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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A50495	Two sticks made one, or, The excellency of unity being a sermon preached by the appointment of the Congregational and Presbyterian perswasion at their happy union on the sixth day of April, 1691, which was a day set apart by them, partly to bewail former divisions and partly as a thanksgiving to God for Their present agreement and now at their unamimous request made publick / by Matthew Mead ...	Mead, Matthew, 1630?-1699.	1691 (1691)	Wing M1562; ESTC R3764	27,269	42

are the fruits of the Flesh The Apostle tells us The fruits of the Spirit are love peace gentleness and meekness Gal. 5.22 but the fruits of the Flesh are hatred variance emulation strife and envyings ver 20. So that a man can't evidence himself to be in the Flesh and destitute of the Spirit of God in any thing more than by a contentious dividing Spirit The Apostle says so 1 Cor. 3.3 If their be envyings and strifes and divisions among you are ye not carnal They are Salamanders that can live only in this Fire And then I may ask but who is their Father For the Wisdom that is from beneath is sensual and devilish the Mother of strife and division Jam. 3.15 Ver. 17. But the wisdom that is from above is pure and peaceable O how sad is it when the Flesh thus reigns in the Children of the Spirit 7. Division naturally runs into Tumult and Confusion It makes Zion to become a Babel It so confounds the Language of Christians that one can't understand another As when a House is on Fire some call for Water some for Ladders some for pulling down the House Such is the confusion where this Fire breaks out in the House of God 8. Nothing more obstructs the flourishing of Religion And how sad is it that the Interest and concerns of Christ should wither under our hands 9. Nothing becomes a greater stumbling block to turn others out of the way of God Division in the Church begets Atheism in the World Men charge all the faults of Professors upon the Religion they profess and thereby contract such prejudices against it as can never be rooted out O what an evil is this 10. Nothing becomes a greater Joy to our Adversaries nor gives them a greater advantage to undermine and destroy us While two Birds are pecking one at another the Kite comes and soops away both Our Contentions make us first a laughing-stock then a prey to our Enemies and therefore they are a sad forerunner of ruine Hoc Ithacus vetit c. When Abraham went to Sacrifies his Isaac he found a Ram intangled in the Briars which God had prepared for a Sacrifice and if we are intangled in these Briars we may justly fear we are prepared to be a Sacrifice These are some of the many Evils which might be reckoned up that are in the divisions of Gods People which may serve to set forth the blessing and advantage of Union And therefore when God binds up the breaches of his People and makes the two sticks one it is a great mercy Shall I not make a little Application of this I know to whom I speak which makes it needless but for Sions sake I will not hold my peace Isa 62.1 This Text affords two Uses that suit the end of this days appointment which you have set apart partly for Humbling and partly for rejoycing Here is matter of Humbling that the people of God should be two sticks Here is matter of Reioycing that God hath made the two sticks one 1. Let us Humble our selves before the Lord for our former Divisions Is their not a Cause when God calls to contend by Fire Hos 7.4 Isa 19.2 it is a Token of his Anger It is in favour to Israel when he sets the Egyptians against the Egyptians but when Ephraim and Manasseh are divided Isa 9.21 there is the Anger of God in it and that should be matter of Mourning And indeed the only way to a firm Union is to lay the foundation of it in shame and tears for past Divisions Even in this sense God lays the beams of his chambers in the waters Psal 104.3 and makes the clouds his chariot There is no building without Mortar to hold the stones together and there it no Mortar without Water When Israel and Judah come out of Babylon and inquire the way to Sion and joyn in a Covenant Union it is all done in Tears Jer. 50.4 5. In those days and in that time saith the Lord the children of Israel shall come they and the children of Judah together going and weeping they shall go and seek the Lord their God They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward saying Come let us joyn our selves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten They use in Faggotting either to twist the bands with some sap in them or to lay them for a time in water for when dry they 'l snap but they 'l bend and hold the twisting when well soaked So the deeper your Humiliation is the more durable will your Union be Their is much cause of Humbling on this account For the Pride of our hearts only by pride comes contention For the dishonour done to God by these differences For the reproach brought upon his ways For the offences and scandals given to many whereby their Souls have been eternally hazarded And should not the sense of this affect us Some diseases are called opprobria medicorum I am sure these are opprobria Theologorum O let us joyn in this one thing to mourn together till we have dissolved our hearts into tears and see if they 'l cun one into another and let us resolve that nothing shall comfort them but peace with God and peace with one another Vse 2. When we have thus passed through the valley of Baca Psal 84.6 and in this sense made it a well we may then go on to Berachah and sit down there blessing and rejoycing in God who hath made the two sticks one in his hand If any thing should affect us the great appearance of God should wherein he hath put forth so much of his Power Wisdom Love and Mercy Is it not a mercy you have long desired and prayed for And God hath this day returned your prayers like Noah's Dove with an Olive Branch in the mouth How long did our Fathers sow in Tears for this Harvest and God hath reserved the reaping time for us their Children Isa 9.3 And therefore let us joy before him according to the joy in Harvest This day hath the Lord rolled away our reproach Josh 5.9 for what hath been the reproach we have been silled with Is it not that we have been a divided people crumbling into Factions and Parties fill'd with mutual animosities and jarrs envying and hating one another Now God hath brought us to Gilgal for this day is the reproach rolled away and shall not God have the glory of this You have this day made up one great Breach at which Judgment used to enter Ezek. 13.5 Ye have gone up into the gaps and made up the hedge for the house of Israel You have this day recovered your strength Division is a weakening thing A Kingdom a House a Church divided cannot stand Untwist a Cable and it is easily broken Divide the strongest Current into many streams and it becomes shallow and weak You know the story of Scilurus

who had Eighty Sons on his Death-bed he caused a bundle of Arrows to be brought and given to them and bids them break it when they had tried successively they answered that it was not to be done He bids them take them one by one and then the work was easie Thereupon he tells his Sons if ye agree together you will be strong and invincible but if you divide you 'l be weak and easily overcome God hath in this agreement bundled up his Arrows together he hath made the two sticks one and this is your strength in the hand of the Lord. Therefore he that glorieth let him glory in the Lord. You have done that in this agreement that promises great advantage and comfort to our brethren abroad it is like the beams of the Sun which diffuse light and heat to thousands at once And what can please and rejoyce you who are by calling by Duty by Affection Men of publick Spirits and Aims more than to be made such a blessing to the whole Interest of Christ through the Nation In this Union you have shewed a high Conformity to Christ He is all for union There is a union between him and the Father a union between him and the Spirit a union between him and the humane Nature a union between him and all Believers And it is such a union as admits of no disunion or dissolution Nothing can untie it not faults and failures not blots or blemishes no sins or swervings Ah how many infirmities neglects omissions how many weaknesses wants and wanderings doth Christ see in us and yet the union remains Now when we are like minded one to another according to Christ Jesus This highly glorifies God This union is an hopeful means to reconcile others to Religion and bring them into the ways of Christ It is said of the Primitive Christians They walked with one accord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and what fruit had it the Lord added to the Church daily such as should be saved Acts 2.46 47. How many have estranged themselves from Religion and cast it off because of the feuds and heats of its Professors afraid to touch it lest they burn their Fingers in the fiery contentions that are kindled by reason of it Mr. Cotton on the 2d Cant. 7. I charge you O ye daughters of Jerusalem by the Roes and by the Hinds of the field that ye stir not up nor awake my love till he please senseth the words thus By the Roes and Hinds are meant young beginners persons under some preparatory work towards Conversion who are as shy and fearful as Roes and Hinds who are affrighted and run at the barking of a Dog so will these at any offences in the Churches of Christ O how many have fallen and been turned out of the way by the fatal stumbling blocks which our divisions have laid in the way of their Conversion Now God hath this day taken away the stumbling block by making the two sticks one in his hand And should we not bless God for this God hath intitled you by this agreement to the many and great blessings that are promised in this Chapter to this work Do but see what promises God makes as a consequent of it 1. It shall be an abiding union When God unites his people who or what can divide them Unions made by the policy and arts of Men for carnal ends and interests may be broken but a union made by God and his Spirit shall not be broken Therefore it is promised ver 22. They shall be no more two Nations neither shall they be divided any more at all That is one Mercy promised 2. It shall be attended with a peculiar sanctifying work of the Spirit ver 23. Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their detestable things for I will cleanse them I know how these detestable things are interpreted But may we not understand them of their divisions too and the sins caused thereby I am sure these are detestable things to God Ezek. 16.61 63. and when his people are made one they shall become so to them working to shame and self-lothing and when they become so they shall be no more defiling For I will cleanse them says God This is another Mercy promised 3. It shall issue in a closer walking in all the ways and appointments of God So ver 24. They shall walk in my judgments and observe my statutes and do them They shall consult Divine Institutions and frame their Worship and Ways according to them And this is another Mercy promised 4. It shall have its effect in a closer Covenant union to God When his people are made one he will renew his Covenant with them make it more manifest that God and they are one A thing is said to be then done in Scripture when it is made more manifest Therefore it is said ver 23. So shall they be my people and I will be their God q. d. I will make it appear to all the World that these are the people of God and that I am the God of this people That is another Mercy promised 5. It shall issue in a great advantage and advance to the Kingdom of Christ And hath not Christ gained a great point among you in this union I know you can't but see it and say it Division shuts Christ out union lets him in This is a door opened in Heaven Rev. 4.1 Psal 24.7 for so the Church is called The everlasting doors are lifted up for the King of glory to come in You have prepared the way of the Lord to his Throne and given him an abundance entrance into his Kingdom by this thing Then the Lord Christ Reigns indeed when his Church and People serve him with one consent in one way and in one Spirit And therefore when the two sticks are made one it is said ver 24. David my servant shall be king over them i. e. shall reign in the Church more visibly more powerfully more gloriously than ever And therefore brethren lift up your heads and look for great things to result from this great work of making the two sticks one I am well perswaded that God hath a great design in this thing and that it will have a farther extent than you can foresee Heb. 12.27 How far it may reach to hasten the removal of all made things all false Worship all humane devisings who can tell This is plain in Scripture that Zions building Rev. 19.7 20. and Babylons ruine the Lambs Marrying and the Whores Burning do go together The Church Militant and Malignant are like a pair of Ballances or the Buckets of a Well as one goes up the other goes down The Spirit of the Lord can't be quieted till the white horses have fetched his people out of Babylon Zech. 6.6 8. and the black horses have speeded her destruction Rev. 18.4 8. When the voice from Heaven once calls Gods people out of her wrath from

contempt of another One was for Paul against Apollo another for Apollo against Paul a third for Peter against them both a fourth was neither for one nor the other but for Christ against them all i. e. they cryed down all Humane Ministry and were for the immediate teachings of Christ without any means or instruments Now thus to say I am of Christ is a sin For as we must not make a Christ of Means by resting upon them so nor may we lay aside Means expecting Christ should do all without them Be so for Christ as not to despise Ministry Be so for the Ministry of one as not to despise another Do not impropriate Christ to any party It is a dividing Spirit to say Lo here is Christ or lo there is Christ Matth. 24.23 It is to unfaint the whole World to Consecrate our own way And this is a provoking thing and must needs stir up strife and envy for every man is concerned when his right and title is called in question The Apostle discovers another Spirit and more truly Catholick when he writes to this Church 1 Cor. 1.2 To the saints at Corinth and to all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord both yours and ours He seems to check that proud and envious humour which would so inclose Christ to a party as to deny and defeat all other claims Jesus Christ both theirs and ours Like that of Christ My father and your father my God and your God John 20.17 4. See that your Union be laid in Truth and Holiness Zech. 3.19 1. In Truth That must have the first place love the truth and peace Union in Errours in false Principles is no better than a confederacy against Christ Isa 8.12 And say not a confederacy That is a cursed accommodation that is made to the disservice of Religion because while we thus make peace with Men we make a breach with God 2. Let your Union be founded in Holiness It will not stand if it be not upon this bottom Loose Zeal is not unity but compliance Heb. 12.14 Follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. A Man may see God without Peace but he can't see God without Holiness Peace is a sort of provision that will not keep if it be not well salted Therefore our Lord Christ hath taught you how to preserve it Mark 9.50 Have salt in your selves and have peace one with another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Col. 3.14 5. Keep Love in constant exercise This is a true principle of Union It is not only the knot that ties it but the bond that holds it It is the cement that holds the stones of Christs Spiritual Temple together This was the sacred sodder which united the Primitive Christians so firmly of old that they were of one heart Acts 4.32 and one soul We are united to Christ by Faith but to one another by Love And we should be careful to strengthen both the bands that neither of them be broken The true Mother would rather lose the Child then see it divided Among the Romans they had a Temple dedicated Jovi depositorio because there they laid aside their quarrels and differences before they enter'd into the Senate Shall Heathens lay aside their mutual jars for common good and shall not the Ministers of the Gospel do it much more for the Churches safety 6. Pray much for that wisdom that is from above which is pure peaceable gentle and easie to be intreated Jam. 3.17 3. Indeavour what in you lies to perfect this Union Nothing less then this will fully answer the Prayer of Christ He doth not only pray that his people may be made one but that they may be made perfect in one John 17.23 And if Christ prays for it ought not we to indeavour it that we may be perfectly joined together in the same mind 1 Cor. 1.10 and in the same judgment And because the oneness can never be fully perfected here therefore let us long for Heaven where this Blessing shall be compleat Here we injoy it by way of initiation their it will be in consummation All partition Walls shall then be destroyed There all contrary Opinions and differing Sentiments shall cease Their Luther and Zuinglius Hooper and Ridley shall be all of a mind Many Spiritual Gifts and Graces shall cease there whether there be prophecies they shall fail or whether there be tongues they shall cease Nay Faith Hope Repentance c. they shall cease too but Charity never fails 1 Cor. 13.8 Love and Union shall go with you to Heaven and shall be a part of the Saints felicity for ever It shall no more be said I am of Paul and I of Apollo but God shall be all in all I will conclude all with a short Exhortation and a Prayer as short The Exhortation is in Philip. 2. five first Verses If their be therefore any consolation in Christ if any comfort of love if any fellowship of the spirit if any bowels and mercies fulfil ye my joy that ye be like minded having the same love being of one accord of one mind Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better then themselves Look not every man on his own things but every man also on the things of others Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus That is the Exhortation The Prayer is in Rom. 15.5 6. Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like minded one towards 〈…〉 according to Christ Jesus that ye may with one mind and one mouth glorifie God even the father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Then will the Two Sticks be One in the hand of the Lord. Eph. 3.21 To him be glory in all the Churches by Christ Jesus throughout all ages AMEN FINIS These four Books are Published by Mr. Matthew Mead and sold by Tho. Parkhurst in Cheapside viz. Spiritual wisdom Improved against Temptation in a Sermon at Stepney September 16th 1660. The Almost Christian Discovered or the false Professor try'd and Cast in seven Sermons The Good of Early Obedience or the Advantage of Bearing the Yoak of Christ betimes The Vision of the Wheel seen by the Prophet Ezekiel opened and Applyed partly at the Merchants Lecture in Broad-street and partly at Stepney on January 31th 168● being the day of thanksgiving to God for the great Deliverance of the Kingdom from Popery and Slavery