in Knowledge he loses more than he gets for in Christianity Love is better than Learning and a peaceable Temper in the Eyes of God of higher Price than a skillful Understanding Covet earnestly the best Gifts among which Prophesie and Knowledge must have Preference and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way to be coveted beyond all of them viz. the way of Charity which he begins there to treat of 1 Cor. 12. 31. If he disolves Unity and incurs Schism to profit better in some other Duties of a Christian he takes a very mistaken course since Love and Unity are most especially recommended and are the very chief of them If it be possible and as much as lies in you live peaceably with all men Rom 12. 18. Above all things my Brethren put on Charity which is the very bond of perfectness i. e. most perfect in it self and that which perfects all other Virtues Col. 3. 14. And above all things have fervent Charity among your selves for Charity shall cover the multitude of sins i. e. it shall stand you in more stead at the Great day than any other Duties 1 Pet. 4. 8. And now abideth Faith Hope and Charity these three all Chief and Cardinal Graces but the greatest of these is Charity 1 Cor. 13. 13. Thus are Love and Peace and Unity the very top of Christian Duties and the most edifying things in all private Persons so that they are first to be secured and must not be parted with in hopes thereby to improve in any others Nay without them we cannot edifie in any others to any purpose For if we throw aside Charity which seeks not her own but has a care of other Men v. 5. and that care of others as he declared just before will keep out Schism the greatest Proficiency in Knowledge or other Virtues is unprofitable and useless We have no profit at all by Knowledge or other accomplishments of our Understandings Tho I have the gift of Prophecy and understand all Mysteries and have all Knowledge and the Tongues of Men and Angels and Faith to remove Mountains If after all I have no Charity it profits me nothing 1 Cor. 13. 1 2. Nay we have no profit by the bravest Actions but even the best and costliest things we do a sad Case God knows are thrown away and will not avail to save us Tho I am Heroically liberal in Alms and leaving my self naked bestow all my Goods to feed the Poor yea tho I die for Religion and give my Body to be burned a Martyr yet if I have not Charity it profits me nothing v. 3. So true was that Observation of the Primitive Christians that wilful Schism that consummate Breach of Charity and Union is the same among other Virtues that the Dead Fly is among the Costliest Oyntments it will mar all that any man doth and is not to be expiated by any thing no not by Martyrdom Schismaticks says St. Cyprian tho they are slain for confessing Christ yet is the stain of Schism so deep their very Blood cannot wash it out It is an inexpiable Crime from which a man cannot be purged though he dies for Christ. Let him give himself to fry in the Flames or be tore in pieces by Wild Beasts that shall not crown his Faith with Victory but pass only for the Punishment of his Treachery He may be slaughter'd but he shall not be Crown'd For he cannot be one of Christs Martyrs who is not one of the Churches Members Thus are Charity Peace and Unity the most excellent and edifying things in every private Christian nay of that necessity that no other Gifts or Graces not the deepest Knowledge nor the noblest Alms nor Martyrdom it self are of any use or able to profit us without them So that when to edifie in other Duties Men transgress them they give away more than they get and are not so truly advanced forward as set back and so cannot pretend to go on in Private Edification But besides that they are thus really made worse as Private Christians I observe 2. That if they were as much improved as really they are hindred yet would it by no means be lawful for them to make a Schism and break the Peace and Unity of the Church to be better edified For though it be well that Men should seek to edifie and profit themselves in particular Virtues and do this with care seeking after the best means yet at the same time it is equally true also that in so doing they must secure the Peace and Edification of the whole Church They must not be so zealous for any means of better edifying and profiting themselves as for its sake to make a Rent in the Church and create Publick Disturbance And this may appear from these Reasons 1. Because it is against the Fundamental Law of all Societies which is That no Man shall seek his own Private Profit and Enrichment by the Publick Loss and Dissettlement And particularly 't is against the Laws Christ has made for the Peace and Preservation of his Church who engages his Members to forego their own Private Profit for the Publick Peace and Benefit more than any others 2. This breaking Unity to redress and supply less edifying Means in the Church is like Sedition in the State for Redress of Civil Defects and Grievances and subject to a like Condemnation 3. 'T is against the End even of the best Helps and Means of Edification which is to establish Peace and keep out Schism and so are utterly perverted when they are made the Ground of Separation 4. When the Corinthians broke the Unity of the Church on this Ground the Apostle charg'd the great Sin of Schism upon them 5. If this Pretence would acquit from Schism there can be no such thing as Unity in the Church nor any stop to Separation 1. I say thus to break Unity and Publick Peace only that we may have better means to edifie and profit our selves in private virtues is against the Fundamental Law of all Societies which is That no Man shall seek his own private profit and enrichment by the publick loss and dissettlement The Publick Interest in all reason deserves to be more regarded than any Mans Private Benefit For it is infinitely of greater weight and contains more in it So that if any private profiting may claim to be pursued the publick much more wherein every single Mans share weighs as much as that and has the vast number of all the rest added to it And the subsistence of all society and good order requires it should be so prefer'd since otherwise it would evermore be some Mans turn for his own particular profits sake to break it And when any Men embody and combine in Societies by so doing they all virtually ingage and profess to do it And in all Communities he really is and is generally held an ill Man who doth otherwise He is a bad Member in a Family that
When the Corinthians broke the Unity of the Church on this pretence of greater profiting the Apostle charges the great sin of Schism upon them Under their Divisions they had this to plead that the common means were unedifying and that the Publick Assemblies were not so ordered as that they might receive the greatest profit by them When they came together every one had a new inspired Psalm or a Doctrine or a Revelation or an Interpretation the uttering whereof all at once bred nothing but confusion and was not as he says a doing things unto edifying 1 Cor. 14. 26. They were generally so forward to shew their Gifts of Tongues that every one in the Assembly that could was for uttering a Prayer or Revelation or an Exposition in a strange Language And this made their understanding Unfruitful unto others v. 14. So that the unlearned not understanding what was said could not say Amen at their giving of thanks v. 16 that the Speaker only edified himself v. 4 but that the Congregation was not edified v. 17. Nay there was then not only much unedifyingness in their Publick Assemblies but they divided on this pretence to associate themselves with more edifying Teachers They were Zealous as my Text says of Spiritual Gifts and mighty admirers of Gifted Men but very prone to slight others who were inferiour to them They were all for setting up the most powerful and edifying Pastors they gloried in Men. 1 Cor. 3. 21. They would flock to those they most admired where they thought to edifie most and become their followers but separate from others they were puffed up for one against another 1 Cor. 4. 6. Yea for the sake of their admired Teachers they would disparage even St. Paul himself alledging that he was rude in speech i. e. made less elegant clear and Edifying Sermons and less gifted than some other more followed Ministers 2 Cor. 11. 4. 6 which put him upon speaking so much in his own defence and commendation as he doth 2 Cor. c. 11. and c. 12. For so he excuses all that glorying and setting forth his own Praises I am become a fool in glorying but by such unjust preferring them above me ye have compelled me 2 Cor. 12. 11. But when they broke the Unity of the Church and burst thus into Strife and Division to set up the most Powerful Gifted Men and seek better means of edifying he tells them they are guilty of the great sin of Schism Whereas there are among you these Divisions tho shelter'd under these pretences ye are Carnal and walk as Men. 1 Cor. 3. 3. 5. And lastly If this Pretence of Edifying better by the Rent they make be a good and warrantable Reason for it there can be no such thing as Unity in the Church nor any stop to Separations For this Pretence will serve almost all men and that almost at all times to break loose so that no fast hold can be taken of them in any Church If the Rule be to break off from others and still to unite with that Teacher by whom he edifies most the next Question is Who shall judge who that is and that must be every man for himself for every man seems best able to tell his own Gains by what he finds and one is not a fit Judge of anothers Profit And when every man must seek a Teacher whom he fancies most tho in opposition to such as the Law has appointed since mens Fancies are infinitely various in this Point how can there be any Bond of Union in any Neighbourhood For one is most pleas'd with melting Tones and Voice and Vehemence another with pretty Sayings choice Similitudes and affected Allegories thinking there lies much Spirituality in affecting Phrases a third thinks Figures and Phrases only amuse the Fancy but darken Knowledge and is for hearing Weighty and Useful things deliver'd in Intelligible and Plain Discourses In Sermons some seek witty Conceits and Resemblances others ostentation of Learning in citation of Authors and Greek and Latin Sentences Some again think lightly of both these and seek more to be inform'd in Deep and Mysterious Points or to be fed with Discoveries of new Notions others to hear a clear State of hard Cases a third prefers the most pathetical moving Preachers a fourth is for the subtilest Disputants who shew most Dexterity and Skill in Controversies Thus various are Mens Judgments in these things And therefore if every Man be at liberty to chuse that Preacher by whom he edifies most in what he fancies best there is not like to be any setled Union in Parishes or Churches Nay the same Man will not be at unity with himself at different times For Mens Humours and Opinions of these Matters daily alter and when they change by this Rule they must also change their Teachers and so are never like to be true and constant even to their own admired Congregations If Men then are free to leave the Establish'd Ministry and adhere to any whom they think they can hear more profitably 't is plain the Church can be no such thing as the Scripture every where declares it is viz. One Body And thus upon all these Accounts it appears that the Edification and Unity of the Church must be preferr'd and sought in the first place and limit us in seeking out the best Means and Helps of Edifying in Particular Virtues So that we must never seek to supply supposed Defects and get better Means of Private Edifying by a Schism We may labour after them as we can in all Peaceable ways but must in no wise for their sakes break the Unity of the Church and make Divisions For this as I have shewn is against the Fundamental Law of all Communities which forbids Men to seek their own Private Profit at the Publick Loss it is against the Fundamental Laws of Christs Church who ingages all his Members to deny themselves and forego their Private Profit for Publick Peace and to be careful of it before all other Duties it is like raising Sedition in the Civil State for Redress of Grievances which is a most Foolish as well as Sinful Course it is an utter perverting of the true End of all Helps and Means of Edifying whose main Design is to maintain Peace and prevent Schisms it makes Separation endless and renders it impossible that there should be any such thing as Unity in the Church and when Men have divided the Church on this Pretence they have been charged with the great Sin of Schism in the Scriptures So that in seeking the best Means of Private Edification every Good Man must stop in Peaceable Ways which are the onely Ways that are Innocent yea and the Ways that are best too all things consider'd and the Benefit of Peace being cast into the Scales tho some others should happen to be better when consider'd abstractly in themselves And therefore no Conscientious or Wise Man must ever attempt to procure a Means more edifying to
will please himself in some unmeet or unseasonable delight to the disturbance of the whole Houshold And he is an ill Man in any Neighbourhood and a bad Subject in any Country who will seek his own private gain and emolument tho it be at the general loss and when the Publick suffers by it It is ill in any Member for some private end to bring any Detriment to the Publick but especially to make Seditions and break the Peace and Unity which is the Ligament by which it stands for that is the Civil Death and Dissolution of it But as this is against the Fundamental Law of all Communities so particularly against the Laws Christ has made for the Peace and Preservation of his Church who obliges his Members to forgoe their own Private Profit for Publick Peace and Benefit more than any others He puts us in mind that we stand in his Church not as independent individuals who have only our own gain to look to but as Parts and Members God has made us the Body of Christ says St. Paul and Members in particular 1 Cor. 12. 27. And being Fellow-members he would have that beget in us a general care of all that are the same Body with us making us sensible not only of our own but of others wants and ready to denie our selves or forgoe our own pleasure or profit for their advantage If one Member suffer all the Members suffer with it or if one be honoured saith he all the rest rejoyce with it v. 26. And the Members should have the same care one of another v. 25. and let no Man seek his own but every Man anothers wealth 1 Cor. 10. 24. And this looking beyond our selves and having a mutual care of others will keep us from all Schisms and dividing the Church for our particular satisfaction or advantage When the Members have the same care one of another there will be no Schism in the Body v. 25. Among all the Duties he has injoyned he lays greatest weight as I have observed on those which make for Love and Peace so that they must be secured in the first place they are set as the Ruling Virtues which must give Laws which utterly excludes all Plea of breaking them upon pretence of Greater Profiting in any others In Religious Matters says the Apostle let us follow after the things which make for Peace and things whereby one may edifie another Rom. 14. 19. Above all things says he again put on Charity which is the Bond of Perfectness i. e. which by binding us together perfects us for all other Graces are imperfect as I before noted without Unity and Peace and it must be added to them to gain acceptance Col. 3. 14. And let the Peace of God rule in your Hearts whereto you are also called in one Body i. e. of all others Peace must give Laws and be the Ruling Virtue because it secures that which is the greatest Profit and most to be aim'd at in all Societies viz. Unity v. 15. Thus are Men in all Societies and the Members of Christ's Church more than any obliged to be most tender of Publick Benefit and Peace and to deny themselves in any Private Interests and Advantages rather than in pursuit of them to break Unity and work Publick Disturbance When they are Members of Publick Bodies they must have Publick Spirits and not seek their own Benefit against the Benefit of the Community So that if any man seeks only to please himself and to carry on his own Profit and Satisfaction he can only be Good then when there is none in the World besides himself and he lives alone but is an ill man and an awkward mis-form'd Member in all Society and Communion 2. This breaking Unity to redress and supply less edifying Means in the Church is like Sedition in the State for redress of Civil Defects and Grievances and subject to a like Condemnation What Sedition is in the Civil State that Schism is in the Church of Christ. It breaks one Society into many Pieces and makes them no longer one Body but so many several Bodies as there are disjoynted Parties And therefore Church-Schisms are call'd Seditions both by St. Paul the Works of the Flesh are Heresies Seditions i. e. Heresies and Schisms Gal. 5. 20 and by St. Clement ordinarily and other Apostolical Writers And when this is made in any Church for Means of better Edification because the established Helps happen to have some Defects and are not so fitted to our Profit as we would have them it is such another way of Redress as when a Sedition is made in a State to remedy the Defects and Grievances of any Kingdom In both which as the Remedy is most sinful being such an high and open Breach of Peace which God has made the most sacred of all Duties so is it withal most foolish and a way of Cure incomparably worse than the Disease For surely the tearing Things to pieces is the worst way of mending Faults and Sedition and the utter loss of Peace are among the worst of Grievances that can befal any Communities 3. 'T is against the End even of the best Helps and Means of Edification which is to establish Peace and keep out Schism and so are utterly perverted when they are made the Ground of Separation As for Private Graces and Improvements themselves the Exercise even of them is oft-times subject to this End and they are always best and most perfect when they are so used as that we may not only profit our selves with them but edifie the Church too Love and Peace are the Ruling Virtues as I have shew'd which must guide the rest and the Great End whereto all others must be made subservient This Rule St. Paul gives the Corinthians for the management of themselves in other Duties Let all your things be done with Charity so that even other Duties are in danger of losing their Grace when they are exercised uncharitably 1 Cor. 16. 14. And the Exercise of Devotion even in inspired Prayers and Hymns when Men were acted by them he tells them must be with deference to Peace and Publick Edification Every one saith he hath a Psalm but let all things be done to edifying 1 Cor. 14. 26. But as for all the outward Means and Helps of Edifying in these Private Graces they are more absolutely subservient to Peace and must be so used for profiting Private Men as that they be sure at the same time to edifie the whole Church and maintain Union These Means of Edification are either those Publick Officers God has appointed in his Church or those Gifts he bestows upon them for the Edification of Believers And tho it be a great Design of both these to edifie particular Persons in Faith and Practice yet is it an higher End to edifie the whole Church in Peace and Unity and keep out Schisms 1. This Edification of the whole Church and preserving Peace and Unity is the main
as the Great Point whereat they are to aim on all sorts of Christians And here had I time I should urge all Christians to lay out themselves in improving useful Knowledge and obedient Practice and peaceable Inclinations to stir up and cherish in themselves devout Affections and daily renew and strengthen Holy Purposes and express in the whole course of their Lives the power of Godliness in all due submission to their Governours and tender care of the Churches Peace as well as in all Duty towards God and exercise of Private Virtues For this is truly to grow in Grace and be edified Believers I would intreat you my Reverend Brethren in the Name of Christ whose Ministers we are not only to be exemplary and shining Lights in edifying thus your selves but also to be wise and unwearied in your Labours in carrying on this Edification among all others you can any ways work upon especially those committed to your Charge That you would instruct the ignorant with all assiduitie and plainness convince the erroneous with all gentleness and calm arguings yea with all Patience and Perseverance remembring that it is an hard matter and a work of time for a Man to cast off old and rivited Opinions and that any one is troubled enough in being shewed his error without hearing of it in Anger and Invective Speeches and labour to win all Men over to an universal Holiness with your utmosh skill and diligence That you would study to be plain and useful in all your Sermons Prudently bold and impartial in Reproofs warning Men against all even their beloved Vices with such freedom as may keep their Consciences awake and yet with such shew of tenderness and prudent timing of Reproof as may not tempt them to fly out from us endeavouring to reclaim them from Schism which is most mischievous to the Church and which nothing can excuse before God but an honest Ignorance and the pitiableness of unmasterable Prepossessions and from all Prophaneness and Immoralities which without particular Repentance and Amendment are most surely mischievous to their own Souls which have no Plea of Pardonable Ignorance and Involuntariness and for which there is no Excuse at all In all which by the Love of Christ I would beseech you to shew all Wisdom and Diligence and Patience and unwearied Perseverence and compassionate Tenderness and Love for Souls I would in all Christian Love beseech our Dissenting Brethren and be instant with them since it so nearly concerns both the Church and them that they would seek no longer to build up only themselves but to edifie the Church of Christ which they certainly pull down by their Separation In very deed they may have great Means of Private Edification in our Church and need not seek for better in any other Place They will edifie sufficiently by our Sermons as I have noted if they bring along with them prepared Minds and and without them the Jews could not edifie by the Sermons of Christ and his Apostles And if they cannot edifie by the Churches Prayers too the Fault I am sure is not in the Prayers but in themselves For consider Brethren the Prayers we use are not to give Affections to us but to express those we have so that when we come to Pray we must bring them along with us And if we come with an awful sense of God in our Minds with serious and good Purposes and devout Affections we need no better Helps to express them than the Churches Service For therein are sound suitable and well-composed Prayers which extend to all Necessities begging all needful Graces and praying particularly both against Sins and Calamities and requesting outward Blessings and giving Thanks for Receipt of Mercies and interceding for all States and Conditions of Persons and suited to the Great Periods and States of Life In all which they pitch upon the most pertinent and proper things and express them in Grave Plain and Significant Language and are intermixed with Responses to fix Attention and call back wandring Thoughts and are parcell'd into Collects to give Breath and not weary us out with an uninterrupted continuance of intense Affections So that if we bring with us a Heart to desire these things here we have Prayers to suggest and express our Desires of them yea such as whilst they do express are greatly fitted to increase them Thus fit are they to edifie in themselves and this great Numbers of truly Pious and Devout Souls have found and from their own Experience can testifie concerning them And now if any shall still charge such excellent Prayers as unedifying where lies the blame whether in the Deadness of the Prayers or the Indevotion and Unpreparedness of their own Hearts If a Man thinks the most wholesom and substantial Food distasteful or insipid 't is a sign he has a depraved Appetite And if he feels no Devotion in the use of such Pious Wise and Profitable Forms 't is a sign his Soul is sick and that his Spiritual Sense has lost its Taste since the most agreeable Food is no better rellish'd by it He is Indevout not because the Prayers do not suggest Devout things nor cloath them in Proper and Devout Expressions but because he doth not hold his Mind attent or has not prepared his Heart to be affected with them So that if these our Brethren will take the Godly Care and Pains to mend this Fault which is in themselves and come with Reverent and Prepared Minds they will not I believe complain any longer of Deadness and want of Edification in the Churches Prayers which are not only Good but as those who use them without prejudice and with Devotion in their Hearts can testifie very excellent for that purpose But tho they could not so well edifie themselves in them yet by the Love of Christ I would beseech them to seek no longer to build up only themselves but to edifie the Church of Christ which they pull down by their Separation Make Conscience of Peace and Unity Brethren and think them as Necessary things as any others in Religion Remember it is one of the necessary Properties of Charity to have such care of others as keeps out Schism and that without this Charity there is no Benefit in any Services no not in Martyrdom and how then can you account to your selves the throwing that away for any other thing Esteem your selves as Members of the Body and consider that the Body is built up by Unity This Christ has founded upon himself and the Apostles those Master Builders have edified by compacting it into one and how then will you look either upon him or them who pluck asunder what they put together and pull it down by Division The Design of God in all the most Powerful Gifted Ministers is to build up the Body and keep out Schism and what account will you give to him for crossing that Design in making these not only the Heads of Parties but the Pretence