the world that our Religion is not changed at all Our worship is the same whether within Book or without Our Prayers are the same for matter with those in the Common Prayer Book And if I should one day use the Common Prayer Book and another day forbear it I should not change the worship of God To pray is part of his worship but whether it be on a Book or off it is no part at all but only a mode or circumstance which may be altered as occasion serveth I doubt not but a Book is fittest for some but not for all And do they think that we know not what adding and chopping and changing they have made with their Mass Book Who is it then that hath changed their worship Is it like the same Book that it was before the changes made by Gregory the great It was so ordinary a thing to change the manner and forms of worshp that private Bishops did it without any Synods whence else had the world the forms that are now in use Tell us how many of those in the Biblioth Patrum were made by Apostle or General Council if you can When Basil the great had set up a new way of singing to God and made some other changes in worship the Clergy of Neocesarea were offended with him for the novelty and told him that none of that was used in Gregory's dayes To whom he answers that neither was their own Letany known in Gregory's dayes who yet had lived not 140 years before and was the famous founder of their Church by miracles Basil Epist. 63. And Basil added to the Clergie of Neocesara But how can you tell that these things were not in use in Gregories daies when you have kept nothing unchanged which he was used to And that you may see his mind in this he adds But I pardon all these things though God will examine all Only let the principal things be kept safe If we had changed the Sacraments as the Papists have done viz. a Commemorative Sacrifice into a Real Sacrifice of Christ himself the Sacramental Body and blood of Christ into the Real Body and blood the administration of it in both kinds into one kind alone defrauding the people of the cup the Communion into a private Mass the people only looking on the Priest when he receiveth alone himself c. I say had we made such changes as these they might have called us changelings indeed and have told us of novelties in the worship of God 18. Moreover this laying so much upon lower or unnecessary things doth impoverish the soul and make it low and empty and formal according to the matter that it hath to work upon As the great unquestionable Truths of God are they that sanctifie and elevate the soul and leave their Image on it so will contending about private opinions or laying out our zeal in ceremonies and shaddows depress the soul and famish it and turn our Religion into a shaddow We find by sad experience that people are so prone to turn all Religion into meer words and shews and customary formalityes that when we have done our best we cannot cure them of this mortal sin God is a Spirit and will have such worshippers as worship him in spirit and in truth John 4.23 We have little need to cherish this disease of hypocrisie seeming histrionical outside Religiousness when we see so many perish by it after all that we can do for their deliverance 19. And this making a Religion of unnecessary things or laying the Churches Unity thereon is a dangerous snare to delude the Ignorant and ungodly and make them believe that they are godly people and in the way to Heaven as well as others I use not this or any Argument against the profitable use of any forms in order to the understanding of the matter nor against the due circumstantiating of the worship of God But if profitable forms and Gods own Ordinances are somwhat lyable to this abuse we cannot devise how to increase the danger and quite enthral these miserable souls more certainly then by multiplying unnecessary formalityes and placing Religion and Unity in them For they that are most ignorant and empty of the Love and fear of God and the bitterest enemies to a Heavenly life will presently set in with these formalities and make themselves a Religion of these and then they will take themselves as godly as the best You shall never make them believe that they are ungodly They think the difference lyeth but in the way and manner of serving God You serve him one way and they another but yet they serve him as well as you Yea they will overdo in these Indifferent things that they may make up that which is wanting in true godliness and then they will think that they are better and righter then you Thus did the Heathens cry out against the ancient Christians with a Tollite impios away with the ungodly and killed them and cast them to wild beast to be torn by them because they would not worship their Idols And so many ungodly wretches now that will not be perswaded to a Holy life will yet cry dow others as impious because they observe not all the Ceremonies which they observe When we have used all the means we can to bring them to the study of the Scripture and to meditate in the Law of the Lord and to holy conference and servent prayer to hatred of sin the contempt of the world the mortifying of the flesh to the Love of God above all to a thankful admiration of the Love of Christ and the great mystery of Redemption to the believing delightful forethoughts of everlasting life and preparation for it c. I say when we have done all to bring them to this which is godlyness indeed we lose our labour and leave them as we find them They cannot away with so precise a life But yet a Religion they will have instead of it to deceive their souls and quiet them in the way to Hell For instance I must speak it with grief of heart that I meet with no small number among us that know not who Christ is some say he is God and not man some say he is man and not God some say he was made both God and man at once some say he is neither God nor man but a Spirit some say he is not God but the Son of God and hath the power of God given him Abundance say that he is God only and not man now he is in Heaven though he was both on earth and very many know not what Christianity is nor wherein the Christian Religion doth consist And yet all these persons that are Heathens rather then Christians are the most zealous Keepers of Christmass as it is called and the bitterest condemners of those that do not and so do make themselves believe that they are Christians as well as others The same persons that know not
and have Communion with them as Saints Not as conceiving them certainly to be such but probably and by that humane faith by which we are bound to believe their profession not as we believe God who is Infallible but as men that are fallible And this in several Degrees according to the several Degrees of their Credibility and the Probability of their Profession So that you must not after this mâ—stake me as if I tyed our external Church-Communion only to true Saints for then we must have Communion with none because being not able to search the hearts we know not what Professors are sincere But yet even this External Church-Communion belongs only to them that make Profession of Love and Holiness as well as of Belief and no lower Profession must serve the turn Prop. 2. There is a Common Vnity of humane Nature that we have with all men and a common Peace that as much as in us lyeth we must hold with all Rom. 12.18 But this is nothing to the Unity in questâ—on which belongeth to our happiness The Devils have a Unity of Nature and some order and accord in Evil for if Satan be divided how can his kingdom stand Mat. 12.26 Prop. 3. The Unity of the Saints in the Spirit of Holiness consisteth in this life with much imperfection and discord according to the imperfection of their Holiness But as Grace is the seed of Glory and the beginning of Eternal Life for all its weakness and the sins that accompany it Iohn 17.3 So the Unity of the Spirit of holiness is the seed and beginning of the perfect Unity in Heaven for all the differences and discord that here accompany it II. HAving shewed you the only bond of Unity I come now by fuller evidence to convince you of the truth of what is said and even to force it into your understandings if you will but use your Reason and believe the Word of God It is unholiness and ungodliness that causeth our Discord and it is the Spirit of Holiness that is the Vniting Principle and there 's no true Christian Vnity to be had with ungodly men Never think of Vnity by any other way then Sanctification You are as on the other side of the River and cannot be united to the servants of Christ till the Spirit Convert you and pass you over You are dead men and unfit to be United to the living and it s the Spirit that quickneth and this Life must be our Vnion You madly rail against Division and yet stand at a distance from Christ and his Church and maintain the greatest division in the world Believe it you do but doat and dream if you think to have true Christian Vnity on any other terms then by the Sanctifying Spirit of Christ. And this I shall now evince as followeth 1. You know sure that there can be no Christian Unity but in God as your Father and the Center of Vnity All the true members of the Catholick Church must say Our Father and be as his children United in him If you will have Unity without the favour of God it must be the Unity of Rebels and such a concord as is in Hell The family of God do all Unite in him As all the Kingdom is United in one King so is all the Church in God Can you think it possible to have Unity as long as you will not Unite in God Well then there 's nothing plainer in the Scripture then that all men by nature are departed from God and none are United to him but those that are regenerate and made new creatures not a man is his child by Grace and in his favour but only those that are sanctified by his Spirit Ioh. 3.3 5. Mat. 18.3 2 Cor. 5.17 Heb. 12.14 So that there 's no true Vnity without Sâ—nctification because there 's no reconciliation with God nor Unity with him without it 2. There can be no true Christian Vnity but in Christ the Redeemer and Head of the Church For how can the members be United but in the Head or the Schollars but in their Teacher or the Subjects but in their Soveraign You know there 's no Christian Vnity but in Christ. Well then What Unity can we have with those that are not in Christ The unsanctified have indeed the name of Christians but what is that to the nature Some branches not bearing fruit are said to be in him the Vine by outward profession but they are dead and withered and must be cut off and cast away for the fire and so are unfit for Communion with the Vine Iohn 15. He that is in Christ is a new creature old things are past away behold all things are become new 2 Cor. 5.17 If any man have not the Spirit of Christ which is this sanctifying Spirit the same is none of his I pray you mark the plainness of these passages All you that are unconverted and unsanfied are out of Christ and none of his though you may talk and boast of him as long as you will And therefore you cannot have Vnity with Christians till you will first have Unity with Christ himself Till you are engraffed into him you are not engraffed into the Catholick Church but only seem to be what you are not 3. The dead cannot be United to the living who will be married to a dead corpse or would be tyed to it and carry it about It is life that must Unite us The unsanctified are dead in sin Eph. 2.5 and the Spirit is given to quicken the dead that they may be fit for converse What Union can there be between a block and a man or a beast that hath but a sensitive life and a man that hath a rational Soul So what Union between the sensual world and the sanctified Believer If you could have Vnity without the Sanctifying Spirit why are you then Baptized into the name of the Holy-Ghost as your Sanctifier To have a Vnity of Being is common to us with the Devils for they are Gods creatures and so are we To have a Vnion of Specifick Being is common to us with all the damned for they are men as well as we and common to the Devils among themselves But it must be a Unity in the Spirit of Holiness that must prove us happy and afford us comfort 4. There is no possibility of having Unity with those that have not the same ultimate principal end But the sanctified and the unsanctified have not the same end nay have contrary ends If one of you will go to York and the other to London how can you possibly go one way This is the great difference that sets the world and the sanctified by the ears You serve Mammon and they serve God You have one portion and they another Your portion is in this life Psalm 17.14 Here you have your good things Luke 16.25 and here you lay up your treasure Mat. 6.19 21. Your belly is your God and you mind earthly things Phil.
out against Divisions when your hearts are thus divided from God and his servants You must learn to Love them with a special Love and Christ in them before you can be United with them 14. There is no Unity to be had wiâ—hout a Love to the Body that you are United to You must Love the Church and long for its prosperity and the success of the Gospel and the downfall of wickedness Thus do the Saints but thus do not the ungodly Nay many of them are glad when they hear of any evil befall the godly 15. There is no true Vnity without a singular respect to the special members that are the ligaments and chief Instruments of Unity even the Officers of the Church and most useful members The Overseers of the Church must be highly esteemed in Love for their work sake 1 Thes. 5.12 Thâ—s do the godly but not the ungodly 16. There must be an inward inclination to the Communion of Saints before there can be any agreement and Unity All that are of the Holy Catholick Church must desire the Communion of Saints Their delight must be in them Psal. 16.3 But the ungodly have no such delight in their Communion 17. If you will have Vnity and Communion with the Church you must have a Love to the Holy Ordinances which are the means of Communion as to the Word of God heard and read to Prayer Sacraments Confession c. But the ungodly have either a distaste of these or but a common delight in the outside and not in the Spirit of the Ordinance And therefore they cannot agree with the Church when you loath that which is our mâ—at and drink and we cannot feed at one Table together what Agreement can there be 18. If you will Agree you must wâ—rk in the same Vineyard and labour in the same employment and walk the same way as the sanctified do And that is in a way of holiness and righteousness giving all diligence to make your calling and election sure 2 Pet. 1.10 If you live to the flesh and they live to the Spirit Rom. 8.5 13. What Unity and Agreement can there be 19. There is no Unity to be had unless you will joyn in a defensive and offensive league and in an opposition to that which would tend to our destruction What Common-wealth will Unite with them that defend their enemies and rebels There is an enmity put in the beginning between the seed of the woman and of the Serpent Gen. 3.15 Because we are not of the world the world will hate us Iohn 15.19 If you will be United to the Church and people of Christ you must be at enmity with sin and hate it and joyn for the destroying of it and you must be souldiers in Christs Army which the Devil and his army fight against and you must fight against the flesh the world and the devil and not live in friendship with them But this the unsanctified will not do 20. And therefore because you will not be United to them in the state and Kingdom of Grace you shall not be United with them in the state and Kingdom of Glory And thus I have made it plain to you that none can have true Union with the Church of Christ but only they that are sanctified by the Spirit Use I. BY this time you may see if you are willing to see who it is long of that the world is all in pieces by divisions and who are the greatest hinderers of Unity Even unsanctified ungodly men And you may see how fit these men are to cry out against Divisions that are the principal causes of them And how wisely they deal to cry up Unity and in the mean time resist the only ground and way of Unity As Ioshua said to Achan 7.25 Why hast thou troubled us the Lord shall trouble thee this day So I may say to all the ungodly Why trouble you the Church and hinder Vnity you shall one day have trouble your selves for this They cry out against the Ministry and others that fear God as Ahab did to Elijah Art thou he that troubleth Israel But saith Elijah It is thou and thy Fathers house that trouble Israel in that ye have forsaken the Commandment of the Lord 1 King 18.17 18. Sirs I tell you and I may confidently tell you when I have proved it so fully that it is the ungodly that are the great Dividers of the world It s you that make the breach and keep it open We are willing to agree to any thing that is reasonable or pâ—ssible but there is no possibility of Agreeing with the ungodly unless they will turn It would make any honest heart to ake to see these wreâ—ches set all on fire and then cry out against others as the Authors of it As Nero set Rome on fire and then persecuted the Christians for it as if it had been done by them They pluck up the Foundations and hold most damnable practical errours and when they have done they go about reviling other men as erroneous I speak not in the excuse or extenuation of other mens errours I have spoke my part against them also But I tell you it is the prophane and ignorant rabble and all the ungodly whether Gentlemen Schollars or of what rank soever that are the great dividers and stand at the greatest distance from Christian Unity O what a happy Church should we have for all the sects that trouble us so much if it were not for ungodliness that animateth some of those sects and virtually containeth many more Had we none but men fearing God to deal with we should have no opposition to the Essentials of Religion and we should still have the comfort of agreeing with them in all things necessary to salvation They would carry on their differences in Christian meekness charity and moderation and at the worst our Agreement would be greater then our disagreement But when we have to deal with haters of holiness or at least with men that are strangers to the sanctifying work of the Spirit we have predominant Pride and Selfishness and Covetousness to strive against We have radicated Infidelity and enmity to God and holiness giving life and strength to all their errours and making them stubborn and wilful and scornful against the clearest truths that can be shewed them There is no dealing effectually with a carnal heart for any but God himself Unless we can create light in them as well as reveal the truth to them what good can we do them What good doth the Sun to a man that is blind They have understandings left and therefore they can err but they have no heavenly light in them and therefore they cannot choose but err They have wills and therefore are capable of sin but they have no holy rectitude of them and therefore sin they will with obstinacy When we dispute with the godly that err through weakness we deal with men that have eyes in their heads and
we ever agree with such men as these that think themselves wiser then God and Scripture and dare prefer the very folly of their own muddy brains before the word and wisdom of their Maker Give these men as plain Scripture and Reason as you will they have more wit as they think then to believe you and what they want in Reason they have in Pride and Self-conceit and therefore your wisdom is folly to them But now when the Spirit of Holiness comes it takes them down and abaseth and humbleth the proud and self-conceited and makes them ashamed of the folly and weakness of their own understandings so that a man may speak to them now as to men of reason and have a hearing and consideration of his words A humble godly man is low in his own eyes and therefore suspicious of his own understanding in doubtfull things and therefore is more flexible and yielding to the truth when others are so stiffened by Pride that they are readier to deride the wisest that shall contradict them If therefore we could but all Agree in Holy meekness and humility what readier way could there be in the world to draw to an end of our differences and divisions 10. Moreover if we could but Agree in Holiness it would free us from that uncharitableness that causeth our Disagreement in other things and it would possess us with a special endeared Love one to another And who knoweth not that Love is a uniting healing thing Sanctification principally consisteth in Love to God and man and this the unsanctifyed principally want It s want of Love that makes men surmise the worst of one another and make the worst of all that they say do and draw matter of contention from that which never gave them Cause Love would put a better sence upon mens words and deeds or at least would bear them far more easily But instead of Love there is a Natural Enmity in all that are unsanctified to all the servants and the ways of God And can we ever be agreed with our Natural enemies why Malice will so pervert their understandings that all that we say or do will be misconstrued and as a man that looks through a red glass thinks all things to be red that he looks upon so these men through the distemper of their malicious minds will finde matter of quarrelling with all that we can say or do Ill will never saith well Our very obedience to the Law of God and seeking to save our own souls will be matter of quarrel and taken to be our crime If we will not run into Hell fire with them and think there is no danger when we know the contrary it will be a fault sufficient for their malice to reproach us with so that if we should Agree with ungodly men in all our Opinions of Religion yet if we will not damn our souls and make no bones of displeasing the great and dreadfull God there is no Peace to be had with them They have no Peace with God and they have no solid Peace with themselves for God hath professed that there is no peace to the wicked Isa. 48.22 And how then can we expect that they should have peace with us But Sanctification doth beget that effâ—ctual Love that is as healing to a divided Church or to disagreeing persons as the most precious Balsom or Wound-selve is to bodily wounds Love will not let you rest in wrath but will keep you under smart and disquietness till you are either at Peace or have done your part to have procured it Husband and Wife Parents and Children Brethren and Sisters do seldomer fall into greater dissentions then strangers do And when they do fall out they are easilier reconciled The Spirit of Grace doth possess unfained Christians with as dear a love to one another as is between the nearest Relations For by our New birth the Saints are Brethren in Christ. If you saw an Army fighting or a company of people quarrelling and scolding at one another do you think there could be a readier way to make them all friends and end their quarrels then to possess them all with a dear and tender love to one another If it were in my power to cause all contenders to Love those that they contend with as themselves do you think I should not soon agree them Why you know if you know any thing in Christianity that Sanctification causeth men to Love their Neighbors as themselves and to Love one another with a pure heart fervently 1 Pet. 1.22 For by this we know that we are passed from death to life because we love the Brethren He that loveth not his Brother abideth in death Joh. 3 14. And therefore it is a case exceeding plain that the readiest way in the world to reconcile our lesser differences is to be united in the Spirit and to Agree upon a Holy Life 11. Moreover were we all united in the Spirit We should have all one God one Master of our Faith and one Law-giver and Iudge of all our Controversies And this would be an exceeding help to unity The Principal cause of Divisions in the world are the multitude of Rulers and Masters and Judges For with unsanctified men their own Conceits and Carnal Interest is their Counsellor and Judge The Rulers of the world that have the power of the sword and can do them good or hurt in their estates are the Masters of their Religion more then God They will follow this Man or that Man that best pleaseth their fancies and fleshly desires and so will never be of one minde But Sanctification takes down all other Masters of our Faith save Christ and those that declare his will Let flesh and blood say what it will let all the world say what they will if God say the contrary his word shall stand and be a Law to them And can there be a readier way to Unity then to bring us all into one School and subject us all to one Lord and Master and to bring us all to refer our differences to one most wise infallible Judge Though we do not yet understand his will in all things yet when we understand it in the main and are resolved to search after the knowledge of the rest it is a great preparative to our Agreement when we all look but to one for the deciding of our controversies Whereas the unsanctified have as many Judges and Guides as persons For every man is a Guid and Judge to himself 12. Moreover were we but once Agreed in Holiness We should all have one Light for the ending of our differences and that Light would be the true Infallible Light For we should all have the same Holy word of God as the extrinsick Light which is most True as coming from the Lord of Truth And we should all have the Spirit of Truth within to teach us the meaning of that word without and to help our understandings and assist us in
the application and destroy the corruptions that blind us and hinder us from perceiving the Truth Whereas the unsanctified are all in the Dark and what wonder if there they disagree and are of many minds They be not guided by the word and Spirit and they are strangers to the Light that must Reconcile us if ever we be reconciled It s true too true that the godly are illuminated but in part and therefore as yet they differ in part But yet this imperfect illumination doth more to a true and safe Agreement then all the world can do besides If you would stop your ears against the flesh yield all to the teachings of the word and Spirit we should be sooner agreed 13. And if we were once United in the Spirit and Holiness We should all have the use and benefit of all the Reconciling Healing means and Ordinances of God which would be an exceeding great advantage to us The unsanctified have but the outside the sound and shell of Ordinances but it is the Sanctified that have the light and life and fruit of them Every Chapter that you read and every Sermon that you hear will do somewhat towards the healing of our breaches It will further our Knowledge and our Love The Communion of the Saints in all holy Duties especially at the Lords Supper when they partake of one Christ will enflame their Love and humble them for their divisions and soder and glue their hearts together as being all one bread and one body And so they will be all as of one heart and soul Acts 4.32 1 Cor. 10.16 17. Acts 2.42 43 44 46. When we hear of the tender Love of Christ to his weakest members how can we choose but love them if we be his Disciples When we hear how much and how freely he hath forgiven us how can we choose but forgive them Mat. 18.35 When we have Communion with them in holy worship as servants of the same Lord as Members of the same body how can we choose but have the affections of fellow-Members 1 Cor. 12.26 When we joyn with them in Prayer or holy Conference and perceive the fragrant odour of their Graces and the holy breathings of their souls after God we cannot choose but Love Christ in them As the new Commandment so frequently pressed in the Gospel is the Law of Love Ioh. 15.12 17. and the New Nature of the Saints is a Disposition of Love for this they are taught of God effectually 1 Thes. 4.9 So the Ordinances do all of them exercise that Love and engage us to it We must leave our gift at the Altar and go first and be reconciled to our Brother if we remember he hath any thing against us Matth. 5.23 24. We must pray for forgiveness but on condition that we do forgive Differences and Divisions that make a breach in Christian Charity are so insufferable among the Saints that they long for healing and smart as the wounded body doth till the time of healing and are pained as a bone out of joynt till it be set again And as they cannot bear it themselves when they are themselves so the Church cannot bear it but is engaged to watch over them and to set them in joynt again so that God hath hedged in his Servants into one holy Society that they should not straggle from him or from each other and hath set Pastors over them for this very end to guide them and keep them in holy Unity Ephes. 4.11 12 13 14. Now all these Uniting Healing Ordinances are effectual upon the Sanctified for their hearts are open to them and their New nature is suited to the new Commandment and work But to others they are in a manner as Food or Physick to the dead They hate the power of them they break the holy Enclosure of Discipline and proudly Rebel against their Guides and say Let us break their bands and cast away their cores from us Psal. 2.3 what must we be Ruled by such and such It is but the outside of Sacraments Praises and Prayers that they are acquainted with and these have no such healing force So that in this you see the great advantage that we should have for full agreement if we were but once agreed in the main and United by the Sanctifying Spirit 14. Moreover if once we were United in the Spirit and in Holyness We should manage all our differences in a holy manner and be awakened and disposed to seek after healing in a healing way It would put us upon enquiring after Peace and studying the meetest terms of Peace till we had found out the way in which we should accord The Spirit of Love and Holiness would provoke us to begin and seek for Peace with those that will not seek to us and that seem averse to it and to follow after peace when it flyeth from us Heb. 12 14. and even to lie down at the feet of men and deny our honour and worldly Interest if it might procure Brotherly love and peace Whereas a proud unsanctifyed heart will scorn to stoop especially to those that are below them or have wronged them and will scorn to ask forgiveness of those that they have wronged When you have shewed them the plainest word of God for it and perswaded them to it with undeniable reasons you lose your labour and may almost as well perswade the fire to be cold If you will stoop and humble your self to him and ask him forgiveness and give him the honour or change your minde and be of his opinion and say as he saith and do as he would have you perhaps you may have some Peace with the most ungodly man But the servants of Christ have a spirit of Meekness and Humility and Self-denyal and therefore if there be fallings out among them they can humble themselves and seek for reconciliation If there be difference in Judgement about any weighty matters they will go or send to one another as Brethren and confer about it in Love and meekness and search the Scripture and seek after Truth and compare their evidences and Pray together for that Light and Love that must Reconcile them If they fall out they can say to one another We are Brethren and must not Live at a distance nor suffer any wounds in our Affections or any breach of Charity to remain The Sun must not go down upon our wrath Come lâ—t us go together in private and beg of God that he would repair our Love and reconcile us and prevent such breaches for the time to come And thus they can pray themselves friends again I am perswaded that one quarter of an hours fervent Prayer would do more to quiet our distempered minds and reconcile us if thus we would get together in private then many hours debates without it Now the Spirit of holiness is a Spirit of Prayer and therefore disposeth the servants of Christ as meekly and lovingly to search for Truth so earnestly to
pray themselves into Agreement 15. Moreover were we once United in the Spirit We should be under the Promise of Divine assistance which the unsanctified have no part in When we Pray for Light and Peace and Concord we have a promise to be heard and helpt at least in the time and measure as shall be fittest we have a promise of the Spirit to be our Teacher and to lead us into Truth We have promises for the maintaining and repairing of our healing Graces and our Communion-Graces our Love to Christ and one another our Patience and Meekness and the rest Aud this must needs be a great advantage to Unity and Agreement For God is partly engaged for it 16. And if we were United in the Spirit and Agreed in the main The Great Truths which we are agreed in would very much direct us to find out the rest which yet we differ in For these have an influence into all the rest and the rest are all connext to these and also linkt and knit together that we may finde out many by the help of one All holy Truths do befriend each other but especially the Great and Master points which the rest depend upon and flow from There is no way to a right Agreement in other points but by agreeing first in these Fundamental Rudiments 17. Also if we were once Agreed in Holiness we should have that continually within us and before us that would much take us off from vain contendings and from an over-zealous minding of smâ—ller things We should have so much to do with God in holy Duties and so much to do with our own hearts in searching them watching them and exciting them and mending them reproving and correcting them supporting and comforting them by the application of the Promises that we should have less time for quarrelling and less minde of it then the unsanctifyed have We should have so many great and practical Truths to digest and live upon that lesser and unnecessary matters which are the common causes of Contention would find less room Or at least we should allow each Truth its due proportion of our study and talk and zeal and so that lesser would have comparatively so small a share and be so exceeding seldom and remissly medled with that their would be the less danger of Contentions 18. Yea if once we were united in the Spirit the very forethought of an Everlasting Vnion in Heaven would have a continual influence upon our hearts for the healing of our breaches We should be thinking with our selves Shall we not shortly be all of one mind and heart and all be perfected with the blessed vision and Reconciling Light of the face of God! There will then be no dissention or division or unbrotherly censures or separations And should we now live so unlike our future life Shall we now be so unlike to what we must be for ever Shall we now cherish those heart-burnings and dissentions that must not enter with us into Heaven but be cast off among the rest of our miseries and shut out with the rest of our enemies and hated for ever by God and us Must we there be closed in perfect Love and be all imployed in the same holy Praise of God and our Redeemer and does it beseem us now to be censuring contending and separating from each other Thus the belief of the Life to come will be a more effectual means with the godly for Agreement then any that unsanctified men can use 19. Moreover they that have the Spirit of Holiness have a dear and special Love to Truth as well as unto Peace And therefore they have a great advantage for the receiving of it in all debates and consequently they are fairer for a just Agreement They are friends with the most searching spiritual truths But the ungodly have at enmity to all that Truth that would shew them their sin and misery and duty and make them holy and lead them up from the creature unto God And as the Proverb is He that would not know cannot understand When you deal with a wicked graceless heart you do not set Reason against Reason for it that were all we should soon have done but you set Reason against Will and Passion and Appetite and fleshly Interest and when you have convinced them you are little the neerer prevailing with them You may as well think to satisfie a hungry belly with Reasons or to tame a wild beast with Reasons or to humble the Proud and bring the sensual person to self-denial by all your Reasons For they Love not the Truth because they Love not the Duty that it would perswade them to and because they Love the sin that it would take from them There are two sorts of Satan in a wicked man that none but God can batter so as to win them that is A Proud and Ignorant mind and a Hard and sensual Heart Many a year have I been battering them by the Word of God from this place and yet with many can do no good But the sanctified heart that Loveth the Truth will meet it and welcome it and thankfully entertain it Love maketh a diligent hearer and a good schollar and giveth us hope that informations and debates may be succesful A godly man is so far from hating truth and flying from it that he would give all the riches of the world to purchase it He prayes and reads and studyeth for it and therefore hath great advantage to attain it 20. Moreover if we were all Agreed in Holiness and united in the Spirit of Christ we should Love the Truth in a Practical manner and we should know that every Truth of God hath its proper work to do upon the soul and therefore we should Love the end of each Truth better then the Truth it self And therefore we could not pretend the Truth against the Ends of Truth And therefore we should see to the security of those ends in all our debates and controversies We should not make havock of the Church of Christ nor easily be guilty of divisions nor quench our Love of God and of our Brethren under pretence of standing for the Truth which unsanctified men will easily do Truth is for Holiness and Love as its proper end Ungodly men will tread down Love and Holiness or at least disadvantage it and hinder it in the world for the exalting of their own conceits under the name of truth They will cure the Church by cutting it in pieces or by cutting the throat of it and are presently dismembering for every sore But with the godly it is not so 21. Moreover the sanctified have a great advantage for Agreement in that they have hearts that are subject to the Truth and will be True to it when they understand it Did they but know the right way they would presently walk in it Nothing is so dear to them that should not be forsaken for it or sacrificed to it But the wicked are false to