Deum Angelos No broyls no jars in Heaven nothing but Peace there and it is a kind of Heaven upon Earth when Brethren dwell together in Unity Psal 133.1 Behold how good and pleasant a thing it is c. Pleasant to behold a lovely sight to see an Army marching in an exact order and as amiable and acceptable to hear people of the same Parish Town City and Kingdom pouring out their joint requests with one Mouth and one Heart praying for the Peace and Prosperity of Zion O the Benefits of Union are unspeakably great I profess my self to stand admiring the vanity of this contentious World that values such a state no more Hear what men of the most serene temper men that aspired after it if it were possible to attain to some good degree of it or somewhat like it by living Peaceably with all men and by being Peacemakers Benefits of Peace and Vnity LOrd Bacons Essays p. 13. Speaking of Peace in the Church It containeth infinite Blessings it establisheth Faith it kindleth Charity and it turneth the Labours of Writing and Reading of Controversies into Treatises of Mortification and Devotion Bishop Andrews Sermons p. 672. The Spirit dwells not but where Unity and Love is Think of this seriously and set it down that at Salem is his Tabernacle and Salem is Peace and so the Fathers read it in pace factus est locus ejus make that place for him and he will say here is my Rest here will I dwell for I have a delight therein Mr. Vertues Plea for Peace Christ hath said Blessed are the Peace-makers they shall be called the Children of God. Matth. 5.9 As we would share in this Blessedness let it be our study Item p. 51. Would we see good and enjoy long days would we be sure that we have that Wisdom which is from above be peaceable wrangle not for trifles contend not about uncertainties Dr. Goods Firmianus Dubit antius p 165. It is not to be doubted but that Peace and Unity and Love among our selves would much dishearten those restless enemies of our Church and State c. and cause Religion and Primitive Christianity to flourish in our miserable divided Nation while that time which is now spent in vain Wranglings and unchristian Contentions would be better employed in devout Prayer Holy Meditation and Mortification of our Corruptions in Duties of Piety towards Almighty God and of Love Mercy and Charity one towards another Mr. Jekyls Sermons on Jer. 5.29 p. 30. Next to Peace with God without which all other security will prove deceitful Unity amongst our selves is certainly the most effectual thing to the making of us an happy people and till that be attained we may possibly be quiet but we shall never be safe I shall conclude this with an excellent Speech of that Pious and Peaceable Prelate Dr. Reynolds in his Sermon of Self-denyal towards the end It were worth not only our Fasting and Prayer but our Studying our Sweating our Bleeding our Dying to recover Peace to the Church and Unity amongst Brethren again I could argue also from the mischievous effects and consequences of our Divisions that the case of our Church must be very sad and deplorable while our Divisions and Confusions in matters of Religion continue Malorum ilias a multitude of evils throng in upon a Church through its unchristian Divisions A divided state is an unhappy state it is a state of Separation from God as well as from their Brethren Bishop Andrews Sermons p. 672. And what is there would sooner grieve him the Holy Spirit and make him to quit us than discord or disunion Among divided men or minds he will not dwell not but where Unity and Love is They may talk of the Spirit without these in vain To say Truth who would be hired to dwell in Meshecks Psal 120.5 where nothing is but continual jars and jangles Such places such men are even as Torida Zona not habitable by the Spirit by this Spirit But for the Spirit of Division ut habitet inter eos Daemon a fit place for the Devil to dwell among such And surely he that hath an heart affected with any sense of the miserable case of our divided Church though blessed be God not in so lamentable a case now as in former years he that hath any concern for it must needs be convinced that we are not well cannot be well in our multiplicity of Divisions The Lord Chancellor Hides Speech to the Parliament 1660 He calls it a sad Consideration that must make every Religious Heart to bleed to see Religion which should be the strongest or Obligations and cement of Affection and Brotherly kindness and Compassion made by the perverse wranglings of passionate and froward Men the Ground of all Animosity Hatred Malice and Revenge My Lords and Gentlemen saith he this Disquisition hath cost the King many a sigh many a sad hour when he hath considered the almost irreparable Reproach the Protestant Religion hath undergone from the Divisions and Distractions which have been so notorious in this Kingdom Bishop Saunderson 's Sermons ad Aulam Serm. 9. Sect. 30 Odious to God and grievous to every Godly Man it is when such Voices as these are heard in the Church I am of Paul and I am of Cephas and I of Apollo Mr. Baxter in the Life of Sir Matthew Hale saith that he much lamented that so many Ministers were silenced the Church weakned Papists strengthned the cause of Love and Piety greatly wronged and hindred by the present differences about Conformity Doctor Good 's Firmianus Dubitantius c. p. 152 'T is indeed much to be lamented that we should quarrel about Mint and Cummin to the prejudice of the more weighty and material duties and scandal of our Religion Causes of the decay of Christian Piety p. 424. Amidst all our importunate pretences to Piety if there be indeed any such thing amongst us methinks it should give us some relentings make us sadly consider what a deplorable Condition we have brought that very Religion into by our Divisions Bishop of Salisbury 's Exhortation to Peace and Vnity p. 30. There have arisen among us such heats so much bitterness so violent an aversion to one another that it must needs beget great Grief and sad Apprehensions in all that look on and judge impartially Principles and Practices of some Mod. c. p. 4. It pains me to the Heart when I consider to what a prodigious heighth about matters in Religion our feuds are grown and how utterly averse the too many Sects and Parties we are crumbled into are to entertain thoughts of Peace and Accommodation Vnity of the Catholick Church p. 1. Whosoever with an Impartial Eye and a truly Religious concern for the Honour of God the Credit of the Gospel and the Salvation of Men looks into the State of Christendom he will scarce find any greater cause of sorrowful Reflections than from the many Divisions and
and negligent so many good Books of Devotion and excellent pieces of Divinity as the Church of Christ abounds with they may be able to make such Prayers as may be sound and comprehensive suitable and edifying Nay they may attain to some ability to express their desires to God without an exact Form if they are such persons as are much in the practice of this Duty as it is fit Ministers should be after the example of the Apostles Acts 6.4 But we will give our selves continually to Prayer and the Ministry of the Word Secondly It was more seasonable at the Reformation than another Worship because it receded least from their former Worship leaving that only in what was plainly and undoubtedly evil and so was it more safe upon the same account For it is a common Rule in all Changes in Bodies Natural and Political that the Change be no more then needs must it being dangerous to run from one extream into another And that Change which they did make in the Worship was no without its danger for in Devonshire and Cornwall there was a Rebellion upon the account of changing their Worship But there would be no danger of Rebellion now upon some just alterations It caused one indeed in Scotland as before which infected England Thirdly It was more satisfactory and acceptable to the generality of the Nation at the time of the Reformation than any other So that we do not read of any that separated from it in Edward VI. days And though when they were at liberty in Germany some were for another Worship at Frankford yet we do not read but they Conformed to it in England until near the Spanish Invasion when a party of Jesuits and Roman Priests were found crying up a sort of Free Prayer drawing some off from the Common-Prayer though not men of note And in the Act Primo Elizabethae you may find the esteem they had for this Worship It saith to the great decay of the due Honour of God and discomfort to the Professors of the Truth of Christs Religion the Common-Prayer Book and the Act for it was repealed and taken away in Queen Maries days But now the generality of Dissenters and many that follow the Parish Ministers are dissatisfied in it and have little or no liking to it and whatever is the matter the genius of the people will not bear it or some things in it or at least not otherwise then as a Burthen and a Grievance Arg. IV. For proof that the Common-Prayer according to the Acts for Vniformity is inconvenient in some respects because of the confinement of Ministers to the use of it not only in the publick but in their Families in a manner wholly excluding all other manner of Prayer even the most sober and discreet use of the Gift as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vpon the Ordinance against the Common-Prayer Book Sect. 4. I am not against a grave modest discreet and humble use of Ministers gifts even in publick the better to excite their own and the peoples affections to the present occasions Again upon denying him his Chaplains Sect. 16. Which gift as I do not wholly exclude from publick occasions so I allow it its just liberty and use in private and devout retirements And the Act for Vniformity in the beginning of King Edwards Reign did give Liberty to use any other Prayers and Psalms taken out of the Bible at any due time not letting or omitting thereby the Service or any part thereof More may be spoken to enforce this part that Ministers should labour after some measure of the gift and ability to utter their minds to God in Prayer without keeping strictly to a Form. First Ejaculatory Prayer calls for some measure of this gift as when we lift up our Hearts to God upon any present occasion in some short Prayer as in time of Temptation upon sudden Danger or news of the Sickness or Death of a Friend or Judgment or Mercy befalling the Nation or Parish in which we live or according to the Discourse and Company which we are in or matter which we read Bishop Taylor in his Rules to his Clergy That they should teach their People to be much in this Ejaculatory Prayer Secondly For some gift and ability to Pray without a Form is because that Examination of our Hearts and Lives upon set days of Fasting and Humiliation before a Sacrament and in times of Affliction and Sickness or any Calamity the dayly Examination also according to many sober Heathens practice Pythagoras his Advice to his Scholars to that purpose and which is the practice of good men and serves only to find out our sins that we may beg pardon of them and power against them or be thankful to God for his Grace keeping us from sin or enabling us to do good and this cannot be done in one set Form. Thirdly Ministers Sermons should be begun continued and ended with Prayer Prayer for Direction to a suitable Subject such as the necessities of the people call for Method Matter Language that all may be done to edifying And when it is finished it is fitting to recommend it unto God for his Blessing upon it The more Prayer the more power working with our Sermons You will find such Sermons take most effect they will be weak without it And after Preaching that the Word Preached may be put in practice Some Ministers in the Country having a short Prayer after Sermon respecting the principal matter of the Sermon as the Duties Graces Truths of our Christian Religion or Sins as 2 Tim. 3.16 The Word being profitable for Doctrine Reproof to convince Gainsayers for Correction and Amendment of evil Manners and for Instruction in Righteousness or Holiness by an exercise of the Graces performance of the Duties of our Religion Now Prayer must accompany all the Ordinances of God to sanctifie and get Gods Blessing on them Fourthly It is fit that all should vary in their Prayers so much as occasions serves our Sins our Wants our Mercies Neither those of the Nation nor a particular Congregation are the same always not altogether though much the same Therefore it is fit our Petitions Intercessions and Thanksgivings should admit of some alteration Arg. V. For some ability to pray without an exact Form is that in Phil. 4.6 In every thing by Prayer and Supplication with Thanksgiving let your Requests be made known unto God In every thing of great concernment and importance in our Lives be it Worldly or Spiritual matters Besides in the two first Centuries this sort of Prayer prevailed in all probability and a mixt Worship in the third partly by Form and part otherwise 'T is too apparent to be denied and hath been the observation of too many and their complaint too that Ministers take occasion from the use of the Common-Prayers to neglect the sober use of free and conceived Prayer being insufficient to pray upon an emergent occasion to the scandal of their Function
Animosities which have distracted and separated its Parts Mr. Wakes Serm. on Rom. 15.5 6 7. I do not believe there is any good Christian so little affected with those unhappy Divisions under which the Church at this day labours as not both heartily to deplore them and to think that nothing could be too much that might innocently be done on all hands for the redressing of them And to show that these Worthy Men had cause to complain and bewail our Divisions I shall Exemplifie the Evils The Mischief of our Divisions THE First Mischief promoting Atheisme Arch-Bishop Grindal in his Fair Warning Part 2. Edit 1663 expressed his great fear of two things Atheism and Popery and both arising out of our needless differences By these the Enemies of our Religion gain this that nothing can be established by Law in the Protestant Religion whose every part is not opposed by some or other of her own Professors so that things continuing loose and confused the Papists have their Opportunity to urge their way which is attended with Order and Government And our Religion continuing thus distracted and divided some vile Wretches lay hold on the Arguments on one side to confute the other and so hope at last to destroy all Judge Hale 's Discourse of Religion p. 49. When Men see so much Heat and Passion so much Fervour and Contention such Reproaches and Revilings such Exasperations of Authority on either Party such mutual Prosecutions one of another that more could not possibly be done between Dissenters in those points which both agree to be Fundamental Atheistical Spirits are apt to conclude that probably those points that both sides supposed to be of greater moment are Ejusdem Farinae as those in Contest which all Men take to be small and inconsiderable Mr. Hooker 's Ecclesiastical Politie p. 18. Speaking of Atheistical persons by our Contentions their Irreligious Humour is much strengthened Also by the hot persuit of lower Controversies among Men professing Religion and agreeing in the principal Foundation thereof they conceive hope that about the higher Principles themselves time will cause Alteration to grow Abner 's Plea for Accommodation p. 41. It will cast a scandal on Religion it will open the Mouths of the Adversaries of the Truth The Name of God is blasphem'd among the Gentiles through you saith the Apostle Rom. 2.24 The worst sort among them scoff at it it is meat and drink to them And the better sort are stagger'd by it discouraged from coming within the pale of the Church when they observe Christians as Contentious as Pagans Believers as quarrelsome as Insidels Vnity of Catholick Christians The many Divisions and Animosities which have distracted and separated the parts of Christendom these have opened the Mouths and whet the Tongues of its professed Enemies to Reviling and Railings and Prophane Scoffs against our Blessed Lord and Saviour and his Holy Religion and stifled the first thoughts of admitting the most Convincing Truths to a debate among Jews Turks or Pagans and stopt their Ears against the wisest Charmes To no one cause can we more reasonably impute the small progress which Christianity hath made in the World for a Thousand years past The same contents have a pernicious influence at home upon the Faith and Manners of those within the Pale of the Church Men are hereby too soon tempted into some degree of Sceptiscism about very material points of Christian Doctrine in which they observe so many to differ among themselves Bishop Hacket on Acts 15.39 Where many Sects spring up it calls the Truth more into question and the fewer Proselytes will be gained Secondly By bringing Men to a Lukewarmness and Indifferency in the great things of Religion Bishop Whitgift 's Letter to the Council in Fullers Hist L. 9. That in King Edwards Time and in the beginning of Queen Elizabeths before the heat of these Contentions the Gospel mightily prevailed But since this Schism and Division the contrary Effects have happened Design of Christian p. 236. It is too visibly apparent to be denied that those who have such a scalding hot Zeal or contend so earnestly either for or against things of no certainty and no necessity are many of them as their Predecessors the Pharisees were in the very other Extream as to not a few of the weightiest matters of Religion Conformists Plea for the Nonconformists Part 4. pag. 17 It renders the Labours of the Worthiest suspected and despised by the contrary-minded The most useful profitable searching Books which the World hath most need of are not as much as look'd into by many but rejected because the Books off F s as they are called Yea more if a Conformist have the Name of F some of our Church-P will not come nigh the door-posts of Wisdom Mr. Kidder 's Sermons 1 Pet 3.11 We quarrel for Trifles and neglect our unquestionable Duty to God and Man. Doctor Burnet Bishop of Salisbury Matth. 12.25 p. 5. The ill Effects of this Zeal or Contentiousness upon our selves will be That as this Temper grows upon us all our inward seriousness will in a great measure abate and turn meerly to a Form And with that many other Sins will creep in upon us we will bear with many ill things in others because they are of our Party whom otherwise we would detest for their ill Lives and by Conversing much with them we will contract at least a Familiarity with their Vices and perhaps imagine That by our rage and heat we offer up some acceptable Sacrifice to God to compensate for out other Disorders Causes of Decay of Piety p. 251. When bitter Zeal was once fermented the Orthodoxy or Heresie of Lives became soon Tearms out-dated and Men were measured only by Opinions Item p. 301. They are not much discomposed to see Men of no Religion 't is only the having one different from their own that makes their Indignation Mr. Cook 's Sermons on Rom. 12.18 p. 24 What a siding is there with this and the other Zealous and Conscientious Sect even by those that have neither Zeal nor Conscience but are Deriders of both and of strict Holiness in all sorts of Professors Appendix to the third part of the Friendly Debate p. 143 Doctor Jackson tells us the first ground of his dislike to the chief Solicitors of Reformation in our Church was the deformity of their Zeal not moving them to redress known Enormities of the Common-wealth much more material and much more nearly concerning the Advancement of the Gospel than those doubtful Controversies of Formality about which they strove Bishop Wilkins on Rom. 14.17 18 Let a Man but indifferently look round about him amongst all the kinds of Parties in our times even those who in his own judgment he esteems the best and then say Whether both our Common Peace and the Power of Religion hath not suffered exceedingly upon the account of our Zeal in lesser matters Another Mischief it destroys Charity Doctor Steward 's Englands Case