their lives for you if the harshness of their natures cause some excrescencies unpleasing carriages consider their tempers though no evill in them is to be justified yet deal tenderly with them indulge them what lawfully you may Some mens spirits though upright to God and you yet they have a fervor in them that is not qualified with that wisdome meekness humility as they ought do not presently take these advantages against them that they in their heat may perhaps give you do not fly upon them as if those unjustifiable expressions that com from them came from a spirit of malignity You know the man and the manner of his communication pass by weaknesses accept of uprightnesse Some mens temptation are very strong it may be their hearts are pressed with disappointments it may be they are pricked with the want of many comforts you have they have family-temptations and personall temptations that you are freed from you do not know what you might doe if you were under the like temptations Blesse God that you are delivered from them but do not adde to your brethrens affliction by taking advantages against them but according to the rule of the Apostle Gal. 6. 1. If a man be overtaken in a fault ye which are spirituall restore such a one in the spirit of meekness considering thy selfe lest thou also be tempted Beare ye one anothers burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ Consider their education Some men have been brought up altogether amongst Prelaticall men perhaps among Papists some all their dayes have lived in wicked families they never were acquainted with the society of the Saints with that way of godlinesse that hath the most strictnesse and power in it You must not deale with them for all things you see amisse in them in the same way you would deale with such who have had godly education who have had acquaintance with the most strict and powerfull wayes of godlinesse but now manifest a spirit against them Consider mens yeares old age looks for respect and justly especially such as have gone through the brunt and suffered much for your good though some infirmities should break forth that are incident to old age we must cover and passe by what we can not forgetting that reverent respect that is due to the hoary head found in the way of godlinesse Consider mens gifts it may be they are not able to rise to your height to understand what you do thank God for your strength but be not angry with your brother because he is weaker This was one of the arguments for peace that Constantine in that forementioned Letter of his to Alexander and Arius used we are not in all things like minded neither have we all the same nature and gift engrafted in us The fourth joyning Consideration What we get by contention will never quit cost A Merchant thinks it an ill venture if when he casts up his accounts he finds the charge of his voyage rises to more then his incomes If thou hast so much command of thy spirit if thou canst so farre overcome thy passions as to get a time in coole
this where the patience and quietness of spirit is very much tryed and that is when a servant meets with a harsh rugged cruell master that abuses him very injuriously if any thing would put ones spirit into a rage one would thinke this would do it No saith the Apostle such must be the command you must have over your spirits as you must patiently bear this and he grounds it upon this For hereunto were ye called 1 Pet. 2. 21 22. But though husbands and wives should live at peace though they suffer one from another though servants should put up wrongs from their masters yet it followes not that the like patience should be required in us when we are wronged by our equals by those to whom we have no such band of relation to tye us Yes this argument of calling is strong in this case also 1 Pet. 3. 8 9. Love as brethren be courteous not rendring evill for evill or railing for railing but contrariwise blessing knowing that ye are thereunto called The tenth Consider the presence of God and of Christ OUr God our Father our Master our Saviour stands by looking on us It is a most excellent passage that I finde in an Epistle of Luther to the Ministers of Norimberg There were great divisions amongst them he writes to them that he might pacifie their spirits one towards another Suppose sayes he you saw Jesus Christ standing before you and by his very eyes speaking thus unto your hearts What do you O my dear children whom I have redeemed with my blood whom I have begotten againe by my Word to that end that you might love one another Know that this is the note of my Disciples Leave this businesse ye wholly cast it upon me I le look to it there is no danger that the Church should suffer by this though it should be stilled yea though it should dye but there is a great deale of danger if you dissent amongst your selves if you bite one another Do not thus sadden my spirit do not thus spoile the holy Angels of their joy in Heaven am not I more to you then all matters that are between you then all your affections then all your offences What can any words of a brother can any unjust trouble penetrate your hearts stick so fast in you as my wounds as my bloud as all that I am to you your Saviour Jesus Christ Oh that we had such reall apprehensions of Christ looking upon us speaking to us The eleventh Consider what account we can give to Jesus Christ of all our Divisions WHen Christ shall come will you stand before him with scratched faces with black and blew eyes 1 Thes 3. 12 13. The Lord make you to increase and abound in love one towards another and towards all men To what end To the end saith the Apostle he may establish your hearts unblameable in holinesse before God even our Father at the comming of our Lord Iesus Christ with all his Saints It will be a sad thing to be found in our divisions at the comming of Jesus Christ Mat. 24. 50. the comming of Christ is mentioned as a terror to those who shall but begin to smite their fellow-servants We may wrangle stand out one against another in our contentions now but it will not be so easie to answer Jesus Christ as it is to answer one to another In the Name of Jesus Christ I now speak unto you yea as from him charge you let no reason move you to contend with dissent or seperate from your brethren but that which you are perswaded in your conscience and that after due and serious examination will hold out before will be approved of Jesus Christ at his comming The twelfth Let every man consider his owne weaknesses YOu are ready to take offence from others within a while you are as like to be offensive to others There will be as much need they should beare with you as now there is you should beare with them The Common Law of those who intend to live at peace one with another is Veniam petimus damusque We desire pardon and we doe pardon The thirteenth Let us consider our mortality IT is but a little time we have to live shall the greater part of it nay why should any part of it be ravel'd out with contentions and quarrels I have read of Pompey that upon a time passing over divers hils where there lived many people in caves but their order was that the man lived in one cave and the wife in another he asking the reason they said In those parts they live not long therefore they desired that the little time they did live they might have peace and quiet which they had found by experience they could not have if man and wife lived constantly together Though the means they used for their quiet was sordid yet the good use they made of the shortnesse of their lives was commendable Virgil sayes if swarms of Bees meet in the ayre they will sometimes fight as it were in a set battell with great violence but if you cast but a little dust upon them they will all be presently quiet Sprinkle upon your hearts the meditations of death that within a while this flesh of yours will be turned to dust this will quiet you The fourteenth Consider the life of heaven THere is and will be perfect agreement there We are here as Bees flying up and down from flower to flower all day but at night they come all into the same Hive That is a place where Luther and Zuinglius will well agree Shall not we whom God from all eternity hath ordained to live co-heires in heaven to joyn together in praises there agree together here on earth CHAP. XXXIII Joyning graces 1. Wisdome THe deepest Seas are the most calme so men of the deepest judgements are most quiet A man of understanding is of an excellent spirit Prov. 17. 27. or thus is of a coole spirit for so the word signifies his spirit is not heat with passion there is a coole dew of examination and deliberation upon his spirit he weighs the circumstances consequences and issues of things he orders and disposes of things so as jarres contradictions and oppositions are prevented The wisdome that is from above is pure peaceable gentle and easie to be entreated Jam. 3. 17. Reason and Wisdome have a majesty in them and will force reverence Let Passion reverence the presence of Reason sayes Basil as children doing things unseemly are afraid of the presence of men of worth 2. Faith 1. THis unites us to Christ and God and in them to one another 2. Faith commits all causes all feares injures to God 3. Faith layes hold upon and improves those gracious promises that God hath made to his Churches for union Faith sues out the Bond. 4. Faith is able to descry the issue of troubles and afflictions Though Sense sayes It will not be Reason It cannot be yet
Hermon that descended upon the mountaines of Sion Psal 123. There are many promises made to this Mat. 5. Blessed are the peace-makers 2 Cor. 13. 11. Be of one minde live in peace and the God of peace shall be with you John 15. 12. Christ sayes This is his commandement that we love one another ver 14. he sayes Ye are my friends if ye doe whatsoever I command you By loving others we doe not only get them to be our friends but Christ too Me thinks I see Christ here pleading for love as one who had to deale with two men who were at some variance perswading them to peace and love Come you shall passe by all former things you shall be made friends by this you shall gaine me also to be a friend to you as long as I live Genes 13. ver 8. to the end is a remarkable Scripture to shew how God is with a loving gentle peaceable disposition Ver. 8. 9. we have Abrahams kinde gentle yeelding to Lot his inferiour for peace sake but mark what followes and you shall finde he lost nothing by this his yeelding for as soone as Lot was gone from him the Lord came to him ver 14. and said to him Lift up now thine eyes and looke from the place where thou art Northward Southward Eastward and Westward for all the Land that thou seest to thee will I give it and to thy seed for ever arise walke thorough the Land in the length of it and in the breadth of it for I will give it unto thee The difference of what Jacob sayes of Reuben when he was to dye Gen. 49. 4. from that of Moses Deut. 33. 6. is observable Jacob sayes Hee is the first borne the beginning of his strength but he shall not excell because he went to his fathers bed But Moses Let Reuben live and not dye and let not his men be few The reason of this difference is given by some because it was fit that Jacob to deter his other children should exercise the authority of a father but Moses frees him from the curse because he was alwayes loving to his brother Ioseph Brotherly love hath a blessing going along with it God loves it exceedingly for it makes much for the glory of God And to what purpose do we live if God have not glory by us Rom. 15. 5 6 7. the Apostle first prayes that the God of patience and consolution would grant them to be like minded one towards another according to Christ Jesus that they may with one minde and one mouth glorifie God Then he exhorts Wherefore receive ye one another as Christ also received us to the glory of God Much of Gods glory depends upon our union Yea God stands so much upon this that he is willing to stay for his service till we be at peace one with another Mat. 5. 23 24. Leave thy gift before the Altar and first be reconciled to thy brother and then come and offer thy gift My worship shall stay till you be reconciled I love my worship and desire it much but I must have peace and love amongst your selves first I will stay for that But I beseech you let us not make God stay too long Remember while you are wrangling and quarrelling God stayes on you all this while If children should be quarrelling and one comes to them and sayes Your father stayes for you it is time for them to break off But not unmannerly with God in making him stay so long upon you some of you have made him wait upon you for an acceptable duty of worship divers weeks yea it may be many moneths and yet your spirits are not in temper to offer any sacrifice to God What a fearfull evill is it then to stand out in a stubborne sullen dogged manner refusing to be reconciled Learned Drusius cites Hebrew Writers saying That he that offends his brother ought to seeke to pacifie him if he refuse to be pacified then he must bring three of his friends with him to intercede twice or thrice and if he shall after this refuse then he is to leave him and such a man quia implacabilis est vocatur peccator is called a sinner with a speciall note upon him Lastly the Saints enjoyment of the sweetnesse of love peace and unity among themselves what is it but heaven upon earth Heaven is above all storms tempests troubles the happinesse of it is perfect rest We pray that the will of God might bee done on earth as it is done in heaven why may not we have a heaven upon earth this would sweeten all our comforts yea all our afflictions But the Devill envies us this happinesse Come Lord Jesus come quickly If you would have the excellency of love set before you more fully reade over and over again the Epistles of Iohn Ecclesiasticall story reports of this blessed Apostle whose heart was so full of love that when he grew very old not able to preach yet he would be brought into the congregation in a chaire and there say only these words Little children flee idolatry love one another But the more excellent union and peace is the more is the pitty that it should be abused to be serviceable to mens lusts the more would our misery be if we should be abused in our treaties about it if we should have a mock-peace if we should be gulled in either offers of or conclusions about peace if peace should be made our ruine but a preparation of us for slaughter It hath been by many observed that what the English gained of the French in battell by valour the French regained of the English by cunning Treaties The Lord deliver us from such French tricks Let us all be for peace yet so as not to be befooled into bondage by the name of peace Now God hath by his mighty arme helped us let us not be put off with a bable and made to beleeve it is this Pearle We know with whom we have to deale And now as the Apostle 2 Thess 3. 5. The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God Let me adde And into the love of one another Let us all study peace seek peace follow peace pursue peace and the God of peace be with us FINIS The Contents Chap. 1. THe Text opened and suitableness thereof shewed p. 1. Chap. 2. The evill of dividing between God and any thing else p. 6. Chap. 3. Heart-divisions one from another the difficulty of medling with them 11. the Causes of them and method in handling them 12. Chap. 4. The first Dividing Principle There can be no agreement without uniformity 14. wherein is shewn in what things it is necessary for peace we should be the same and in what not 15. Chap. 5. The second Dividing Principle All Religions are to be tolerated wherein is discussed the power of the Magistrate in matters of Religion 19. and 158. Chap. 6. That question discussed What should be done to a man