A PERSWASIVE TO Peace Unity AMONG CHRISTIANS Notwithstanding their different Apprehensions in lesser things 1 Cor. 1.10 Now I beseech you Brethren by the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ that ye all speak the same thing and that there be no Divisions among you but that ye be perfectly joyned together in the same mind and in the same Judgment Phil. 2.2 Fulfill ye my joy that ye be like minded having the same Love being of one accord of one mind Rom. 14.19 Let us therefore follow after the things which make for Peace and things wherewith one may edifie another LONDON Printed for B. Aylmer at the Three Pigeons in Cornhil near the Poultry 1672. A PERSWASIVE TO Peace and Unity AMONG CHRISTIANS THE deep sense of the very ill effects of our Church-Divisions hath put me as it should do every good Christian upon healing considerations An account of some of which I shall give in the following Discourse which I shall ground on the words of St. Paul Eph. 4.3 Endeavouring to keep the Unity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace Which contain that behaviour in part by which Christians may and ought to walk worthy of that Vocation to which they are called Unto which the Apostle doth with the greatest earnestness exhort and perswade them in this and the two former Verses And the words give us occasion to inquire into two things 1. What is meant by the Unity of the Spirit 2. How this Unity is preserved by Peace and how we are to endeavour so to preserve it 1. What is meant by the Unity of the Spirit The Unity of the Spirit is that One-ness among Christians which the Spirit of God worketh or effecteth by the Gospel which is the Ministration of the Spirit For by the Spirits operation through that Men become one in Faith or Perswasion one in Profession one in Affection and one in Communion And by their Union and agreement in these or the three former of these they become one Body or Spiritual Corporation under Christ the Head of it By one Spirit we are all Baptized into one Body and are made to drink into one Spirit 1 Cor. 12.13 For the work of the Ministry till we all come to the Unity of the Faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God Ephes 4.12 13. 1. They are by the Spirit made one in faith or perswasion touching the great fundamental truths in the Christian Religion such as the Apostle doth instance in in the three following Verses Even as ye were called in one hope of your Calling One Lord one Faith one Baptism one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all First they are all called by the Gospel to embrace Christianity in One Hope of obtaining forgiveness of sins and eternal Life Secondly they all agree in professing Faith in One Lord Jesus Christ as the only Mediator in opposition to the Lords many the many Mediators the Heathen professed to have and to worship 1 Cor. 8.5 6. Thirdly they all agree in the Belief that the Doctrine of the Gospel by Christ and his Apostles contained in the Holy Scriptures is a revelation from God touching what Men ought to believe and how they ought to live called the One Faith and the Common Faith from the Christians unanimous agreement in it Tit. 1.4 Fourthly they all agree and are one in the belief of One God and Father of all in opposition to the many Idol-gods worshipped by others Fifthly there is also One Baptism by which all the Christians with one consent make profession solemnly of their belief in and Dedication to the Worship and Service of the Father Son and Holy Ghost into whose Name they were Baptized and by which as by a sacred Rite they are solemnly declared to be of the one Body the Church By one Spirit are all Baptized into one Body 2. They all agree and are one in the Profession of the Common Faith the fundamental Doctrines of the Gospel the belief of which is of necessity to Salvation Which Profession is called The acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness Tit. 1.1 2 Tim. 2.25 The acknowledgment of the Mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ Col. 2.2 As with the heart they believe unto Righteousness so with the Mouth confession is made unto Salvation Rom. 10.10 3. So far as they are Christians indeed they are all one in affection or Brotherly Love They Love all Men even those that are not Christians with a love of compassion desiring and seeking their good but they love their fellow Christians wish a special kind of love for the appearance of good in them for their one-ness with them in the Faith called a loving or the Truths sake which is in them 2 John 1.2 And a loving them in the 〈◊〉 Tit. 3.15 By which they become One 〈◊〉 and 〈…〉 togethâ—◠〈◊〉 Love Act. 4.32 Col. 2.2 And hence it is that Faith in our Lord 〈◊〉 Christ and love to all the Saints are frequently joyned together in Scripture 4. All they that rightly be of the Unity of the Spirit are also one in Communion One in their Communion in Grace mutually loving one another and praying one for another One in Communion in Gifts edifying one another as they have opportunity And one in Communion in Ordinances communicating together in Ordinances of Divine Worship Spiritually with all and locally with those among whom they live 1 Cor. 10.17 For we being many are one Bread and one Body for we are all partakers of that one Bread These are the things in which the Unity of the Spirit doth especially consist Not that I limit it to these only for it is the work of the Spirit in the Gospel to be bringing the Believers to speak all the same thing and to be perfectly joyned together in the same mind and in the same judgment in the lesser things of Religion as well as the greater but their actual agreement lyeth mostly in the greater 2. How this Unity is preserved by Peace and how we are to endeavour so to preserve it Unity in the whole community of Christians is preserved by each Member's observing the Laws and Rules made for the Government and good Order of the whole in their carriage towards each other For while every Man Acts his own part only and keeps in his own Rank according to Rule there is no confusion no disturbance no division and peace and confusion or disorder are put in opposition to one another 1 Cor. 14.33 Christ the Head of the Church or Spiritual Corporation hath made several excellent Laws and Rules to govern the Members of his Body in their behaviour one towards another for the common good of the whole and for the Honour of their Religion and of him who is the great Founder of it As that all their things should be done in Charity That they be gentle and courteous humble and condescending in Honour
28.18 And the reason is plain because they can never be disproved to be Disciples of Christ in one sence or other that are visibly of the Church For the Church is Christ's School and all that are of the Church are Christ's Scholars If they say Infants are no Disciples because they are not in a capacity to learn I answer Although they are not in the properest and nearest capacity to learn yet it doth not therefore follow that they are in no such capacity of it as that they may be called and reputed to be Disciples or Learners The Scripture useth to reckon or impute the doing of things to Children when yet they have been but in as remote a capacity of doing those things themselves as they are of Learning Thus little Children were said to enter into Covenant Deut. 29.11 12. to keep Covenant and to break Covenant Gen. 17 10.14 And the Children of the Kohothites of a moneth old were said to keep the charge of the Sanctuary Numb 3.28 And Levi to pay Tithes in Abraham while he was yet in his Loins Heb. 7.9 10. Doubtless they were said to do these things either because they did them virtually in their Parents as being morally one with them untill they could chuse for themselves Or else because they were under visible Circumstances of being certainly taught by their Parents to do them themselves when they should be in the nearest and properest capacity so to do and to own what their Parents had done on their behalf in the mean time as much as if they had done it in their own Persons But for whether of these reasons or for both or for any other they were said to do such things while but Children for the same reasons may little Children while but such be as truly said to be Disciples or Learners And upon one account or other Children as well as Parents are called Disciples in Act. 15.10 Where somes urging the necessity of the Gentiles being Circumcised after the manner of Moses that is to be proselyted by Circumcision is called a laying a yoak upon the neck of the Disciples Seeing then the manner of Moses was to Circumcise Proselytes both Fathers and Male Children and the pressing the continuance of this among all Gentiles Proselyted to Christianity is called a putting a yoak upon the neck of the Disciples it is impossible to prove but that the Children as well as the Fathers are meant by the Disciples upon whose neck the yoak would have been laid because it is manifest they as well as their Fathers were the Persons whose Circumcision was urged as necessary For these reasons I conclude they will never be able to prove little Children to be no Disciples and if not they can never be able to prove them excluded out of Christ's Commission for Baptizing Disciples 3. They cannot prove that the ends of Baptism are not attained when Administred to Infants of Believing Parents First one great end of Baptism is to signifie to all Men by visible sign and representation the same thing which Gods Covenant in the Gospel doth by Word Baptism conveys to the mind by the sense of seeing the same thing as the word of the Gospel doth by the sense of hearing which is the Covenant of Salvation or the terms on which God hath promised to save Men. Christ's Death Burial and Resurrection as the means by which pardon and Salvation are conditionally obtained for and promised to all Men are signified in Baptism And our dying unto sin and rising to a new Life as the condition upon which that pardon and Salvation are promised are likewise signified in Baptism Hence we are said to be buryed with Christ in Baptism into Death and to be raised with him Rom. 6.3 4 5 6. Col. 2.12 And to be saved as by a figure by Baptism as it signifies the Resurrection of Christ and the answer of a good Conscience 1 Pet. 3.21 And because the substance of the new Covenant is represented in Baptism thence it is that Baptism is called the sign of the Covenant And because it is an institution of God to assure Men that upon the terms signified by it they shall be pardoned and saved thence it is called the Seal of the Covenant as Circumcision for the like reason was For Circumcision was a sign to signifie upon what condition God promised Men to be their God and a Seal to assure them that upon their performing that Condition he would be their God And the Condition signified was Circumcision in the Spirit as St. Paul expounds it Rom. 2.28 29. that is mortification or the change of the heart the same for substance with the new Birth represented in Baptism But then Baptism no more than Circumcision doth signifie that all that have received it have performed the Condition of the promise of Salvation therein signified but to assure them and all others that upon the performance of it the benefits promised shall be conferred For the sign of the Covenant doth not signifie more to Men than the Covenant it self and the Covenant it self doth not signifie to Men that they have performed the Condition of it As to this end then as Circumcision was of a publick and common use to the Females as well as the Males though they were not circumcised themselves so is Baptism much more both to the Persons themselves who are Baptized and to all others as well when it is administred to Children as when to Men of riper years 2. Another end of Baptism is to oblige the Persons Baptized to perform the Condition of the Covenant in being born again of making them new hearts and becoming new Creatures as ever they hope to receive the benefits of pardon and Salvation promised in the Covenant upon that Condition It is from this Obligation that a holy Life is frequently pressed upon Christians from their having been Baptized and that it is called the Baptism unto Repentance Rom. 6. Col. 2 and 3 Chap. Mark 1. And Baptism can be no less an Obligation to Repentance and a Holy Life when administred to Infants than Circumcision was in like case and yet St. Paul said that whosoever was Circumcised was bound to keep the Law Gal. 5. And those Baptized in their Infancy if when they come to years of discretion do prove such as make Conscience of their own personal Obligation they usually take themselves to be as much obliged by their Infant-Baptism as they do who are Baptized at years of discretion and discharge it as well All which considered Infant-Baptism cannot be proved a Nullity as to this end neither 3. Another end of Baptism if it be not the same with that before mentioned is a solemn dedication of the person Baptized to the Worship and Service of the Father Son and Holy Spirit called a being Baptized in the Name or into the Name of Father Son and Holy Ghost Mat. 28. And is not such an Act done by Parents as obliging to their Children
of which difference of knowledge and grace differences are apt more or less to arise among them The weak are apt to be more scrupulous than the strong as being more in the dark and so apter to stumble Whereupon the strong if they be not restrained by Humility and Charity are apt to despise them when they cannot make them understand what is plain and evident to them themselves And the weak again if they be not restrained by Humility and Charity are apt to judge and censure the strong as if they were not so conscientious because not so scrupulous as themselves And upon this despising and judging one another the bond of peace is broken and a way prepared for dividing For when the weak see themselves neglected slighted not regarded and set at nought by the strong it discourages them and takes off the pleasure of their Society and Communion and makes them weary of it and becomes a temptation to them to forsake it and to follow any opposite party that will head them And when the strong again find themselves judged and censured by the weak as if they were Men of little Conscience they are apt to look upon themselves as being by such prejudice taken up against them put out of a capacity of serving them which becomes a temptation to them to neglect them and somewhat to estrange themselves from them Or however though that temptation should not prevail so far upon them yet all endeavours of the strong to help and cure the weak are by the prejudice which the weak have against them when they once fall to judging them made very much ineffectual so mischievous and baneful to the Churches peace and Unity is proud despising and uncharitable censuring one another This was the case between the believing Jews and Gentiles upon which the first considerable breach we read of brake out in the Christian Church of which we have an account in Act. 15. and Rom. 14. and other places The believing Jews durst not use such liberty in meat as the believing Gentiles did nor did the believing Gentiles think themselves obliged to be circumcised and to observe Jewish Festivals as the believing Jews thought they were Hereupon the believing Gentiles which understood their Liberty despised the believing Jews when they could not make them understand it too And the believing Jews on the other hand fell to judging the believing Gentiles as looser than themselves and as Men of no Conscience because they did not make Conscience of Meats and days of Circumcision as well as themselves And upon this unchristian carriage of one towards another under their different apprehensions in these things great divisions sidings and disturbances among them did ensue Now that all such despising and judging one another and dividing from one another about their difference in lesser matters of doubtful disputation should be forborn by Christians so long as they agree in the essentials of Christianity St. Paul declares upon these two grounds among others 1. Because upon the Common Faith wherein they were both agreed they were at the first received by the Lord into his Church and so into a near Relation to himself And therefore their after-differences which did not destroy that Foundation upon which that Relation was first built were no sufficient ground of despising or judging one another or of dividing or withdrawing one from another This is plainly set down in these words Let him that eateth not despise him that eateth not and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth for God hath received him Rom. 14.3 And this reason is farther backed and urged again Chap. 15.7 Wherefore receivere one another as Christ also received us to the glory of God Those whom God hath received into his Church upon such and such grounds we may not we ought not to discourage or reject by despising or judging or withdrawing so long as that remains in them upon which God at first received them Which holds in all other cases of difference between Christians that agree in the main as these did as well as in this between the believing Jews and Gentiles It is upon the like reason and ground that our Apostle in the words upon which I found my discourse and those following Ephes 4. presseth upon Christians the great duty of endeavouring to keep the Unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace viz. because they were at first incorporated into one Body by a profession and acknowledgment of one God and Father of all of one Lord Jesus Christ of one Holy Spirit of the Father and the Son of one Doctrine of Faith of one Hope of one Baptism Which fundamental points believed and lived to are sufficient to Salvation And if so they are sufficient bonds of Union and boundaries of Communion whatever difference in lesser things may otherwise occur For more in profession cannot be absolutely necessary to Church-Communion then what in reality is absolutely necessary to Salvation For as the one doth constitute the Church as invisible so doth the other the Church as visible And the same thing which constitutes the Church as visible must needs invest the Members thereof in a right to its external priviledges And if the Church had kept this her ground upon which she was first built and not made more conditions of Communion she had never been cut mangled and torn into I know not how many pieces as she hath been and at this day is And I see not any probability of her recovery to her primitive Union and Communion till she return to this her first Foundation of Union and boundary of Communion But a return to this would quickly do it if all Christians would acquiesce therein And why they should not as well as the primitive Christians the best Christians that ever the World saw did I understand not nor ever could hear any good reason to make me understand it 2. St. Pauls other reason why Christians that agree in the main as aforesaid should not despise or judge or withdraw from one another for their differing in lesser things is this because both parties differing but only so are to be presumed in the judgment of Charity to aim at the pleasing of God in what they differently hold and do For Charity according to which we are to guide our selves in all such cases of difference thinketh no evil but believeth and hopeth all things concerning others in the best sence and construction their Actions are capable of This was the case of the believing Jews and Gentiles they both aimed at the pleasing of God even in those things wherein they differed He that regardeeh the day regardeth it to the Lord and he that regardeth not the day to the Lord he doth not regard it He that eateth eateth to the Lord saith he for he giveth God thanks and he that eateth not to the Lord he eateth not and giveth God thanks Rom. 14.6 Both aimed at the approving themselves to God in
their contrary wayes And if the Lord in such a case will not despise or judge such an one so as to condemn him though under a mistake but of that Nature as certainly he will not but pity and pardon him for he hath compassion on them that are ignorant and out of the way much less should we who are fallible our felves and compassed about with infirmities Who art thou that judgest another mans Servant saith our Apostle to his own Master he standeth or falleth every one of us shall give an account of himself to God Let us not therefore judge one another any more ver 4.12 13. for that is a judgment belongs not unto us There is one Law-giver and one Judge who art thou that judgest another Jam. 4.12 That is what dost thou make thy self to be that darest to undertake such a thing And as we should be afraid to judge one another so we should of despising one another in any case like that before mentioned for our Saviours serious caveat against it argues it to be both much against his mind and of dangerous consequence to our selves and others Take heed that ye despise not one of these little Ones Mat. 18.10 He knew that his little Ones because but little Ones in knowledge and grace that have little of these to render their fellowship much desirable are apt to be neglected and slighted and to be thereby discouraged and turned aside he therefore cautions those that are stronger to take heed lest they should be betrayed into any carriage towards them as signifies their slighting of them Our Saviour had shewed before how sad a thing it would be for any Man to be instrumental in turning any weak Christian aside by any undue carriage towards him when he said in ver 6. Wo be to the World because of offences c. and wo be to him by whom the offence cometh And it would be far more Christ-like of whom it is said He shall not break the bruised Reed nor quench the smoaking Flax to use more care pains and tenderness towards the weak and feeble to preserve and increase that little spark of Christianity in them though it be no more and though there be no more appearance of it than there is of fire when only smoak can be discerned then towards those that are strong and do not stand in so very much need of tenderness in our carriage and applications to them Which also agrees excellently well with St. Paul's Metaphorical Discourse in 1 Cor. 12.23 24 25. Those Members of the Body which we think to be less honourable upon these we bestow more abundant honour and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness For our comely parts have no need but God hath tempered the Body together having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked that there should be no Schism in the Body implying that certainly there will be where such care tenderness of proceeding is not used towards such as are least accounted of in the Church Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down and the feeble knees and make straight paths for your feet by removing all discouraging impediments out of the way lest that which is lame be turned out of the way but rather let it be healed looking diligently lest any fail of the grace of God Heb. 12.12 13 15. How far all parties of Men among us have made themselves guilty of breaking the Peace and Unity of the Church by this unchristian despising and judging one another concerns them to consider and the guilty to repent of what is past and to reform for time to come that they may not be judged and condemned by God for what they have done That 's the second Direction III. Direction Those that would keep the Unity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace must be careful to forbear all hard speeches and ill reflexions on them that differ from them especially tale-bearing backbiting and whispering They must make no ill representation of one another behind their backs by raking up and then scattering abroad all the evil they can or whatever may tend to the disparagement or reproach of such as differ from them Because if they should be guilty herein though they may think thereby to weaken the Reputation of the Cause they oppose yet in truth they will be so far from reconciling their Opponent to their Cause as that they will thereby dishonour it and render it the more suspected and Communion with themselves so much the less desirable and all their own arguings the less available and by-standers the readier to fall in with those of a better behaviour as judging thereby their Cause to be better though in it self it should be worse for a good Cause may be spoiled in the handling All such unchristian carriage tends to exasperate imbitter and provoke the Spirits of their Opponents both against them and their Cause and to widen the breach more and more and to set them at the greater distance and to make them the more irreconcilable A froward Man soweth strife saith the Wise man Prov. 26.28 Grievous words stir up anger and the forcing of wrath bringeth forth strife and the words of a tale-bearer are as wounds Prov. 15.1 and 26.22 and 30.33 So true it is that the wrath of man doth not work the Righteousness of God Jam. 1.20 It is not for the interest of the Truth nor doth it any wayes advantage the cause of God No if any Man would see any good effect of his endeavours towards the Uniting of Men if he would see the Seed he sows come up let him be sure to avoid all harsh and unpeaceable proceedings therein The Fruit of Righteousness is sown in Peace of them that make Peace Jam. 3.18 The Servant of God must not strive but be gentle to all 2 Tim. 2.24 As we must follow Peace with all Men Heb. 12.14 So in order thereto we must speak evil of no Man Tit. 3.2 IV. Direction In Order to our keeping the Unity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace we must study rather to agree with than to differ from one another and be more sollicitous to find out what will bring us nearer together than what will set us at a greater distance And this is one way of following after the things which make for peace and of studying to be quiet to both which we are exhorted Rom. 14.20 1 Thes 4.11 And to this end I shall recommend these three things 1. To make Conscience of endeavouring as truly and sincerely to find out what may make us of their mind that differ from us if it be to be found out as what may tend to make them of our mind We should be as much afraid of offending against the publick Peace and Charity of the Church as against Truth of being guilty of Schism in practice as of error in judgment and take as much pains to keep our selves from a causless differing from others
men but it was for the Gospels sake as he saith and that he might by all means save some it was that he might gain the freer passage and readier reception of the gospel for the Salvation of men 1 Cor. 9.2.23 And accordingly he exhorted others to walk by the same rule and to consider and do what would best consist with publick benefit rather then what would best please and gratifie themselves We that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please our selves Rom. 15.1 Look not every man on his own things but every man also on the things of others Phil 2.4 If Christians on all hands among us had but acted and walked according to this rule nay if the dissenters would but have done it when the other could not be prevailed with the publick interest of Religion would not have been exposed to that loss and dammage as it is at this day And therefore as that publick benefit which might have been procured and secured by such yielding and condescending as circumstances made not only Lawful but necessary might have been a forcible motive so to have done so the publick dammage and mischief which a non-compliance under our circumstances tends to may and ought also to be a powerful disswasive from maintaining and continuing our distance upon such slight grounds as those are which have brought us to it For such a distance tends to keep open a wide breach in the Body of the Nation to the weakening of it and rendering it obnoxious to the Envy ill will or ambition of any publick Adversary or to create one if there were none it tends to the dishonour and reproach of the Nation it tends to weaken the Protestant interest and to bring a scandal and reproach upon our Religion it self and to put an Advantage into the hands of the Adversaries of it it tends to lay a stumbling-block in the way of such as are Atheistically inclined it tends to distract and unsettle the Peoples minds about the more necessary points of Religion or at least to divert them from the serious practice of them and it tends to the distraction of Christian Charity And that which tends to any one of these tends to a publick hurt and dammage how much more that which tends to them all And in good sadness are the things on either hand about which we differ of such necessity or value as that for the sake thereof the publick interest of Religion and of the Nation should run such hazards and sustain such apparent dammage by contending for them as they do Or can it be thought when seriously considered that God who hath said I desired Mercy and not Sacrifice and the knowledge of God rather than burnt-offerings which yet were his own institutions is such a lover of those things which are but circumstances of institutions at most wherein our difference as to communion of private Members lies as that he had rather the interest of Religion in the main and of National Societies of Men should deeply suffer then that those circumstances should be either waved or born withall Me-thinks those who have not Love and Zeal enough for Religion to be restrained from such dividing wayes and practices as evidently tend to its great prejudice should yet be restrained therefrom upon account of their own secular interest as that is exposed thereby to great hazards as that is involved in the common Fate of the Nation alwayes remembring who hath said A Nation divided against it self is brought to desolation VI. Direction Those that would keep the Unity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace had need to be careful not to impose upon their Christian Brethren as conditions of communion things of doubtful disputation or which are not some way necessary to further the great ends of Religion Because though some such things may not be unlawful in themselves yet so long as they are thought to be so by many it will occasion a breach as experience shews that from time to time it hath done And when the imposition of any thing that is apt to do so may be forborn without any detriment to Christianity in its end or means without any dishonour to God or wrong to Mens Souls it seems altogether incongruous then to impose it When the believing Gentiles would impose upon the believing Jews to use the same Liberty in Meat which they themselves did when those Jews were perswaded it was unlawful for them so to do and when again the believing Jews would impose upon the believing Gentiles the observation of dayes and other legal Rites which the Gentiles scrupled and that they fell to judging one another hereupon St. Paul interposed and directed and perswaded them that instead of this they would judge this rather as better becoming them that no man put a stumbling-block or an occasion to fall in his Brothers way that they would not by impositions tempt one another to do that which they could not do with satisfaction of Conscience or else to separate And to put one another upon a necessity of doing either the one or the other argued great uncharitableness Rom. 14.13 And when he had in ver 1. exhorted the strong to receive the weak into their communion he cautions them that by no means they would trouble them with matters of doubtful disputation That agreement of Christians in the substance of Doctrine and Worship upon which they became one Body at the first is doubtless sufficient without any addition to continue that Union in communion And upon this very thing was the Communion of the Apostolical Churches Founded And the going off from this and the adding such conditions of Communion as are not found in Scripture hath been Fatal to the Churches Peace and that which hath from time to time broken it into pieces Men should alwayes make choice of means fitted to their end And therefore those who design the establishing of Peace and Unity in the Church should beware of imposing such things on their Brethren as are like to prove a bone of contention when they may be forborn without prejudice to any The contrary many times proves as I have said very mischievous to the Church As Parents tempt their Children to withdraw that reverence and obedience which is due in things necessary by imposing upon them unnecessarily out of humour against which they are cautioned Col. 4. So Mens greater Extravagancies in the Church frequently take their first rise from the imposing of such things on them which might well have been forborn In the choice of Circumstances about Worship wherein there is a liberty of choice it would alwayes for Peace and Unity sake be considered what the People are able to bear a thing which our first Reformers had an eye to and Moses would never have permitted divorce but that the temper of the people lead him to it He suffered it for the hardness of their hearts Our Saviour also in his conduct
their coming together and exercising themselves in the Holy Ordinances of the Lord was not for the better but for the worse 1 Cor. 11.17 Now in this that I declare unto you I praise you not that you come not together for the better but for the worse But what was the cause of this or upon what doth he ground this charge of their going backward in Religion Verily it was their Divisions that was the cause of this mischief For first of all saith he when you come together in the Church I hear that there are divisions among you ver 18. That Church abounded in Spiritual gifts being enriched in every thing in all utterance and all knowledge so that they came behind in no gift Chap. 1.5.7 They thrived in these indeed but then they went backward in their Humility and Charity and goodness of their Spirit and temper which made the Apostle to spend almost a whole Chapter in commending Charity above Spiritual gifts to them besides the several hints he gives of their being puffed up Though they might well have been Spiritual Christians considering the opportunity and means they had to make them such yet because of Euvring Strife and Divisions among them some following one Teacher and some another in opposition St. Paul could not as he saith write to them as to Spiritual but only as to Carnal such as were but Babes still and unthriven in the Life and Spirit of Christianity their envying strife and divisions keeping them thus low under the means of higher attainments in grace 1 Cor. 3.1 2 3. The truth is Divisions Wranglings and Janglings and Contentions eat out the very heart of Religion Men may grow rich in a Form of knowledge and express a great zeal for the out side of Religion and yet in the mean time be languishing in the very vitals of Christianity when that knowledge and zeal is not improved and spent for the farthering of Peace and Love with other Christian Virtues Your Divisions and Contentions Christians will be as a Worm at the root of your Tree that will keep it from thriving whatever cost you otherwise bestow upon it If then you have any mind to keep up Religion in heart among us and not to have your Wine to become as Water having lost its Spirit If you would have the Gospel-Ordinances yield their increase and your Religion not degenerate into Form If you would yield the Lord the acceptable and pleasant Fruit of all his cost and not such as is starvie harsh and unsavoury If you would not turn the Fruit of Righteousness into Hemlock If you would be free from such a distemper as will hinder your Spiritual relish and convert your food to a noxious humour and subject you to a spiritual languishing in the midst of a plentiful provision for Spiritual health and growth Then lay aside your divisions about matters of doubtful disputation and follow after the things which make for peace and things whereby you may edifie one another in love What knowledge soever you have and what zeal soever you express for any truth as you conceive it to be yet if while you hold fast other things you let go Charity your knowledge of and your zeal in prosecuting and promoting the same though it were to the losing of your life will profit you nothing 1 Cor. 13.2.3 I hough I understand all mysteries and all knowledge and though I give my Body to be burned and have not Charity it profiteth me nothing A thing which neerly concerns all such to mind that are more careful and tender lest some other controverted and supposed truth should suffer then charity peace and concord should suffer and care not what rents and divisions they make so they may but propagate their particular opinion If there be bitter zeal as some translate it glory not of thy knowledge and lie not against the truth in saying that 's the way to promote it Jam. 3.14 If you would thrive under the means of grace indeed and be growing up to perfection then be sure to be much for Charity and Unity You have much talk of perfection among some and many that pretend to it that are far from it but I think it consists in nothing more next our love to God then in the Saints Love and Unity This is the cry of the Scripture That they made perfect in one John 17.23 Be perfect be of one mind live in Peace 2 Cor. 13.11 Above all these put on Charity which is the bond of perfectness Col. 3.14 If we love one another God dwelleth in us and his love is perfected in us 1 John 4.12 If some do grow in grace after they have fallen into dividing wayes and separating practises as I am not so uncharitable but to think that they do while the errour lyes not in their will but in their judgment yet this growth is not to be attributed at all to that wherein they differ from other good Christians not of their way who grow in grace too but to those sound Principles of Christianity wherein both the one and the other are agreed And I have good reason to think that the same improvement of those unquestionable Principles by which they grow in grace their separation notwithstanding would set them much forwarder in that growth in case they were at Liberty from the intanglements of separation then under them it can Because those wayes of Division and Separation do Naturally tend to narrow Men's Spirits and Charity and to cause them to think that many are not of the Church of Christ which indeed are and to have low thoughts of many that yet are highly eminent in the Church for their worth and Service and all because they are not of their way and besides through prejudice they deprive themselves of many happy advantages of Spiritual growth which otherwise they would make use of And those that abound most in a well-grounded and regular Charity have doubtless the more of God's presence and assistance with them for their Spiritual growth and comfort too as others for want of it have the less If he that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God and God in him 1 Joh. 4.16 then those that abound most in Love must needs have most of God's presence both to assist quicken and comfort them Live in Peace and the God of Love and Peace shall be with you to increase these and to help you to propagate them 2 Cor. 13.11 and to give you great Peace in so doing as some have found by Experience But though the wayes of separation among us do but as the Rickets hinder some in their growth and not totally deprive them of it yet it is to be feared they make some others much worse then they were before they came into them more goodly and self-conceited more proud and imperious slighting and despising others that are much better then themselves and over-valuing themselves quite upon account of the Form and Church they are got