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<DATE>2011-04-27</DATE>
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<NAME>Holly (Beeman) Smith</NAME>
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<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P>DIVISIONS CUT IN PIECES BY. THE SWORD OF THE LORD: OR, A Di&s;cour&s;e on a <HI>Text</HI> of <HI>Scripture,</HI> of the unlawfulne&s;s of DIVISIONS in the CHURCH of GOD, upon the highe&s;t pretences what&s;oever.</P>
<P><HI>By</HI> JOHN ROCKET, <HI>Mini&s;ter of the Word at</HI> Hickling <HI>in</HI> Nottingham-&s;hire.</P>
<Q><P>Ante admi&s;&s;um facinus improvidi, po&s;t facinus ob&s;tinati; nec prius &s;tabi|les, nec po&s;tmodum &s;upplices: quando debuerant &s;tare, jacuerunt; quan|do jacere et pro&s;ternere &s;e Deo debent, &s;tare &s;e opinantur. &mdash; Errorem pro veritate &s;u&s;cipiunt.</P>
<BIBL><HI>Cypr. de Lap&s;is. p.</HI> 224.</BIBL></Q>
<Q><BIBL><HI>JAM. 5.20.</HI></BIBL>
<P>&mdash; Know, that he which converteth the &s;inner from the errour of his way, &s;hall &s;ave a &s;oul from death, and &s;hall hide a multitude of &s;ins.</P></Q>
<P><HI>LONDON:</HI> Printed by <HI>Thomas Maxey,</HI> in <HI>Thames</HI> Street, neer <HI>Benets Pauls</HI>-wharfe Church. 1649.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="dedication">
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<HEAD>TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE JOHN <HI>Earl of</HI> RUTLAND, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub">AND TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFUL
<LIST>
<ITEM>E&s;qs and Knights for the <HI>Shire</HI> of NOTTINGHAM.
<LIST>
<ITEM>JOH. HUTCHINSON</ITEM>
<ITEM>GERVAS PIGGOT</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM>E&s;qs and Burge&s;&s;es for the <HI>Town</HI> of NOTTINGHAM.
<LIST>
<ITEM>FRAN. PEIRPOINT</ITEM>
<ITEM>GIL. MILLINGTON</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST></HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>Right Honorable, and right Wor&s;hipful:</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>_IT was a worthy &s;aying of <HI>Aelius Trajanus,</HI> who &s;uc|ceeded <HI>Trajane</HI> in the Ro|mane Empire, <HI>Non mihi, &s;ed populo;</HI> &s;ignifying that which he was oft heard to &s;ay, <HI>Ita &s;e Rem-publicam ge&s;&s;urum, ut &s;ciret Rem populi e&s;&s;e, non &s;uam:</HI> but it was
<PB REF="3">a more noble and gracious Speech of a King in <HI>Judah</HI> to his Iudges, <HI>Non mihi, nec homi|ni, &s;ed Deo:</HI> therefore God him&s;elf hath called you <HI>Gods;</HI> Gods towards us, but men towards God, yet Gods for God and us: they are not to look only downwards to us, expecting a duty that belongs to &s;uch Gods; but look upwards and re|member the duty they owe to us by Gods appoint|ment, that only makes Gods: And &s;urely their Name tells them their bu&s;ine&s;s, and that they are not only concerned, but ought to have a &s;pecial re|gard to tho&s;e things, not only wherein their peace, but the glory of God is mo&s;t involved. God in holy Writ much delights in two names, <HI>viz.</HI> to be a <HI>Iudge</HI> and a <HI>Father;</HI> when he comes towards the world in general, or towards his own Church chequered with good and bad men, you &s;hall meet with him as a <HI>Iudge:</HI> but when he comes to his own, he calls them Children, and &s;peaks to them as a <HI>Father.</HI> The &s;ame hath he given unto his Pre&s;idents in this world, the Magi&s;trates; if they look into the Common-wealth to decide bu&s;ine&s;s, (though it be of Orphans and Father|le&s;s) its in the Garments of a Iudge: but if to a Church, (&s;uch as is, or &s;hould be wholy his own)
<PB REF="3">then as <HI>Fathers,</HI> as nur&s;ing-Fathers. This I write to you, my Lord, and Gentlemen, not as your In&s;tructer, but Remembrancer for the ex|perience of this towards me (a &s;mall member of the Church) as a Mini&s;ter, I have found, and mu&s;t acknowledge; which I de&s;ire might extend unto the whole Church; which to be done by you, and others in the &s;ame Places and Callings, would much confer to the Happine&s;s and Peace of the Church of God (of which you are to be Fa|thers) and to your own private Peace, making your Callings to act towards &s;uch high and emi|nent Ends, and for Him, who for him&s;elf, hath given you his Chaire of Iudgment; for which prayes</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Your mo&s;t humble Servant in the Lord Ie&s;us, JOHN ROCKET.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="to the reader">
<PB REF="4">
<HEAD>To the <HI>READER.</HI></HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>READER,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>_WHAT thine and my Friend de&s;ired for him&s;elf, is &s;ent to thee; and coming to thee, only de&s;ires this of thee, To reade it with the &s;ame minde it was written, and for the &s;ame end; that &s;o the Authors faults may be pardoned, the Rea|ders mended, and Gods name glo|rified in the Unity of his Church and People; for which prayes</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED><HI>Thine in the Lord,</HI> J. R.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
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<DIV1 TYPE="text">
<PB N="1" REF="4">
<HEAD>Divi&s;ions cut in pieces by the Sword of the Lord.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>1 Cor. 3.3.</HI></BIBL>
<P>For whereas there is among you envying, and &s;trife, and divi&s;ion, are you not carnal, and walk as men?</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_THe Apo&s;tle having received in|telligence from the hou&s;e of <HI>Cloe,</HI> a family well known of Saint <HI>Paul</HI> to be &s;ound in the Faith, zealous for the honour of God, and tender of the Churches welfare (el&s;e their credit had not &s;o much pre|vailed with him) and as well known to the Church of <HI>Corinth</HI> to be of no le&s;&s;e note among&s;t them, (el&s;e he had probably not been &s;o particular in his Intelligencers to them) I &s;ay, having received In|telligence
<PB N="2" REF="5">from &s;uch good hands, of the &s;trange di&s;orders, and grievous di&s;tempers of that Church, writes this Epi&s;tle, as undertaking tho&s;e their di&s;|compo&s;ed actings: and this he had not a&s;&s;ayed but for <HI>Cloe's</HI> hou&s;e. So that as its good for Chri&s;tians to watch over one another, &s;o e&s;pecial|ly to keep a corre&s;pondency of information with their chief watchman about the Spiritual e&s;tate of them, of whom he hath a peculiar charge, that &s;o he might apt and prepare his Doctrines and In|&s;tructions for their conditions.</P>
<P>Well, He hearing thus of the violent flames breaking out among&s;t them, doth fir&s;t of all la|bour to find out and di&s;cover unto them the prime occa&s;ion of that fire; that, though but &s;mall, but a &s;park tenderly nouri&s;hed among&s;t them, yet en|crea&s;es to hot and de&s;perate burnings. It aro&s;e fir&s;t about their Mini&s;ters, to whom they might owe much, and deem them&s;elves bound in Con|&s;cience to acknowledge no le&s;&s;e, then to extol them according to their &s;everal apprehen&s;ions of their eminent gifts, and powerful workings on them. But (admitting the Mini&s;ters in &s;ub&s;tance to agree, and to Preach the &s;ame Go&s;pel) the people a&s;|&s;uming this luxuriant liberty to &s;et up one above another (whom God had placed with indifferency and equality of power) falls into dangerous e|mulations, horrid divi&s;ions, and unchri&s;tian pra|ctices,</P>
<P N="1">1 Towards the Mini&s;ters them&s;elves they &s;o much admired; trampling under-foot whom they advanced, and overlooking their <HI>over&s;eers,</HI> as ap|pears <HI>Chap.</HI> 4.</P>
<PB N="3" REF="5">
<P N="2">2 Towards them&s;elves,</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1 In their unclean and filthy carriages, the hot movings of their unruly lu&s;ts one towards a|nother, as appears <HI>Chap.</HI> 5.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2 In their Civil Commerce, by their bitter and &s;elf-devouring Contentions in Law-&s;uits, as <HI>Chap.</HI> 6. Such men as de&s;pi&s;e their Mini&s;try, oft are delivered up to &s;uch vile affections, walking cro&s;&s;e to the Word as well as the Mini&s;try.</ITEM>
</LIST>
<P N="3">3 Towards their Profe&s;&s;ion,</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1 In the wanton abu&s;e of all liberty, <HI>Chap.</HI> 8.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2 In the profane celebrating of the mo&s;t divine Ordinances, <HI>Chap.</HI> 10, 11.</ITEM>
<ITEM>3 In entertaining that damnable Here&s;ie again&s;t the Re&s;urrection; as ea&s;ily appeareth by <HI>Chap.</HI> 15. So &s;till the fire increa&s;es from the Church into their civil Stations, and out of them &s;till more and more violently con&s;uming the holy Ordinan|ces and Truth it &s;elf.</ITEM>
</LIST>
<P>The Apo&s;tle taking notice of this lamentable fire thus taking hold of all Relations, and con|&s;uming Mini&s;ters, Families, E&s;tates, Di&s;cipline, Wor&s;hip, and Doctrine; begins at the Ri&s;e, and finds the rent but &s;mal: Yet &s;ees that the little The if is too much &s;erviceable to put into the win|dow, and to open the doors for the re&s;t: He finds the head of the&s;e Troubles very &s;mall, but the fur|ther it runs, the greater it encrea&s;es, in&s;omuch that all is over-flown. In this Epi&s;tle the Apo&s;tle la|bours to abate the&s;e: 1 By drawing down the &s;wellings of their high thoughts one towards ano|ther,
<PB N="4" REF="6">and leading the whole Church into a mo&s;t nece&s;&s;ary and u&s;eful &s;ub&s;erviency one towards ano|ther. 2 By applying particular Remedies for a&s;&s;waging of each particular Rupture, as you may &s;ee in their places. 3 By &s;topping the Foun|tain, and &s;ub&s;tracting the Fuel that fir&s;t &s;tirred up, and &s;till builds up this fire among&s;t them. The oc|ca&s;ion of their fir&s;t Schi&s;me &s;eemed harmle&s;&s;e, nay good and commendable, <HI>viz.</HI> Each one &s;etting up that Mini&s;ter he thought of be&s;t: But Saint <HI>Paul</HI> takes that away,</P>
<P N="1">1 By Apologizing for him&s;elf: and this &s;eem|ed nece&s;&s;ary: for a great party in the Church ap|peared for him: <HI>Some for Paul.</HI> Wherein they might &s;eem much to honour <HI>Paul,</HI> and that de&s;er|vedly, being a laborious and painful Mini&s;ter, nay, and unchargable to any of them; much in &s;ufferings and dangerous tryals, yet continuing un|moveable, and &s;tedfa&s;t in the Truth. Who could deny to follow this great Doctor, and to &s;et up a Church for him? True, while they follow him to Chri&s;t, he could not but acknowledge them, and receive them into Communion, and encourage them therein; but when they make him a Sectary, a drawer of People to <HI>Paul,</HI> and not to Chri&s;t; or &s;etting him up in oppo&s;ition to any other godly and Orthodox Mini&s;ters, to over-&s;hadow their glory, who were his fellow-labourers, and fellow-helpers: then he rejects them, and &s;hews to them what little cau&s;e they had &s;o to admire him above others; and to follow him before others.</P>
<P N="1">1 In re&s;pect of their beginnings: Though
<PB N="5" REF="6">he <HI>Preached</HI> to bring them unto Chri&s;t, yet he <HI>Baptized</HI> them not to &s;ettle them in a particular Church-way; and he thanks God for it that he baptized but few; as if they &s;hould call after him, as if he brought them into a Church-Covenant, and promi&s;e to be his Followers, his Church, his Congregation, his Hearers, cau&s;ing from them a|ny Engagement again&s;t any other true Mini&s;ters, or true Church &s;ociety. <HI>Chap. 1. v.</HI> 14, 15, 16. <HI>I thank God, that I baptized none of you, &amp;c.</HI> Not be|cau&s;e he performed not the duty: but becau&s;e lea&s;t the performance of the duty &s;hould have been an argument taken up by them to make him the Fa|ther, the Patron, the Author of their Faction; which rather then to be to the di&s;turbance and di&s;|quiet of the Church, to the wounding of the Truth, he had rather not baptize them, or any o|ther, to produce &s;uch &s;ad effects: and therefore he laying no Foundation or In&s;titution for a particu|lar Society, incorporating them into one Com|munion; they could not ju&s;tly, any Church, Peo|ple, or Party, cry up <HI>Pauls</HI> Church, <HI>Pauls</HI> Congre|gation, <HI>Pauls</HI> People, more then, or not &s;o much as any others.</P>
<P N="2">2 From the manner of his Preaching; that it was far from entangling his Hearers, either by any Rhetorical and flo&s;cular expre&s;&s;ions, to catch the ears of &s;ome; or by &s;mooth, &s;weet, and in&s;inu|ating words,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Rom. 16.17</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign"> &s;unt homines &s;ine malitia~, aut pravis intentio|nibus.</NOTE> to beguile the &s;imple and harmle&s;&s;e &s;oul; or with Doctrines in an high Seraphical &s;train, curious and ambiguous terms; here a piece of oyled Eloquence, there a &s;ubtile Di&s;tinction,
<PB N="6" REF="7">anon a Phra&s;e wrapping the People into an admi|ration, <HI>viz.</HI> of words, and not of things: No, I &s;ought not thus to inveagle you unto my &s;elf, to &s;et me up in your hearts above another, that you might cry me up, and follow me rather then ano|ther: though I could do it, <HI>having the tongues, &amp;c.</HI> but thus and thus were my words, and thus and thus was my carriage, <HI>Chap.</HI> 2. <HI>v.</HI> 3, 4, 5. <HI>And I was with you in weakne&s;s, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my &s;peech, and my preaching was not with inticing words of mans wi&s;dome, but in de|mon&s;tration of the Spirit and of power: That your Faith &s;hould not &s;tand in the wi&s;dome of men, but in the power of God.</HI> That is, I made it my cheif bu|&s;ine&s;&s;e and de&s;ign among&s;t you, to declare and magnifie Chri&s;t, not my &s;elf: for my &s;peech was plain, and my behaviour as mode&s;t: no boa&s;ter, no deceiver: Say not therefore of me, That I en|deavoured in the name and way of Chri&s;t, to beget a Sect or Party to my &s;elf.</P>
<P N="3">3 From the free unfolding and laying him|&s;elf open to them, and all others view, and de&s;iring their judgement and e&s;teem, according to his own of him&s;elf. If he could rejoyce and glory of any thing, it was of his Office: but let them not dote on him in that re&s;pect: and therefore he &s;eems thus to abu&s;e him&s;elf in an holy manner, <HI>Chap.</HI> 3. <HI>v.</HI> 5. <HI>Who then is</HI> Paul, <HI>and who is</HI> Apollo, <HI>but Mi|ni&s;ters by whom ye beleeved, even as the Lord gave to every man?</HI> As if he &s;hould &s;ay, And I pray you, who is <HI>Paul</HI> more then <HI>Apollos,</HI> that <HI>Apollos</HI> is left and cryed down before <HI>Paul?</HI> And what is
<PB N="7" REF="7"><HI>Apollos</HI> more then <HI>Paul,</HI> that others cry him up a|bove <HI>Paul?</HI> What is he, or I, or any of us, that we &s;hould be preferred by you, and divided by you? Are we not all Mini&s;ters, and but Mini|&s;terial and In&s;trumental in our Series, and Places, and Sea&s;ons, according to the gifts of God be|&s;towed on us for your good? I be&s;eech you there|fore, make not that difference among&s;t us, which neither God hath made, nor we de&s;ire.</P>
<P>Hence we may ob&s;erve,</P>
<P N="1">1 That its an Apo&s;tolical way to oppo&s;e Op|po&s;ition in the Church of God; to take away Divi&s;ions, Separations, and with might and main to pre&s;erve Unity; to hinder an exorbitant, &s;in|gular, and curious following and admiring of one Mini&s;ter above another, though godly and Or|thodox: For here the Apo&s;tle denies it of him&s;elf,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Sub his nomini|bus p&s;eudo-apo|&s;tolos taxat. <HI>Marlor. in 1 Cor. 3.5.</HI> Sic per pro&s;opo|poeiam alter per&s;onatus e&s;t.</NOTE> and labours to take it from others: Yet whether he mean it of him&s;elf, and them nominated, (which I de&s;ire to follow, being obvious and probable) none are taxed of the Mini&s;try as making Church-Parties; but its &s;olely charged on the Peo|ple: Its not good to deny a People to follow o|ther Mini&s;ters, where they &s;en&s;ibly profit in good; yet it is not &s;afe for any to countenance them in it. 1 Le&s;t the per&s;ons neglected have ju&s;t occa&s;ion of Emulation and Offence. 2 Le&s;t the per&s;on admired gather ground for Self-elevation. 3. Le&s;t the People grow further wanton, and fall into Li|centious and Scandalous Di&s;orders, as you &s;ee here they did. 4 Le&s;t evil claiming the &s;ame liber|ty, even Servants, and others, make it &s;ecretly a
<PB N="8" REF="8">way whereby the more ea&s;ily, un&s;u&s;pectedly, and familiarly they may practice, and nouri&s;h their heady and corrupt Lu&s;ts: Let us therefore labour to follow this Rule, not to &s;peak, not to practice otherwi&s;e; and not like the <HI>Salamander,</HI> that can|not hi&s;&s;e but in fire; but the <HI>Dove,</HI> that cannot live but in his quiet coat.</P>
<P N="2">2 We might ob&s;erve, that the Apo&s;tle might accompli&s;h this his end, in his own re&s;pect, he humbles, he denies him&s;elf to ca&s;t them off from him&s;elf: As when the People of <HI>Ly&s;tra</HI> would have deified <HI>Paul,</HI> he runs in to them, crying, <HI>Sirs, why do ye the&s;e things? We al&s;o are men of like pa&s;sions with you, and preach unto you, that ye &s;hould turn from the&s;e vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the &s;ea, and all things that are therein:</HI> Act. 14.15. Yet &s;uch was the madne&s;&s;e, and &s;implicity of the People, that he had much adoe to hinder them. <HI>v.</HI> 18. And as he de&s;ires to appear to them as a man, and &s;o would not be <HI>Deified;</HI> &s;o to the&s;e as a Mini&s;ter, and would not be <HI>Chri&s;ted.</HI> He a poor weak in|&s;trument, that works not any thing by any Intrin|&s;ecal vertue of his own; and therefore throwing down him&s;elf, &s;olely advanceth God in all their eyes. <HI>Chap.</HI> 3. <HI>v.</HI> 7. <HI>So then, neither is he that plan|teth any thing, neither he that watereth: but God that giveth the increa&s;e. Then</HI> hath the force of an inference; therefore &s;ince that neither I, nor any other can do any &s;uch work (for which you do follow us, and make us &s;ingular) as from our &s;elves, but from God; look not at us, but God:
<PB N="9" REF="8">Is it the eloquent <HI>waterings</HI> of <HI>Apollos,</HI> or the pro|found <HI>plantings</HI> of <HI>Paul?</HI> No: we are but In|&s;truments; and In&s;truments, whether weak or &s;trong, are all one in the almighty Arm of God, which is made bare thorow us, and in you, that God may be all in all. And this hath been one ray of wi&s;dome &s;hining in holy Writ from the Spirit of God, who Recording the Saints of God, doth own them in &s;ome things, that &s;o we might love, honour and follow them: but in other things doth condemne them, that as Gods, we might a|dore them in nothing: And you &s;hall not &s;ee the mo&s;t accompli&s;ht Portraicture of man without his blemi&s;h: <HI>Paul</HI> over his Excellency draws a &s;ha|dow, that they might not look on him as a Chri&s;t: true, where they too much deba&s;ed him, he boa&s;ts of him&s;elf; yet where he is too much lifted up, he takes down him&s;elf, that he might not &s;tand be|twixt them and Chri&s;t; betwixt them and any Truth, or Mini&s;ter. I have read what once a Mi|&s;tri&s;&s;e did towards her Lover, who being extrem|ly Melancholy at her frequent Denials, and &s;ligh|tings of his tendered Services, and &s;eeming to De&s;pair, &s;he thought on no better a way to take off his Affection, and cure his dark Di&s;tempers then this: The next time the Lover came, and in his u&s;ual Re&s;pects tendered him&s;elf to her; after &s;ome Di&s;cour&s;e, &s;he opened her Brea&s;ts, whereof one was eaten to the bone with a loath&s;ome Ulcer: which &s;een by the Lover, his fond Dotage was cured; and he &s;atisfied with her Refu&s;als. So that <HI>Paul</HI> might take off their fond and uncon&s;tant
<PB N="10" REF="9">Affections from him, they only looking on the beauty of his Doctrine, he &s;hews the weakne&s;&s;e of his per&s;on; and in&s;ufficiency of his workings of them&s;elves: It was <HI>Paul</HI> that &s;poke, but not con|verted; it was <HI>Paul</HI> that tendered, but could not give Chri&s;t: And &s;ure, if we all &s;hould deal &s;o, it would be much for our honour, and more for the Churches Unity.</P>
<P>Thus <HI>Paul</HI> doth labour to cleer him&s;elf, and his practices, as not guilty of their Divi&s;ions; he be|ing an Apo&s;tle, is loth to &s;tand upon the File, (the Record and Hi&s;tory in the Church of God) that ever hereafter it &s;hould be &s;aid, That <HI>Paul</HI> had one Church, and <HI>Apollos</HI> another; that <HI>Paul</HI> had one Church that was not Chri&s;ts; that <HI>Paul</HI> had a People better known by the name of <HI>Paulians,</HI> then <HI>Chri&s;tians;</HI> and that he &s;hould have a Church, that would not owne and receive the lea&s;t, and meane&s;t Me&s;&s;enger of Chri&s;t Je&s;us, as well as him. And though &s;uch a pretended honour might &s;eem to be thru&s;t on him, that it &s;hould not be &s;aid (when he was dead) That ever he would accept of it, and that he had left behind him a Sect called <HI>Pauls Di&s;ci|ples, Pauls Church, Pauls Way,</HI> and not <HI>Chri&s;ts,</HI> or any other Mini&s;ters of Chri&s;t.</P>
<P N="2">2 <HI>Paul</HI> having thus cleered him&s;elf from all &s;u&s;picion or &s;hew of guilt that they or any others might lay on him, he proceedeth plainly and par|ticularly to charge it home again&s;t the men, the fir&s;t Authors hereof, and laies down the Cau&s;es and Grounds hereof, <HI>viz.</HI> That as the fire flames among&s;t you, &s;o it was kindled, and is nouri&s;hed
<PB N="11" REF="9">among&s;t you: It was not from <HI>Paul,</HI> or any faith|ful Mini&s;ter, neither of their &s;eeking or approba|tion, but you made a difference and Divi&s;ion a|mong&s;t them, with whom there was really none: and this you gave to them not of their minds, but your own, and that from a carnal mind, not a &s;olid judgement, and right under&s;tanding. For <HI>ye are yet carnal: for, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>But to come a little more cleerly and di&s;tinctly unto the Text: The Apo&s;tle having in <HI>Chap.</HI> 2. laid down the &s;econd part of his Plea, That it was no de&s;ign of his, to draw a Party to him&s;elf, or to &s;et him&s;elf up &s;olely or chiefly among&s;t them: and proving this from the manner of his Preach|ing, it being in &s;implicity, not in an affected, and &s;elf-exalting &s;tile; &s;ets forth likewi&s;e, That though the words were ea&s;ie, yet the matter was deep, con|taining the wi&s;dom of God, <HI>v.</HI> 6.7. and &s;o deep, that the mo&s;t eloquent in the world, being meer natural men, were not able to reach, <HI>v.</HI> 8, 9. and the rea&s;on is from the corrupt infirmity of his un|der&s;tanding, in&s;omuch that he is utterly void of them, <HI>v.</HI> 14. But he that is a compleat &s;piritual man, thorowly regenerated, and truly enlightned, doth ea&s;ily comprehend them, rightly receive, and fear &s;uch things as he Preaches, <HI>ver&s;.</HI> 15, 16.</P>
<P>Now the Apo&s;tle in an excellent Paragraphe pa&s;&s;es from that general deciphering a meer natu|ral man, and a true &s;piritual man, to a particular Application of it to the&s;e <HI>Corinthians,</HI> and to them concerning this ca&s;e in hand; <HI>And I, brethren, &amp;c.</HI>
<PB N="12" REF="10">Wherin the Apo&s;tle divides the other two Parties, and joyns them in the&s;e <HI>Corinthians;</HI> yet I could not look on you as &s;uch &s;piritual ones, nor yet as meer natural ones, but in a mixt e&s;tate of them both, or a middle betwixt them both; in the dawnings, or at lea&s;t not in the pure light of the Go&s;pel. And this he proveth from the Doctrine he was forced to frame and &s;uite for them accor|ding to their pre&s;ent capacities: He knew them and their abilities, though they knew not them|&s;elves: therefore he writeth to them, not as meer|ly natural, for its a &s;piritual Doctrine, and to them as in part acquainted with it: nor to perfect Chri|&s;tians, for it was a plain and elementary Doctrine, called <HI>Milk, v.</HI> 2. which was good and whole|&s;ome, though not hard, as &s;trong meat for grown and thriving Chri&s;tians. <HI>I have, &amp;c.</HI> that is, At my fir&s;t entrance among&s;t you, I then fed you thus, becau&s;e of your then weakne&s;&s;e, not my skill: and I mu&s;t &s;o feed you &s;till, for I &s;till find you little better, &s;ince I left you; ye are not yet able to re|ceive higher Doctrines; and no marvel, <HI>for ye are yet carnal,</HI> v. 3. And that they are yet thus car|nal, he further proveth in my Text from the pre&s;ent practice, a very plain and forcible Argument, <HI>For whereas, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>Mark the dependency of rea&s;on, and cleerne&s;&s;e of proof again&s;t them: he writeth now as before he taught them, a mean and humble Doctrine fit for their capacities; the rea&s;on is, becau&s;e he finds them for the mo&s;t part &s;uch as at fir&s;t he met with|al, <HI>&s;c. Carnal.</HI> They had made little or no pro|gre&s;&s;e
<PB N="13" REF="10">(notwith&s;tanding their high and lofty ex|pre&s;&s;ions) in the &s;chool of Chri&s;t; he therefore keeps them &s;till in the &s;ame forms, and about the Principles of Chri&s;tianity: And that <HI>For:</HI> And that they are &s;o <HI>Carnal, for:</HI> For <HI>ye are. For whereas there &amp;c.</HI> A cleer proof from the effects of the fle&s;h in them; for whereas at this very day &s;uch envyings, &s;trifes, &amp; divi&s;ions are among&s;t you, is it not becau&s;e you are Carnal? for take me you when you were partly carnal, and minded not any thing of the things of God, then envyings and &s;uch &s;ins were in the &s;trength in you: becau&s;e you practi&s;ed according to your under&s;tanding: and &s;ince &s;uch is your practice now, are not &s;uch your minds? <HI>Whereas, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>Wherein ob&s;erve the&s;e Three Parts:
<LIST>
<ITEM>1 A Charge laid down again&s;t them. <HI>Car|nality.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>2 A demon&s;tration and proof hereof <HI>&agrave; po|&s;teriori,</HI> the fruits of a Carnal mind. <HI>Envy|ings, &amp;c.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>3 The certainty of this proof made good in the Interrogation. <HI>For whereas, &amp;c. Are ye not, &amp;c.</HI> Such Interrogative Propo&s;itions being the lea&s;t dubitative.</ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<P>But that we might fully handle the&s;e words, we &s;hall re&s;olve the whole into the&s;e en&s;uing <HI>Queres,</HI> and re&s;olve them likewi&s;e with what cleerne&s;&s;e we can.</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1 To whom Saint <HI>Paul</HI> wrote this?</ITEM>
<ITEM>2 What he laies to their Charge?</ITEM>
<ITEM>3 How he proves his Charge?</ITEM>
<PB N="14" REF="11">
<ITEM>4 How it may be made good by plain De|mon&s;tratives, that his Proof makes good his Charge?</ITEM>
</LIST>
<P>Fir&s;t then of the Per&s;ons to whom he writes, the <HI>Corinthians</HI> called <HI>Chap.</HI> 1. <HI>v.</HI> 2. The <HI>Church of God:</HI> not that all <HI>Corinth</HI> was of, or in the Church: but that God out of tho&s;e Idolatrous <HI>Gentiles,</HI> had called by the word of his Mini&s;try a People unto him&s;elf, to the profe&s;&s;ion of his Name, acknowledgement of the Faith, and practice of his wor&s;hip in peace, unity and order, and this he calls <HI>The Church of God;</HI> nor that this Church was contained in one particular Congre|gation or A&s;&s;embly, for it was a famous va&s;t and populous City, wherein there had been many Mi|ni&s;ters, and that had found a comfortable and pro|&s;perous acce&s;&s;e unto them; yet though many Con|gregations, yet all one Church, and to hold one Faith, Wor&s;hip, and Order, all being the Church of that only one God; and the Apo&s;tle afterwards doth give &s;o large &amp; &s;ingular a te&s;timony of them for their excellent gifts, that if we only had heard them and &s;een their faces, we &s;hould have reported of them to have been perfect Saints indeed, and in no wi&s;e to be called carnal. And though a Church of God, <HI>called</HI> and <HI>&s;anctified,</HI> to whom Saint <HI>Paul</HI> makes an a&s;&s;urance of the <HI>faithfulne&s;s of God,</HI> touch|ing their perfection and of their glorious pre&s;en|tation as blamele&s;&s;e once unto God, yet the&s;e have their envyings, their &s;trifes and divi&s;ions.</P>
<P>This I &s;peak, not that any Church &s;hould hence incourage them&s;elves in their Schi&s;ms and Divi&s;i|ons,
<PB N="15" REF="11">that it may be a true Church, as dividing, becau&s;e a divided Church may be a true Church. No, this can follow no more, then becau&s;e Chri&s;t ju&s;tifies &s;inners, therefore we may be &s;inners; and becau&s;e God owns a Church with &s;pots, therefore its lawful to have tho&s;e &s;pots; No, they are not beauty &s;pots, but deforming &s;pots: Divi&s;ion is not &s;ign of a <HI>true Church,</HI> though &s;ometimes of <HI>Truth;</HI> But this I infer, that though <HI>love</HI> is an in&s;eparable affection of a brother, a Di&s;ciple, a child of God, yet unity is no infallible &s;ign of a Church of Chri&s;t; for the deare&s;t brethren may differ, not as brethren, but as of different ages and capacities in Chri&s;t. If unity was (though <HI>Rome</HI> hath as little as <HI>England</HI> at this time to claim it) a &s;pecificall and indivi&s;ible character of a true Church,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 12.25, 26 Eph. 2.2.</NOTE> then the Divels in hell may &s;ay they are a true Church, be|cau&s;e among&s;t them is <HI>unity</HI> and <HI>&s;ubordination</HI> like|wi&s;e.</P>
<P>Neither let any Church boa&s;t her &s;elf of ab&s;o|lute purity, perfection, and immixture; let them refine, purge, govern as &s;everely, watchfully, and &s;piritually as they can, yet there will be men, and children, and babes; &s;pirituall, le&s;&s;e &s;pirituall, car|nall; nay, if it was po&s;&s;ible to finde a Church without per&s;ecution, troubles, envyings, and divi|&s;ion publikely, yet not to finde her without her &s;everall imperfections. But though Gods Church, Gods family, yet having <HI>yet</HI> corruption, being <HI>yet</HI> carnall, being <HI>yet</HI> men, and among&s;t men, it may walk <HI>as men.</HI> Which calls in the charge laid a|gain&s;t the&s;e <HI>Corinthians</HI> thus and thus honoured
<PB N="16" REF="12">and qualified. <HI>Are yee not carnall, and walk as men?</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. <GAP DESC="foreign">. Its &s;et down interrogatively, but it in|ferrs an indubitable,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mu&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">. in loc.</NOTE> and indi&s;putable Po&s;ition. <HI>Are you not?</HI> that is, is it not clear and evident to all that have eyes to &s;ee and ears to hear the&s;e things of you, is it not a thing pa&s;t que&s;tion to the judgement of all impartiall and godly men, that though it is long &s;ince I preached the Go&s;pel to you, and &s;ince you received it, yet you are car|nall, and walk like men? here be two Phra&s;es de|&s;erve a little opening.</P>
<P><HI>Q. What is meant by the word</HI> carnal?</P>
<P><HI>Sol.</HI><NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Aliud e&s;t e&s;&s;e in carne, aliud e&s;t e&s;&s;e carna|lem. <HI>Par. in Rom. 7. 2 Cor. 10.3.</HI> Illi in carne carnales, caro &s;unt toti, &amp; tant&ugrave;m: i&s;ti non toti nec tan|t&ugrave;m &s;ed ex par|te, quia &s;unt in &s;piritu.</NOTE> Its one thing to be <HI>in the fle&s;h,</HI> another thing to be <HI>carnall;</HI> every one before his conver&s;ion is in the fle&s;h wholy and all over, but afterwards he is fle&s;hly or carnall: Its one thing to <HI>walk in the fle&s;h,</HI> another thing to <HI>walk according to the fle&s;h:</HI> Every man living walks in the fle&s;h, but not ac|cording to the fle&s;h;<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">qui &s;ecun|dum &s;e vivit, &s;ecundum car|nem vivere di|citur. <HI>Aqu. 12. q. 72. a. 2. pri.</HI></NOTE> for this is to follow the principles, directions, wayes, and ends of a meer carnal and fle&s;hly heart, never truly and effectual|ly changed in this world by the Spirit.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Carnales dici|mur, quando totos nos volup|tatibus damus; &s;pirituales quando &s;piri|tum &s;anctum praevium &s;equi|mur, <HI>i. e.</HI> cum ip&s;o &s;apimus in|&s;truente, ip&s;o docemur autho|re. <HI>Hier. Com. in Gal. p. 933.</HI></NOTE> So the word <HI>carnal</HI> in a &s;trict &s;ence is put for one that is wholly in the fle&s;h, and &s;avours nor at all any thing &s;piritually in the things of God, but is wholly addicted unto evill actions, proceeding from, and tending to the nouri&s;hment of &s;infull fle&s;h. But to clear this more fully we mu&s;t ob|&s;erve,</P>
<P N="1">1. There is <HI>Caro prima,</HI> the &s;eed-plot of all &s;in and root-corruption, called otherwi&s;e concupi|&s;cence;
<PB N="17" REF="12">this abides in the righteous after, as before conver&s;ion, but not in that freedome, &s;trength, and power, there being wrought in the &s;oul a graci|ous frame of Spirit, and general inclination to God, out of which flowes the particular acts of o|bedience, which are called di&s;tinctly &s;uch and &s;uch graces, &s;uch and &s;uch duties; and this is to be taken out of the old &s;tock of <HI>Adam,</HI> of the fle&s;h, and na|turall condition, and to be ingraffed into the new, Chri&s;t Je&s;us, by who&s;e vertue there runneth new &s;ap through the whole man.</P>
<P N="2">2. There is <HI>Caro &s;ecunda,</HI> or <HI>ex prima orta;</HI> which is that manife&s;t working of a man according to that generall leaven of &s;ourne&s;&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Non tamen in quibus nulla e&s;&s;et Spiritus Dei &s;cintilla, &s;ed qui &s;en&s;u carnis plus ni|mio adhuc a|bundarent, ut pravaleret caro &s;piritui, &amp; lu|men cjus qua&s;i opprimeret. <HI>Marl. in loc.</HI></NOTE> and root of bit|terne&s;&s;e in the &s;oul; and this acteth as far as that &s;preadeth in their &s;everall &s;ea&s;ons, <HI>viz.</HI> over the whole man. The&s;e are the &s;treams that boil up in the unregenerate, and bubble out of the regene|rate, though penitent, beleeving, mortifying, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> and oft-times break out in a child of God (by rea&s;on of a &s;pirituall <HI>Antiperi&s;ta&s;is</HI>) more &s;trong|ly and violently then in a wicked man; and &s;ome particular &s;inful actions in them&s;elves and circum|&s;tances may truly appear more grievous then in others; &s;o that the&s;e are carnall (as the <HI>Corinthians</HI> here) in this re&s;pect, and that for the&s;e rea&s;ons.</P>
<P N="1">1. Becau&s;e of that <HI>ignorance</HI> which is in them,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Carnales dicum|tur, <HI>1.</HI> Ob co rum ignoranti|am.</NOTE> whereby in part they di&s;cern &s;piritual things, and &s;o in part are carnall, and therefore the Apo&s;tle joyneth the&s;e two, <GAP DESC="foreign">.</P>
<P N="2">2. Becau&s;e of that inward oppo&s;ition and <HI>&s;tri|ving in him betwixt the Spirit</HI> and the fle&s;h,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>2.</HI> Ob internam reluctantiam.</NOTE> that
<PB N="18" REF="13">though the whole man voice it not for &s;in, yet nei|ther is he without his &s;idings and votings with &s;in.</P>
<P N="3"><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>3.</HI> Ob externam praevaricatto|nem.</NOTE>3. Becau&s;e of &s;ome <HI>deeds of the fle&s;h</HI> (of which they have, and do afterwards repent) which &s;ome|times proceed from them.</P>
<P N="4"><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ob peccandi po&s;&s;ibilitatem.</NOTE>4. Becau&s;e of the common condition of all <HI>li|ving in the fle&s;h,</HI> being obnoxious and lyable to the infirmities of the fle&s;h.</P>
<P N="5"><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ob peccato|rum imitatio|nem &amp; carnis in eis quanda<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter"> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter"> ill a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">lonem.</NOTE>5. Becau&s;e of tho&s;e &s;ecret <HI>movings of the heart to all &s;in</HI> in particular, in &s;ome le&s;&s;er degrees; though he abhorreth and proceedeth not to murther, re|venge, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> yet there are &s;ome daily pa&s;&s;ions, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> though he proceed not to Fornication, Adultery, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> yet there may be a wanton eye, a vain word, a loo&s;e thought, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> though even for the&s;e and le&s;&s;e, if le&s;&s;e may be, he is offended with him&s;elf, and mourns before God: yet in a degree here are the actings of the fle&s;h in a child of God, and &s;o they are trully carnall, and accordingly are more or le&s;&s;e carnall.</P>
<P N="2">2. Concerning the other Phra&s;e to walk <HI>as men.</HI></P>
<P>The word here <GAP DESC="foreign"> is not as <GAP DESC="foreign"> in the fir&s;t ver&s;e, and the difference is much;<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE> for the fir&s;t <GAP DESC="foreign"> &s;ignifieth only a kinde of &s;imilitude, but <GAP DESC="foreign"> a kinde of con|formity; and yet it is one thing to walke accord|ing <HI>to the fle&s;h,</HI> and another to walk according <HI>to man.</HI> For the fir&s;t of the&s;e (as before you had it) by way of excellency doth &s;et forth to us a man in his unregenerate condition, following meerly the dictates of corrupt rea&s;on, and all his
<PB N="19" REF="13">actions tending to him&s;elf. But <HI>&s;ecundum hominem ambulare,</HI> is,</P>
<P N="1">1 <HI>Secundum praecepta hominum;</HI> when though we walk the right way, yet being led by the com|mands and examples of men, its but a carnal acting in a &s;piritual way: and hence is that expro|bration, <HI>I&s;a.</HI> 29.13. wherein he reproves not the matter of the fear, the wor&s;hip, &s;ervice, &amp;c. but the ground and cau&s;e of it being humane, taught of man; notwith&s;tanding the Lord had &s;everal wayes in&s;tructed them by his Prophets, and his Judgements; yet by the&s;e they would not learn as from the Lord, but only by the civil Sanctions of men: and &s;o here in my Text it hath relation; even thus you walk as men, or according to men,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Secund&ugrave; ho|minem ambu|lare, <HI>i. e.</HI> huma|nis duci affecti|bus. <HI>Mu&s;c.</HI> Ambulare &s;e|cund&ugrave;m homi|nem e&s;t non tantum hominus carnalis opera facere, aut tan|tum vivere &s;e|cund&ugrave;m car|nem, &s;ed etiam &s;equica, quibus homo carnalis nititur: quales &s;unt res, huma|na &s;apientia, ratio, natura, &amp;c. hinc patet &amp;c. de tota~ ho|minis natura~ praedicari. <HI>Marlor. in loc.</HI></NOTE> to <HI>Paul, Apollos;</HI> what the&s;e men &s;ay, but not as they Preach the Word of the living God, and Go&s;pel of Chri&s;t Je&s;us.</P>
<P N="2">2 <HI>Secundum;</HI> that is, <HI>juxta,</HI> or <HI>in&s;tar.</HI> You walk even in this re&s;pect as other men that beleive not, that profe&s;&s;e not the Go&s;pel, but are but <HI>meer men.</HI> Hence is that prohibition of the Apo&s;tle, <HI>Rom.</HI> 12.2. Herein there is in the&s;e Chri&s;tians a great conformity to the re&s;t of wicked men in the World. Therefore as in the fir&s;t <HI>ver&s;e</HI> he doth not call them ab&s;olutely <GAP DESC="foreign">, that, as in the fore|going <HI>Chapter,</HI> ta&s;ted nothing of the things of God; but <GAP DESC="foreign">, that much relli&s;hed the things of nature; for they were &s;anctified and regenerated in part, but had yet the &s;traines of the old man, and did in many things, even in the&s;e, much re|&s;emble him. For in the&s;e their pre&s;ent actions,
<PB N="20" REF="14">they were more like what they were before they believed, and what their natural Country-men, I|dolaters, are, then Converts, and Spiritual. For if you profe&s;&s;ing to be &s;piritual, do but compare your &s;elves with &s;piritual men, or the &s;piritual let|ter, you much fall &s;hort; but if with carnal men, behold, <HI>Manife&s;ta &s;unt opera carnis,</HI> you &s;hall find your deeds to be even as theirs, and your walkings to be according to &s;uch men; and therefore you are but carnal, but men. And this brings me to the proof of this &s;o &s;aid, how and in what parti|cular actions he proves them &s;uch; <HI>Whereas ye are, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3 The proof of the Apo&s;tles Charge in parti|culars, which is from their actions, the &s;ad effects of a carnal minde: Thus,</P>
<P><HI>They that performe the works of the fle&s;h, are fle&s;hly; but ye</HI> Corinthians <HI>performe the works of the fle&s;h:</HI> Ergo.</P>
<P>The Major is cleer; mans judgement can reach no farther then the appearance: nay, its not only the judgement of right rea&s;on, but of the Spirit it &s;elf, that &s;entences a man according to his out|ward and common actions. <HI>Jam.</HI> 3.11, 12.</P>
<P>The Minor is cleer, that they do act the works of the fle&s;h; for, do they not know the deeds of the Fle&s;h, and the fruits of the Spirit? The A|po&s;tle fir&s;t &s;ets down carnal deeds, <HI>Gal.</HI> 5.20. having before di&s;covered the fountain, there being two heads in every gracious man, as <HI>ver&s;.</HI> 17. <HI>Fle&s;h</HI> and <HI>Spirit;</HI> and the&s;e two &s;trive fir&s;t for pa&s;&s;age: now if &s;uch &s;treams as the&s;e flow from us, they proceed
<PB N="21" REF="14">from the fle&s;h. And the&s;e very Three things are enumerated in that Catologue, only tran&s;located.<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE> <HI>Strife,</HI> or <HI>Contentions, Envyings,</HI> or emulations, divi&s;ions, or Sects. Thus he &s;ets the works of the fle&s;h, and &s;pirit contradi&s;tinct, and oppo&s;itive|ly; &s;o does <HI>James, Chap.</HI> 3.14, 15. <HI>But if ye have bitter envying and &s;trife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not again&s;t the Truth. This wi&s;dome de&s;cendeth not from above, but is earthly, &s;en&s;ual, devili&s;h;</HI> Earthly and heavenly wi&s;dome;<NOTE PLACE="marg">where we find the&s;e two <GAP DESC="foreign">, in the &s;ame order as in my Text.</NOTE> the nature of earthly wi&s;dome (wi&s;dome fal&s;ely called) was to envie, out-&s;trive, weary one another with divi&s;i|ons; &s;uch was humane wit and wi&s;dome; the A|po&s;tle he follows the&s;e witty actions home, and di&s;covers the ri&s;e, <HI>Jam.</HI> 4.1. Well, its plain then that the&s;e envyigns, &s;trifes, and contentions, and divi&s;ions are properly the workings of a carnal and un&s;anctified &s;pirit. But to the words; <HI>Whereas there is Envying, Strife, Divi&s;ion:</HI> Mark their &s;eries and graduation: fir&s;t <HI>Envie,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign"> in pe|ctore, <GAP DESC="foreign"> in lingu&acirc;, et <GAP DESC="foreign"> in o|peribus.</NOTE> that begins to kindle fir&s;t in the <HI>heart,</HI> and burn, and burns till it &s;et fire on the <HI>tongue,</HI> and then breaks out <HI>Conten|tions;</HI> and from <HI>words</HI> it falls to <HI>deeds;</HI> that from jarrings and &s;coldings, they quite fall a&s;under and part; whence are your <HI>Divi&s;ions?</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t then a word of your <HI>Envyings.</HI> The word in the Original comes of a word that &s;igni|fies <HI>To boyle with heat;</HI> and this <HI>envying</HI> is a <HI>boyl|ing,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign"> a <GAP DESC="foreign">. hence tho&s;e E|pithites, <HI>pallidus ir&acirc;</HI> &amp; He&s;. <GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE> a vehement, hot, di&s;contented, and trouble|&s;ome motion of the affections again&s;t a per&s;on, or cau&s;e not beloved, but an enemy to &s;omething that the party &s;o affected loves. And as men that deal
<PB N="22" REF="15">much in the fire waxe pale and wan;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Such is the De&s;cription of anger with the Poets. See it elegantly in our Engli&s;h <HI>Virgil.</HI> This is <HI>zelus invidiae, non zelus conjuga|lis;</HI> or <HI>ip&s;a in|vidia,</HI> as right|ly tran&s;lated.</NOTE> &s;o doth this fiery affection dry up the good qualities of the Soul, contracts and draws into him&s;elf all the good de&s;ires, nay the very good looks he owes to ano|ther; as it takes away the colour of the face, look|ing like death, and by his looks promi&s;ing no le&s;&s;e in &s;ome degree or other to the party di&s;affected, &s;o that with the colour of the face departs the good|ne&s;&s;e of the mind. This is the nature of this an|ger, this emulation, this envying betwixt one ano|ther; and here is the difference betwixt anger and envying (though confounded in the tran&s;lation) that <HI>Envie</HI> is a <HI>continued Anger,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Quo quidem malo ne&s;cio quis no&s;trum caret, &amp;c. et po&s;tea&mdash; ne&s;cio quis po&s;&s;it regnum Dei po&s;&s;idere, cum is qui ira&s;citur &s;e|paretur a regno. &mdash; Inter Ira|cundiam et i|ram hoc inter|e&s;t, iracundus &s;emper ira&s;ci|tur, iratus pro tempore conci|tatur. <HI>Hier. Comment. in Gal. p. 937. vide</HI> Weems, <HI>the portrai|cture of the I|mage of man.</HI> vol. <HI>1.</HI> p. <HI>188.</HI></NOTE> or a real, fervent, and hearty de&s;ire of an other mans evil, ari&s;ing out of anger, to which all are &s;ubject, <HI>viz. Anger:</HI> and God owns it in him&s;elf, and &s;o it is good accor|ding to its object and carriage, as zeal is likewi&s;e: only as it is &s;inful, <HI>hatred</HI> hath an <HI>injury</HI> for its ob|ject; but <HI>envie</HI> hath the <HI>pro&s;perity</HI> and happine&s;&s;e of others for its object: As <HI>David</HI> conquering of <HI>Goliah</HI> made <HI>Saul</HI> envy him; and the Prodigals good and free entertainment provoked his Bro|ther: And therefore farre wor&s;e then anger or hatred.</P>
<P N="2">2 This cannot continue long in the heart undi&s;|covered, being in a multitude, one Church bur|ning with envie in Spirit again&s;t another; but as heat cau&s;ing aire in any concave bodies, produceth di&s;quiet motions till it findeth its pa&s;&s;age; and as hot <HI>boyling</HI> liquors will ari&s;e out of the belly over the lips of the Pot; &s;o this will out of the mind and perplexed thoughts, and break through the
<PB N="23" REF="15">mouth and tongue into railings, &s;trifes, invectives, contentious di&s;putes, &amp;c. which is called this <GAP DESC="foreign">, or <GAP DESC="foreign">, promi&s;cuou&s;ly u&s;ed and tran&s;lated: When men out of an affectation of glory, and de&s;irous of victory, encounter with men profe&s;&s;ing and e|minent in the Truth, begin <HI>unnece&s;&s;ary &s;trifes,</HI> and endle&s;&s;e di&s;putes about words, things of in|differency, ca&s;es of &s;u&s;pition, and mo&s;t about things (when re&s;olved) not much making for edifi|cation; but in the mean while to continued per|turbations: from the practice of which, and the &s;ociety of &s;uch di&s;po&s;itioned men, the Apo&s;tle fre|quently warns and dehorts <HI>Timothy.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3 The&s;e cannot continue long; but from <HI>words</HI> to <HI>blows;</HI> the Apo&s;tle therefore adds to this, <HI>Wars, Jam.</HI> 4.1. or at the lea&s;t to <HI>Divi&s;ions:</HI> For if they envy, and then jarre and quarrel, and will not hum|bly and carefully take up (as &s;eldom men of &s;uch &s;pirits do) the&s;e cannot continue long together in one Church and Congregation, but mu&s;t divide, and that in oppo&s;ition and de&s;pight one to the o|ther. And here follows after envying and &s;trife the&s;e <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>Divi&s;ions.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Amos. 3.3.</NOTE> We &s;ee one hou&s;e could not hold <HI>I&s;aac</HI> and <HI>I&s;hmael,</HI> becau&s;e of <HI>I&s;hmaels</HI> proud contentions, and fond mockings; which is more &s;ubject to the ba&s;e-born, then the free and true born of the Lord. We &s;ee that <HI>Lot</HI> and <HI>A|braham</HI> could not dwell neer together for this, but divided far a&s;under; though <HI>Lot</HI> fared never the better, who was the <HI>cau&s;e</HI> of the divi&s;ion, and could not &s;toop to <HI>Abraham,</HI> his betters. And &s;o it is in the Church of God; for after &s;trifes and
<PB N="24" REF="16">envying, then comes Sideings, Parties, Sects, Factions, &s;everal Churches according to the things they envie one another, and &s;trive with one another about. And this comprehends Here&s;ie and Schi&s;me, which ari&s;es from Envie, Pride and Strife, and con&s;ummates the divi&s;ions. Envie is the fir&s;t ri&s;e that divides the tongues, and makes one &s;ay this, and another that, &s;triving for ma&s;tery, and glory above another; and hence it is, That one will not &s;ee as an other, will not &s;peak as an o|ther, will not walk as another; but will contend again&s;t them to vex and di&s;honour them,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign">: cum &s;cili|cet &s;ibi unus|qui&s;que eligat di&s;ciplinam (po|tius doctrinam) quam putat e&s;&s;e meliorem: qui|cunque igitur aliter &s;criptu|ram intelligit, qu&agrave;m &s;en&s;us &s;piritus &s;ancti flagitat, quo con&s;cripta e&s;t, licet de Eccle&s;ia non rece&s;&s;erit, tamen haereticus appellari pote&s;t. &amp;c. <HI>Hier. in Gal. p. 936.</HI></NOTE> will di|vide from them to ecclip&s;e and le&s;&s;en their glory. Hence comes many an <HI>Heretick;</HI> which is not diri|ved from the Latin word <HI>Haeres,</HI> but from the <HI>Greek</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, which is a taking unto our &s;elves a Point differing from the Truth and Church of God in a Fundamental: and &s;o a man walking this way, may be an Heretique whether he divide from a Church or no; only he will divide, becau&s;e a true Church cannot &s;uffer him to continue with them: and others will go further, (I will not de|termine whether with more Judgement, or le&s;&s;e Charity) adjudging them to be Heretiques, who will ob&s;tinately, and perver&s;ly again&s;t all means, con&s;cionably and holily u&s;ed by the Church to re|claime them, continue in an Errour to the di&s;tur|bance and vexation of the Church,<NOTE PLACE="marg">See the pious Exhortation of the <HI>London</HI> Divines at their late ge|neral A&s;&s;em|bly, p. 131. 132</NOTE> though not in Fundamentals. The rea&s;on is, Becau&s;e <HI>Perti|nancy, Ob&s;tinacy,</HI> and <HI>Impudence</HI> is of the <HI>forma|lity</HI> of Here&s;ie.</P>
<P>And as for Schi&s;me, being no Latin word, it
<PB N="25" REF="16">comes not <HI>a &s;cindendo</HI> (though of &s;ome affinity as in the former) but of <GAP DESC="foreign">, that &s;ignifies <HI>To rent,</HI> or <HI>divide;</HI> and &s;o <GAP DESC="foreign"> is in a proper &s;en&s;e called <HI>A rent, Matth.</HI> 9.16. And this hath reference to the Government of a Church, yet not to ex|tend to the Excommunicate per&s;on who is a Schi&s;matique, but its <HI>pa&s;sively,</HI> and he is de&s;er|vedly made &s;o being cut off from Church Com|munion; and not of another, but of no Church: but this hath re&s;pect to &s;uch as are Schi&s;matiques <HI>actively,</HI> cutting them&s;elves off from a Church, and &s;etting up another Church-way in Govern|ment according to their own private judgement, or their groundle&s;&s;e &s;piritual fancies; leaving their former A&s;&s;emblies, and in contempt, de&s;pite, and oppo&s;ition to them, &s;ets up others: Such an one is a mo&s;t compleat and ab&s;olute Schi&s;matique, who out of a &s;ingular conceit, and end of their own, leaves the general way of the Church, and walks in one of their own: The Engli&s;h of &s;uch a man is a <HI>Sectary,</HI> which comes a <HI>Secundo,</HI> who divides him&s;elf from a Church &s;ound in the Funda|mentals of Religion, and endeavouring in Gover|ment to come to the mo&s;t plain and exact Scriptural rules. The&s;e are your <HI>Dichotomi&s;ts</HI> that divide and &s;ub-divide them&s;elves &s;o long,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>of</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign"> dupli|citer, <HI>and</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign"> &s;editio. &s;tatio, <HI>hence</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>&amp;</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, idem &s;igni|ficant.</NOTE> that you &s;hall find no Church, I am &s;ure no univer&s;al Church; and their particular Churches will be as many as there be per&s;ons almo&s;t, in time: And hence come your <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>divi&s;ions;</HI> which are either from per&s;ons once of one mind and re&s;olu|tion, but now parting them&s;elves, plot and con|trive
<PB N="26" REF="17">for, and walk in &s;everal wayes: Or el&s;e its a &s;piritual <HI>mutinying,</HI> and <HI>&s;edition</HI> in the Church of God, where one Party cryes <HI>up</HI> this, another that; and at la&s;t un&s;atisfied, go their &s;everal way like <HI>I&s;rael</HI> under <HI>Rehoboam,</HI> 2 Chron. 10.16, <HI>Every man to your Tents, O I&s;|rael;</HI> and every man to the way that ap|pears be&s;t unto him; like an Army either rou|ted thorow the &s;trength of an Enemy, or moul|dring away for want of good Government and exerci&s;e.</P>
<P>The &s;en&s;e is this; O ye <HI>Corinthians,</HI> among you are envying, &s;trifes, and divi&s;ions of the&s;e natures, and degrees; &s;ome of you &s;etting up a Church in the name of <HI>Paul;</HI> another Party a|nother Church in the name of <HI>Apollos;</HI> a third in the name of <HI>Cephas;</HI> and the&s;e you do in oppo&s;ition one to another; violently maintain|ing one to be better, and more excellent then another: and yet for all this, you will be the <HI>&s;piritual ones.</HI> What? Are the&s;e the fruits of the Spirit and a &s;anctified heare? Does it bring forth &s;uch Bryers and Thornes? Does it work no better a change on the vile natures of man, but that &s;till you &s;hould have the &s;pirit, and di&s;cover the cruelty of a Wolf, the gree|dine&s;&s;e of Doggs, the deadly poy&s;on of Ser|pents, and the cruelty of all Bea&s;ts? What is't a &s;pirit of Divi&s;ion, Strife, and Envyings? No; &s;uch comes not from the Spirit, but quenches and ejects it; &s;uch &s;hews not the heart of a <HI>&s;piritual man,</HI> a <HI>Dove,</HI> a <HI>Sheep:</HI> but
<PB N="27" REF="17">the contrary. And an happy and acceptable thing it is for that Church,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Haec e&s;t in Ec|cle&s;ia no&s;cenda &s;implicitas, haec charitas obti|nenda, ut co|lumbas dilectio fraternitatis imitetur, ut man&s;uetudo et lenitas agnis et ovibus coaeque|tur. Quid facit in pectore Chri|&s;tiano luporum feritas? Et canum rabies, et venenum letale &s;erpentum? Et cruenta &s;aevitia be&s;tiarum? gra|tulandum e&s;t, cum tales de Ec|cle&s;ia &s;eparan|tur, ne colum|bas, ne oves &s;ae|v&acirc; &s;u&acirc; vene|nat&acirc; contagione praelentur. <HI>Cypr. de Unit. Eccle&s;.</HI> p. <HI>233.</HI></NOTE> where &s;uch are divided from them, that the harmele&s;&s;e <HI>Dove,</HI> and quiet <HI>Sheep</HI> be not &s;poiled and poy&s;oned with the violence or &s;ubtilty of their divi&s;ions: And doth not the &s;pi|rit rather take down the &s;wellings of the Proud, meeken the &s;pirits of the &s;tout-hearted, unite the hearts of enemies, in&s;inuate its oyls of humility and &s;elf-denial into the ju&s;tified; and brings all hearts of what nation, or condition &s;oever (if a <HI>Barbarian, Scythian, Armenian, &amp;c.</HI>) into one a|greement? Sure it is then, that you deceive and mi&s;take your &s;elves: in the&s;e re&s;pects you di&s;cover but a carnal, un&s;anctified, unregenerated, and un|changed heart from your fir&s;t condition. And this brings on the la&s;t <HI>Quere,</HI> How by good de|mon&s;tration may this be made good, that envy|ings, &amp;c. are the proper fruits of the Fle&s;h, and not the Spirit?</P>
<P N="4">4 To make this good by cleer demon&s;trations, That Envyings, Strifes, and Divi&s;ions (notwith|&s;tanding their highe&s;t pretences) for <HI>Paul,</HI> or <HI>A|pollos,</HI> or <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> him&s;elf, proceed from the fle&s;h, and in that re&s;pect di&s;cover a meer carnal, and not a &s;piritual mind.</P>
<P N="1">1 The Fir&s;t is drawn from the fir&s;t breakings out of corrupt nature from man after his fall, wherein it will appear, That our dividing from God in our affections, is the cau&s;e of our divi&s;i|ons one from another.</P>
<P N="1">1 Con&s;ider this Divi&s;ion as a <HI>divine revenge</HI> on back&s;liding man; and you &s;hall &s;ee it a meer fruit of &s;in.</P>
<PB N="28" REF="18">
<P N="1">1 There is a divi&s;ion in the <HI>nature of man.</HI> When God made man, he &s;o equally tempered the quarrel&s;ome elements in mans body, that they (who of them&s;elves would de&s;troy one another, and thereby the whole frame) &s;erve one another willingly to the pre&s;ervation of man: <HI>but in the day that thou eate&s;t the forbidden fruit, thou &s;halt die;</HI> that is, become <HI>mortal.</HI> Soul and Body that made up one before, and was to remain one, mu&s;t now be divided; and therefore there mu&s;t be oppo&s;i|tions among&s;t the contentious humours of the Bo|dy; this or that &s;triving for predominanty: And being di&s;tempered and di&s;ea&s;ed, becomes unfit for the Soul, de&s;troyes the Spirit, and bani&s;heth the Soul to him that fir&s;t joyned them to the Body.</P>
<P N="2">2 A Divi&s;ion <HI>with the creatures.</HI> They were all made to &s;erve man, and man could not in his <HI>innocency</HI> more freely and cheerfully have &s;erved his maker, then being innocent they &s;hould have unanimou&s;ly and promptly have &s;erved him: That as he gave them names, &s;o he &s;hould by the&s;e names, like the good <HI>Centurion,</HI> &s;et over the <HI>ho&s;t</HI> of God, call and &s;end them at his plea&s;ure. But now becau&s;e man hath lo&s;t his <HI>integrity,</HI> he lo&s;eth his <HI>dominion;</HI> and as they War again&s;t one ano|ther, &s;o rebell again&s;t their Lord and Ma&s;ter, ha|ting to be &s;ubject to him: And in&s;tead of living one with another, one lives upon another: And as &s;ome ob&s;erve, The wor&s;t of creatures hath &s;ome good in it to pre&s;erve and help man, &s;o the be&s;t of creatures hath &s;omething in it to de&s;troy man.</P>
<PB N="29" REF="18">
<P N="3">3 A divi&s;ion <HI>with man;</HI> betwixt the good &s;eed and the bad, <HI>Gen.</HI> 3.15. <HI>Ego ponam, non ut vi|tium, &s;ed ut poenam.</HI> That as there is an inveterate and irreconcileable hatred betwixt the natural Serpent and mankinde; &s;o betwixt the &s;piritual &s;eed of the Serpent, and of the Woman: and not only the wicked and the godly are thus divided, but the godly them&s;elves, even among&s;t them|&s;elves, &s;o far as natural and carnal.</P>
<P N="4">4 A general divi&s;ion <HI>among&s;t all men:</HI> not only in their hearts, but in their tongues and wayes too; and all ari&s;ing from <HI>envy.</HI> Before Satans envying the happine&s;&s;e of God, and de&s;iring to be like unto him, there was no divi&s;ion; but then he, thru&s;t out of the pre&s;ence of God, &s;eeing that not fea&s;iable to become as happy as God, being now become mi&s;erable, is loth that any &s;hould be more happy then him&s;elf; he therefore envying mans felicity, &s;ets him on a point of emulation, &s;triving, and a&s;piring to be like God, and &s;o di|vides them. Then his po&s;terity, either proud|ly di&s;daining the judgements of God, or enviou&s;ly attempting heaven, builds a Tower; and then God cur&s;es their <HI>language</HI> with <HI>divi&s;ion,</HI> that they have the cur&s;ed gifts of &s;peaking &s;everal languages, or el&s;e that one language &s;o variou&s;ly dialected, that they could not under&s;tand one another. And after|wards they could not live, rule, plant, build toge|ther, but every one according to his tongue and his family betakes him&s;elf into &s;everal parts, and there hath his &s;everal God; and when grown up into Countries and Nations, they War one again&s;t
<PB N="30" REF="19">another; and tho&s;e that could not live together, cannot live one by another. And we &s;ee the&s;e judg|ments continuing and encrea&s;ing with the &s;ins of mem among&s;t the Church of God, <HI>Deut.</HI> 28.</P>
<P N="2">2 Con&s;ider this divi&s;ion as naturally <HI>ari&s;ing &s;in|fully from &s;in:</HI> What God inflicts as a puni&s;hment, man practi&s;es as a &s;in; and in both the&s;e re&s;pects it fir&s;t breaks out in <HI>Adams</HI> own family (&s;eeing the truth of the Cur&s;e performed before his own eyes, and on the fruit of his own loins) as a mo&s;t ge|nuine &s;tream of a corrupt heart. The Apo&s;tle joyns the&s;e two together, Envying, Murder, &amp;c. <HI>Murder</HI> is the height of <HI>divi&s;ion,</HI> when not only they cannot abide to be together, but cannot abide to be at all: like fire and water, either part them, or they mu&s;t con&s;ume one or other, or both die to|gether. Man cannot love, nor unite his affection to any thing that is good, not to God him&s;elf, or his Truth; becau&s;e man is become &s;o much bad, that there is nothing that is good but its an enemy to him, and therefore he &s;eeks to his power to de&s;troy it: As we reade of <HI>Cain,</HI> 1 <HI>Joh.</HI> 3.12. <HI>And where|fore &s;lew he him? becau&s;e his own works were evil, and his brothers righteous.</HI> Satan is called the Mur|therer, and the envious to be of him. Envie, and &s;o Satan may be very well called by the Serpent Ba&s;ilisk, who is termed <HI>Rex invidorum;</HI> becau&s;e he tran&s;mits death from his eyes, &s;eeing others well, conveyes his poy&s;on immediately to hurt them. Natural wi&s;dome is called <GAP DESC="foreign">. <HI>Jam.</HI> 3.14. Satan is &s;tiled <GAP DESC="foreign">. <HI>Mat.</HI> 13. and his employment is <GAP DESC="foreign">, in &s;leeping time,
<PB N="31" REF="19">in the very hour of our negligence, &amp;c. he &s;owes <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>weeds,</HI> not only making evil men among&s;t others in the Church of Chri&s;t heretiques, &amp;c. but even in the hearts of Gods people; when they are carele&s;&s;e and watchle&s;&s;e, he ca&s;ts in tares, envious motions, dividing thoughts, proud, ambitious de|&s;igns into the heart, &amp;c. this is his main bu&s;ine&s;&s;e he goes about. But none of his temptations could &s;et fire on us, but that there is fewel in us; and &s;hould he not tempt us, we &s;hould tempt and pro|voke our &s;elves hereto; we &s;hould &s;olicite, and u&s;e the forcible&s;t arguments that might be to &s;tir up our ba&s;e natures to proceed from envyings to &s;trife, and from &s;trife to divi&s;ions. How &s;ecretly doth <HI>Cain</HI> carry fire in his bo&s;ome, and he &s;tudies and watches a convenient opportunity to poure out his poy&s;on on his own brother: <HI>E&s;au</HI> and <HI>Jacob</HI> could not live together. <HI>Paul</HI> and <HI>Barnabas</HI> could not work together. This is natural to all, its the bit|ter fruit proceeding from that root of bitterne&s;&s;e in all.</P>
<P N="2">2 The &s;econd Argument is taken from Je&s;us Chri&s;t, acting in his offices <HI>for us, to us,</HI> and <HI>in us</HI> for this end, to make up this divi&s;ion made by our &s;ins, and continued: which if it had not been cau&s;ed by our &s;ins, the end of his <HI>actions</HI> had been <HI>void.</HI></P>
<P N="1">1 Acting <HI>for us</HI> as an <HI>interce&s;&s;or,</HI> which extends to all that then beleeved, or &s;hould hereafter be|leeve, <HI>Joh.</HI> 17.20, 21. When he prayes for a po&s;itive Ble&s;&s;ing, its likewi&s;e again&s;t the cur&s;e and evil in the negative; when he prayes for Unity, he
<PB N="32" REF="20">prayes again&s;t divi&s;ion. Sure, as he prayed not in vain to his Father, &s;o not for us; <HI>viz.</HI> for a thing we wanted not, or could procure to our &s;elves. It was the groan, the longing of our dear Saviour for us, proceeding from an holy Spirit, and bow|els filled with compa&s;&s;ion, grieved for our divi&s;i|ons with God, and among&s;t our &s;elves: and what motion to the contrary is in us, proceeds from a contrary &s;pirit to that which was in our Savi|our.</P>
<P N="2">2 Acting <HI>to us</HI> as a <HI>ma&s;ter,</HI> a <HI>preacher</HI> of <HI>righ|teou&s;ne&s;s,</HI> teaching and in&s;tructing his people and &s;ervants according to the will of his heavenly Fa|ther revealed to him, and his <HI>fathers</HI> and <HI>his</HI> ex|ample. Thus we read Chri&s;t breathing out of the bo&s;ome of his Father his mind to us, <HI>Mat.</HI> 5.44, 45. <HI>But I &s;ay unto you, Love your enemies, ble&s;s them that cur&s;e you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which de&s;pitefully u&s;e you, and per&s;ecute you: That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven; for he maketh his &s;un to ri&s;e on the evil and on the good, and &s;endeth rain on the ju&s;t and on the unju&s;t.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Per verba &s;candit oratio, ab affectu ad verba, &agrave; verbis ad res ventu|ra, &amp;c. <HI>Grot. in loc.</HI></NOTE> There is the Precept teaching us how to demean our &s;elves towards them that are out of the Church, how to temper our language, our actions outwardly, nay our prayers to God for them in private, perfumed with this odour of Love. Saint <HI>Luke</HI> doth at large &s;et down the &s;ame in the Affirmative, <HI>Chap.</HI> 6. <HI>v.</HI> 35. <HI>But love ye your e|nemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing a|gain: and your reward &s;hall be great, and ye &s;hall be the children of the mo&s;t high: for he is kind unto
<PB N="33" REF="20">the unthankfull, and to the evil.</HI> In the Negative, ver&s;. 37. <HI>Judge not, and ye &s;hall not be judged: con|demne not, and ye &s;hall not be condemned: forgive, and ye &s;hall be forgiven.</HI> And couples them &s;weetly together, from the great and neer re&s;emblance hereby they will have of God. Chri&s;t him&s;elf comes as a Lamb, in all his preachings labours to work on them humility, innocency, and unity, and propo&s;es his own pattem for lowline&s;s and meek|ne&s;s, the pre&s;ervatives of Union; and when he is to leave them in this world, (like <HI>Jo&s;eph</HI> parting with his brethren, <HI>Fall not out by the way,</HI> Gen. 45.24.) leaves this injunction to them as the words of a dying Saviour, <HI>Joh.</HI> 15.12. <HI>This is my command|ment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.</HI> And <HI>ver&s;.</HI> 17. <HI>The&s;e things I command you, that ye love one another.</HI> And come we a little after him, and hearken to the voice of <HI>John,</HI> his beloved Di&s;ciple, lying in his bo&s;ome, and breathing out the mind of his Ma&s;ter to us: reade I &s;ay his E|pi&s;tles, and you will think him <HI>totus compo&s;itus ex amore;</HI> Saint<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Beatus <HI>Jo|hannes</HI> Evan geli&s;ta cum E|phe&s;i moraretur u&s;&abque; ad ultimam &s;enectutem, et vix inter Di&s;cipulorum manus ad Ec|cle&s;iam deferre|retur, nec po&s;&s;it in plura vocem contexere, nihil aliud per &s;ingu|las proferre col|lectas, ni&s;i hoc, Filioli, diligite alterutrum; tan|dem Di&s;cipuli et fratres, qui aderant, tadio affecti, quod ca|dem &s;emper au|dir<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="3 letters">, dixe|runt, Magi&s;ter, Quare &s;emper hoc loqueris? Qui re&s;pondit (dignam <HI>Joan|ne</HI> &s;ententiam) quia praeceptum Domini e&s;t, et &s;i &s;olum &s;iat, &s;uffi|cit. <HI>Hier. in Gal. Com. p. 947.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Hierome</HI> hath a relation of him, That when he was &s;o weak with age, that he was not able to go to the publique Auditory un&s;uppor|ted by his Di&s;ciples, and there not to &s;peak much; this was his con&s;tant Lecture, <HI>Children, Love one a|nother:</HI> but his Di&s;ciples being wearied with the con&s;tant repetition of this one thing, &s;aid, <HI>Ma&s;ter, why alwayes this?</HI> He an&s;wered, <HI>Becau&s;e its the com|mand of our Lord Je&s;us, and do but this, and it &s;uf|ficeth.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3 In us as a <HI>King,</HI> ruling and guiding his people
<PB N="34" REF="21">inwardly, &s;ubduing their &s;ins and corruptions. And rules he not as <HI>King of Peace?</HI> And will he then &s;uffer the&s;e unruly lu&s;ts of envy and &s;trife to a|bide in us? Will he &s;uffer his Subjects to bite and devoure one another? It was for the men po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed with devils to be rent and torn them&s;elves, and to fly on &s;uch as pa&s;&s;ed by; but not for &s;uch in whom Chri&s;t dwels and rules, &s;wayes his Scepter of righ|teou&s;ne&s;&s;e and peace. Are not his Laws righteous, and well known before us? Hath he given tolera|tion to any <HI>to tolerate divi&s;ion and &s;trife</HI> in his Kingdome? Doth his Spirit by which he rules in us &s;et us at variance, or anywhere give the lea&s;t al|lowance to di&s;&s;enters? We reade of him, That he only hath power to govern, and that in peace, <HI>I&s;a.</HI> 9.6. <HI>For unto us a child is born, unto us a &s;on is gi|ven, and the government &s;hall be upon his &s;houlder: and his name &s;hall be called Wonderfull, Coun&s;eller, The mighty God, The everla&s;ting Father, The prince of peace.</HI> Then &s;trife and divi&s;ion do di&s;cover, that &s;uch have little intere&s;t in the <HI>interce&s;&s;ory prayers</HI> of Chri&s;t, that they give little heed to his <HI>command and example,</HI> and that they have as little &s;hare in him, who <HI>rules</HI> them in <HI>peace</HI> and <HI>unity,</HI> that are his: but that which cau&s;eth &s;trife &amp; divi&s;ion proceeds from another &s;pirit and mind, even from them&s;elves and Satan; and in no wi&s;e from him.</P>
<P N="3">3 The third Argument is taken from the true, proper, and gracious working of the Spirit of God thorow the word on the heart and &s;pirit of every one that is <HI>called to believe,</HI> brought out of their car|nal and unregenerate e&s;tate, and from the general
<PB N="35" REF="21">and gro&s;&s;e &s;ociety of this world into the <HI>Commu|nion of Saints and Church-fellow&s;hip.</HI> Though the&s;e men be of divers languages and nations, of divers e&s;tates and conditions, of divers con&s;titutions and qualifications, of divers practices and conver&s;ati|ons; yet it hath the &s;elf &s;ame work upon them all, that are truly converted; I &s;ay, at their fir&s;t con|ver&s;ion, when the high thoughts of the fle&s;h were brought down, and the &s;trong powers of a carnal mind &s;ubdued, it brings them in an holy and peaceable &s;ociety. Many thou&s;ands were conver|ted by <HI>Peters</HI> Sermons, que&s;tionle&s;&s;e of &s;everal di&s;po&s;itions and natural inclinations, callings, and practices; yet one general frame and heart wrought in them all, by one and the &s;elf &s;ame Spirit, thorow one and the &s;elf &s;ame Word: as we reade, <HI>Act.</HI> 2.41: <HI>Then they that gladly received his Word, were baptized: and the &s;ame day there were added unto them about three thou&s;and &s;ouls.</HI> And <HI>ver&s;.</HI> 46. <HI>And they continued daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from hou&s;e to hou&s;e, did eat their meat with gladne&s;s and &s;inglene&s;&s;e of heart.</HI> And <HI>Chap.</HI> 4. <HI>ver&s;.</HI> 32. <HI>And the multitude of them that beleeved, were of one heart, and of one &s;oul: neither &s;aid any of them, that ought of the things which he po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed, was his own, but they had all things common.</HI> And no le&s;&s;e do all the <HI>promi&s;es of Chri&s;t and his Kingdom</HI> a&s;&s;uredly portend for his people: as you may reade <HI>I&s;a.</HI> 11. Your great ones, the Lion: your cruel ones, per&s;ecutors, the Leopard: your profane ones, your Wolf, and Bear: your wi&s;e, and &s;ubtile ones, that &s;ore&s;t hurt the people of God, the A&s;pe
<PB N="36" REF="22">and Cockatrice, all &s;hall lie down with the meek ones of Chri&s;ts Kingdom, <HI>ver&s;.</HI> 6, 7, 8, 9. And <HI>Chap.</HI> 55.12, 13. having &s;hewed the irre&s;i&s;ti|ble power and efficacy of his Word: adds, <HI>you &s;hall go out with joy, &amp;c.</HI> I&s;a. 61.7. <HI>For confu&s;ion they &s;hall rejoyce in their portion:</HI> A di&s;tinct lot and &s;tation; and this they &s;hall rejoyce in in&s;tead of rude and di&s;ordered confu&s;ions, at the pouring forth of the Go&s;pel-&s;pirit. So <HI>Jer.</HI> 32.39. <HI>One name,</HI> Zech. 14.9. <HI>They &s;hall &s;ub&s;cribe freely unto the Lord. They &s;hall Covenant with all their hearts. they &s;hall be of one lip,</HI> Zeph. 3.9. For what a &s;trange paradox would it be to Chri&s;tians, <HI>to receive a Go&s;pel of peace,</HI> that among&s;t the true beleivers of <HI>it &s;hould &s;et fire</HI> to con&s;ume them and the whole Church?</P>
<P>Nay, let us appeal to the hearts of any true be|leever, and but a little catechize him; How wa&s;t thou before thy conver&s;ion? haughty, litigious, &s;corn'd an affront, impatient in &s;ufferings, active in broyles, rejoycing in the Churches di&s;turbances, full of maliciou&s;ne&s;&s;e, envying, &amp;c? But how is it now? all the contention thou ha&s;t is in thy own bowels betwixt &s;in and grace, and again&s;t the de|&s;truction of thy brother? And when thou art in a gracious and &s;pirituall frame before God, when thou recollecte&s;t thy &s;elf, and applie&s;t truth home to thy &s;elf, is not thy heart broken? could&s;t thou not pour forth thy heart upon the Church, from the head to the skirts of Chri&s;t, to the poore&s;t member of his? nay, when thou &s;adly re&s;ente&s;t the differences of his people, could&s;t thou not be con|tent
<PB N="37" REF="22">to give them thy blood to joyn and fa&s;ten them together, if it could prevaile? Were not then the Saints of God, one that had the lea&s;t of the image of God, one in whom you could di&s;|cern any thing of a gracious Spirit, dear and preci|ous in thy eyes? and did not grace make a great difference in thy affection, even towards thy own kindred? <HI>Art not thou thus &s;till in the right actings of thy mind and affections?</HI> How is it now that thou divide&s;t from them, and envie&s;t, and &s;trive&s;t with them? What! from the &s;ame &s;piritual temper? or are tho&s;e Chri&s;tians to whom we were joyned in the &s;ame fellow&s;hip <HI>apo&s;tatized from the faith?</HI> No &s;ure: they are the &s;ame, but you are not: the Fle&s;h hath encrea&s;ed on you, and the Spirit but weak in you. Sometimes if thou ob&s;erve&s;t thy own heart, thou wilt be ready to wrangle with the Lord, as <HI>Jonah,</HI> and <HI>Elias:</HI> and therefore he car|ries this character on him, That he was a man <HI>&s;ubject to the like pa&s;sions as we are.</HI> And thou art more ready to vilifie thy brother, in thy pa&s;|&s;ions to whet thy tongue (I wi&s;h they were but &s;uddain pa&s;&s;ions) in his nece&s;&s;ities thou put&s;t thy hand into thy bo&s;ome, or reproache&s;t him in his di&s;tre&s;&s;e; and his &s;lips are matter of joy and boa&s;tings to thee: but compare thy &s;elf with thy former frame of Spirit, deceive not thy &s;elf, look candidly into thy actions, thou &s;halt find no Go&s;|pel character on them, thy heart and affections much altered, and thou wilt freely confe&s;&s;e this comes from thy over-grown carnal heart, from new ri&s;ings of old mortified corruptions, and a
<PB N="38" REF="23">loo&s;ing of tho&s;e Go&s;pel reins once laid upon thy Soul.</P>
<P N="4">4 <HI>Arg.</HI> It appears that the&s;e only have the ri&s;e from the praedominant fle&s;h in us, <HI>From tho&s;e ma|ny and gro&s;&s;e corruptions that di&s;clo&s;e them&s;elves in the handling and managing of Church-contenti|ons.</HI></P>
<P N="1">1 <HI>Envy.</HI> That is a grievous &s;in, but cleerly acting herein; which is an emulating anothers happine&s;&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Invidus alteri|us rebus macre|&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">it opimis.</NOTE> glory, pro&s;perity, &amp;c. and &s;o much the wor&s;e, to make at the ble&s;&s;ings and honour of God conferred on his Church. Its the &s;ad prolo|cutor to many horrid Tragedies; and none &s;o de&s;perate, and dangerous as the envie of friends; for in its execution it lo&s;eth all relations, even of nature it &s;elf.</P>
<P N="2">2 <HI>Ignorance.</HI> Not knowning their own weak|ne&s;&s;e, not the due honour they owe to the members of Chri&s;t Je&s;us in their places; nor &s;olidly appre|hending the truths of God, &amp;c. el&s;e, true and &s;an|ctified knowledge would put an end to many dif|ferences.</P>
<P N="3">3 <HI>Pride.</HI> They &s;uppo&s;e them&s;elves &s;lighted, and de&s;erving far more then they have, &s;eeing that in &s;uch a Church way there will be many that will go before them, out-&s;hine him; look upon their own gifts in a Multiplying gla&s;s, upon the gifts of others at the wrong end of the Pro&s;pective gla&s;&s;e; keep|ing no due proportion, and &s;piritual &s;obriety in their thoughts of them&s;elves, and in their wayes and callings over them&s;elves, in reference to o|thers.</P>
<PB N="39" REF="23">
<P N="4">4 The continuance in the&s;e, breeds <HI>a perver&s;e and &s;tubborn &s;pirit, will not return:</HI> hating to be thought ignorant, to be adjudged of errour, or guilty of unlawful &s;trivings and divi&s;ions; that which thru&s;ts them upon, keeps them in the way and practicte of Divi&s;ions; and &s;eldome do we finde &s;uch con&s;tant to any thing but factions and fractions; and are for any, wherein they may be eminent. Oh it would make a heart to tremble to &s;ee what an horrid change is wrought in them, what a &s;pirit of deep &s;lumbring is fallen on them, they lying under the want even of natural light and rea&s;on.</P>
<P N="5">5 <HI>Coveteou&s;ne&s;s;</HI> They ca&s;t about for wayes that are profitable and gainful: And when the wayes of Truth become thorny, and dirty, cul|pable, obnoxious to lo&s;&s;e of place, e&s;tate, &amp;c. then they mu&s;t divide, as <HI>Demas</HI> leaves <HI>Paul,</HI> and lay out for &s;ome other cour&s;e, though oppo&s;ite to truth it &s;elf.</P>
<P N="6">6 <HI>Corruption:</HI> An ill judgement, and a wor&s;e affection. Some men love not to live within com|pa&s;&s;e, and by a &s;ober, &s;trict, and impartial rule; like a di&s;ea&s;ed man, that is either a&s;hamed of him|&s;elf, or el&s;e fearful his companions will be a&s;hamed of him, keeps therefore by him&s;elf, or a&s;&s;ociates with his like; an evil and unclean heart will warpe from a pure and watchful Congregation. The&s;e and many others being thorowly and impartially weighed, may &s;ee the&s;e iniquities ea&s;ily breaking forth, and fo&s;tered in divi&s;ions, and mu&s;t needs &s;ay, Surely the&s;e things cannot be from God, but from the fle&s;h.</P>
<PB N="40" REF="24">
<P><HI>Arg.</HI> 5. Envyings, &s;trifes, and divi&s;ions <HI>tend to the maintenance, and &s;atisfying of the fle&s;h;</HI> and as the end is to which any thing directly tends, of the &s;ame nature are the means; and what&s;oever tends not to the glory of God, advancement of the truth, promoting of the Power of Godline&s;s, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> cannot proceed from the Spirit but the Fle&s;h, and the&s;e lead directly and principally to the plea&s;ing of the fle&s;h, and nouri&s;hment thereof: By <HI>fle&s;h</HI> I here mean not in a &s;trict &s;en&s;e the touch and &s;ence of fle&s;h, and tho&s;e &s;ins that are acted by, and terminated in the fle&s;h, which are properly carnal plea&s;ures, &amp;c. in which &s;ence Saint <HI>John</HI> takes it 1 <HI>Joh,</HI> 2. and the<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Peccata reci|piunt &s;peciem ex objectis <HI>&amp;c.</HI> illa peccata quae perficiuntur delectatione &s;pi|rituali, vocan|tur pec cata &s;pi|ritualia; illa ver&ograve; quae perfi|ciuntur in dele|ctatione carna|li, vocantur pec|cata carnalia. <HI>Aqu. 12. q. 72. a. 2. c.</HI></NOTE> Schoolmen; but that which is commonly called the carnall part, the corrupt, unregenerate, and unmortified part of man in the whole. And this</P>
<P N="1">1. Tends to the <HI>&s;atisfying and delight of the un|godly,</HI> and &s;uch as are not only gro&s;&s;ely carnall, but profe&s;&s;ed enemies to the truth; and herein we act no more for them, then they would do them|&s;elves; But of this more hereafter; only its a &s;ign that that beareth much evill in it, that plea&s;eth men that are wholly evill, and reli&s;h nothing el&s;e, and this not only for them to &s;ee it in us, but to joyn with parties again&s;t us.</P>
<P N="2">2. It tends to <HI>a general licentiou&s;ne&s;s:</HI> men with|drawing their necks from the yoak of Chri&s;t, run into any way that &s;eems good to them; and makes way to an everla&s;ting evagation; for he that will take liberty to divide from a people walking by Divine Rule in the main, mu&s;t lay down in them|&s;elves
<PB N="41" REF="24"><HI>a Principle of un&s;etlednes, and to have a grant of Liberty</HI> to depart at plea&s;ure from any el&s;e that appears not to be more divinely grounded; and &s;o like the Traveller, pa&s;&s;es from one place to another, from one Church to another, for novelty, curio&s;itie, and &s;peculation &s;ake; only is not &s;o &s;ure to return to his true home as the Traveller; and this is done for Con&s;cience &s;ake. Hereby the hypocrite, the unclean per&s;on, and weak brother may throw the reins off his neck and return to his vomit, for &s;uch &s;tand open to temptations; Sel|dom a wanton <HI>head and heart</HI> being &s;eparable: if we con&s;ider who are &s;ubject to this &s;ad judge|ment, even corrupt people, 2 <HI>Tim.</HI> 3.6. <HI>For of this &s;ort are they which creep into hou&s;es, and lead cap|tive &s;illy women laden with &s;ins, led away with di|vers lu&s;ts,</HI> and what &s;uch doth naturally pro|duce, 2 <HI>Tim.</HI> 2.16. <HI>But &s;hun propha<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">e and vain bab|lings, for they will increa&s;e unto more ungodline&s;s.</HI> and take them at the be&s;t, (I dare appeal to any true beleever) whether &s;ince his divi&s;ion, and &s;tri|ving he hath made any<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">&V;bi adhuc re|fidet talis ambi|tio, aut nullus e&s;t aut exiguus Evangelii pro|fectus, <HI>Marl.</HI></NOTE> &s;en&s;ible increa&s;e in holi|ne&s;s, nay, whether he is not le&s;sned in his love, care, and practice; and its &s;eldom with &s;uch <HI>&s;chi&s;mati|call</HI><NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Non nos ab ill is, &s;ed illi &agrave; nobis rece&s;&s;e|runt; &amp; cum haere&s;es &amp; &s;chi&s;|mata po&s;tmodu~ nata &s;unt, dum conventicula &s;i bi diver&s;a con|&s;tituunt, veri|tatis caput, at|que orignem re|liquerunt. <HI>Cypt. de unit. Eccle&s;. p. 234.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Volunteers,</HI> but they lo&s;e the very Truth it &s;elf; and let any judge how it &s;hould be otherwi&s;e; for the&s;e meerly tend to confu&s;ion, where there is this <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>Divi&s;ion,</HI> there will be <GAP DESC="foreign">, no &s;tanding order, or <HI>confu&s;ion;</HI> and if any thing can make greater gaps in the hedge of the Vineyard for good to go forth, and evill to enter; if a wider gate can be &s;et open for evils in judgement and life,
<PB N="42" REF="25">it mu&s;t be the gates of Hell; and this we may ea&s;ily judge by what &s;ucce&s;s it hath already had even a|mong&s;t all parties, and even &s;uch that meerly in tenderne&s;s of con&s;cience, or de&s;ire of greater per|fection in holine&s;s have parted from them.</P>
<P>Now, if we look upon envyings, &s;trifes, and dl|vi&s;ions breaking fir&s;t out from Satan, by whom the whole world was and is &s;et on fire, and i&s;&s;uing freely from mans lap&s;ed nature, as to be made up by Chri&s;t, and wrote again&s;t by the Go&s;pel, as maintained by reigning lu&s;ts, and maintaining the reign of lu&s;ts, it mu&s;t needs prove thus at la&s;t, that a people beginning, and proceeding herein do be|tray a carnall minde, if not totally carnall.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Cartwright, Ball. Synod again&s;t Di&s;&s;enting <HI>&amp;c. with many o|thers.</HI></NOTE>And whereas there hath been much &s;aid in the ju&s;tification of Separation and Divi&s;ion, and much more again&s;t it, I &s;hall &s;ay little Polemically in this Di&s;cour&s;e; only hint an Objection or two briefly with their An&s;wers.</P>
<P>Some from <HI>Matth.</HI> 18.22. gather the lawful|ne&s;s of gathered Churches made up of members rent and divided from others.</P>
<P>The place makes again&s;t them; For,</P>
<P N="1">1. That two or three, hath reference to the Go|vernours of a Church, as appears clearly by the context to any intelligent and unbya&s;&s;ed Chri|&s;tian.</P>
<P N="2">2. Or if in generall it appertains to Chri&s;tians, yet its &s;poken to &s;uch as are &s;till of the &s;ame Church before &s;poken of, and &s;till pre&s;erve their unity to the whole, notwith&s;tanding their private a&s;&s;embling. <HI>Two or three of you.</HI></P>
<PB N="43" REF="25">
<P N="3">3 Mark the manner of their meeting; <HI>In my Name:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ne&s;e quidem vari&acirc; interpre|tatione decipi|ant &amp;c. o&s;ten|dens non multi|tudini &s;ed una|nimitati depre|cantium pluri|mum tribui. <HI>Cypr. ib.</HI></NOTE> Can they be gathered in <HI>his Name</HI> that divide the Church and Truth it &s;elf? Can they meet <HI>in his Fear</HI> that de&s;pi&s;e his Wor&s;hip? Can it be to his glory that labours again&s;t unity? Let us not deceive our &s;elves by fal&s;e glo&s;&s;ing the &s;cri|ptures, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> God hears not men of many mouthes, but of one mouth and heart. Others &s;ay, That God commands them to depart out of <HI>Babylon.</HI></P>
<P>True, &s;o you ought in re&s;pect of your &s;pirituall and temporall &s;afety,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Non laudamus errones, qui va|gantur &amp; ad nullam &s;e Eccle|&s;iam adjungunt, quia nu&s;quam inveniant ta|lem ideam, in qu&acirc; non de&s;ide|retur aliquid in moribus, aut di&s;ciplina; &s;ed quaeramus Ec|cle&s;iam in qua articuli &s;idei recte docentur, &amp; errores non defenduntur, &amp; adha~c nos adjun|gamus, hanc do|centem audia|mus, &amp; diliga|mus, &amp; no&s;tram invocationem, &amp; confe&s;&s;ionem ip&s;ius precibus &amp; confe&s;&s;ioni aggregemus, <HI>Chem. part 3. de Eccle&s;. p. 279.</HI></NOTE> and out of a Church that is <HI>Babyloni&s;h, Idolatrical,</HI> defiled in the very Funda|mentals of Religion, and corrupt in the materials of the Ordinances, from &s;uch depart, but not from Churches that every one calls Babyloni&s;h, and e|&s;pecially &s;uch as call it &s;o that they might &s;et up another of their own; and while you depart from <HI>Babylon</HI> &s;o called, take heed you do not really run into <HI>Babylon</HI> its damnable Errors, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> But where doctrine is &s;ound according to divine Writ, di&s;cipline in general pure; No &s;uch is <HI>Babylon,</HI> from no &s;uch let us depart.</P>
<P>But the more refined takes offence at our mixed Congregations and &s;o depart?</P>
<P N="1">1. Yea, if they depart becau&s;e mixed with &s;ome un&s;anctified profe&s;&s;ors (as they judge) and will not joyn with any mixed, they mu&s;t re&s;olve to be of no con&s;tituted and particular Church in this world, <HI>no not of Chri&s;ts own,</HI> if he and his Di&s;ci|ples, and hearers were now pre&s;ent in this world.</P>
<P N="2">2. However, thou taxe&s;t many of them to bee carnall, and &s;o not to be communicated withall
<PB N="44" REF="26">in &s;uch high and &s;pirituall my&s;teries (which thou can&s;t never prove); But do&s;t not thou &s;hew thy &s;elf to be carnal in &s;eparating from the whole, be|cau&s;e of the corruption of one member,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Sicut ip&s;i nihil minus quam Dei eccle&s;ia &s;unt, &s;ic corum improbitas Ec|cle&s;iam non tol|lit, Eccle&s;ia no|men delere non pote&s;t, <HI>1 John 2.19.</HI> Neque enim di&s;&s;itemur quin nomine Eccle&s;ia, Hypo|crita etiam qui in ca &s;unt com|prehendantur, dicente Domi|no &amp;c. <HI>Matth. 13. &amp; 25. Zanch. de Ec|cle&s;. page 535. lib. 8.</HI></NOTE> and cry|ing down this, and &s;etting up another?</P>
<P N="3">3. But doth the Congregation tolerate, con|nive at, brook a profane per&s;on, an ob&s;tinate &s;in|ner, an ignorant man to communicate with thee? if &s;o, then more occa&s;ion to divide:</P>
<P>But our divi&s;ion is not &s;chi&s;me, or our &s;eparati|on is not divi&s;ion, nor proceeds from envying and &s;trife.</P>
<P>Truly in a <HI>Grammatical &s;ence,</HI> divi&s;ion mu&s;t bee &s;chi&s;m, and &s;eparation mu&s;t be divi&s;ion; but I know it not otherwi&s;e in your <HI>my&s;tical &s;ence;</HI> and I am &s;ure in a Scriptural and <HI>&s;piritual &s;ence</HI> it &s;hews a carnal minde, and that it doth proceed from a &s;pirit of the former temper, even among you of this Citie. I &s;hall make it good in the U&s;es, apply|ing the Doctrine in this particular, to the People of this Citie, and in generall to all Chri&s;tians.</P>
<P>But before we fall on the Application, take with me the&s;e Cautions:</P>
<P N="1">1. I make not every <HI>differing</HI> brother, a <HI>divi|ding</HI> brother,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Vide Zanch. de Eccle&s;.</NOTE> nor every difference a ground &s;uf|ficient for &s;trife or divi&s;ion; and if divided, yet neither Heretique nor Schi&s;matique &s;o long as the difference is not plainly determined by Scripture, and that the difference doth not evidently make way for dangerous, and more pernicious opinions and practices.</P>
<P N="2">2. A Difference and divi&s;ion, and &s;trife betwixt
<PB N="45" REF="26"><HI>Church and Church in &s;everal Kingdoms,</HI> is not &s;o great, or of &s;uch evill con&s;equence and hurtfull, as <HI>in a Church in one Kingdom;</HI> for times, places, and manners may much alter the Government in Churches according to Eccle&s;ia&s;tical, nay and gra|cious policy.</P>
<P N="3">3. A Difference in the&s;e dayes <HI>of ours,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Quod in Cy|priano naevus, in vobis fuligo, <HI>&amp;c. Aug.</HI> Quod in patri|bus error, in Armenis Haerc|&s;is. <HI>Cot. Bolt. Arraign. of er|ror,</HI> p. <HI>152.</HI></NOTE> and a|mong&s;t &s;uch as the men of the&s;e daies profe&s;s them&s;elves, is wor&s;e, and more dangerous, and le&s;&s;e tolerable then in any daies and times before; for the greater light, the greater love; more Go|&s;pel, more peace &s;hould be.</P>
<P N="4">4. That &s;maller differences when under the Name of Chri&s;t, this for him, and that again&s;t him, when really he is not concerned in them, but the very a|dopting him Patron of them, makes them dange|rou&s;ly con&s;equential, higher, and le&s;&s;e reconcileable; for they mo&s;t engage con&s;cience, provoke zeal.</P>
<P N="5">5. That differences taking on them (as truly mo&s;t do) <HI>the name of men,</HI> and &s;o gathering into divi|ded Churches, as well as di&s;tingui&s;hing names, do declare them to be evill,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hinc Tertullia|ni&s;tae, Origini|&s;tae, &amp;c. Sic Browni&s;tae, &amp;c. etiam Je&s;uitae, &amp;c.</NOTE> and proceed from carnal principles; for el&s;e all Truth, and waies meet in Chri&s;t, who&s;e name we have owned, and glory in alone, <HI>viz.</HI> Chri&s;tians; and more palpable are they that a&s;&s;ume &s;trange arrogant names to them|&s;elves, which be&s;peaks nothing more then pride, envie, divi&s;ion, e&s;pecially the&s;e being in one Church and that a reformed one.</P>
<P>The&s;e premi&s;ed, which you ought to take along with you to allay &s;ometimes the bitterne&s;s of &s;peech (if there be any) for I direct not this to per|ver&s;e
<PB N="46" REF="27">Heretiques &s;ealed under a judgement to the la&s;t day, but <HI>to men, to Chri&s;tians</HI> who were con|verted by the &s;ame means, nouri&s;hed and brought up in the &s;ame ordinance, who&s;e affections burned as they walked together in the hou&s;e of God, and never more happy then in their publike and private meetings; but now e&s;tranged, if not envying, &s;trive|ing, dividing like enemies, as if there was now no peace to be had with the <HI>old Puritan</HI> as in former times; again&s;t you mu&s;t I make good this charge of the Apo&s;tle, and herein I mu&s;t be plain, and if I be &s;harp, if too &s;harp, I cannot be &s;o &s;harp with you as you are one with another;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Non omnis qui parcit amicus, nec qui verbe|rat inimicus. <HI>Aug. unit. ep. 48.</HI></NOTE> and happily I may be, and prove a better friend to you that call you <HI>carnal,</HI> then he that calls you <HI>Saints,</HI> and a check in the mouth is fitter for you then a &s;troke under the chin.</P>
<P N="1">1. Doe not your &s;trifes and divi&s;ions ari&s;e from Envyings? not to meddle with your State divi&s;ions, your boa&s;ting of triumphant and victori|ous enterprizes, your di&s;-officing, nay and per&s;ecu|ting of one another (though the&s;e fall under my cognizance, and take their ri&s;e from your di&s;-a|greements in opinion about religion) but only in point of Religion. What means your depra|ving not only of one Government, but all <HI>kinds of Government &s;ucce&s;sively,</HI> as it hath grated on your evill humours, but of per&s;ons of honour, re|nown, religion, mo&s;t tender con&s;ciences, of un&s;pot|ted lives, zealous Martyrs for the truth, laying &s;ad reproaches and a&s;per&s;ions on them in your Pam|phlets we read in the Country? What means tho&s;e
<PB N="47" REF="27">ridiculous and ab&s;urd retrolocutions, calling good evill, and evill good, bitter &s;weet, and &s;weet bitter, liberty thraldome, and thraldom liberty, fal&s;itie fidelitie, and fidelity fal&s;ity, back&s;liding con&s;tan|cie, and con&s;tancie back&s;liding, true zeal &s;edition, and &s;edition true zeal? Whence are tho&s;e &s;elf-admirations, hyperbolicall jactations, wor&s;e then the very Heathen Philo&s;opher, that would not take the name <GAP DESC="foreign"> but <GAP DESC="foreign">? What mean your &s;everal cries in the City, and Congregations, &s;etting up <HI>Pauls</HI> Church, and <HI>Apollos</HI> Church, and <HI>Cephas</HI> his Church, and this the holye&s;t, and that the pure&s;t, the heavenlie&s;t Church? come not the&s;e from envious emulations? if from love, I am &s;ure it hath not the characters the Apo&s;tle in this Epi&s;tle attributes to it, 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 13. Fir&s;t, he &s;hews how far a man may act (as is thought in a chari|table way) without charity. <HI>Ver&s;.</HI> 1, 2, 3. <HI>Though I &s;peak with the tongues of men and angels, and have not charity, I am become as &s;ounding bra&s;&s;e or a tink|ling cymbal. And though I have the gift of pro|phe&s;ie, and under&s;tand all my&s;teries and all knowledg: and though I have all faith, &s;o that I could remove mountains, and have no charitie, I am nothing. And though I be&s;tow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.</HI> Then what true charity among&s;t the members of the Lord Je&s;us will do, and will not do: <HI>Ver&s;.</HI> 4, 5, 6. <HI>Charity &s;uffereth long, and is kind: charitie envieth not: charity vaunteth not it &s;elf, is not puffed up, Doth not behave it &s;elf un&s;eemly, &s;eeketh not her
<PB N="48" REF="28">own, is not ea&s;ily provoked, thinketh no evill, Re|joyceth not in iniquitie, but rejoyceth in the truth:</HI> I confe&s;&s;e in your way you &s;hew forth much of the fir&s;t in gifts, elocutions, prophecies, &amp;c. but I can|not in charity (unle&s;s I belie my knowledge and con&s;cience) &s;ay that you &s;uffer long, that you are kinde, that you envie not, that you vaunt not, that you are not puffed up, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> which things mu&s;t needs de&s;troy the &s;ociety and communion of the Saints of God, and &s;ure that is not charity; No, no, thy envyings, &s;trifes, and divi&s;ions, te&s;tifie to thy face O <HI>London,</HI> and we in the Country can witne&s;&s;e again&s;t thee; for though thy divi&s;ions at fir&s;t aro&s;e like a <HI>&s;mall handed cloud,</HI> now it hath quite <HI>&s;pread</HI> over thee, and have been the <HI>heavie&s;t hand</HI> that ever thou bare&s;t; nay, and they have &s;pread over us too; the <HI>&s;parks,</HI> the flames of thy fire in whole &s;heets have light on our Hou&s;es and Towns: Whence have come any Emi&s;&s;aries to broach their dark lights, and infatuating opinions to divide our Congregations, but out of <HI>London?</HI> and the&s;e not only come with thy opinions, but with the &s;ame or more bitter, invective, &s;candali|zing and reproachfull languages, then we read in thy Satyricall toy-books, as if in the next Editi|on they were reprinted on their bre&s;ts, with their amendments: So that the <HI>Vipers</HI> bred in thy bow|els and have even con&s;umed thee, now <HI>creep</HI> into ours.</P>
<P>And to manife&s;t the coldne&s;s of your affections, that you de&s;ire &s;till to live in the fire, and that peace is not in your hearts, lo your earne&s;t endea|vours
<PB N="49" REF="28">for a toleration, not a bare connivance, but a command to divide; lo your writings again&s;t the re&s;traint of all evils, of any evils, that &s;o you may proceed to a <HI>Mathematical divi&s;ion.</HI> Some &s;aying, I can live and keep my con&s;cience among&s;t any; and &s;o I have my liberty, I care not what the re&s;t be; this Con&s;cience is not &s;uch a one as <HI>Lots,</HI> as <HI>Davids;</HI> but he that can live in <HI>Sodome</HI> with them, may come to live in <HI>Hell</HI> with them; and this mans con&s;cience cannot endure to have Com|munion with <HI>a weak brother,</HI> that can live with comfort and re&s;t among&s;t men as ill <HI>as Devils:</HI> And others flie in the face of ju&s;tice with per&s;ecu|tion, and of Goverment with Antichri&s;tiani&s;me. What ailes the&s;e lowings of Oxen, and bleatings of Sheep? but envyings, &s;trifes, and divi&s;ions; and &s;uch as are unchri&s;tian, fle&s;hly, devilli&s;h; even &s;uch (if they be not &s;uddainly reconciled or abated) will con&s;ume you: And as for my part, I had ra|ther you were cold, then luke-warm, and that an impious Sect, and Errour was &s;olely maintained, and Truth it &s;elf per&s;ecuted, then all Errors tole|rated.</P>
<P>I will not enlarge my &s;elf further, lea&s;t while I &s;peak again&s;t divi&s;ion,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Homicidae &s;unt apud Deum ta|les &amp;c. &amp; cum nobis &s;emel mo|ricudum &s;it, illi tamen &amp; odio, &amp; verbis &amp; delictis &s;uis quotidic peri|munt. <HI>Cypr. Ep 55. p. 102.</HI></NOTE> you &s;ay I have no de&s;ire to Union; only let me tell you that you are &s;et on fire of hell; and you are of that evill one, that was a murtherer, 1 <HI>John</HI> 3.2. and though you do not actually &s;lay, burn, and eat up one another, yet by degrees you are con&s;uming one another, and in a <HI>degree murthering one another, putting them to death daily, whom nature hath ordered but once to die,</HI> and
<PB N="50" REF="29">no marvel that St. <HI>James</HI> calls it diveli&s;h, and the fire is brought from hell, when as the&s;e &s;ad envy|ings be&s;eem rather the damned in hell, then the people of God on earth; for the happines of Gods Church &s;hall be an aggravation to the mi&s;eries in in hell, and their glory the damneds envy, their triumph the damneds terror, to which our Savi|our thus &s;peaks, <HI>Luke</HI> 13.28. <HI>There &s;hall be weeping and gna&s;hing of teeth, when yee &s;hall &s;ee Abraham, and I&s;aac, and Jacob, and all the Prophets in the kingdome of God, and you your &s;elves thur&s;t out.</HI> When they &s;hall <HI>&s;ee them</HI> thus and thus,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Stridor denti|um opus e&s;t in|vidiae.</NOTE> who&s;e goodnes and grace they mocked at on earth, their glory in heaven &s;uch will envy.</P>
<P N="2">2. I mu&s;t now tell you, that the&s;e things being &s;o evident, that you are carnal; boa&s;t not of the Spi|rit, as if you had it, and none el&s;e, and therefore ye depart from the Antichri&s;tian Congregations: True, if they were &s;o cleerly proved by Text of Scripture, it were good to divide; but do not you &s;ay &s;o of them that you might ju&s;tifie your divi&s;i|on, and &s;till nouri&s;h your envious &s;trivings? but I &s;ay boa&s;t not of the Spirit, its not a &s;pirit of en|vie, but it meekens mens &s;pirits; its not a &s;pirit of &s;triving, but &s;tirreth up to the a&s;&s;i&s;tance one of ano|ther; not a &s;pirit of divi&s;ion, but unites the mem|bers of Je&s;us Chri&s;t with the &s;tronge&s;t bonds that any &s;ociety or body can be united withall;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Qui &s;ectarii &s;unt, licet vide|antur e&s;&s;e &s;piri|tuali&s;&s;imi, reve|ra tamen carna|les exi&s;tunt. <HI>Mu&s;c. in loc. p. 81.</HI></NOTE> boa&s;t not of the Go&s;pel, its not a Go&s;pel of contention, but reconciliation; not of divi&s;ion, but calls all true beleevers into one communion and &s;pirituall fellow&s;hip; <HI>boa&s;t not that you are the &s;piritual ones,
<PB N="51" REF="29">when no wayes more then yours di&s;cover carnality.</HI> And its a &s;hame, nay it will be a greater condem|nation to this Citie to be <HI>yet carnal,</HI> then for <HI>Beth|&s;aida</HI> and <HI>Chorazin</HI> not to beleeve; you &s;eemed to beleeve, to repent, to embrace your faithfull Mini|&s;ters with joy, and to make your Citie their re|fuge, who were your Cities glory; to &s;ave their lives who &s;pend their lives on you and for you, who have been &s;uch glorious lights in your firma|ment, that have made you to out-&s;hine other Cities, and encrea&s;ed your glory to a greater degree be|yond what it hath been ever &s;ince it was a Ci|tie: and you have had many of the&s;e Mini&s;ters faithfull, laborious, godly, learned, who for their paucity &s;eemed but the gleanings of this Church, yet better then the Vintage of the whole; and <HI>yet carnall?</HI> You again reciprocally followed them, maintained them, rejoyced in their doctrine, then laboured for their unity in the whole City; and to the&s;e adde, you &s;uffered with them, and you were ready to break the ice for them that &s;hould have led you into the water; and <HI>yet carnal?</HI> What, the very Head of this Nation &s;ick, rent, cut a pieces, one piece of it falling this way, another that, a third a third way, wherein there is little love, no re&s;t, no ea&s;e night nor day, and having &s;o many Phy|&s;itians with &s;uch admirable balm to apply? True, thy wounds and di&s;ea&s;es are great and have fe|&s;tred long, in&s;omuch that they have infected the whole, and &s;tink in the no&s;trils of thy &s;i&s;ter Churches; but are the&s;e wounds incurable, the&s;e breaches, the&s;e divi&s;ions irreconcileable? True, it
<PB N="52" REF="30">may be the dividing opinions are; but are the di|vided Chri&s;tians? I mu&s;t tell thee <HI>London,</HI> thou art ungratefull to thy Mini&s;ters, to thy God, and badly requite&s;t him for his gracious protections, Chri&s;t Je&s;us for his Go&s;pel-admini&s;trations; that when he hath delivered thee from thy former yoke, thou &s;hould&s;t throw off his own yoke, and when he made an open way of a full union in the whole Church by his ble&s;&s;ed mercies, and you to break yours a&s;under, &s;ure you are and were of car|nall and unmortified hearts, which otherwi&s;e in the&s;e times would not &s;o fully di&s;cover them&s;elves, being like <HI>Nebuchadnezzars</HI> Image one part falling from another, becau&s;e uncementable, being of &s;eve|rall tempers and natures; if it be that you are &s;pi|rituall, you will mourn for the divi&s;ions of the Church, labour to reunite and re-allie the forces of Gods people, which by &s;uch as you are thus &s;cat|tered, and thus divided;</P>
<P><HI>U&s;e.</HI> My next endeavour is, (after the making good of the charge) to work &s;ome remedie for the crime, to extingui&s;h the fire of envy, to take off the edge of &s;trife, and to reconcile the&s;e carnall and dangerous divi&s;ions.</P>
<P N="1">1. By &s;hewing you the cau&s;es why we re-unite not.</P>
<P N="2">2. By intermixing remedies with the cau&s;es.</P>
<P N="3">3. By propo&s;ing &s;ome motives to make them effectuall to us.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, the two fir&s;t fall in together; we &s;hall &s;ub|joyn the meanes to remedie the evill under each particular; its a thing hath been much endeavou|red
<PB N="53" REF="30">by many far more learned and judicious then my &s;elf; its a thing &s;o de&s;ireable, &s;o amiable, that its worth every mans prayer and work; a thing that gives occa&s;ion of great joy, 2 <HI>The&s;.</HI> 1.3. <HI>Wee are bound to thank God alwayes for you, brethren, as it is meet, becau&s;e that your faith groweth exceed|ingly, and the charity of every one of you all towards each other aboundeth.</HI> Unity, peace, what &s;weet and comfortable words they are? but as the con|&s;tant drops of rain (though &s;mall) do more refri|gerate and refre&s;h the hot and parched earth, then the &s;udden da&s;hes of rain; let my &s;mall drop fol|low their &s;weet and plea&s;ant &s;howrs; it may con|tribute as much as a drop can do to this barren and thornie Church of ours.</P>
<P>You heard before that a carnal minde is the cau&s;e of the&s;e; That <HI>Satan, Hereticks, Je&s;uites,</HI> &amp;c. are great promoters and aggravators of the&s;e mi&s;e|ries; But to pa&s;&s;e by the&s;e, I &s;peak to them that have been and may &s;till &s;eem to be in and of the Church of Chri&s;t, and the hinderances of union lies on the &s;core</P>
<P>Of the
<LIST>
<ITEM><HI>Magi&s;trate.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Mini&s;ter.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>People.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<P>Fir&s;t, Of the <HI>Magi&s;trate,</HI> who&s;e duty it is to be &s;o farre from &s;cattering <HI>coals</HI> in the <HI>Church,</HI> and throwing in their bones of <HI>divi&s;ion,</HI> that they &s;hould be one of the <HI>filii olei</HI> on the left hand of the Candle&s;tick, to &s;peak peace unto her, and put forth her fires; but the rea&s;on why they abide &s;till divided, and &s;tand farre off from one another,
<PB N="54" REF="31">nay, in part Adver&s;aries, is, becau&s;e</P>
<P>Of an
<LIST>
<ITEM><HI>Unwi&s;e</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Cowardly</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Self-intere&s;ted</HI></ITEM>
</LIST><HI>Magi&s;trate.</HI></P>
<P N="1">1. An <HI>Unwi&s;e Magi&s;trate</HI> that knows not that it is his duty to look after the peace of the Church as well as of your Common-wealth, when need requires, and in Policie he might labour for that Eccle&s;ia&s;ticall Unity, being a great preferva|tive to his ju&s;t authority, and is &s;ure to rule well a|mong&s;t them that are pure, peaceable, con&s;cienti|ous: And truly it is a mo&s;t &s;ad thing to have men more rich then wi&s;e, more popular then religious to rule over us, that know not what duty they owe to <HI>God in the Church,</HI> as well as <HI>of the Church in the Common wealth.</HI> But will you under&s;tand, is it per&s;ecution to doe ju&s;tice, or is there any ju&s;tice for a wronged, a defiled Church? Are not<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Non di&s;tin|guendum e&s;t ubi Scriptura non di&s;tinguit. <HI>Bolt. Arraign. of Error</HI> in loc. <HI>Rom. 13.</HI></NOTE> <HI>all evill doers</HI> to be puni&s;hed? is not &s;in that is indi|cted and made cleer &s;o to be, to be prohibited? is this to offend and force con&s;cience (that only falls under the power of God)<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Si quae igitur adver&s;us vos le ges con&s;titutae &s;unt, non bene facere cogimi ni, &s;ed malefa|cere prohibemi|ni. <HI>Aug. cont. lit. Petil. l. 2. cap. 38.</HI></NOTE> to hinder the pub|lick profe&s;&s;ion of that which is evill? Have any power to <HI>grant a Toleration</HI> to all Religions, and not a power to <HI>re&s;train any?</HI> or can you lawfully <HI>confirm any,</HI> and <HI>di&s;&s;olve none?</HI> Is Chri&s;t in the <HI>&s;ha|dow</HI> more to be protected and cared for then Chri&s;t in the <HI>&s;ub&s;tance?</HI> and are Kings and Princes more to adore and &s;erve Chri&s;t <HI>coming,</HI> then Chri&s;t <HI>come?</HI> Cannot his <HI>Go&s;pel</HI> challenge your &s;word as well as his <HI>Law?</HI> and becau&s;e the equity and rea|&s;on of the generall precept is not clear enough to
<PB N="55" REF="31">you, do you expect divine particular in&s;tructions under the Go&s;pel? or is it a le&s;&s;e &s;in to be a <HI>fal&s;e Apo&s;tle,</HI> then a <HI>fal&s;e Prophet?</HI> Know you not that the <HI>winepre&s;&s;e</HI> as well as the <HI>watch-tower</HI> is &s;et with|in the hedge of the Vineyard? or do ye expect that God &s;hould immediately from heaven, declare his di&s;like of &s;uch evil doings, execute ju&s;tice, &s;trike them with <HI>blindnes,</HI> or ca&s;t them into a bed of <HI>&s;icknes?</HI> if you were not Chri&s;tians, you might ex|pect it; or if your Chri&s;tian eyes were open, you might &s;ee very much to convince you herein in fearfull examples.</P>
<P>Be wi&s;e then O ye Judges, and ki&s;&s;e the Son with honour and reverence; offer to your King all you have; your <HI>golden Scepter</HI> as well as your <HI>Box of Myrrh</HI> and ointments; your <HI>&s;word,</HI> your glittering &s;harp &s;word as well as you <HI>glorious Scepter;</HI> and know that Chri&s;t calls for this now, and will once require an account for the u&s;e of all he hath given unto you: And lo then (if you be wi&s;e) the child Je&s;us &s;wadled in his Truth and Government is laid before you; The Harlot cryes <HI>divide him, divide him;</HI> the true mother falls down at your feet, weep|ing and be&s;eeching you for the Lords &s;ake not to <HI>cut him, not to divide him,</HI> let her have him whole all, or none; Is there not a wi&s;e man among&s;t you to decide this?</P>
<P N="2">2. The <HI>cowardly Magi&s;trate</HI> that is &s;o wi&s;e to under&s;tand this, yet he would be as wi&s;e as to &s;ave him&s;elf, he is afraid of a frown; their threats that maintain divi&s;ion are high and lofty, and them|&s;elves in power; and its good to act within a &s;afe
<PB N="56" REF="32">line, and to dare no further then we may &s;afely returne; its good to walk on fairly in a Magi&s;trates pace, and take notice of none on either &s;ide; let them alone and part them&s;elves; he that thru&s;ts in betwixt two,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Nec Chri&s;tiani ultr&agrave; aut dura|re aut e&s;&s;e po&s;|&s;umus, &s;i ad hoc ventum e&s;t, ut perditorum mi|nas atque in&s;i|dias pertime&s;ca|mus. <HI>Cypr. Ep. ad Corn.</HI></NOTE> oft hath the mo&s;t blows and the lea&s;t thanks; and &s;o the truth lies &s;hred on the ground, trodden on, and none will <HI>gather it up.</HI> Oh where is the publick &s;pirit fit for &s;uch a publick per&s;on? Did <HI>Mo&s;es, Nehemiah, &amp;c.</HI> fear their lives in re&s;i&s;ting and puni&s;hing a people deparing from God? Know, that the Lord threatens &s;uch as doe remove the bounds, <HI>Limites Eccle&s;ia&s;ticos:</HI> (<HI>Ho&s;.</HI> 5.10. <HI>The Princes of Judah were like them that remove the bound: therefore I will pour out my wrath upon them like water.</HI>) and &s;uch as doe not with might and main maintain the truth, <HI>Jer.</HI> 9.3. <HI>Jehu</HI> and <HI>E|lias</HI> had other &s;pirits, and in this re&s;pect (though the one good and the other bad) put on the &s;ame &s;pirit, both being publick per&s;ons, publickly &s;hewed them|&s;elves in the front of Gods people again&s;t the ene|mies of the Church.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Kings 19.14. 2 Kings 10.16</NOTE> God equally &s;tood towards them both, in calling them to publick offices; his cau&s;e equally concerned them both according to their places, and they both acted according to their capacities: <HI>Jehus &s;word</HI> was to be as keen as <HI>Eliahs tongue:</HI> but the Lord grant that our tongues be not &s;o much the more too &s;harp with &s;ome, by how much the more the Magi&s;trates &s;word is too dull.</P>
<P>Do you expect that the Lord &s;hould not act for him&s;elf yet? if he do, look that you ta&s;te deep in the cup of a&s;toni&s;hment, and that you mu&s;t bear the heavier for your toleration, your cowardly
<PB N="57" REF="32">and ignoble &s;pirits. With a very little variation, if and at all, is that true in this &s;ence; <HI>I&s;ai.</HI> 59.16. <HI>And hee &s;aw that there was no man, and wondred that there was no interce&s;&s;our: therefore his arm brought &s;alvation unto him, and his righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, it &s;u&s;tained him.</HI> No man &s;tepping in betwixt God and the people; not a <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> eminent for acts of <HI>prayer,</HI> not a <HI>Phinehas</HI> with his act of <HI>righte|ou&s;ne&s;&s;e;</HI> its well if you have yet left an <HI>Elias</HI> to <HI>pray and preach to you,</HI> to help to pull down that untem|pered morter wherewith others build; el&s;e it might &s;tand (&s;o long as it could &s;tand) for &s;uch poor and weak &s;pirited Magi&s;trates, and there would not then be a people in the world more mi&s;erable then you.</P>
<P N="3">3. The <HI>&s;elf-intere&s;ted Magi&s;trate;</HI> as for tho&s;e particular Intere&s;ts, what they are, and how deep they may be laid by the Magi&s;trates in the peo|ple, &s;hall not be nominated, to avoid offences; But where&s;oever a Magi&s;trate is <HI>co-ingaged,</HI> or <HI>co-inga|ges</HI> a people with him&s;elf, there their &s;ecular re|&s;pects will draw them to &s;atisfie that people in all accommodations that may con&s;i&s;t with their pow|er and honour, nay and &s;ometimes again&s;t their ho|nour. This was too much in the Primitive Church; and it was an argument that the Parliament once took up in one of their Declarations again&s;t their late King, <HI>That he mu&s;t (though him&s;elf &s;hould bee no Papi&s;t) congratulate the Papi&s;ts in the free u&s;e of their religion, for the &s;ervice they then did him;</HI> this is it that hinders union, that &s;trengthens divi|&s;ion, when &s;uch as the&s;e &s;ide into parties, and help on the divi&s;ion.</P>
<PB N="58" REF="33">
<P>Tho&s;e that cannot <HI>deny</HI> them&s;elves, cannot <HI>affirm</HI> Chri&s;t or his Truth; and what worldly thing &s;oe|ver &s;wayes in the heart, it will flect and carry mo&s;t powerfully the whole man after it into any party what&s;oever; &s;o <HI>Judas</HI> leaving the Apo&s;tles to &s;it down with the Scribes and Phari&s;ees, who ever thought to have &s;een him in their Councel? Hi|&s;tories are plentifull in &s;uch examples. He that &s;ets not <HI>Gods glory</HI> in the <HI>top of his aimes,</HI> will ne|ver be found thorowly faithfull to the <HI>cau&s;e of God;</HI> hence is that exhortation <HI>Phil.</HI> 2.3, 4. <HI>Let nothing be done through &s;trife, or vain-glory, but in lowline&s;s of minde let each e&s;teem other better then them&s;elves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man al&s;o on the things of others.</HI> Mark how &s;ubordinately he &s;ets the directions; Fir&s;t, let all your actions publick and private, &s;ent of no|thing but love to the Church of God. 2. Then love not your &s;elves, but &s;ometimes wave your own things, and place the things of others in their room, in your minde, de&s;ire, and chief aimes: For as<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Ex codem fonte huc u&s;que di&s;&s;idia continu|ata, &amp; nunc acerbius quam u&s;quam, &amp; plu|ra quam u&s;qua~ &amp; ab&s;urdiora quam u&s;quam fal&s;a dogmata defenduntur. <HI>Zanch. in loc.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Zanchie</HI> well ob&s;erves, That though &s;uch may favour others for their own re&s;pects, yet e|ven in that and in all things el&s;e, that &s;infull &s;elf-love &s;hall eat up, as the lean Kine did the fat, all that truly makes to the welfare and peace of o|thers; and this hath been and &s;till is, in civill and military Magi&s;trates the cau&s;e of much envying, &s;trife, and great divi&s;ions; above all men a Magi|&s;trate &s;hould lea&s;t <HI>love him&s;elf,</HI> and bee like the highe&s;t bough of the tree, hung with bunches of fruit, dropping into the mouths and skirts of them
<PB N="59" REF="33">that are before him; for him to love him&s;elf, is for the Sun to be the darke&s;t. Make then other mens bu&s;ines your own, for you are Magi&s;trates not for your &s;elves, but them; and labour to &s;trike into tho&s;e bu&s;ine&s;&s;e that are in your &s;phere, wherein you may honour God mo&s;t, bearing that Motto in your minde, 1 <HI>Sam.</HI> 2.30. <HI>Wherefore the Lord God of I&s;rael &s;aith, I &s;aid indeed, that thy hou&s;e, and the hou&s;e of thy father &s;hould walk before me for ever: but now the Lord &s;aith, Be it far from me; for them that honour me, I will honour, and they that de&s;pi&s;e me, &s;hall be lightly e&s;teemed.</HI> Well then, if we had a Magi&s;tracy <HI>wi&s;e,</HI> that could <HI>under&s;tand;</HI> or <HI>unby|a&s;&s;ed,</HI> that would <HI>under&s;tand;</HI> and <HI>couragious,</HI> to act according to what they <HI>under&s;tand,</HI> we &s;hould &s;ee truth waited on with peace and righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, and the lovers of truth live comfortably and rejoycing|ly on the <HI>bre&s;ts</HI> of Kings and Princes.</P>
<P N="2">2. As touching the <HI>Mini&s;ters,</HI> &s;omething is a|mi&s;&s;e in them, nay &s;ome a chief cau&s;e hereof; though I think it was be&s;ide their intention, and &s;ome would now have wi&s;ht to have burnt in the flames of per|&s;ecution before the&s;e times, or been buried in the greedy Seas, rather then they &s;hould e&s;cape one fire to kindle a wor&s;e. Yet &s;ome there are who&s;e hearts rejoyce that they have brought their divi|&s;ions to this perfection. Who would have rejoyced in the expectation of the&s;e times ten yeers &s;ince, if one &s;hould have a&s;certained them of &s;o great a Reformation? and when even now they had their de&s;ires, they exceedingly loathed them. A word to the&s;e <HI>in reference</HI></P>
<PB N="60" REF="34">
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. <HI>To them&s;elves.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>2. <HI>To others.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST>
<P N="1">1. To &s;uch as have undertaken the calling of the Mini&s;try, as concerning them&s;elves, their <HI>divi&s;i|ons</HI> have bin the <HI>wor&s;t</HI> of all divi&s;ions; their <HI>&s;chi&s;ms</HI> look like <HI>here&s;ies,</HI> and their <HI>&s;trifes</HI> like <HI>waves;</HI> theirs are examplary; when the chief parts of the body are di&s;tempered, all the re&s;t mu&s;t needs bee grievou&s;ly affected and afflicted. To you thus;</P>
<P N="1">1. Take heed of the humour of <HI>Diotrephes;</HI> if the Church do not give thee that honour and re&s;pect thou judge&s;t fit for thy &s;elf, and worthy of thee, do not &s;traight quarrel with the Church, reproach, and di&s;credit it, and then ca&s;t out for another way wherein thou mai&s;t be more eminent, and have a party that will cry thee up. Of &s;uch the Apo&s;tle forewarned, <HI>Acts</HI> 20.30. <HI>Al&s;o of your own &s;elves &s;hall men ari&s;e, &s;peaking perver&s;e things, to draw a|way di&s;ciples after them;</HI> whereon &s;aith <HI>Calvin in loc. Ambitio e&s;t mater omnium haere&s;e</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">. and &s;o of &s;trife, envy, and the&s;e divi&s;ions of fond di&s;putes to &s;eem &s;ome body, perver&s;e and froward in their di&s;|putes, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>Let us therefore in the fear of God prefer one another, give the right hand of fellow&s;hip one to another; be tender of one anothers honour, and la|bour to ca&s;t the mantle over thy brothers infirmi|ties; be every man as in the Sanctuary, content to be <HI>&s;et in his own order,</HI> and &s;tand like the fixed &s;tars in the Firmament, though all having not the like glory, yet pre&s;erving one another in his glo|ry. Let us not be too confident of our <HI>private
<PB N="61" REF="34">judgements,</HI> but enquire of <HI>others,</HI> and yeeld, or at the lea&s;t &s;u&s;pend thy own from the publick, if con|trary to the determination of many holy, gracious, and learned men; let us take unto our &s;elves the rule of the Apo&s;tle, 2 <HI>Tim.</HI> 2.23, 24, 25. <HI>But fooli&s;h and unlearned que&s;tions avoid, knowing that they do gen|der &s;trifes. And the &s;ervant of the Lord mu&s;t not &s;trive: but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient: In meekne&s;s in&s;tructing tho&s;e that oppo&s;e them&s;elves, if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. So far as you agree, <HI>practice together,</HI> that you may be <HI>fellow labourers;</HI> mutual undertakings com|monly bind the hearts and affections of men in all callings, and engage us to mutuall a&s;&s;i&s;tance.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Babing. in Exod.</NOTE> The Church is a &s;hip, &s;aith one, the Spirit the Steerman, the Mini&s;ters as the Oares, that mu&s;t <HI>lift together,</HI> and <HI>&s;trike together,</HI> if they will have the Ship to &s;peed well. Friends that walk to one journies end, will <HI>walk together</HI> as much as may be, meet as oft as may be; our <HI>ends</HI> carrie the &s;ame pretences; why walke we <HI>two waies?</HI> keep not a&s;under in <HI>all,</HI> becau&s;e of <HI>&s;ome</HI> dif|ferences.</P>
<P>Therefore take heed that your Ink be not mixed with <HI>gall,</HI> though &s;ometimes with vinegar; let not the lea&s;t of the poi&s;on of A&s;pes lie under your tongues; a little thing will keep them from union that have walked abroad at large and have no mind to return: Its the &s;trange&s;t thing and mo&s;t di&s;honourable for &s;uch as we to di&s;agree; we &s;ee if Captains fall out, their Souldiers will &s;ide right or
<PB N="62" REF="35">wrong: I wi&s;h it was not &s;o in the Church. Let us &s;trive to keep as clo&s;e as we can together, to lay a&s;ide as much of our &s;elves as we can; however to walk &s;o farre as we may &s;afely together, and wait till the Lord &s;hall <HI>reveal</HI> the re&s;t unto us. Thus much concerning our &s;elves one to another.</P>
<P N="2">2. <HI>In reference to the Church;</HI> let the peace and union of others be deare to us; to whom &s;hould it be precious if not to us, who have charge over them in the Lord? and for this end,</P>
<P N="1">1. Urge this <HI>Doctrine</HI> much on them, in refe|rence to our <HI>fellow&s;hip,</HI> and the Articles of our <HI>Creed,</HI> and a truth &s;o much inculcated in Scripture.</P>
<P N="2">2. Be <HI>Catechizing</HI> much, a duty much com|mended to us by the reverend Synod; its well if it were &s;et up. Do &s;uch as are well grounded in the faith back&s;lide and divide from the Church? very few; mo&s;t returne: yet &s;ome there mu&s;t be for ex|ample to them that &s;tand; for above 900 yeares af|ter Chri&s;t this duty was much exerci&s;ed, and then neglected,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Vide Mr</HI> Tor|&s;hel his Exer|citat. on <HI>Mal.</HI> joyned to <HI>Bar|low. p.</HI> 36.37.</NOTE> till the ri&s;ing up of <HI>Luther;</HI> and <HI>King</HI> James <HI>tells us, that the rea&s;on why &s;o many fell into Popery and errors, was, their ungroundedne&s;&s;e in the points of Catechi&s;me:</HI> and it was &s;trictly enjoyned, but loo&s;ely ob&s;erved in the Church, when over much ra&s;hne&s;&s;e over&s;pread this Kingdome. The Mini&s;ter that u&s;es it, &s;hall find as much comfort in his people as they benefit by him. The Apo&s;tle takes this cour&s;e, con&s;idering the weakne&s;&s;e of his people, <HI>ver.</HI> 1 <HI>hujus Capitis;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE> <HI>he fed them with milk,</HI> or as it is in the Originall, gave them <HI>milk to drink,</HI> becau&s;e of their carnall minds; that is, he in&s;truct|ed
<PB N="63" REF="35">them in the plain foundations of Chri&s;tianity; &s;uch as contained enough to &s;ave them; and very e|difying and whole&s;ome Truths; he did as a good Schoolma&s;ter, layes a good foundation in Gram|mar; for when they hoi&s;t them up into books high|er then they can well dige&s;t, they neither under|&s;tand them, nor any whit benefit; but are confu|&s;ed, ignorant, proud, and ordinarily run into Gram|mar Errors. For the Apo&s;tle kept not <HI>&s;trong meat</HI> from them to wrong them, but becau&s;e they were not fit for it, and &s;o might do them more hurt then good; puffe them up, and make them &s;eem know|ing Chri&s;tians, when they know nothing as they ought; <HI>viz.</HI> whats that judgement of method, and under&s;tanding of &s;ence, as become &s;olid and &s;ober Chri&s;tians: and thus the Apo&s;tle deals with the <HI>Hebrewes,</HI> he brings them back to the place in Chri&s;tianity where they began, and makes them Chri&s;tian Abcedarians again, beginning at the <HI>ele|ments,</HI> the <HI>rudiments,</HI> or <HI>principles</HI> (as the word &s;ig|nifies in the heathen Authors) or <HI>affections</HI> of Chri|&s;tianity, <HI>Heb.</HI> 5.12.13. <HI>For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the fir&s;t principles of the oracles of God, and are become &s;uch as have need of milk, and not of &s;trong meat. For every one that u&s;eth milk, is unskilfull in the word of righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e for he is a babe.</HI> This is a &s;afe and &s;ure way to lay a good foundation, and make them fit for great proficien|cy in the School of Chri&s;t.</P>
<P N="3">3. Let them that receive members divided from others, take the Apo&s;tles caveat, 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 3.10.<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Monentur ita|que doctores, ut inter docendum re&s;pectum in|firmorum habe|ant illis &s;e in omnibus &amp; verbis, &amp; do|ctrinae, &amp; vitae moribus accom|modent, &amp; co|rum &s;e captui attemperent, ut ab elementis in|cipiant, nec alti|us con&s;eendant, quam &s;equi po&s;|&s;unt, ut denique paulatim di&s;til|let doctrinam, ne largius infu|&s;a &s;uperfluat, ut eos omnes, &amp;c. <HI>Marl. in 1 Cor. 1.2.2.</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">. Elementa initii. <HI>Par.</HI> Ru|dimenta, quia &s;unt pro rudi|bus. Primordia vel initia Chri|&s;tiani.</NOTE>
<PB N="64" REF="36"><HI>According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wi&s;e ma&s;ter-builder I have laid the founda|tion, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.</HI> For as <HI>ver&s;.</HI> 9. <HI>They were labourers together with God,</HI> and begun a good foundation for a glorious frame of grace; now they come to you, take heed, build ac|cording to the good foundation laid and begun; el&s;e you may &s;poil them in re&s;pect of what is alrea|dy wrought, and of what &s;hall be wrought.</P>
<P N="4">4. Countenance them not in their fooli&s;h <HI>wrangling que&s;tions,</HI> either in things beyond them, or be&s;ide them, e&s;pecially in the unravelling of them, there being no profitablene&s;&s;e: and let not acceptance and encouragement be given of thee to any that out of wantonne&s;&s;e, curio&s;ity <HI>&amp;c.</HI> with|draw from an holy and con&s;cionable mini&s;try unto thy own, unle&s;&s;e it be upon <HI>extraordinary</HI> and unu&s;uall <HI>occa&s;ions,</HI> &s;uch as Chri&s;tian liberty al|lows, and wi&s;dome may make u&s;e of without &s;candal. Do not quarrell, but check them, for I know no mini&s;ter but he de&s;ireth to be deare in the eyes of the godly, and much in their thoughts and prayers; onely he would have him&s;elf &s;o &s;et up in others, that his love &s;hould not procure anothers hate, his honour anothers &s;hame, his re&s;pect ano|thers &s;light; no, but would have a fellow-&s;haring with all in the hearts of all, therefore he would give to all their &s;hare, and not impropriate others hearers to be his followers; and chiefly make them Chri&s;ts: &s;o let every mini&s;ter deny his own name, and not gather any to cry up his name, as
<PB N="65" REF="36"><HI>John</HI> did in <HI>John</HI> 1.23. <HI>He &s;aid I am the voice of one crying in the wilderne&s;&s;e, Make &s;traight the way of the Lord.</HI></P>
<P N="5">5. If thou do&s;t re&s;olve their quaeries and niceties, let them be according to the Apo&s;tles rule, in the <HI>evident power and &s;trength of &s;pirituall rea&s;on,</HI> and in the <HI>Authority</HI> of his <HI>mini&s;try.</HI></P>
<P N="6">6. Let him labour to pre&s;erve his <HI>own peace and unity among them</HI> over which the Lord hath &s;et him; for many corrupt men out of envy and di&s;like to &s;uch particular per&s;ons, do divide from their Con|gregations; and at the be&s;t, if thou be at ju&s;t diffe|rence with them, thy exhortations to peace can|not be well taken, where they &s;ee contrary actions; men loving to have the double light of life and do|ctrine going before them, and many being willing to find out &s;tumbling blocks for them&s;elves in the wayes of God. Follow peace with all men; if po&s;&s;ible, labour to pre&s;erve it; avoid ju&s;t occa&s;ions; be apt to put up injuries; flee &s;uits, and contentions; Lord it not over them, that they may &s;ee thy de|&s;ire is after unity and peace, thy actions being the reall proof, and te&s;timonies of thy exhortation; for want of the practi&s;e of the&s;e and &s;uch like rules, much is added to our divi&s;ions.</P>
<P>La&s;tly, the <HI>people</HI> are a grand cau&s;e of this di|vi&s;ion, and this is mo&s;t apparent out of the Text. We &s;ee here <HI>Paul</HI> pleads for him&s;elf, and throws away all his followers; and he taxes no mini&s;ters el&s;e as de&s;iring or labouring after any &s;uch thing: but wholly and onely charges it upon the &s;core of the <HI>Corinthians;</HI> it were they that envied, and &s;tri|ved
<PB N="66" REF="37">among&s;t them&s;eves: &s;ome for <HI>Paul,</HI> others for <HI>Apollos,</HI> a third party for <HI>Cephas,</HI> without their &s;eek|ing for. Now briefly (becau&s;e we have &s;poken to this &s;omething already) to &s;hew you &s;ome other grounds of the peoples prompt, and ready &s;un|dring them&s;elves;</P>
<P N="1">1. From The too much <HI>affectation</HI> of the <HI>particu|lar gifts</HI> of this man above another; therefore they cry him up above another, and re&s;olve to follow him and none other.</P>
<P N="1">1. Know, that thou oughte&s;t not to have thy <HI>admiration</HI> drawn to any <HI>per&s;ons</HI> by their gifts, or any other wayes.</P>
<P N="2">2. That thou ha&s;t (if a member of Chri&s;t) an <HI>in|tere&s;t</HI> in all their <HI>gifts,</HI> and equally &s;haring in one as well as another, and all &s;ent and given for thee; not this man alone, but this, and that, &amp;c. <HI>Eph.</HI> 3.8. <HI>Unto me who am the lea&s;t of all &s;aints, is this grace given, that I &s;hould preach among the Gen|tiles the un&s;earchable riches of Chri&s;t; In whom we have boldne&s;&s;e and acce&s;&s;e with confidence by faith in him.</HI> 1 Cor. 3.22. <HI>Whether Paul, or Apollo, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things pre&s;ent, or things to come, all are yours.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. From a <HI>Zealous affection</HI> he beares to him whom God hath made mo&s;t <HI>in&s;trumentall for his good</HI> in the exerci&s;ing of the&s;e gifts; and there|fore looks on it as his bounden duty to own him, admire him, and follow him before another: he does (as he thinks) out of a pious, and due e&s;teem of him.</P>
<P>Know therefore, 1. That it is <HI>not his gifts</HI> that
<PB N="67" REF="37">hath wrought this in thee, or for thee, but the grace of God through them.</P>
<P N="2">2. The Lord if he had plea&s;ed, <HI>could have cho|&s;en</HI> another for the work, and endowed the mean|e&s;t of his creatures with power &s;ufficient to effect this.</P>
<P N="3">3. Hereby thou maye&s;t <HI>take</HI> too much from God, and attribute it to the in&s;trument by him&s;elf: and though thou thinke&s;t otherwi&s;e, and denye&s;t it, yet God will not part with the glory of thy words, and actions, as well as of thy inward e&s;teem.</P>
<P N="4">4. Thou maye&s;t love him with an <HI>higher degree</HI> of love then another, but not with <HI>another</HI> love.</P>
<P N="5">5. Another may be <HI>u&s;eful</HI> and <HI>&s;erviceable</HI> for thee in another e&s;tate, as he in this. Its not all to con|vert a man, but to &s;trengthen him; nay after thy beginning the work is behind; not all to <HI>Paul</HI> for planting, but &s;ome to <HI>Apollos</HI> for watering.</P>
<P N="6">6. If this man die before the work of grace be fini&s;hed, even dye before thee; take heed then of a &s;en&s;ible decay, or you mu&s;t acknowledge a &s;piri|rituall dotage.</P>
<P N="3">3. From <HI>weakne&s;&s;e of judgement,</HI> that looks at the flo&s;cular phra&s;es; and flouri&s;hing deckings of their high expre&s;&s;ions; as if it was a more high and my&s;terious Divinity then u&s;ually they heare. <HI>Sim|plex turba eo pro doctoribus;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Marlor <HI>in</HI> Cor.</NOTE> <HI>illos con&s;uevit ha|bere; quo minus quae dicunt intelligit.</HI></P>
<P>Know therefore, 1. How to &s;trip &s;uch a <HI>holy day Sermon</HI> of its fine cloathes, and then compare it to plain and old Divinity, and that by the plain and evident truths of God.</P>
<PB N="68" REF="38">
<P N="2">2. Examine &s;eriou&s;ly which <HI>comes the neare&s;t,</HI> and quicke&s;t to the <HI>heart;</HI> which &s;ticks mo&s;t in the braine without further de&s;cent, and fa&s;tening on the con&s;cience.</P>
<P N="3">3. Be &s;oundly grounded upon the Fundamen|tals of Religion, and have them confirmed to thy mind and judgement on Scripture proof, and withall bring in thy own former experience in the wayes of God.</P>
<P N="4">4.<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Quid vero a&s;tutius, quidve &s;ubtilius, quam ut Chri&s;ti ad|ventu pro&s;tra|tus, &amp; inventus inimi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">us (po&s;t|quam lux genti|bus venit, &amp;c) videns illa ido|la derelicta, &amp; per nimium cre|dentium populu~ &s;edes &s;uas, ac Templa dejecta, excogitaverit novam fraude~. ut &s;ub ip&s;o Chri&s;tiani no|minis titulo fallat ineuntes; haere&s;es invenit, &amp; &s;ei&s;mata, qui|bus &s;ubverteret fidem, veritate~ corrumperet, &s;cinderet unita|tem; quos deti|nere non pote&s;t in viae veteris cacitate, circu~|&s;cribit, &amp; deci|pit in novi iti|neris errore: ra|pit de ip&s;a Ec|cle&s;ia homines, &amp; dum &s;ibi ap|propinqu&acirc;&s;&s;e ja~ lumini, atque e|va&s;i&s;&s;e &s;aeculi noctem viden|tur, alias ne&s;ci|entes tenebras infundit, &amp;c. <HI>Cypr.</HI> de unit. Eccle&s;. <HI>p. 231.</HI></NOTE> From <HI>want of experience, and over Satans wiles:</HI> if he cannot de&s;troy, he would di&s;tract a people: if he cannot keepe them from going to heaven, he would have them at a lo&s;&s;e, and puzzle them in the way, and fill them full of doubts, cro&s;&s;e-wayes, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> and in all his propo|&s;als to them of new wayes, he will put them under the name of Chri&s;t, and with the &s;ame Authority, face, and language as the true way; being an An|gell of light, and his mini&s;ters mini&s;ters of righte|ou&s;ne&s;&s;e: and many &s;imple &s;ouls with good intenti|ons and aims at higher Spirituall atchievements, di|vide from the true, and old way of Chri&s;t.</P>
<P>Therfore, 1. <HI>Beg wi&s;dome</HI> of the Father: be wi&s;e as &s;erpents to prevent that old &s;erpent.</P>
<P N="2">2. <HI>Tru&s;t not thy own judgement:</HI> be frequent in the coun&s;ells of the righteous.</P>
<P N="5">5. Un&s;etledne&s;&s;e of &s;pirit is a cau&s;e of Divi&s;ion: not onely a particular doubting of this or that truth, upon &s;uch and &s;uch grounds of a mi&s;taken truth, but a generall un&s;ettled frame of mind, con|&s;tant to nothing, no, not to errour it &s;elf: as many likewi&s;e po&s;&s;e&s;&s;e them&s;elves with an opinion
<PB N="69" REF="38">of un&s;etledne&s;&s;e; that is, to hang in the expectation of new light in &s;ub&s;tance, not a further light in the &s;ame thing; and maintain that they &s;hould not be firm to any thing, not knowing when they have fully obtained a truth, or whether that which now they take for a truth, will hereafter prove an errour, and &s;o mu&s;t needs &s;tand ready to entertain any mo|tion of mutation; and to cure this,</P>
<P N="1">1. Mind the &s;tate of thy &s;oul, whether thou do&s;t particularly <HI>increa&s;e in grace, or no:</HI> &s;ure if thou finde&s;t a fruitfulne&s;&s;e in reall grace,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Pet. 3.17.18</NOTE> and a gra|cious thriving come upon thy &s;oul, thou wilt not a|bide wavering.</P>
<P N="2">2. Humbly implore of God (being &s;en&s;ible of thine own,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 51.12.</NOTE> or others lap&s;ings) the &s;ettlement of his &s;pirit.</P>
<P N="3">3. For&s;ake not the A&s;&s;emblies of Gods peo|ple,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 10.24, 25.</NOTE> whether private, or publick; they will re|cover a tottering mind.</P>
<P N="4">4. Neglect not any practicall duty, and where thou performe&s;t it, do it in relation to the promi&s;e annexed to it; for there is no duty left without the a&s;&s;i&s;tance of a &s;pirituall promi&s;e. If thou bee&s;t loo&s;e in one way, thou wilt be loo&s;e in many; and if thou bee&s;t uncertaine with God in any, God may give thee over to a generall loo&s;ene&s;&s;e in all; oh therefore, tolerate thy &s;elf not in the lea&s;t evill.</P>
<P N="6">6. A la&s;t occa&s;ion and ground of divi&s;ion is a <HI>&s;uperlative liberty</HI> due unto <HI>Prerogative &s;aints,</HI> under which all heteroclitall judgements lies couched: this hath been &s;o much &s;earchad into by others, that I need to &s;ay nothing in reproof, onely pro|po&s;e
<PB N="70" REF="39">to every true con&s;cientious profe&s;&s;or the&s;e con&s;iderations.</P>
<P N="1">1. That none can divide from any Congregati|on upon hopes of obtaining more purity, light, and Chri&s;tian liberty, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> unle&s;&s;e he be <HI>infallibly a&s;&s;u|red</HI> that he falls into a <HI>way more Scripturall,</HI> and a|greeing to the plain &s;peaking Texts of Scripture: he mu&s;t el&s;e mo&s;t precipitantly and ignorantly run from them (if the way be not groundedly cleared to him before) or make his liberty of Con&s;cience a meer pretence for his divi&s;ion, which is either to vex the Church, or plea&s;e his lu&s;ts.</P>
<P N="2">2. That our Chri&s;tian <HI>liberty</HI> lies not <HI>loo&s;e,</HI> nei|ther under the <HI>definitive determination</HI> of any <HI>man;</HI> but our Chri&s;tian liberty either lies explained in Chri&s;ts laws in things nece&s;&s;ary, or may paralel to &s;ome of his Laws in things indifferent; and the&s;e Laws are to be ea&s;ily known of all, whereby the happy peace and unity of the Church is much &s;etled: Our liberty is a <HI>neces&s;itous,</HI> not an <HI>arbitra|ry</HI> liberty; <HI>fixed,</HI> not <HI>unbounded; ordered,</HI> not <HI>con|fu&s;ed; reall,</HI> not <HI>imaginary; explained,</HI> not <HI>my&s;te|rious; holy,</HI> not <HI>licencious,</HI> but <HI>wholly &s;erving the Lord.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. That there is no Chri&s;tian liberty, that <HI>de|&s;troys naturall affection, civill bonds and intere&s;ts;</HI> that gives way to any ungratefull and unfaithfull treachery in civill matters; but rather confirmes and rightly orders the contrary; much le&s;&s;e is de|&s;tructive to the order, decency, peace and unity of a Church.</P>
<P N="4">4. That the u&s;e of all <HI>Chri&s;tian liberty</HI> in things
<PB N="71" REF="39">indifferent is allowed for the <HI>pre&s;ervation of our Chri&s;tian brother,</HI> with whom we are commanded to bear as a weaker brother, not to offend a little one, to lay no &s;tumbling blocks before him; which weaker brother you judge to be the Church that you doe for&s;ake, and from whom you divide: that Church dwelling as it were in a lower region, and &s;itting in a more unknowing Cla&s;&s;is then you do; and therefore by the Go&s;pel rule you ought to have a care that you offend them not (and of them there be many thou&s;ands) in the u&s;e of your Chri|&s;tian liberty.</P>
<P N="5">5. That all liberty ought to <HI>&s;erve unto the King|dome of Chri&s;t;</HI> el&s;e the priviledges of his King|dome would de&s;troy the being of it: and &s;o by nece&s;&s;ary con&s;equence all liberty mu&s;t &s;erve to uni|ty; Unity being ab&s;olutely nece&s;&s;ary to the well-being of his Church.</P>
<P>And that thou mai&s;t walk like a Chri&s;tian in the u&s;e of thy liberty, take the&s;e Directions. Have not an <HI>overweening conceit</HI> of thy own judgement, worth, and excellency; this will cau&s;e thee el&s;e to de&s;pi&s;e others, to put thy &s;elf before others, and in all actions and di&s;putes to &s;hew more ingenuity, then con&s;cience. Such a minde is an enemy to the Spirit, &s;tands open to temptation, e&s;pecially to &s;e|ductions, and hath man more then God before his eyes. Be <HI>&s;ober minded,</HI> and of a <HI>&s;ober carriage,</HI> for he that hath an intoxicated fancy, and an inebria|ted brain, knows not him&s;elf, nor where he is, he is &s;ick of whol&s;ome truths, and reels too and fro in his minde from this opinion to that, but adheres to
<PB N="72" REF="40">none. Bee you then babes, not in knowledge, but in actions; bee yee little ones as in the eyes of the world, &s;o in your own; &s;uch will be &s;pirituall chil|dren, children a&s;&s;ociating and uniting together; &s;uch &s;eldom fall from the truth, and divide from the Church. In a word, let him that names the Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t depart from iniquity, &s;eparate betwixt him&s;elf and &s;in; for its unmortified lu&s;ts in us that cau&s;eth us to divide; let us be contentious again&s;t &s;in within us, &s;in without us, &s;triving again&s;t the corruptions of nature, temptations of Satan, the oppo&s;itions and allurements of the world: On the&s;e if a man &s;pend his zeal, the &s;trength of &s;trife, the activity of divi&s;ion, he &s;hall find much bro|therly concord and unity in the wayes of Chri&s;ts Kingdom, nor lei&s;ure to di&s;pute unnece&s;&s;aries, nor will to divide for them.</P>
<P>I am now tedious to my &s;elf, much more to you; let me but &s;et on the&s;e in&s;tructions and directions by a motive or two and &s;o conclude.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign"> <HI>&agrave;</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign"> <HI>&agrave; In conjugatio|ne</HI> Piel <HI>&s;igni|ficat dividere.</HI> Therefore the Greeks called them <GAP DESC="foreign">. <HI>Leigh</HI> and <HI>Weems.</HI></NOTE>If I could per&s;wade you that you were guilty of envy, &s;trife, and divi&s;ion, I &s;hould per&s;wade you to leave it, e&s;pecially tho&s;e actions wherein they ap|pear. I know you &s;ee it in your &s;elves; oh leave this Phara&s;aical, this meerly <HI>Phara&s;aical way;</HI> the Church of the Jews in their decaying age fell into &s;everal Sects; the Sadduce, the Phari&s;ee, the <HI>watch|ing</HI> and the <HI>&s;trict-living</HI> Phari&s;ee, the <HI>E&s;&s;aeni;</HI> and &s;o the Church of <HI>Rome</HI> in their back&s;liding age, fell into their <HI>Fryers,</HI> and them of &s;everall &s;orts, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> Oh let this &s;candall pa&s;&s;e from us, and let us not be in a dying age when we &s;hould be reviving; let
<PB N="73" REF="40">us all &s;tudy now how to make peace; make it your bu&s;ine&s;s every one of you in your places and cal|lings, Ma&s;ters, Magi&s;trates, Mini&s;ters, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> to put on this &s;mooth skin, this meek heart, and to pro|cure peace and unity in the Church of Chri&s;t; and for this end con&s;ider,</P>
<P>How the Church of God &s;tands towards
<LIST>
<ITEM><HI>Her &s;elf.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Chri&s;t her Head.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Her Enemies.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign"> tran&s;la|ted by the 70 evermore <HI>con|gregare,</HI> or <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>congre|gatio,</HI> and &s;o <GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE>Fir&s;t, concerning the Church as &s;he is <HI>in her &s;elf:</HI> not only many <HI>precious promi&s;es</HI> of peace and unity are made unto her, but the Go&s;pel (the com|plement of promi&s;es) holds out the &s;ame by way of direction; love as a &s;tream runs thorow the whole channel of Scriptures; its the great cry of all the Prophets and Apo&s;tles; if it had been an Ob&s;ervation &s;cattered in one or two places, that had been &s;ufficient; but its that &s;ilver &s;tring that is drawn thorow all the Epi&s;tles, and tyed on a mo&s;t compleat knot in St. <HI>Johns</HI> Epi&s;tles.</P>
<P>And as the&s;e <HI>commands</HI> are &s;ent to the Church and all that is of her, &s;o mark under what <HI>Parables</HI> &s;he is &s;hadowed forth in Scripture; to name but a few: Shee is frequently compared to a <HI>vineyard,</HI> and that mu&s;t not lie common, but be let forth to husband|men to be fenced, the trees pruned and watched, the &s;tones ca&s;t out, the bryars plucked up and burnt, the Foxes taken; I cannot &s;tand to com|ment upon all the&s;e pa&s;&s;ages. Shee is again &s;et forth to St. <HI>Peter</HI> under <HI>a &s;heet;</HI> this &s;heet hath four corners, which are the four parts of the world, out of which the Church was to be called: in the&s;e are
<PB N="74" REF="41">all creatures, and all the&s;e are common and mixed together in one &s;heet; but as corn of &s;everal grains thrown into a &s;heet will &s;oon be mingled, &s;o all people, nations, and languages without &s;eparation, or di&s;tinction, being called, are to hold communi|on. Shee is frequently compared to a <HI>body,</HI> as in this Epi&s;tle, not as in reference to Chri&s;t their Head (as in <HI>Ephe&s;.</HI> 5.) but in reference one to another, as members. 1. All the members are firmly knit by &s;inews. 2. What gifts that any have, the re&s;t par|take of. 3. There is need of the weake&s;t. And here I mu&s;t in&s;ert a Storie much u&s;ed: There were oft grievous broiles betwixt the Commons and No|bles of <HI>Rome:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Livius Decad</HI> 1. l. 7. Mr. <HI>Par.</HI> in Rom. 12.4.</NOTE> once among the re&s;t, when the people had banded them&s;elves, and the Common-wealth in great danger, the Senate &s;ent unto the people one <HI>Menenius Agrippa,</HI> a famous Orator, to per|&s;wade them; He tells them this Parable, On a time &s;aith he, the members of the body objected a|gain&s;t the &s;tomack, that it devoured all, and idlely and &s;luggi&s;hly lay in the mid&s;t of the body, while the re&s;t of the members laboured full &s;ore; where|upon the foot refu&s;ed to &s;tir and carry the &s;tomack, the hand refu&s;ed to put meat into the mouth, the mouth to receive it, the teeth to chew it, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> what followed? the &s;tomack being empty, the eie be|gan to be dim, the hand weak, the feet feeble, all the members began to faint, and the whole body to wither; &s;o that at la&s;t they were compelled to be friends with the &s;tomack, and they learned, that the &s;tomack is the mo&s;t profitable to all the mem|bers of the body; and by this parable he quieted
<PB N="75" REF="41">the people, and brought them to concord with the Senate, and &s;o ought it to be in the Church.</P>
<P>Again let us look upon the Epithites given to her; <HI>Friends,</HI> not only to Chri&s;t, but to one another; <HI>Brethren,</HI> begat of the &s;ame word, bound together <HI>per eadem &s;acramenta unitatis;</HI> and having &s;ubdu|ed the Egyptian that would have en&s;laved you, will you kill one another? not only heirs but co-heirs of one Kingdome, whereof we hear of no divi&s;ion: Nay, to make up all, Shee is called <HI>one;</HI> not onely one by way of di&s;tinction,<NOTE PLACE="marg">&V;ritas Di&s;tinguens <HI>&amp;</HI> Conjungens.</NOTE> becau&s;e the Concubines that pretend &s;ome right to Chri&s;t are many, the Papi&s;t, the Jacobite, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> and tho&s;e that quite a|bominate Chri&s;t are many, the <HI>Jew, Turk, Per&s;ian &amp;c.</HI> and &s;he is but one, from, and out of all the&s;e; but one, perfectly one in her &s;elf, having one God, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>All the&s;e laid together they con&s;pire nothing but unity; and are they that are of the Church, nay the Church, yet divided? what the per&s;ecu|tors in the Primitive dayes made you &s;eem to be by putting on you Bears skins, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> you really act on one another to your power, by putting on you their hearts and affections. You are Heirs of heaven, but do you expect to &s;tand before Chri&s;t as <HI>Paul</HI>'s or <HI>Apollo's</HI> his di&s;ciples? Will you appear as of this or that &s;ect or Church? no, no, I am afraid ere then many of your works mu&s;t be burnt, and that by fire, and its well if &s;ome of you e&s;cape it; for your works are very rotten and counterfeit: Oh therefore you that profe&s;&s;e the true Church, agree of one way, before you appear before the
<PB N="76" REF="42">Head of this Church, for I would &s;ay to &s;uch, as the Apo&s;tle, 2 <HI>Cor.</HI> 10.7. <HI>Do ye look on things after the outward appearance? if any man tru&s;t to him&s;elf, that he is Chri&s;ts, let him of him&s;elf think this again, that as he is Chri&s;ts, even &s;o we are Chri&s;ts.</HI> And &s;ure, if we belong to one Chri&s;t, why &s;hould we be of two Churches? hath he two? Nay, conclude this, from the nature and con&s;titution of the Church; For the Apo&s;tle &s;aith, 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 11.1. <HI>Be yee followers of me, even as I al&s;o am of Chri&s;t.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. Let us look upon the Church in reference un|to <HI>Chri&s;t.</HI> Shee is a <HI>Queen</HI> having a garment of divers colours of needle-work, yet all the&s;e colours, the&s;e gifts &s;o excellently are placed, that they make up that one garment, and her very beautifull in the Kings eyes. Called <HI>a flock,</HI> wa&s;hed, and even &s;horn; not &s;cattered, but in one &s;heepfold; and all the&s;e bringing forth twins: The <HI>Hou&s;e of God:</HI> Doth the God of peace dwell in the mid&s;t of you?</P>
<P>There is <HI>one head, and one body;</HI> one <HI>Spou&s;e,</HI> and one <HI>Husband;</HI> one <HI>Shepherd,</HI> and one <HI>Flock;</HI> one <HI>Lord,</HI> and one <HI>way:</HI> Eph. 4.1. <HI>I therefore the pri|&s;oner of the Lord, be&s;eech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called.</HI> Mark what he exhorts us unto, <HI>viz.</HI> a walking an&s;werable to our calling. And what more an&s;wers Truth then U|nity, as the natural daughter of the mother? and that is &s;hewed, ver. 2, 3, 4&mdash; <HI>With all lowline&s;s and meekne&s;s, with long-&s;uffering, forbearing one another in love: Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spi|rit in the bond of peace. There is one body,</HI> &amp;c. and he &s;hews the means of pre&s;erving this, by u&s;ing our
<PB N="77" REF="42">gifts to this end, <HI>ver.</HI> 7. <HI>But unto every one of us is given grace, according to the mea&s;ure of the gift of Chri&s;t.</HI> Though all one in &s;ub&s;tance, yet different in gifts; yet this difference not to make difference, but to maintain joyntly the unity of the whole, <HI>ver.</HI> 12. And then he applyes this doctrine of Unity by way of dehortation, <HI>ver.</HI> 14. and exhortation and direction, <HI>ver.</HI> 15, 16. Nay, more cannot be &s;aid then by the Apo&s;tle, <HI>Hebr.</HI> 2.11. &mdash;<HI>He that &s;an|ctifieth, and they who are &s;anctified, are all of one: for which cau&s;e he is not a&s;hamed to call them bre|thren.</HI> And &s;ure, that vertue whereby we are made one with Chri&s;t, &s;hould make us all as one. God the Father &s;o pre&s;erved our Saviour, that his coat was undivided, and not a bone broken: and &s;uch &s;hould be his my&s;tical <HI>coat,</HI> the <HI>Di&s;cipline</HI> of his Church; and his my&s;tical <HI>body,</HI> his <HI>members</HI> in the truth of <HI>Je&s;us.</HI> Tho&s;e then that will keep clo&s;e to <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> need to keep clo&s;e to his <HI>Church:</HI> He is the fountain; &s;top the fountain, where are the &s;treams? He is the root, that gives &s;ap onely to the bran|ches uncut off. Surely (Beloved) we &s;top the foun|tain head, we cut our &s;elves from Chri&s;t, if wee leave the body of Chri&s;t; we indeed lo&s;e our re|lation to Chri&s;t wholly. And that you may &s;ee whether it be not &s;o, that you lo&s;e Chri&s;t in lo&s;ing his &s;pou&s;e, his body, &s;earch and deal with your &s;elves impartially, and know of your &s;elves &s;ince your divi&s;ions,</P>
<P N="1">1. Whether &s;oftnes of heart, and tenderne&s;&s;e of con&s;cience be not le&s;&s;ened?</P>
<P N="2">2. Whether duties of holy practi&s;e be not neglected?</P>
<PB N="78" REF="43">
<P N="3">3. Whether, when thou ha&s;t thoughts to re|joyne, pride, in much &s;trength and power appears in thee?</P>
<P N="4">4. Whether the very reall warmth of true af|fection to godly Mini&s;ters, brethren, and naturall friends (if not in thy divi&s;ion) be not decayed?</P>
<P N="5">5. Whether much confu&s;ion be not in thy thoughts?</P>
<P N="6">6. Whether &s;ound knowledge, &s;aving light that brings peace, and joy on &s;ure grounds, be in|crea&s;ed in thee?</P>
<P N="7">7. Whether yet thy mind flotes not? whe|thou make&s;t a period in thy pre&s;ent divi&s;ion, and there re&s;ts thy mind: Sure by the&s;e, and the like queries thou maye&s;t put to thy &s;oul, thou &s;halt find in truth, that thy divi&s;ion from the Church of Chri&s;t, was a divi&s;ion from Chri&s;t, and &s;ince then he hath with-held the mo&s;t &s;weet, effectual, and &s;a|ving operations of the &s;pirit from thee. Thus if we con&s;ider the Church in it &s;elf, &amp; would pre&s;erve it in its e&s;&s;ence, beauty, and glory; if we look upon her in reference to Chri&s;t how nearly joyned, we mu&s;t (if we de&s;ire to belong unto Chri&s;t,) keep clo&s;e to her; unle&s;&s;e thou expecte&s;t &s;alvation out of Chri&s;t, or Chri&s;t out of the Church.</P>
<P>La&s;tly, we mu&s;t now con&s;ider her as &s;he &s;tands in relation to them that are not of her, even to her enemies: And this with the re&s;t might lay a great ingagement to &s;eek her peace, and unity.</P>
<P>If we con&s;ider her de&s;iring,
<LIST>
<ITEM>To have them &s;aved.</ITEM>
<ITEM>To be &s;aved from them.</ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<P>Fir&s;t, As &s;he de&s;ires to <HI>&s;ave them,</HI> or to have
<PB N="79" REF="43"><HI>them &s;av'd.</HI> They cannot be &s;av'd out of the Church the dividers them&s;elves confe&s;&s;ing: and we mu&s;t or ought to endevour their &s;alvation; at lea&s;t they are to have the tenders of &s;alvation, 1 <HI>Tim.</HI> 2.4. <HI>Who will have all men to be &s;aved, and to come unto the know|ledge of the truth.</HI> Nay, to have our utmo&s;t ende|vours, <HI>Rom.</HI> 10.1. <HI>Brethren, my hearts de&s;ire and prayer to God for I&s;rael is, that they might be &s;aved.</HI> They are your brethren by nature, and que&s;tion|le&s;&s;e many of them in grace too: What have you to wo for you, to invite them in unto you? Peace, a place of unity and re&s;t, every one de&s;ires; What may they finde with you, that are the Church of God? If not with you, then where? Better it is, will they &s;ay, to keep a way I have received from my forefathers, and of which I have &s;ome proba|ble grounds, then to undertake a new way, where I &s;hall find no certainty, lo&s;e that little Religion I have, and find none other unle&s;&s;e it be in di&s;putes, doubts, changes, &s;trifes, divi&s;ions, objections, &amp;c. As once the di&s;traction of the Church of <HI>Ger|many</HI> gave occa&s;ion to a Prince thereof thus to an|&s;wer to tho&s;e that per&s;waded him to turn <HI>Lutheran;</HI> If I a&s;&s;ociate with you, then I am cen&s;ured of o|thers; if I a&s;&s;ociate with others,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Si me adjungo vobis, tune con|demnor ab aliis; &s;i me aliis ad|jungo, &agrave; vobis condemnor; quid fugiam, vidco; &s;ed quid &s;equar, no~ habco. <HI>Raul. 2. l. c. 5. Sect. 2. p. 249.</HI></NOTE> then I am cen|&s;ured of you; What to decline I &s;ee, but what to follow I find not.</P>
<P N="1">1. Then he will enquire for the <HI>Doctrine</HI> of &s;alvation; Is the name of God one on whom they call? is the Creed one, and onely one? Its &s;aid, <HI>I&s;a.</HI> 2.2. <HI>And it &s;hall come to pa&s;&s;e in the la&s;t dayes, that the mountain of the Lords hou&s;e &s;hall be e&s;tabli&s;hed in
<PB N="80" REF="44">the top of the mountains, and &s;hall be exalted above the hills.</HI> Can it be &s;aid &s;o of us?</P>
<P N="2">2. Then for <HI>di&s;cipline:</HI> hee would enjoy the truth with order;<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Chri&s;tiani propter illas di&s;&s;entiones &amp; &s;ectas in thea|tris &agrave; Genti|bus infidelibus derideri &s;oliti fuerant: &s;icut etiam nunc in|ter Turcas, &amp; Judaeos, eandem ob cau&s;am <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">ride|mur omnes. <HI>Zanch. c. 8 p. 538.</HI></NOTE> Is there no confu&s;ion, di&s;turbance, rents? Is there no envyings, &s;trifes? &amp;c. Where is your beauty, your amiablene&s;&s;e but in this? <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 133.1. <HI>Behold how good, and how plea&s;ant it is, for brethren to dwel together in unity.</HI> Chri&s;t Saith, <HI>Let your light &s;hine before all men.</HI> and <HI>Phil.</HI> 4.5. <HI>Let your moderation be known unto all men.</HI> Your di|vi&s;ion not onely drawes &s;ome weak &s;ouls after you, but keeps back many a &s;oul from coming into the Church, lo&s;es and de&s;troyes &s;oules, ju&s;tly open|ning the mouths of wicked ones again&s;t you, who&s;e holy and peaceable conver&s;ation &s;hould &s;top them.</P>
<P N="2">2. You de&s;ire <HI>to &s;ave your &s;elves;</HI> then keep your walls in repair; that as <HI>Sanballat</HI> and <HI>Tobiah</HI> &s;aid of <HI>Jeru&s;alem,</HI> their walls were &s;o bad, a fox might run over them; and &s;o truly of our Church; the&s;e, indeed, invite the thief to enter when the walls are down: and as you keep them in repair, &s;o your &s;elves in unitie; for your divi&s;ion weakens your &s;elves: for envy through divi&s;ions may ari&s;e &s;o high, that one partie may &s;it down to &s;ee the o|ther de&s;troyed, though a wor&s;e come in their room: whereas their unitie might pre&s;erve them both. Experience, rea&s;on, and truth maintains this, to what &s;ad ruines it hath brought famous Cities, Churches and Common-wealths: for envie, &s;trife and divi&s;ion never cea&s;e, till they be buried in ru|ines, unle&s;&s;e God reconcile their hearts: As two po&s;ts leaning upon one another, either &s;tand by the
<PB N="81" REF="44">&s;trength, or fall by the weakne&s;s one of another. Nature, Rea&s;on, Hi&s;torie, Experience and Scrip|ture fruitfully prove the&s;e things.</P>
<P>Con&s;idering all the&s;e, if any thing be dear to you, to you that &s;hould have the bowels of our Sa|viour; if the <HI>&s;pou&s;e</HI> of Chri&s;t, if your <HI>own unity</HI> with Chri&s;t the Head, if the <HI>&s;alvation</HI> of <HI>others,</HI> and your own <HI>temporall pre&s;ervation</HI> be valued of you, lay a&s;ide the&s;e envyings, &s;trifes, and divi&s;ions; hold that one Faith in Unity, be knit together (as you would be to Chri&s;t) as one man; and where you &s;ee occa&s;ions of divi&s;ion, refu&s;alls of union, drive and force upon men terms of unity; this is <GAP DESC="foreign"> to per&s;ecute one another with peace; And e|ven for Chri&s;ts &s;ake, for his <HI>Churches &s;ake,</HI> for the <HI>&s;trangers &s;ake,</HI> for your <HI>own &s;ake,</HI> I be&s;eech you to lay to heart what hath been &s;aid; help to make up breaches you have made, and to honour the truth in your &s;econd return, and re-union to the Church of Chri&s;t. And &s;o with the Apo&s;tles exhor|tation to the&s;e <HI>Corinthians,</HI> 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 1.10. we conclude, <HI>Now I be&s;eech you, brethren, by the Name of our Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t, that yee all &s;peak the &s;ame thing, and that there be no divi&s;ions among you: but that ye be perfectly joyned together in the &s;ame minde, and in the &s;ame judgment.</HI></P>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
