A Perswasive to Peace and Vnity A SERMON preached before the Right Honourable the Lord-Mayor AND THE ALDERMEN OF THE CITY of LONDON At the Church of St. Mary Le-Bow On Sunday January 16th 1697 1698. By SAMVEL BRADFORD Rector of the said Church LONDON Printed for Brab Aylmer at the Three Pigeons near the Royal Exchange in Cornhil 1698. To the Right Honourable Sir Humphry Edwin K nt Lord Mayor of the City of London AND THE Court of Aldermen Right Honourable THE Publishing this Discourse is purely an act of Obedience to Your Order it being design'd to have gone no farther than the Place in which it was Preach'd When You were pleas'd to come in a Body to my Church upon so solemn an Occasion as that of partaking of the Holy Communion in compliance with a Law which makes the doing so a Test to all who are admitted to Publick Offices and Employments I thought it became me to lay hold on the Opportunity to exhort You earnestly to promote the Good of that Church whereof by this Practice You own Your selves to be Members What I have urg'd for our being as far as is possible united not only in Judgment and Affection but in Communion too is upon such Reasons as will hold equally where there is an Indulgence granted by Law and where there is not namely The Precepts of the Holy Scriptures and the Nature of the Christian Body by both which every Christian is certainly oblig'd to promote the Peace and Unity of the Church of Christ not only for Wrath but also for Conscience sake out of regard to Christ and his Church even where he is lyable to no Civil Mulcts or Penalties for doing otherwise And to prevent all jealousie as if I had the least Intention hereby to express my dislike of Indulgence towards tender Consciences I take this Occasion to declare That I heartily approve it as being thorowly perswaded that for one Christian to persecute another who Conscientiously differs from him meerly for his so doing is a gross violation not only of the Law of Christianity but even of Nature it self Nay farther I believe it the Duty of Church-Governours to insist upon no narrower Terms of Communion than such as to the best of their Judgments regulated by Scripture have a plain and evident tendency to maintain Truth promote Piety and Vertue and preserve good Order in the Churches under their Care Which I mention with the greater freedom because I am well satisfied that this was the Principle upon which those who settled the Reformation amongst us in the Reign of King Edward and Queen Elizabeth acted and because I doubt not but that it is the Principle also of our present Governours both in Church and State But after this the Duty of every private Christian is as plain namely to comply with the Terms establish'd as far as he Lawfully may valuing the Peace of the Church much beyond the gratification of himself and being ready to do every thing for the maintaining its Unity which he thinks Lawful to be done upon any other account whatsoever How the Christians of this Nation came to divide themselves into so many distinct and separate Communions I will not now inquire but till we can attain to this Disposition I can foresee nothing else but that our Divisions must be propagated without Reason and without End from one Generation to another which is but a melancholy Thought to any one who remembers how much stress both our Saviour and his Apostles have laid upon Peace and Unity The Prayer which our Lord offer'd up a little before his Suffering for all who should believe in him was in these words That they all may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us and that for this Reason That the World may believe that thou hast sent me And St. Paul in a set Discourse occasion'd by Contentions in the Church of Corinth concerning the Gifts with which some were endued to a greater degree than others prefers Charity meaning that Charity whereby the Peace and Unity of the Church is maintain'd much before the best of Gifts the strongest Faith the most profuse Liberality and even Martyrdom it self Our Blessed Saviour as an Example to his Followers constantly joyn'd in the Publick Exercises of God's Worship both in the Temple and in the Synagogue notwithstanding the many and gross Corruptions which were at that time crept into the Jewish Church The Apostles in like manner and the other Christians who dwelt at Jerusalem though as they were oblig'd by the Christian Institution they assembled apart from the Jews for the performing that Worship which was peculiarly Christian yet we never find that they deserted either the Temple or the Synagogues till the final desolation of their Country And St. Paul himself who so often and so vehemently upon just occasions asserted and pleaded for the Liberty of Christians as being set free from the Jewish Yoke yet did not at all scruple the making use of those Ceremonies which himself had declar'd to be abrogated when ever it might serve to the benefit of the Church After which Considerations 't is very strange that any Christian should entertain such slight apprehensions of the Evil and Danger of dividing the Christian Church as abundance amongst us have done Pardon me if I seem to press this matter with Zeal upon You who under His Majesty have the Government of this great City committed to You and whose Examples are like to have much greater Influence than the Examples of private Men. Whatsoever others do it certainly becomes those who are in Publick Stations to fulfil all Righteousness and I think I may be allow'd to say without Offence that a Magistrate should be one who needs no Indulgence but that which is by common consent given to Humane Nature in general That whatsoever is truly and justly propos'd in the following Discourse may be of Use to the Publick and that we may all in our respective Stations zealously and constantly promote the Honour of Almighty God the Good of his Church and the Welfare of the Kingdom is the hearty Prayer of Right Honourable Your most Faithful and Obedient Servant Samuel Bradford A SERMON Preached before the Lord-Mayor Perswading to PEACE and UNITY EPHESIANS 4.3 Endeavouring to keep the Vnity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace WE are assembled at this time not only to hear the Word of God read and preached and to offer up our daily Prayers and Praises to the Divine Majesty but also to Celebrate the most peculiar and Solemn Office of our Christian Religion Namely the Commemoration of our Saviours Death according to his own Institution By doing of which we openly profess to the World First our Communion with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ by that Spirit which proceedeth from both and in the next Place our fellowship one with another We declare hereby that we are Members of
that part of the Christian Church which is establish'd in this Nation and not of that only but of the truly Catholick Church throughout the World For the Sacrament of the Lords Supper was intended by our Lord as a Badge and Symbol of such our Communion And upon this Occasion I thought I could not chuse a more proper Subject than the words I have now read to you wherein we are so expresly exhorted to regard and to promote as far as in us lyes the Unity and Peace of the Church of Christ Endeavouring to keep c. St. Paul had been in his preceding Discourse putting the Ephesians in mind of the Extraordinary Grace of God towards them in taking them within the Pale of his Church that whereas they had been Gentiles Ch. 2.11 12 13. without Christ Aliens from the Common wealth of Israel and strangers from the Covenants of Promise Nay having no hope and without God in the World they were Now brought near to God by the Blood of Christ being together with the believing Jews adopted into his Family He exceedingly magnifies this their Privilege in those Remarkable Words v. 10 2 21 22. Now therefore ye are no more strangers and Forreigners but fellow Citizens with the Saints and of the Houshold of God and are built upon the Foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Jesus Christ himself being the Chief corner-stone in whom all the building fitly Framed together groweth into an holy Temple in the Lord in whom you also are builded together for an Habitation of God through the Spirit To the same purpose he goes on throughout the Third Chapter both to extol this Favour of God towards them and to pray that they might be thorowly Sensible of it after which he begins this Fourth Chap. with a Serious Exhortation to them that they would walk worthy of this their Vocation particularly in the exercise of much Humility and Charity Ver. 1 2. I therefore the Prisoner of the Lord beseech you that ye walk worthy of the Vocation wherewith ye are call'd with all lowliness and meekness with long-suffering forbearing one another in love and as it follows in the words of my Text Endeavouring to keep the Vnity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace From which Connexion of the Words we may observe by the way That the keeping the unity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace whatever that means is absolutely Necessary to our walking worthy of our Christian Vocation and that in order to this we ought to have our minds well season'd with Humility and Charity two most excellent Christian Graces whereby we shall be best dispos'd to the exercise of all other Vertues which our Holy Religion Requires and for want of which it comes to pass that the Professors of Christianity are so miserably divided as they are at this day But I proceed to the words themselves in treating of which I propose this Method To Explain the Duty which the Apostle here urges upon the Ephesians shewing what it is to keep the Vnity of the Spirit in the bondof Peace To consider the Obligation which all Christians are under to the Practice of this Duty To shew how we may best attain to the Practice of it To Explain the Duty it Self shewing what it is to keep the Vnity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace By the Vnity of the Spirit I conceive the Apostle here means such an Vnity as properly belongs to a Body which is inspired in the whole and every part of it by one and the same Spirit I know that some will have this phrase to signifie no more than an Vnion of the Spirits or minds of Christians This is indeed contain'd in it but 't is by no means the full Sense of the Expression The Vnion which is between Christians is Principally and in the first Place in their Minds or Spirits but I take the word Spirit here to relate to the Divine Spirit which as the Apostle presently after observes animates the whole Body of Christ and makes it indeed to be one For so it follows ver 4. there is one Body and one Spirit And to the same purpose 't is frequently exprest in other places Thus in the preceding part of this Epistle Chap. 2.22 In whom that is in Jesus Christ you also are builded together for an Habitation of God through the Spirit And very Remarkably in the Former Epistle to the Corinthians 1 Cor. 1â— 12 13. As the Body is one and hath many Members and all the Members of that one Body being many are one Body So also is Christ For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one Body whether we be Jews or Gentiles whether we be bond or Free and have been all made to drink into one Spirit That is The Church of Christ may be fitly compar'd to the Body of a Man which has many Members but all of them united by one Spirit which is diffused through every part and quickens the whole Just so says he the Church consists of abundance of particular Believers but these are all admitted by Baptism to the Priviledge of being put under the Conduct of the Holy Ghost in whose Name they are baptized together with that of the Father and of the Son and whose assistance they may constantly depend upon if they do not resist and drive him away from them And they are farther constantly made to drink into the same Spirit that is by partaking of the other Sacrament that of the Lords-Supper Particularly of the wine there poured out they may receive and if they are sincere Christians they do so farther communications of the same Spirit Now this gives a clear account of the Expression in the Text the Vnity of the Spirit that is such an Unity as becomes a Body thus animated by the same Spirit viz. an Unity in Judgment and an Unity in Affection or in other words an Unity in Truth and in Charity together with all that External and Visible Unity which is Naturally consequent upon the Former For so it follows in the bond of Peace by which is meant a Peaceable Conversation with each other as in all other respects so especially in Spiritual Affairs the avoiding all Dissension and Division with respect to External Communion the Living and Conversing together and especially the Communcating with each other in all the Ordinances and Institutions of Religion as one Body This peaceable demeanor is the Bond of Unity amongst Christians not only shewing them to be one but preserving them in that state So that you may take my Explication of this Duty in the Four Following Particulars To keep the Vnity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace implys the maintaining as much as may be an Unity in Judgment especially as to the main and Principal Doctrines of the Christian Faith It implys also the preserving and cherishing of Love and Affection amongst Christians It farther implys a quiet and Peaceable
professing or complying with any thing contrary to the precepts of Christianity I can see no just reason for separation in such a case Shall the meer pretence of prefering some confessedly indifferent modes or Circumstances of worship and discipline excuse a Christian from holding Communion with that Church to which he otherwise of right belongs But where then will be any end of Division What bounds or limits can be fixt to it How is it possible there should be any order any Peace in the Christian Church if every one is at Liberty to break the Unity of the Body meerly for this reason because he could better approve of some other Modes or Circumstances whilst yet he allows those which are in present use to be Lawful Who is it in all other Bodys and Societies of Men that orders such matters but the Governours of each society And who in a Christian Nation should likewise order them but the Governours in Church and State And when they are so order'd what has any private Member of the Christian Body farther to do but to consider whether he can comply with a good Conscience or not And if he can surely the Peace of the Church the keeping the Unity of the Body of Christ the promoting concord and Charity and Edification amongst its Members are strong obligations upon him to do it If any thing plainly unlawful be requir'd then that reply of the Apostles to the Sanhedrim takes place Acts. 4.19 whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God judge ye But if nothing unlawful by Gods Word nothing unlawful according to our own Judgment and Confession be made a condition of Communion I dare appeal to your selves in a like form of words Whether it be right in the Sight of God to break the Vnity of the Church of Christ Judge ye I should now according to the Method I propos'd go on to consider the Obligation all Christians are under to practice the Duty of the Text. But that I may not exceed the limits of my Time I shall confine my self to what our Apostle himself hath laid down to this purpose in the Context which is indeed so full and emphatical that a very short Paraphrase upon his Words may well suffice The Word he uses in the Text it self is very observable Endeavouring we render it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but it denotes as is well known no slight and ordinary Endeavour but a very diligent one a studious and Earnest care to keep the Vnity of the Spirit which plainly shews the weight of the Duty and the strict Obligation which lyes upon all Christians to practice it And no less can be infer'd from what immediately goes before and follows the words In the First verse of this Chapter as I have already observ'd the Apostle intimates that it is a walking worthy of our Christian Vocation that is 't is a behaving our selves Suitably to the design and Nature of the profession we make 't is what Christianity requires of us and that it is so appears more particularly by what immediately follows the Text ver 4.5 6. There is one Body and one Spirit even as ye are called in one hope of your calling one Lord one Faith one Baptism one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all What can be offer'd more perswasive than this Let us take a short View of each particular There is one Body that is as I said before the Christian Church throughout the world is but one Society Distributed into Several particular Churches as its parts of which particular Churches if sound in Doctrine and worship and imposing no unlawful Terms of Communion each single Christian is of right a Member in the place in which Providence hath cast his Lot and consequently is bound to maintain and promote the Unity and Peace of the particular Church of which he is a Member in order to preserving the Unity and peace of the whole Body One Spirit every sound part of the Christian Church and every genuine Member of it is under the Influence and Conduct of the Holy Spirit of God to which if he yields himself tractable using all those means which he hath appointed for the attaining his Assistance he will not fail to have his Judgment duly Settled and his mind inspired with a sincere Love to all who are under the Influence of the same Spirit the effect of which will certainly be a Peaceable Conversation and especially a readiness to joyn with all his fellow Christians in every part of the worship of God and his Redeemer It follows As ye are called in one hope of your Calling We all expect the same reward even the Resurrection of our Bodys at the last day and the everlasting Happiness of the Life to come we all hope to meet in the same Region of Bliss and to joyn and live together for ever in one Body in Heaven How then can we fall out in the way thither or refuse to walk together in the same path of Life One Lord whose Authority we all equally own whose Laws we profess to submit to and consequently have the same Rule to walk by and the same obligation to make us observe it As fellow servants we cannot disagree without disowning the Authority of our Common Master As fellow-Members we cannot be disunited without relinquishing so far our common Head One Faith One Baptism We all profess to adhere to that Faith which was once delivered unto the Saints agreeing at least in the fundamental and necessary Articles of it this profession we undertook at our Baptism when we were all initiated into the society of Christians in the same manner being washed with water in the Name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost declaring our belief in and our resignation to these three Divine Persons And how then can we afterwards be excused if we fall out and divide about inconsiderable and indifferent matters which neither relate to the foundation of our Faith nor contradict the Design of our Baptism And to conclude One God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all We are children of the same Heavenly Father and Consequently ought to live in Brotherly Love and Charity in perfect concord and agreement thinking and speaking and Acting the very same things as those who are under the same paternal Government and Authority who are taken care of provided for and directed by the same Providence and the same Grace These are the Arguments by which the Apostle inforceth the Duty of the Text the summe of all which is that the whole Scheme and Frame of our Religion its Author its Rule its Model its end do all oblige us to the keeping of unity so that we cannot any way contribute towards contention or division in the Church of Christ without going Directly cross to our Profession and walking altogether