THE TRUE WAY Of Uniting the People of God In These NATIONS Opened in a Sermon Preached in the Chappel at White-Hall Jan. 1. 1659. By PETER STERRY LONDON Printed by Peter Cole Printer and Book-seller at the sign of the Printing-press in Cornhill neer the Royal Exchange 1660. TO THE Christian Reader Christian Reader I Thought not of troubling the Press with this Sermon untill I had that Task imposed upon me by some worthy Persons and Honorable Members of this present Parliament who were Auditors When I have been meditating upon the Works of God with us in these Daies that Scripture hath come into my mind which our Savior propounds to his Apostles as a Cure of their Ambition and a quickening Cordial for their Mutual Love The first shal be last and the last shal be first As the Apothecary beats his rich Spices very a Compositio perfecta per minimas partes smal to the finest pouder then turns them often over from top to bottom from the bottom to the top again that so he may make a perfect mixture of them into one Body Thus the Lord beateth and bruiseth his People in these Nations thus he raiseth up and casteth down he sets them up over the heads he laies them low under the feet of each other by many Changes and Vicissitudes The end of all is that He may hide Pride Ambition and the Love of this World from our Eyes that He may work us through Humility Meekness and Mutual love unto the Unity of the Spirit and the sweet Fellowship of one Mystical Body in our Lord Jesus The little pleasure which I take in as also the little profit which for the most part redounds from Verbal Apologies have made me long silent while thou mayest perhaps have read or heard reported words as having proceeded from me in a publick Sermon which were absolutely untrue both for the form of Expression and the Sense It seems not unfit upon this occasion of appearing in Print nor improper for my present Subject to give thee this Account of my self First It appears to me a very vain thing for any person in this world to determine with an infallible Assurance the state of any person in the next world without a particular infallible and extraordinary Revelation from Heaven in the case which I never pretended to Secondly According to my poor measure of Understanding in the Gospel nothing can more fundamentally subvert the whol Mystery of Christ together with all Evangelical Spiritual Principles and Truths nothing can more directly oppose the Supream Design of the Father the Peace and Comfort of all his Children than to joyn any Creature with our Lord Jesus in the Great Work of his Mediation a principal part whereof his Intercession is the value and Vertue of which Part as of the whol Mediation consists in this That our Lord Jesus our only and ever blessed Mediator and Intercessor is the only true Eternal God of one undivided Essence with the Father and in all things equal to Him I humbly intreat thee Christian Reader to judg of me according to these Maxims and to beleeve that I never did and through Grace hope that I never shall express any thing unsuitable to them But it is good for us to say to all in all Cases as St. Paul saith to the Galatians You have not b Injury is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the privation of some good but the good things of a good man can never be taken from him Maxi. Tyr. injured me I am as you are be you as I am I am as you are I set my soul in your souls stead Be you as I am in the fellowship of the same Grace and Love of the Father in the Unity of the same Spirit through our Lord Jesus in whom I am for his sake Thy Servant PETER STERRY A Sermon Preached in White-Hall Chappel on the Lords day in the afternoon January 1. 1659. Psal 134.3 the latter part of the verse For there the Lord hath commanded the Blessing and Life for evermore THe Subject of this Psalm is the Vnity of Brethren In the first verse you have a Contemplation of the Beauty Profite or Pleasantness of this Unity with a high Admiration Behold how good and how pleasant is is for Brethren to dwell together in Vnity This is illustrated by a double Similitude The first is taken from the precious Oyntment upon the Head that ran down upon the Beard even Aarons Beard that went down to the Skirt of his Garment This costly Oyntment was a figure of the Holy Ghost poured forth upon our Lord Jesus our true high Priest and from him as from the Head running down upon his whole Mystical Body and going down even to the lowest Member of Christ which is but as the Skirt of his Garment This Annoynting makes them all One Spirit and from this unity of the Spirit as from a rich Oyntment goes forth a sweet savor of Love Spiritual Delight and Joy into the Nostrils of God the Father our Lord Jesus the Holy Angels and all the Saints This is the sence of the second verse In the third verse you have the second Similitude borrowed from the Dew of Hermon and that Dew that descends upon the Mountains of Sion As these Hills ow all their freshness and flourishing to the Dew or Rain that comes down from Heaven upon them so doth all the Beauty Pleasantness Fruitfulness of the Saints proceed from the Unity of the Spirit After this comes in the Conclusion of the Psalm which like a ful Close in Musick brings a fulness of Blessings along with it There the Lord hath commanded the Blessing even Life for evermore There that is where Brethren dwel together in Vnity there God hath commanded Blessing the fulness of all blessings which according to the Language of the Jews the Holy Scriptures is wont to be expressed by the single term of Life Together with all this goes the Establishment and Everlastingness of these Blessings Life for evermore It is manifest by what hath been spoken that the Brethren here mentioned are the Brethren of our Lord Jesus the Children of God his Father and their Father For among these Brethren alone is the true Vnity every Unity of every other sort of men being only a Conspiracy and Combination of Enmity and upon the Vnity of these Brethren alone is founded the Everlastingness of Life and Blessing The Doctrine which I shal from these words insist upon is this That God hath there ordained Establishment and a Lastingness of Blessing where his People dwel together in Vnity I shal satisfie my self with one full and clear Scripture for the opening and proving of this point 1. John 4.16 God is Love he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God dwelleth in him There is a threefold Love First There is Love in the Fountain which is the Love of God to us the Riches of free Grace Secondly There is Love in the
Dust into a Living and Glorious Body as by a double Resurrection from the Dead O! that it may now appear that Jesus hath been this Resurrection that he is the Root out of which you are now the third time sprung up that it is He who is risen in you Then are you risen unto Honor and not unto Shame Then shal you exalt Jesus Christ in his Members Truth and Love in the Presence and Out-shinings of His Heavenly Person as the Head of your Union So shal he be in the midst of you a Head of Union to the Saints and to these Nations You shal go forth as his Angels to gather his Saints from the four winds to which they are dispersed and to Him in you shal the gathering of the People be Suffer him then to display his Banners freely choose him for your only Standard bearer Sin no more against him who hath thus wonderfully appeared unto you Twice lest a worse scattering and death come upon you This is the First Way of Vnion The Second Way Cherish the Spirit as the only Band of Vnion Ephes 4.3 Endeavoring to keep the Vnity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace The Unity of the Spirit is the Bond of Peace 1 Cor. 12.13 By one Spirit we are all baptized into one Body To make way for that which I am to say of the Spirit I have two Cautions to interpose to prevent Objections First I intend not any thing that I shal plead for the Spirit as a pretence to the Flesh I humbly conceive a fleshly licentiousness justified by the name of the Spirit to be if not that sin it self yet the next step to the sin against the Holy Ghost Secondly I would not have the Glory which I give to the Spirit interpreted as a laying aside of the Ordinances or a reflection upon the Forms of Godliness While we have the Life of Christ in these Earthly Bodies and the manifestations of the Spirit in this flesh Ordinances and outward Forms wil be of necessary use Only these Rules are carefully to be observed First That our Ordinances and outward Forms flow naturally kindly and freely from the Spirit Secondly That we behold them in the Light and enjoy them in the Life of the Spirit Thirdly That we rest not in them but make use of them to grow up through them into the invisible and Heavenly things themselves I have premised this to the Second Way which I have propounded for the uniting of the People of God which is this Fix no Principle of Vnion among the Saints but only the Holy Spirit This one Spirit is that which baptizeth us into one body and by its unity preserveth us in the Bond of Peace Give me leave to insert here three Observations Two of which I have often heard made upon these Times One my self have made upon my self Obs 1. As the Spirit in the simplicity and liberty of it hath been held forth and asserted in our Supreme Counsels and Forces for the Bond of our Union so they have prospered they have not been only as stars in a cloudy night now appearing for a little while and then suddenly lost but as the Stars in the Revelation held cleerly forth held unmovably fast in the right hand of Jesus Christ But when they have declined this Interest when they have disowned or confined this Spirit as God is said to have set an ambush in the midst of Edom Moab and Ammon when they came against Jehoshaphat that they divided and destroyed one another so as by an invisible ambush from Heaven have they been broken to pieces Obs 2. When any persons have fixt to themselves any thing visible any thing besides this invisible anointing the blessed Spirit for a principle of Unity a dividing wrathful desolating Spirit hath sprung up into the midst of them All pretended Bonds of Union in this kind have been like the Formal names of Christ and Paul in the mouths of the Sons of Sheva instead of casting out they conjure up a fierce and fiery Spirit These are the Observations which I have heard made by others upon these Times Obs 3. That which I have observed in my self is this While I at any time in any measure have been back-sliding and warping from the simplicity and purity of the Spirit unto Sensuality or Formality of any kind I have found those satisfactions which I have sought like Jonahs Gourd a worm sent into them by which they have been unexpectedly eaten and withered What would I infer from al this Thus much That We should set up the Spirit alone as the Principle of our Unity and so of our Prosperity and so much the rather in that the day of the Spirit is upon us when as the Father hath been glorified in the Son so the Father and the Son wil have their ful and final Glory in the Spirit How long is it since our Lord Jesus told us that the Father sought such Worshippers as should worship him in Spirit and Truth opposing the Spirit to the Letter Truth to the Shadows and figures of Divine Things The Psalmist reciting the story of the Patriarks and the Israelites in the Wilderness hath this passage Psal 105. ver 14 15. He reproved Kings for their sakes then we interpose saying but the sentence follows as a dreadful admonition upon occasion of that example fixt there from the mouth of God for all Powers to the end of the World Touch not my Prophets do mine anointed no harm The Spirit is this anointing This Anointing is that which makes Prophets as it doth Kings and Priests to God It hath been for this Anointing's sake for these Anointed Ones that the Lord hath reproved Princes in the midst of us and gone before us through this Wilderness Es 4.5 It is spoken of the last daies God will create upon the Assemblies of Mount Sion a Cloud by day and a shining fire by night for upon all the Glory shal be a Defence Would you know what this Glory is that thus shal be a Defence upon al the Assemblies in the times of the Gospel St. Peter tels us 1 Pet. 4.14 The Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you You to whom God hath given Spiritual Senses and in whom he keeps those hitherto exercised and awake see the glory which rests upon us which is our Pillar of a cloud by day and our shining flame of fire by night the Holy Spirit This hath been this alone is our Guide our Defence our Resting place our Glory is the midst of all the Nations Say not how shal we discern this Spirit As a Cloud by day and a Fire by night so will the Lord make him evident to the seeing Eye and to every one that waits for him To conclude this Particular In the Bowels of Christ and by the Consolations of this Spirit as I am able I earnestly beseech all that cal upon the Name of the Lord Jesus in these Nations together with their
greatest Abomination to him He that sows Discord among Brethren Prov. 6.15 This is a Scarlet and Crimson sin indeed What can make it white This covers the Soul all over with Spots of Blood Blood drop'd from the Hearts of thousands of men of many Excellent and precious Persons one of whom was worth ten thousand as was said of David What shall wash out these spots It is only the Blood of God which can wash out these bloody spots and make these Crimson sins white So far as any of us find any of this guilt upon himself let him take up this Lamentation and say I am guilty of the Blood of all these and I whether shal I cause my guilt to go where shall I make my shame to hide it self Go thy waies to the Cross of Christ Let thy Spirituall mournings formed in thee by a Spirit of Faith be as Nails to fasten thee and thy Shame to the Cross with the dead body of the Lord Jesus Go thy waies to the Grave of thy Savior to his Blood to his Spirit Bury thy self and thy guilt together with Christ in his Grave wash in the Laver of his Blood cast thy self into the Fountain of his Spirit So come forth a New man without Spot through the Resurrection of the Lord from the Dead Now contribute to the asswaging of these flames by Rivers of living waters flowing forth from the Fountains of the Holy Ghost opened within thee When Peter had denied Christ with Oaths and Curses Jesus looked upon him and he went out and wept bitterly When Jesus was risen from the Dead his chief care was of Peter At his first appearance Go saith he tel my Disciples and Peter Let our Lord Jesus look forth with a ful Eye of free Grace upon us So shall he open and awaken a Spiritual Eye in us to see how we have with Cursings denied and divided one from another that is from Him in each other Then shal we go into our several retirements and weep over our Breaches Then shal we come forth and in our Exaltations have the most earning bowels towards our most delinquent and dejected Brethren that when we are raised we may raise them also Thus much for the first Vse of Conviction VSE 2. Exhortation Let us study and endeavor the uniting of the People of God The Glory of Christ consists in this that He is a Mediator and a Reconciler His Father loves him for this that he delights to lay down his life to this end to break down the Partition-wal to blot out the Hand-writing of Ordinances to reconcile God to men Men to Men. Let us in this be followers of the Lord Jesus in making it our Joy Glory in thinking it worth the parting with our dearest Enjoyments Estates and Lives to break down the Partition-walls between the Saints and recoucile them one to another We read in the Prophet Esay of those who are called The makers up of Breaches the Builders up of the wast places of old What wast places what Desolations have there been of many yeers in Church and State which have all arisen from our Breaches When a Generation of men shall arise who shal make it their work to be The Makers up of Breaches these alone wil prove the Builders up of the wast places of old I shal humbly offer to the Daughter of my people three Waies of making up our Breaches and of uniting us The first Way Exalt Jesus Christ as the Head of the Vnion Cant. 6. The Church of Christ is twice said to be Terrible as an Army with Banners verse 4. and ver 10. When Beleevers are united in one Compact and Harmonious Body as an Army they are a strength to themselves and a Terror to all their Enemies Invisible or visible But then they must have Banners unto which they must be gathered and under which they may be united What are these Banners The Name of God that is the Manifestation of God in the face of Christ Psal 20.5 Christ himself figured out Psal 60.4 The Love of Christ Cant. 2.4 These are the Banners under which the Saints are formed into one Body as an Heavenly Host But who shall be the Standard-bearer to display these Banners to lift them up and to hold them forth Canticles 5.10 Jesus Christ is said to be the Chiefest among ten thousand You may in the margent of your Bibles see that it is read according to the Hebrew the Standard bearer among ten thousand The Love of Christ the Truths of Christ the Manifestations of God in Christ the Person of Christ as they are displayed and held forth to us by the Immediate Presence and Appearance of the Lord Jesus in the Spirit these are our Banners and this is the Standard-bearer among the Thousands and ten Thousands of the Saints This is the Head of the Vnion For this you have the Decree of God expresly set down by the Spirit of Prophesie in good old Jacob Gen. 49.10 To him shal the Gathering of the People be that is to Jesus Christ Through the Changes of these times how many Banners have been set up On how many Standard-bearers have we cast our Eyes several Principles and Persons several Opinions in Religion or waies in Worship divers Forms of Governments divers Parties hoping that to these the People would be gathered together But instead of Vnity and Beauty there hath been Burning and a Breach From whence hath this been Hath it not been from hence that this is the Ordinance of God this is the Eternal Decree concerning our Lord Jesus that to Him the Gathering of the People shall be I have known a man who through these Revolutions and houres of Temptation when he hath thought to be clean his own Cloaths have defiled him when he hath wash't himself in the Blood of Christ he hath been again rouled in the miry Pit as Job speaks This man in the nights of his Guilt Shame or Sufferings hath had this Voyce come to the Ears of his Spirit once yea twice he heard it Seek not thine own Things but the Things of Jesus Christ When thine heart is turned entirely to the Lord Jesus the Vail the Darkening Disguising and Dividing Vail shal be taken off This Voyce came to him nor for his sake alone but for yours also and all the Saints John 11.25 Jesus saith to Martha I am the Resurrection and the Life You the Honorable Members of this present High Court of Parliament you also have received Rebukes from the Lord whatever the Counsels of Men have been concerning you A Resurrection is agreed by Philosophers Divines to be a Supernatural Effect the work of an Almighty hand the undeniable Argument of a God Twice have you been scatterred as Dust by the Wind Twice have you been as the Dead Men lying in our Streets Twice hath the Lord by a mighty Voyce which hath rent the Rocks said to you Return again Twice have you been gathered together like scattered