of Heaven as well as the other and as such are to be distributed by the same Laws They were therefore all of one Heart and one Soul than which a nearer Agreement cannot be described or imagin'd The Heart if there be any difference of the Expression in Scripture-Language being to be taken for the chief Seat of the Will and Affections and the Soul of the Judgment and Understanding Nor was this only spoken of St. Peter and the rest of the Twelve nor only of the Apostles and Seventy Disciples nor only of the first Hundred and Twenty in the Upper Room nor only of the Three Thousand Converted by one Sermon but of All of the Multitude of them that Believed Certainly some strange and unusual thing must needs happen as here it did that could bring together and cement such a Multitude so as to make them be of one Heart that could persuade such a Multitude to converse together and conspire in the same Thoughts and Desires as if they had but one Soul Whereas a Multitude however composed too commonly seems by its inconstant and fluctuating Counsels its partial Debates and perverse Opinions and head-strong Resolutions to have more Hearts and more Souls than it really has even more than it has Bodies In the Weakness and Ignorance or prejudicate Knowledge of a Multitude how easily are the Seeds of Dissention and Contradiction sown By the various Interests or wilful Humours or violent Passions of a Multitude how quickly are they rais'd and inflamed And when once a Multitude is engaged in Divisions how hard a thing is it to compose them again A Multitude therefore could never have been so united had they not been a Multitude of Believers Nor then neither had not the Holy Ghost the Blessed Author of all Peace and Truth inclined them to it Had not that taught them to make the Matter of their Belief to be the Cause and Ground of their Concord not of their Separation as too often since has been experienc'd The Difficulty of so Divine a Work to Unite a mixt Multitude of all People and Languages to Unite them so closely to Animate them all with such Cordial Affections did well become the Almighty Power of the Holy Spirit It well became and could only belong to that Blessed Person who is one GOD the same with the Father and the Son GOD Blessed for ever to inspire so great a Degree of Union into the Minds of all whom it fill'd with its first Gifts and Graces and Benedictions And Beloved in our Lord and Saviour this Heavenly Fruit of the Heavenly Spirit 's being thus pour'd forth on the Primitive Christians was not only intended as some of the other Fruits of it were to confirm our Faith but also to instruct us in one of our most necessary Duties The Apostles Miraculous Acting and Speaking with such Invincible Freedom and Power requires our Belief of the Faith that they Preach'd And GOD took this way to establish it But that Marvellous Unanimity of their first Converts concerns our practise and was design'd to direct it It is not given us to follow them Step by Step in their other extraordinary Privileges and Prerogatives But in their humble and Fraternal Condescentions to each other their peaceable Acquiescence in the same Divine Truths their meek Obedience to the same Holy Laws in these we may and ought to follow them The Glory of the Signs and Wonders which they wrought was enough for GOD's purpose in propagating the Gospel to all Times and Places But we of these latter Ages can never arrive at the same Abilities nor ought we to emulate them in what was Peculiar to their time and Personal to Themselves Whoever does he is likely to shew more Proofs of his own Natural Vanity or Spiritual Pride than of any Supernatural Power or Illumination Yet still it is left to us and it is incumbent upon us with the utmost of our Zeal to imitate their other Virtues and Graces which are though of a lower Degree yet of a Perpetual Duration for the Benefit of the Church Such as their Simplicity of Heart their Agreement in the same Acts of Piety and their Consent in the same Christian Faith In those their more exalted and inspired Endowments we must of necessity be defective since we cannot have any the least proportion of their immediately-Divine Helps to acquire them And because those are not so necessary indeed not at all necessary in this common and setled Course of Christianity as they were for the first Founding of it But as for these their other good and gracious Dispositions such as their Meekness Self-Denial Patience Long-suffering Forbearance of each others Frailties and Fellow-feeling of each others Infirmities such as inclined them to this Unity of Heart and Soul and are all still equally necessary to us towards our attaining of these we have still a sufficient Assistance from that Father of Lights from whom they are derived Of all these My Brethren it was especially design'd that there should be a perpetual Succession deriv'd down on all that succed them in the same Faith In these they are to be our lasting Patterns to the End of the World I mean in this Mutual Concurrence and Conformity of Minds This Charitable Compliance of Judgments and Endearment of Affections among our selves this mild gentle tender-hearted Temper towards all Men this submissive Uniformity in GOD's Worship All of them Virtues and Graces that exceedingly contribute to the very Being much more to the Well-being of the Christian Church All of them so peculiarly the Effects and certain Influences of the Holy Ghost that they are expresly call'd the Unity of the Spirit and that which is inseparably annext to it The Bond of Peace Wherefore in the Name of GOD let us all fix our Eyes and our Hearts on that uncorrupt Original of the first Christians Agreement in sound Doctrine and holy Worship which was as you have heard the genuine and immediate Off-spring of the true Spirit of GOD. That most Christian Communion which began so soon so gloriously That most happy Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That most Spiritual one Accord That most desirable Unity of Heart and Soul which was most frequently and most religiously enjoyn'd all Christians by the Author and Finisher of our Faith And which took so effectually in them that were the first Publishers of it When they come to recommend it to us you see with what Vehemence they do it Beseeching us If there be any Consolation in Christ if any Comfort of Love if any Fellowship of the Spirit if any Bowels of Mercies Fulfil ye my Joy saith the Apostle Phil. 2. 1. That you be like-minded having the same Love being of one Accord of one Mind And when they come to use Arguments for it you see how they press us all the ways that can be thought of to make it enter into our Souls how they oblige us to it by all the Considerations of Duty
A SERMON PREACH'D to the NATIVES OF The County of Dorset Residing in and about the Cities of London and Westminster At St. Mary Le Bowe on Dec. 8. 1692. Being the Day of their Anniversary FEAST By the Lord Bishop of Rochester In the Savoy Printed by Edward Jones and sold by him and Randal Taylor near Stationers-Hall 1693. Imprimatur Dec. 30. 1692. H. LONDON Acts IV. Vers. 32. And the Multitude of them that believed were of one Heart and one Soul Neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own but they had all things common IN the second Chapter of this Book of the Acts there is represented to us as much as by Words a Thing so Wonderful can be express'd the Glorious Manner of the first Miraculous Descending of the Holy Ghost on the Apostles and Primitive Disciples A Miracle that gave a perfect Confirmation to all that had been done before from the Creation to that Day towards the Establishing of the True Religion and also gave Authority to all that has been added since that Day for the same End on the same Foundation It clearly manifested to the World the Truth of the Christian Faith and most visibly declared its Power Fill'd the first Christians Mouths with new unknown unstudyed Tongues and to all those Tongues gave Utterance at once to sound forth the Works and Praises of GOD Whilst the Standers-by of all Nations all marvelled and when every one heard his own Language they were all confounded as well they might to find all Mankind now going to be united into one Church by the same extraordinary Way by which they were at first scatter'd into many Nations by a Multiplicity of Languages and Variety of Speech After that first most astonishing Gift of Fiery and Cloven Tongues we have next in the latter part of the second and in the third and this fourth Chapter an Account of St. Peter's first Sermons to the People who being come together out of all Countries to keep their Pentecost at Jerusalem and there meeting with so unexpected an Event were amazed to think what it should mean St. Peter tells them This is that which GOD had foretold should come to pass in the last Days that is according to their understanding of those Words in the Age of the Messias And from thence he goes on to prove to them out of their Scriptures that this JESUS whom they had now Crucified was the Messias both Lord and Christ. An Argument which seem'd to require a long search into the whole Design of their Ceremonial Law and a deep skill in all the Writings of their Prophets that consisting all of dark Types these being full of Mysteries An Argument therefore that might be thought fitter for their Scribes and Pharisees and most Learned Doctors and the High Priest himself than for an Unlearned Galilean and ignorant Fisherman to undertake Yet this very Fisherman so manag'd this Weighty and Mysterious Subject with such Convincing Plainess such Strength of Reason as neither was nor could be taught by Art with such undoubted Evidence of Scripture and Antiquity such visible Demonstration and Power that the Meaness of his Person and Trade of Life soon ceas'd to be an Objection and against him was so far from less'ning his Authority that it became an unanswerable Proof of the Divinity of his Doctrine and the Reality of his Inspiration Wherefore these first Sermons of St. Peter had a present and surprizing Effect Fear came upon the Soul of every Hearer Three Thousand Persons were at once added to the Church the Multitude strove who should first declare their Conversion and Belief and Desire to be Baptiz'd And as fast as they came in the New Converts were inspired with the same Gift of Tongues by which they had been Converted Just before they had been obstinate Unbelievers perhaps Mockers of that Doctrine whereof just then in a Moment they were compleatly furnish'd with Abilities to become Interpreters and Teachers to all Mankind In my Text we have one remarkable Instance of the Blessed Spirit 's coming down upon one of these first Assemblies of Christians in such a marvellous Manner and Measure In the Verse before 't is said That when they had prayed the Place where they were met was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost And then strait follow three most signal Effects of this Wondrous Dispensation First That they spake the Word of GOD with boldness without any farther doubt in their own Minds without any dread of Opposition from others though the whole World was against them with such an inspir'd Boldness as became the Supernatural Commission they had then receiv'd to speak the Word of GOD and a Boldness that was justified by the Supernatural Works which thenceforth accompanied their Speaking Secondly That all the New Converts were of United Judgments and Affections Not only the Apostles but the Multitude of them that believ'd were of one Heart and one Soul Thirdly That this inward Unity of Heart and Soul was outwardly demonstrated by a free and mutual Communication of their Temporal Goods and Possessions None of them said That ought of the things he possest was his own but they had all things common Now of these three immediate Consequences of this admirable Revelation the first which was their Speaking the Word of GOD with Boldness I shall pass by at this time and by GOD's Assistance and your Patience rather apply my self to the two last as being more proper for the Occasion and suitable to the End of this your Friendly and Religious Meeting For the great Intention My Beloved Countrymen of your Assembling thus together in Publick Devotions and Amicable Society being as you all profess and as I am verily perswaded for the increase of Brotherly Love and Good-Will among your selves here present and to promote Charity towards those of our Country who may be absent through Poverty I for my part know not how I can better perform the Task your Kindness has laid upon me in this Solemnity than by Recommending to your Devout Meditations and in some sort also to your Pious Imitation this great and most Christian Example of the first Christians First Their Unanimity and Concord They were all of one Heart and one Soul Secondly Their Liberal and Generous Distribution of their Goods to their Brethren that wanted None of them esteem'd any thing he had to be his own but they had all things common I begin with the first They were all of one Heart and one Soul This is the first here in Order and was indeed the Cause of the other For how can there be a greater or more powerful Motive to the outward Charity of Works than internal Unity of Mind Where the Goods of the Soul are entirely Communicated it is almost impossible that there should be an absolute engrossing of the Goods of Fortune so Men are wont to call them though they are in truth the Gifts
of Assistance of Interest of Benefit and Reward How they farther engage us by many most weighty Arguments drawn from the very Substance and End of our pure and undefiled Religion By the Unity of our Baptism into one Faith of our Hope which is one happy Eternal Life of our Head which is one Lord Christ of his Body which is one Church the Mother of us all and of that common Sense and mutual Participation of Helps Affections and Comforts that ought for ever to be maintain'd between all the Children of such a Mother all the Members of such a Body You see how we are all provok'd to Love and bound in our several Stations to labour for a Spiritual Unity by all these and other such unanswerable Grounds of Persuasion But that which especially sets it home to us is this That we see the Duty is practicable we see it lively set forth in that Blessed Model which is given us in this fourth and in the second Chapter of this Book It gives us the most perfect Example of Unanimity that ever was shewn to the World And that we may follow it as we ought it behoves us to consider which way the first Christians came into this state that we may take the same as far as we can in our Circumstances We see then how when all the Apostles of Christ and all our Lords own Disciples attended the fulfilling of his own great Promise of sending the Holy Ghost to Comfort them and to Teach them all things to Teach them and as a Comforter to Teach them to joyn with the Precepts and Counsels of a Teacher the Gentleness and Favours of a Comforter then the chief account we have of them in preparation to all this is That they were all with one accord in one place When that Promise was accomplish'd when the Holy Ghost was sent the next account we have of them is that They were all of one Heart and one Soul Observe I beseech you in that first General Meeting of the whole Church than which never any since was more Venerable nor will be till the last Day of General Judgment when the Blessed Spirit of GOD did not only hover above over all their Heads as he did over the Waters at the Creation from whence all the Order and Beauty of all the Creatures proceeded but sate upon each of their Heads and over-spread their Minds and enlarg'd their Hearts and loosen'd their Tongues to the Amazement of all Beholders who thereby soon became Converts There was then no one Circumstance that more advantageously contributed to their Universal Receiving of that Divine Revelation than that they were all united with one accord in one place There was no one Consequence of that Revelation which the same Holy Ghost thought fitter and more instructive to be everlastingly recorded in Scripture than that afterwards they all remain'd united in Doctrine in Devotions in Charity There are no other Principles or Practises here mention'd upon which they united but such as were truly Evangelical and tend directly to the uniting of the Mystical Body of Christ to the end of the World They continued stedfastly in the Apostles Doctrine in Fellowship in Breaking of Bread and in Prayers They continued daily with one accord in the Temple and Breaking Bread from House to House or in the House that is in part of the Temple also or in the several Houses at Jerusalem where the Apostles had their Congregations There they did eat their Meat that is their Spiritual Food in the Holy Communion and also their Natural but Sanctifi'd Meat in their Feasts of Charity and did all this with Gladness and singleness of Heart praising GOD who had called them to that Excellent Way of Life and graciously accepted them in it and gave them a publick Testimony of all this in the Favour of all the People What could be done more towards uniting their Hearts and Souls After they had repented and were Baptized and were filled with Grace and Power from on high First they continued in the Apostles Doctrine in that and no other They receiv'd the Word with all readiness of Mind and search'd the Scriptures whether those things were so Having found the Truth they stedfastly adher'd to it without wavering and uncertainty whatsoever Inquiry they made into it it was without any needless Curiosity or over-subtil Inventions about it Secondly They continued in Fellowship that is either in a strict Communion of all the Offices of Christianity in general or as the Learned Dr. Hammond understands the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a Charitable Communication of their good things to those that wanted Thirdly They continued together in Breaking of Bread that is in the frequent Participation of the Blessed Mystery of the Lord's Supper One part the Breaking of Bread being here as Drinking is elsewhere 1 Cor. 12. 13. put to signifie that whole Sacrament though never in Scripture was any one kind of it commanded to be Administred in stead of the whole as in the Church of Rome is most Sacrilegiously practised But in the due and constant receiving that Holy Sacrament in both kinds no doubt they all continued That most Sacred Ordinance which is or should be so much the great Instrument of Unity among Christians that it is most properly termed the Communion Fourthly After they had thus broken that Heavenly Bread and Eaten their Meat their Bodily Meat probably in their Charitable Feasts what follow'd but Gladness and Singleness of Heart Gladness the sure Companion at least in the end of a single innocent Heart endued with true Christian Simplicity as Darkness and Discomfort is the never-failing Attendant one time or other first or last of a double deceitful Mind and Hypocritical Spirit Lastly They continued daily with one accord in the Temple praising GOD. Though the Lord from on High had visited them with the most gracious Dispensation that ever was revealed from Heaven yet notwithstanding that extraordinary effusion of the Holy Ghost upon them they never intermitted but exactly observ'd the ordinary Course of their Religious Duties And for this they resorted daily to the Temple Which though they consider'd now as having lost all its Typical Sanctity by the renting of the Veil at the Death of Christ yet as Christ himself taught them immediately before his Death they look'd upon it as being still GOD's House by Consecration and as being a House of Prayer for all Nations Thus even at that very time when they had receiv'd the Blessed Spirit in so abundant a Measure yet from that so bright an Inspiration they took not any Opportunity nor framed any pretence to condemn or despise the common Offices of the Church or to think themselves above all the prescribed Ordinances of their wonted Worship but therefore the rather they frequented the Service of GOD according to their accustomed Manner They continued daily to shew the unwearied Fervor and stated Regularity of their Piety They continued daily with
one accord to signifie the Harmonious Agreement of their Spiritual Society They continued daily with one accord in the Temple to testifie their Preference of Establish'd Consecrated Places and their Observance of Orderly Decency in their Devotions Nor did they only there continue in Prayer in Petitioning Heaven for Benefits to come but in Praising GOD for Mercies receiv'd Which is the Noblest the most Sublime the most Coelestial Part of Christian Worship as being indeed the chief Business of Heaven it self And if there be any Communion of Saints which we must believe or utterly renounce one Article of our Creed if any such thing as a Holy Catholick Church whereof surely the proud Boastings and false Pretences of Rome cannot wholly abolish the thing it self then there is no manner of Question but the largest Measures of Grace will be Communicated to our Souls in these Publick Offices of Prayer and Praise which at once as the whole Primitive Church did then so a considerable part of it now with united Tongues and Affections and Spirits more united presents to the Throne of Grace That is the First Part of my Text The Multitude of them that believed were all of one Heart and one Soul in this Sense and to this Degree and in the Uniform Performance of all these Spiritual Duties Now My Brethren upon this so intimate an Agreement of their Understandings Wills and Affections in Matters of Faith and Worship there presently succeeded a like Harmony of Good Works They all practis'd a general Distribution and Participation of each others Earthly Riches and Possessions Which is the last Effect here mention'd of their being all filled with the Holy Ghost None of them said that ought he possessed was his own but they had all things common They were really their own things as much as any other Mens Goods were theirs But their new Principle of Christian Charity had made them to alter their Thoughts so much about them as even to change and transfer the very Propriety of them It cannot indeed be denyed but of such an extraordinary more than Brotherly Love and strict Fellowship as this of the Apostles and Primitive Disciples there had before some Shadows and Footsteps appear'd in the Practise of some Men of other Religions both among the Jews and the Gentils Among the Jews such a Communication of all things was in great part used by that Sect which they call'd Essens towards Men of their own way of Discipline And a Generation of Men they were who of all others came nearest the Christian Institution So that as Grotius tells us our Lord had many of his first Disciples out of the Men of that Profession For which Reason probably as he observes they alone were seldom or never reprehended by our Saviour himself as all the other Sects were very frequently and sometimes exceeding sharply Such a Communication also was in some sort in use among the Pythagoreans and some other Fraternities of the Heathen Philosophers and some of their wisest Polities of Civil Society Whose chief Aim being the Advancement of Human Nature by all Natural Means and they believing they could not do that by any better way than by raising Frienship to the highest pitch which they justly esteem'd the most perfect Natural State of Mandkind in this World They therefore Cultivated especially that kind of Friendly Life which they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that signifies the same with the Phrase in my Text of having all things common But notwithstanding all this it were easie to prove that of all the Communities of Goods which have been ever essay'd among Men this of the Apostles and first Christians was the most Excellent the most Innocent the most Spiritual and sincerely Charitable kind of it As for that Sect of the Jews though they did bountifully dispense their Estates in common to Men of their own Party and Form of Life yet we do not find but the same Men still retained something of the general Temper of the Jewish Nation which was to be kind only to themselves and their Proselytes but rigid and hard-hearted to all the World besides especially to all that differed from them in Religion So that in Truth the Divine Efficacy of the Christian Faith in its first beginnings was scarce ever more illustrated in any thing than in this that it first undertook to convince the Jews and could bring so many of them so speedily from the most stiff-necked Arrogance and narrow-handed Austerity to the greatest Humility and Generosity that ever Mankind was acquainted with For as for the Heathens also who profess'd to hold such a Community of all things they generally went so far in the abuse of it as to lay all things common not only lawful but unlawful things too even some of those things which by the Laws of GOD and of Nations had been made most proper and peculiar But in such things the greater the Community the greater the Wickedness Whereas this Evangelical Community here instituted in the Primitive Church had all the quite contrary Advantages and Perfections First It was most pure spotless and unblameable It was only a Communication of Lawful Things and of such Things as might Lawfully be used in common But all Fellowship with the unfruitful Works of Darkness all Imagination of partaking in unlawful things they universally condemned and their practise was accordingly They restrained themselves and taught us to abstain not only from the real Guilt but from the very appearance of Evil. They utterly abhorred the least suspicion of Licentiousness under a pretence of Christian Freedom They knew that although through Christ they were free indeed yet he had redeemed them only from the Burden of Legal Observances and not from the Obligation of Moral or Natural Laws Secondly As their Liberal Distribution of their Temporal Inheritances for the Relief of those among them that wanted did flow from the most Divine Principle of Christian Love and Tenderness towards all their Brethren of the same Faith and Communion so it was at the same time accompanied with an unconfined Good-will an open-hearted Kindness and enlarged Bowels of Compassion to all Mankind besides What St. Paul exhorted all Christians to do they perform'd in an Eminent Degree As they had Opportunity they did good to all Men though they did it chiefly to those of the Houshold of Faith And that indeed is the true Christian Charity It may have its Degrees but never admits of its Contraries So that all who are sincerely thus affected may express their Charity to some more than to others but must never be uncharitable much less unjust to any To all we are bound to practise a perpetual Communication of our good Will and good Offices and of our Goods too in the Works of Justice and Charity In the Works of Charity according to our Capacities in the Works of Justice always and without reserve For only the Able can be Charitable And it may not sometimes be a