otherwise it must needs therefore enrage others at them The good uses that we are to make of our Divisions WHy may not meat come out of the eater and sweet out of these bitter things The Heavens can draw up salt vapours from the Sea and send them down againe in sweet refreshing showres Why may not heavenly hearts change the very nature of these sowre brinish things and make them sweet to themselves and others This is the excellency of grace it does not only preserve the soule from the evill of temptations but it gets advantage by them it turnes the evill into good Luther upon the Galat. c. 5. v. 17. hath a notable expression to set forth the power of grace By this a Christian sayes he comes to be a mighty workman and a wonderfull creator who of heavinesse can make joy of terrours comfort of sinne righteousnesse of death life And why may not I adde of division and contention peace and union Wherefore First by these Divisions men may come to see the vilenesse and the vanity of their own hearts what were the thoughts of men heretofore Oh had we but liberty and opportunity to be instrumentall for God we hope we should improve all to the uttermost for him now God hath granted these to us we abuse them we grow wanton we jarre one against another we are like some Marriners who are calme in a storme But storme in a calme Surely every man is vanity The untowardnesse of the spirits of those who heretofore longed after ordinances freed from these defilements they mourned under when they have their desires in great measure satisfied discovers so much evill in the hearts of men that it justifies those whom themselves have had hard thoughts of men who seemed carnall and naught that you looked upon as very evill men of bitter spirits against good men you thought such things apparently argued them void of grace and yet when you are got into Church-fellowship that way of freedome that your soules mourned after a long time now though you be joyned in covenant one to another yet if your brethren differ any thing from you though they be otherwise godly what a bitternesse of spirit is there in some of you against them what pride what frowardnesse doe you manifest against them Oh what a poor creature is man if once he gets power and liberty what a deale of filth appears in him we may learn by this to have charitable thoughts of some of whom we have had hard thoughts before we see if these men have any grace grace may be in a mans heart lying under much corruption Secondly learne to be humbled for that dishonour which comes to God by these divisions thou spendest thy time in vexing and fretting at in crying out against these breaches but when was thy heart broken with the dishonour that God hath by them Thirdly let these divisions confirme us in the maine and settle us there more then ever for do we not see that those many sorts of men who are divided who oppose one another much yet they all joyn in the things of the greatest consequence they all witnesse against the common enemy This sayes Nazianzen is the greatest argument of the truth that it is not overcome by time neither can enmity one against another put out that little sparke of the love of it that is in us c. If a mans house stands after many shakings of strong windes he concludes the foundation is good this satisfies him though some tiles be shaken off Fourthly let us blesse God who hath carryed on the work of Reformation thus farre notwithstanding our divisions we were afraid that these differences not so much betweene the good and bad but betweene the good and good would have undone all and yet behold the Lord beyond our thoughts how infinitely beyond our deserts hath carryed on the work hitherto so as it gets ground though it be not so speedily brought to an issue as we would have it Fiftly let us hence raise our hopes in this that Satans time is not long his raging and foming so violently doth evidence it to us Surely Christ our Prince of Peace is at hand he will tread down Satan under our feet shortly Sixtly let us from these stirs without be put upon the labouring to make and to confirm peace within Oh consider is the breach between man and man so grievous how grievous is that which is between God and the Soul I find it hard and doubt whether it be possible to be at peace with men in this world I find them of such froward peevish selfish wilfull spirits even many who seem to be good men otherwise but God gives many encouragements to poor souls to come unto him he is a God of love and mercy he delights not to grieve the children of men to crush under his feet the prisoners of the earth he is willing to be reconciled to sinners there is nothing that his heart is more set upon then reconciliation with wretched sinfull souls Oh that in these sad dayes of miserable dissentions I might be blessed with the comforts of the reconciliation of my soul with God! if this were I hope I should be able contentedly to bear and with strength to pass through all those heart-sadning evils caused by these breaches and dissentions there are amongst us This were a good use indeed made of such evill things if mens contending with you shall thus further your peace with God what he once said of Adams sin it was Faelix peccatum a happy sin because it occasioned so much good in Mans Redemption So I may say of that strife and contention there is among us it is faelix contentio a happy contention that God hath turned to so much good unto you I have read of Robert Holgate who was Arch-Bishop of York because he could not peaceably enjoy his small living in Lincolne-shire in regard of the litigiousnesse of a neigbouring Knight comming to London to right himselfe he came into the favour of King Hen. the 8. and so got by degrees the Archbishoprick of York he thought he got well by the litigiousnesse of this Knight but if the strifes of men shall put thee upon those providences and duties which shall be so blessed unto thee as to further thy getting into the favour of the high God and the enjoyment of the soule-satisfying sweetnesse there is in peace with him what cause shalt thou have of admiring free grace which hath brought to thee so great a good from so great an evil and if these strifes have been a meanes to move thy heart Godward for thy making thy peace with him let them also put thee on still to further to confirme to settle to maintaine thy peace with him VVhen the winde and storme rises the Traveller plucks his cloak the closer about him these dividing times are stormy times labour to get your souls to the harbour under shelter labour to make sure
wherein he had not raigned if he had done no good This principle would make men great as well as good It is the glory of God that he does so much good And if men could account this greatnesse satisfying greatnesse the most and greatest contentions that are in the world would be layd down for what do men contend so much for as for greatnesse The fourth joyning Principle The good of other men is my good as well as theirs VVE are all of one body whatsoeuer good others have it is the good of the body it makes them some way able to doe that good that we would have done or at least that we should desire to have done Plutarch sayes that Solon made a law whereby every man was enabled to sue whosoever wronged his neighbour as if he had wronged himself he gave this reason for it There is no good that one man has in a Common-wealth but it is another mans as well as his Community in the Church is more 1 Cor. 3. 22. Whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come all are yours you are Christs and Christ is Gods If you be godly you have an interest in all the eminent godly men in the world in all their gifts their graces in all they have or do all that is in the world that hath any good in it is yours yea what is evill shall be serviceable to you for good This is brought by the Apostle to quiet the jarrings and contentions that were amongst the Corinthians One would be for Paul another for Apollos sayes the Apostle What need this contention who you are for and who another is for they are all yours all the excellency there is in them is the good of every one of you A speciall reason why men contend so much is they think the good that other men have is their evill therefore they must either get it to themselves or darken it in those that have it But such men acted by such a principle are poore low-spirited men A man of a raised enlarged spirit opens his heart that it may be filled with that infinite good in which there is all good Now if it be that good my soul closeth with and is satisfied in then whatsoever hath any goodnesse in it be it where it will it flowes from this Infinite Ocean of good that my soul is launched into and some way or other flows into this againe though thorough mens corruptions there may be windings and turnings in the course of it yet hither it comes at last and therefore it is mine as really and truly as any I have in mine own hand my soul then shall rejoyce in all the good I see my brethren have in all they do I will blesse God for it and seek the furtherance of it what I can Surely this man must needs be a man of peace and love The fifth joyning Principle My good is more in the publique then in my selfe THe strength safety excellency of a Cabbin in a Ship consists not so much in the boards of the Cabbin or the fine painting of it as in the strength and excellency of the ship It is because we have such private spirits that there are such contentions among us were we more publique spirited our contentions would vanish When I read of what publique spirits many of the Heathen were I am ashamed to look upon many Christians Paulus Aemilius hearing of the death of his children spake with an un aunted courage thus That the Gods had heard his prayer which was that calamities should rather befall his family then the Common-wealth The publikeness of his spirit made it very sweet and lovely the story sayes of him he intreated them gently and graciously whom he had subdued setting forward their causes even as they had bin his confederates very friends and neer kinsmen Publique spirited men are men of sweet and peaceable spirits The sixth joyning Principle What I would have others doe to me that will I endeavour to doe to them VVOuld not I have others beare with me I then will bear with them I would have others do offices of kindnesses to me I will then do offices of kindnesses to them I would have the carriages of others lovely amiable to me mine shall be so to them I would have others live peaceably with me I will do so with them This rule of doing to others as I would be done to is a law of justice such justice as keeps the peace Alexander Severus the Roman Emperour was much taken with this he sayes he learned it from the Christians if he had to deal with his common Souldiers that did wrong he punished them but when he had to deal with men of worth and dignity he thought it sufficient to reprove them with this sentence Do as ye would be done by Chrysostome in his 13. Sermon to the people of Antioch makes use of this principle thus After Christ had spoken of many blessednesses sayes he then he sayes Those things you would have others to do to you do you to them as if he should say There needs not many words let thine own will be thy law would you receive benefits bestow benefits then would you have mercy be mercifull then would you be commended commend others would you be loved then love Be you the Judge your selfe be you the Law-giver of your owne life That which you hate doe not to another Cannot you endure reproach doe not you reproach others Cannot you endure to have others envy you doe not you envy others Cannot you endure to be deceived do not you deceive others The seventh joyning Principle It is as great an honour to have my will by yeelding as by overcomming MAny men in their anger will say I will be even with him I will tell you a way how you may be above him forgive him By yeilding pardoning putting up the wrong you shew you have power over your self and this is a greater thing then to have power over another Numb 14. 17 18. Now I beseech thee let the power of my Lord be great pardon I beseech thee the iniquity of this people ver 19. and by this thou maist honourably prevaile with thy Brother hereby shalt thou heap coals of fire upon his head I have read of two famous Philosophers falling at variance Aristippus and Aeschines Aristippus comes to Aeschines Shall we not be friends sayes he Yes with all my heart saith Aeschines Remember saith Aristippus that though I am your elder yet I sought for peace True saith Aeschines and for this I will alwayes acknowledge you the more worthy man for I began the strife and you the peace The eighth joyning Principle I will never meddle with any strife but that which shall have peace to the end of it NO war is good upon any terms taken up upon the justest ground except it aymes at peace Bellum minime
this where the patience and quietness of spirit is very much tryed and that is when a servant meets with a harsh rugged cruell master that abuses him very injuriously if any thing would put ones spirit into a rage one would thinke this would do it No saith the Apostle such must be the command you must have over your spirits as you must patiently bear this and he grounds it upon this For hereunto were ye called 1 Pet. 2. 21 22. But though husbands and wives should live at peace though they suffer one from another though servants should put up wrongs from their masters yet it followes not that the like patience should be required in us when we are wronged by our equals by those to whom we have no such band of relation to tye us Yes this argument of calling is strong in this case also 1 Pet. 3. 8 9. Love as brethren be courteous not rendring evill for evill or railing for railing but contrariwise blessing knowing that ye are thereunto called The tenth Consider the presence of God and of Christ OUr God our Father our Master our Saviour stands by looking on us It is a most excellent passage that I finde in an Epistle of Luther to the Ministers of Norimberg There were great divisions amongst them he writes to them that he might pacifie their spirits one towards another Suppose sayes he you saw Jesus Christ standing before you and by his very eyes speaking thus unto your hearts What do you O my dear children whom I have redeemed with my blood whom I have begotten againe by my Word to that end that you might love one another Know that this is the note of my Disciples Leave this businesse ye wholly cast it upon me I le look to it there is no danger that the Church should suffer by this though it should be stilled yea though it should dye but there is a great deale of danger if you dissent amongst your selves if you bite one another Do not thus sadden my spirit do not thus spoile the holy Angels of their joy in Heaven am not I more to you then all matters that are between you then all your affections then all your offences What can any words of a brother can any unjust trouble penetrate your hearts stick so fast in you as my wounds as my bloud as all that I am to you your Saviour Jesus Christ Oh that we had such reall apprehensions of Christ looking upon us speaking to us The eleventh Consider what account we can give to Jesus Christ of all our Divisions WHen Christ shall come will you stand before him with scratched faces with black and blew eyes 1 Thes 3. 12 13. The Lord make you to increase and abound in love one towards another and towards all men To what end To the end saith the Apostle he may establish your hearts unblameable in holinesse before God even our Father at the comming of our Lord Iesus Christ with all his Saints It will be a sad thing to be found in our divisions at the comming of Jesus Christ Mat. 24. 50. the comming of Christ is mentioned as a terror to those who shall but begin to smite their fellow-servants We may wrangle stand out one against another in our contentions now but it will not be so easie to answer Jesus Christ as it is to answer one to another In the Name of Jesus Christ I now speak unto you yea as from him charge you let no reason move you to contend with dissent or seperate from your brethren but that which you are perswaded in your conscience and that after due and serious examination will hold out before will be approved of Jesus Christ at his comming The twelfth Let every man consider his owne weaknesses YOu are ready to take offence from others within a while you are as like to be offensive to others There will be as much need they should beare with you as now there is you should beare with them The Common Law of those who intend to live at peace one with another is Veniam petimus damusque We desire pardon and we doe pardon The thirteenth Let us consider our mortality IT is but a little time we have to live shall the greater part of it nay why should any part of it be ravel'd out with contentions and quarrels I have read of Pompey that upon a time passing over divers hils where there lived many people in caves but their order was that the man lived in one cave and the wife in another he asking the reason they said In those parts they live not long therefore they desired that the little time they did live they might have peace and quiet which they had found by experience they could not have if man and wife lived constantly together Though the means they used for their quiet was sordid yet the good use they made of the shortnesse of their lives was commendable Virgil sayes if swarms of Bees meet in the ayre they will sometimes fight as it were in a set battell with great violence but if you cast but a little dust upon them they will all be presently quiet Sprinkle upon your hearts the meditations of death that within a while this flesh of yours will be turned to dust this will quiet you The fourteenth Consider the life of heaven THere is and will be perfect agreement there We are here as Bees flying up and down from flower to flower all day but at night they come all into the same Hive That is a place where Luther and Zuinglius will well agree Shall not we whom God from all eternity hath ordained to live co-heires in heaven to joyn together in praises there agree together here on earth CHAP. XXXIII Joyning graces 1. Wisdome THe deepest Seas are the most calme so men of the deepest judgements are most quiet A man of understanding is of an excellent spirit Prov. 17. 27. or thus is of a coole spirit for so the word signifies his spirit is not heat with passion there is a coole dew of examination and deliberation upon his spirit he weighs the circumstances consequences and issues of things he orders and disposes of things so as jarres contradictions and oppositions are prevented The wisdome that is from above is pure peaceable gentle and easie to be entreated Jam. 3. 17. Reason and Wisdome have a majesty in them and will force reverence Let Passion reverence the presence of Reason sayes Basil as children doing things unseemly are afraid of the presence of men of worth 2. Faith 1. THis unites us to Christ and God and in them to one another 2. Faith commits all causes all feares injures to God 3. Faith layes hold upon and improves those gracious promises that God hath made to his Churches for union Faith sues out the Bond. 4. Faith is able to descry the issue of troubles and afflictions Though Sense sayes It will not be Reason It cannot be yet
cruelty and revenge her husband delighting in her caused her Image to be made lively representing her and apparelled with costly garments but indeed it was an Engin to torment men withall he made use of it thus when he could not have his will upon men by his owne perswasions he tooke them by the hand telling them that perhaps his wife Apega who sate by in a chaire could perswade more effectually so he led them to the Image that rose up and opened the armes as it were for embracement those armes were full of sharpe iron nayles the like whereof were also sticking in the brests though hidden with her clothes and herewith she griped these men to death At which Nabis standing by laughed to see the cruell death of these miserable men The Lord deliver us from revengefull spirits CHAP. XXVII The evill of Divisions They hinder much good EVsebius reports of Constantine That he was more troubled with the dissentions of the Church then with all the warres in his dominions that he took them so to heart that he could not sleep quietly for them yea although he had a spirit full of heroick valour yet the dissentions of the Church were such evils to him as to cause him to cry and sob Thus he writes in an Epistle to Alexander and Arius Let me enjoy the dayes in peace and the nights without molâ—station that the pleasure which riseth out of the pure light of concord and quiet life may henceforth inviolably be conserved if it otherwise happen it behoveth us to sob and sigh and to shed many a salt teare What heart that hath any tendernesse in it bleeds not in the sense of those sore dreadful heart-divisions there are amongst us The evill there is in them is beyond what tongue or pen can expresse Take a view of it under these three Heads 1. The good they hinder 2. The sinne they cause 3. The misery they bring First the quiet comfort sweetnesse of our spirits is hindered by divisions They put the spirit out of tune men who heretofore have had sweet spirit full of ingenuity since they have interessed themselves in these Divisions have lost their sweetnesse their ingenuity is gone When the Bee stings she leaves her sting behinde her and never gathers Honey more men by stinging one another doe not lose their stings but they lose their honey they are never like to have that sweetnesse in their hearts that heretofore they had Shall I lose my sweetnesse sayes the Fig-tree and goe to be promoted over the trees Why doest thou not reason thus with thy spirit Shall I lose my sweetnesse in contending to get my will to be above others God sorbid There was a time that both my my selfe and others found much sweetnesse in the temper of spirit there was nothing but peaceablenesse quiet calmnesse contentednesse in it and how comfortable was such a temper of spirit me thought when my spirit was in that sweet frame all things were sweet to me but since I have been interested in quarrels and contentions it hath beene farre otherwise with me Prov. 15. 4. Perversnesse in the tongue causes a breach in the spirit Contentions cause much perversnesse in mens tongues and this causes a breach in their spirits Your contending costs you deare though it were in nothing else yet the losse of this sweetnesse of spirit makes it very costly to you All the wrong that you should have put up if you had not contended had not been so great an evil to you as this one thing is There is nothing more contrary to ingenuity then quarrelsomnesse It is reported of Melancthon that when he was to dye he had this speech and Strigelius at his death had the same I desire to depart this life for two causes First that I may enjoy the desired sight of the Sonne of God and the Church in heaven Secondly that I may be delivered from the fierce and implacable hatred of Divines There was much disputing contending quarrelling in those times which was so tedious to the spirits of these good men as it made them the willinger to dye that they might be where their souls should be at rest That Saint of God old M. Dod never loved to meddle with controversies he gave that reason He found his heart the worse when he did Men seldome come away from hot disputes or any other contentions but their spirits are altered for the worse They finde it so and others finde it in them If a man has beene abroad and met with company with whom he hath been contending his wife children servants finde that he comes not home with the same spirit that he went out with Secondly they hinder the freedome of a mans spirit which a wise man sets a high price upon the strength of many mens spirits is spent in contentions they have no command of them to any thing else When a man is once engaged in a contest he knows not how to get off Contention is a great snare to a man he wishes he had never medled with it he is weary of it but knowes not how to come off fairely I have read of Francis the first King of France consulting with his Captaines how to lead his Army over the Alpes into Italy whether this way or that way Amarill his Foole sprung out of a corner where he sate unseene and bad them rather take care which way they should bring their Army out of Italy back again It is easie for one to interest himselfe in quarrels but the difficulty is to be disengaged from them when you are in Thirdly they hinder the good of the body many men contending with their Brethren are so full of stomach that they have no stomach they hinder their sleep men lye tossing up downe a great part of the night sometimes whole nights musing plodding and contriving how they may make their party good what advantages they may get of those they contend with Have the thoughts about the breach sinne hath made between God and thy soul broke thy sleep so much as the thoughts of breaches between thee and thy neighbours and brethren We reade of Moses Deut. 34. 7. that he was an hundred and twenty yeeres old when he died his eye was not dimme nor his naturall force abated Some give this to be one reason of such a wonderfull preservation of his health and strength the meeknesse of his spirit God witnesses of him Numb 12. 3. That he was the meekest man upon the face of the earth That good old man Mr. Dod came very neere to Moses in the one and in the other Fourthly they hinder mens judgements if the water be muddie we cannot see what lies at the bottome These dissentions disturb the medium of our sight you cannot weigh gold in the middest of blustring windes you cannot consider and give a judgement upon truth except the heart be calme Gregory Nazianzen hath this similitude As the
tender age we are afraid lest the muddy water they drink now should breed diseases in them that may break out afterward Surely it is a great evill also for the children of the Church to be brought up in the sight and exercise of divisions in matters of Religion that that knowledge of Religion which they now take in should be as troubled waters full of soyle In the beginning of this Parliament there was as hopefull a generation of young ones comming up as ever the Sun saw but many of them have lost their lives in this publique Cause God will certainly take a valuable consideration at the hands of the adversaries for their blood especially we have cause to blesse God for them God made use of them to stop the rage the overflowing of the proud adversaries upon us they have served their generation and have been more usefull in it then others who have lived 70. or 80. yeers formerly but for those who are preserved these divisions in the things of Religion have spoiled many of them they are carryed away with such a strange kind of spirit of error of conceitednesse folly wilfulnesse bitternesse licentiousnesse and boldnesse that their hopefull beginnings are lost so that the next generation is like to reap very sowr bitter and unwholsome fruits of these our quarrels and contentions By what hath been said you may see why the Spirit of God Prov. 6. 19. puts the sowers of discord amonst those whom God hates What the harvest of such seed is like to be we shall see in the next Head Aggravations of the misery that comes by our divisions FIrst our misery is the greater because it is still increasing Divisions make way for divisions we beat our brethren till they cry and then we beat them because they cry is not this hard dealing We read in our Chronicles that those who were born in England the yeare after the great mortality 1349. wanted some of their cheek teeth if we should judge of mens teeth by their biting one would think that now men had more teeth or at least farre sharper then they were wont to have there was never such biting as now there is Yet thanks be to God this increase is not in all places not in our Armies time was when we were much afraid of divisions there but now we hear they are comfortably united Dividing terms are not heard amongst them as formerly though there be differing judgements their hearts and armes are open one to another they love one another they are willing to live and dye one with another The blessing of the Almighty be upon you go on and prosper the Lord is with you he hath done great things by you and delights to use you in great services for the honour of his Name and good of his people You have had and have the prayers of the Saints they blesse you and blesse God for you Souldiers united in love and hating that which is vile are exceedingly strengthned in valour Plutarch reports of a Theban band that were but three hundred yet were the most terrible to the enemies of any and did the greatest services They were called the Holy Band because they hated dishonest things and were willing to venture their lives for honest causes fearing dishonourable reproach more then honourable danger But though this was one cause why it had that name yet Plutarch thinks that the first cause why it was called the Holy Band was from their intire love one to another By the selfe same reason sayes he that Plato calleth a lover a divine friend by Gods appointment These Thebans together with other of their Countreymen had a great power of the Lacedaemonians to resist such a power as the Athenians for feare of it left off to protect them renouncing that league that they had before with them Every man said the Thebans were undone But these despised Thebans meeting with the Lacedaemonians about the City of Tegyra where according to the compute of some they were sixe to one and a warlike valiant people one came running to Pelopidas the Captain of the Thebans saying Sir we are falne into the hands of the Lacedaemonians Nay are they not falne into ours sayes Pelopidas And so it fell out for they utterly routed them In all the warrs that the Lacaedemonians ever had as well with the Grecians as with the barbarous people no Chronicle ever mentioned that they were overcome by any number equall in battell Whereupon these Thebans grew so terrible to their enemies that none durst for a long time encounter with them After this battell Pelopidas would never seperate them one from another but keeping them together he would alwayes begin with them to give a charge in his most dangerous battells Yet notwithstanding all this service they had ill requitall from the people for when their Captain Pelopidas came home they stirred up a party against him that sought to break him though they could not prevaile It is farther reported of this Band that it was never broken nor overthrowne till the battell of Choeronea where it seems they had some added to them And see what love and valour will doe in an Army unto death Philip taking a view of the slaine bodies there he saw foure hundred dead on the ground one hard by another all of them thrust thorow with Pikes on their breasts and being told that it was the Lovers Band he fell a weeping for pitty saying Woe be to them that thinke these men did or suffered any evill or dishonest thing Ever since our Armies have been united God hath wonderfully blessed them Shall men of warre be at peace and is this comely and shall men of peace be at warre how uncomely will this be Yet so it is The seeds of dissentions never sprung up more against us then of late they have done The spirits of men seeme to be heat and ready to boyle one against another in this City more then heretofore they have done The Lord hath made London a blessing to the whole Kingdome and the neighbour Kingdomes too The children not yet borne will have cause to blesse God for London for their union their faithfulness their courage their bounty and shall now when God is about bringing in rest to us from the rage of our enemies a fire of dissention be kindled amongst us Shall the comfort of all our former mercies and future hopes be lost by raising up of new quarrels and must this come from the City The Lord forbid The Lord make you like Jerusalem a City Compact at unity within it selfe Your very name carries unity in the face of it Civis à coeundo says Cicer quod vinculo quodi societatis in unū coeunt quasi Coivis I remember I have read in Livy a notable speech of Scipio to the Citizens at Carthage By what name sayes he shall I call you I know not Shall I call you Cives qui à patria vestra