Whilst we make our hatred to our Brother the great mark of our Zeal for our Religion and conclude him to love Christ the most who the least loves his fellow Christian. How much rather ought we to consider with our Apostle the love of our dear Master to us even whilst we were yet his Enemies and love those whom we ought to hope notwithstanding all their Errors are yet still his Friends and not think those unworthy of our Charity whom we piously presume God will not think unworthy of his Favour We suppose them to be mistaken in those things wherein they differ from us and perhaps they are so but yet we must consider that we our selves also are but Men and therefore may err and They as verily think Us in the wrong as we do Them And for ought I know we must leave it to the Day of Judgment to decide the Controversie which of us is in the right In the mean time if they are mistaken I am sure our uncharitableness is not the way to convince them of their Error but may rather indispose them to consider the weight of our Arguments as they ought whilst they see so little regard in our Affections towards them In short if we are indeed what we esteem our selves to be the strong in the Faith let us then remember that tho' Charity be their Duty too as well as ours yet 't is to such as We are especially that St. Paul addresses the Exhortation of the Text to bear the Infirmities of the Weak and to receive one another as Christ also hath recived us to the Glory of God But 2. Such Differences as these ought not only not to lessen our Charity but if it be possible not to hinder us from joyning together in the same common Worship of God with one another This was what these dissenting Christians notwithstanding all their Heats and Contentions nevertheless still continued to do They did with one Mouth glorifie God even when their Differences would not suffer them to do it with one Heart They united together in a common Worship of God tho' they could not unite either in Opinion or Affection with one another Indeed where Mens Errors are such as do utterly subvert the very Essentials of our Religious Worship it is there in vain to hope for any Communion in the Publick Service of God with them We must not destroy the Principles of Christianity out of a Zeal to enlarge the Communion of Christians He would be a very condescending Votary indeed who for the sake of praying to God with the Papist would pray to the Blessed Virgin and Saints too with him Who rather than be excluded their Churches would bow down before their Images and not only worship their Host but even give up his Right to the Cup in the Eucharist only that he might receive that holy Sacrament in their Company It is no doubt a very desirable thing to lessen the differences of Christians and enlarge their Communion as far as ever we can And it has never gone well with the Church of Christ since Men have been so narrow-spirited as to mix the Controversies of Faith with their Publick Forms of Worship and have made their Liturgies instead of being Offices of Devotion to God become Tests and Censures of the Opinions of their Brethren But yet when all is done the Truths of Christianity must not be sacrificed to the Peace of Christians nor the Honour of God be given up to keep up a Vnity and Communion with one another But where Mens Differences are in Points that do not at all affect their Religious Service or not so much but that God may be very well worshipp'd and yet Communion with our fellow Christians preserved too in such cases as this our dissentions ought not only not to lessen our Charity but not to break our Vnity neither We may continue to differ as the Christians in my Text did and yet with one Mind and one Mouth glorifie God as St. Paul exhorted them to do And this brings me to the Third and Last Point Thirdly That to this End it is the Duty of all of us but especially of the stronger Christians not only to Pray for such a Union but also as they have opportunity heartily to labour themselves and earnestly to stir up all others to endeavour after it I do not believe there is any good Christian so little affected with those unhappy Divisions under which the Church at this day labours as not both heartily to deplore them and to think that nothing could be too much that might innocently be done on all hands for the redressing of them But then I am sure the natural Consequence of this must be what both my Text and this Discourse are designed to exhort you to viz. That we ought every one of us not only heartily to pray for such a Vnion but also as we have opportunity earnestly to labour for the attainment of it Indeed for what concerns the whole Body of the Catholick Church on Earth so many are the Disputes that have arisen among the several Parties and Communions of it and some of them in Points so near to the Foundations of Christianity that whilst Men resolve to keep fast to their Conclusions and will not suffer the plainest Arguments to convince them of their Errors 't is in vain to hope ever to see things brought to such a Temper as we could wish in that But especially whilst that part which is the most corrupt is so far from being willing to concur to any such Vnion that on the contrary she has cut off all possibility of attaining it And by arrogating an unwarrantable Infallibility to her self and Authority over all others will neither reform her own Abuses nor admit any into her Communion that will not profess the same Errors in which she her self stands involved So that here all we can even wish for is that Men would at last be so wise as tho' they differ in Opinion yet to love as Brethren and agree together in a common Charity till we shall be so happy as to unite in a common Faith and worship of God But for us whom it has pleased God by delivering us from the Errors and Superstitions of the Church of Rome to unite together in the common name of Protestant Reformed Christians would we but as heartily labour after Peace as we are all of us very highly exhorted to it I cannot see why we who are so happily joyn'd together in a common profession of the same Faith at least I am sure in all the necessary Points of it and I hope amidst all our lesser Differences in a common love and charity to one another should not also be united in the same common Worship of God too I will not now enter into any Dispute to shew how little reason there is for any one to separate from the Offices of the Church of England upon the account of those
we ought not to rely either upon the one or upon the other It remains therefore that unless we will overthrow all the measures of Christian Charity towards our Neighbour and the common Truth I do not say both of their Faith and of our own but even of Christianity it self nay and of all Religion and Reason in general We must conclude That good Christians may differ from one another in matters of lesser moment without any just Reflection either upon themselves or their Religion But here therefore I must desire not to be misunderstood For when I say that Christians may without any danger to themselves or disparagement to the Truth of their Religion differ with one another I mean only as the Terms of my Proposition expresly shew in lesser matters such as do not concern the Fundamentals of Faith nor destroy the Worship of God nor are otherwise so clearly revealed but that Wise and Good Men after all their Enquiries may still continue to differ in their Opinions concerning them For otherwise if Interest and Prejudice blind men's Eyes and they err because they resolve they will not be convinced and so by their own Fault continue in Mistakes contrary to the Foundation of Faith and destructive of Piety If for instance Men will profess to believe but in One God and yet worship Thousands If they will read over the second Commandment and nevertheless both make and bow down before Graven Images in despite of it If whilst they acknowledge Christ to have instituted the Blessed Eucharist in both kinds they command it to be administred but in One and pray in an unknown Tongue tho' S. Paul has spent almost a whole Chapter to shew the Folly and Unreasonableness of it These are Errors in which I am not concerned and tho I should be unwilling even here at all adventures to pronounce any Sentence against the Men yet I must needs say That Religion cannot be very sound which stands corrupted with so many and such fundamental Abuses And this makes the difference between those Errors for which we separate from the Church of Rome and those Controversies which sometimes arise among Protestants themselves The former are in matters of the greatest consequence such as tend directly to overthrow the Integrity of Faith and the Purity of our Worship and therefore such as are in their own nature destructive of the very Essentials of Christianity Whereas our Differences do not at all concern the Foundations either of Faith or Worship and are therefore such in which Good Men if they be otherwise diligent and sincere in their Enquiry may differ without any Prejudice to themselves or any just Reflection upon the Truth of their common Profession Which being thus cleared in answer to the little Endeavours of one of the latest of our Adversaries against us upon this Account I go on Secondly to shew Secondly That such differences as these ought not to hinder such persons from agreeing together not only in a common Charity but if it be possible in a common Worship of God too This is what S. Paul here expresly exhorts these dissenting Christians to and earnestly praies to God that he might see accomplished in them That when they came together to the publick Offices of the Church to offer up their common Prayers and Thanksgivings to Him they might do it not only in the same Form of Words but with the same Affection of Mind too both towards God and towards one another Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like-minded one towards another according to Christ Jesus that ye may with one Mind and one Mouth glorifie God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Such was their Duty to one another then and we ought certainly no less to esteem the same to be our Duty towards one another now And 1. As to the business of Charity God forbid that any Differences in Religion whatsoever much less such little ones as those we are now speaking of should ever make us deny that to our fellow Christians 'T is true indeed our Saviour Christ once foretold to his Disciples That there should rise up Men from among their Brethren who should upon this account not only put them out of their Synagogues but even think that it was a matter of Religion to kill them But they were Jews not Christians who were to do this and He expresly adds That 't was their ignorance of Him and his Religion that should carry them on to so furious and intemperate a Zeal For these things saies he shall they do unto you because they have not known the Father nor Me. And we must confess it to the scandal of our Holy Religion that there are a sort of Men who call themselves Christians now that still continue to fulfil this Prophecy in the very Letter of it who not only cast us out of their Synagogues that we should not much complain of and as far as in them lies cut us off from all the Hopes of Salvation too but to compleat the parallel openly arm the whole World against us and teach Men to believe that 't is a Work of Piety to root us out of it and therefore that whosoever killeth us does do God service But in this as well as in the rest of their Errors they give us but the more effectually to understand how little they have in them of the true Spirit of Christianity for sure such things as these they could never do but only that as our Saviour in that other case before said they have not known the Father nor Him And I hope I shall need no Argument to perswade you not to be mis-led by that which we all of us so justly lament as one of the most deplorable Corruptions even of Popery it self Christianity commands us to love our Enemies and sure then we cannot but think it very highly reasonable not to hate our Brethren but especially on such an account as if it be once admitted will in this divided state of the Church utterly drive the very name of brotherly Love and Charity out of it seeing by whatsoever Arguments we shall go about to justifie our uncharitableness to any Others they will all equally warrant them to with-hold in like manner their Charity from us There is no honest sincere Christian how erroneous soever he may be but what at least is perswaded that he is in the right and looks upon Us to be as far from the Truth by differing from him as We esteem Him for not agreeing with us Now if upon the sole account of such Differences it be lawful for us to hate Another we must for the very same Reason allow it to be as lawful for Him also to hate Us. Thus shall we at once invert the Characteristick of our Religion By this shall all men know that ye are my Disciples if ye have love one to another and turn it into the quite contrary Note
few Exceptions that have sometimes been offer'd to justifie the doing of it This is a work both too large for such a Discourse and besides the design of my present Undertaking And that one Concession of many of our Brethren themselves who tho' they continue ordinarily to separate from us yet nevertheless freely allow of what they call Occasional Communion with us I think sufficiently shews how little real ground there is for those Scruples that have so long detain'd them in an unjust aversion to our Worship Blessed be God who has abundantly justified both the Purity of our Doctrin and the Innocency of our Worship not only by the general Approbation of the Reformed Churches abroad who both freely communicate with us in our religious Offices and have often given Testimony in favour of them but in the happy Conviction of many at Home who were once Enemies to our Constitution but who now go with us into the same House of God as Friends And indeed the things for which some forsake us now are no other than what they were in the Beginning of the Reformation when yet there was no such thing as Separation from our Communion But on the contrary the old Non-Conformists themselves tho' they disliked some things in our Worship yet freely declared they thought it a Crime to divide the Church on the account of them And they who at this day separate from us for the sake of those few Constitutions that have been made for the Order and Decency of our Publick Worship must for the same reason have separated from all the Churches of the Christian World for above 1500 years in none of which they might not have found as great that I do not say and much greater occasion of Offence than they can in Ours But yet since Mens Scruples are unaccountable and after all that can be said they will still differ even about indifferent things and be afraid many times where no Fear is and a too long Experience has already shewn us That if ever we mean to accomplish that Union so much recommended to us by our Apostle so advantagious to the Church at all times but especially at this time so necessary to our Peace and our Establishment that it seems to be the only way that yet remains to settle and to secure us and upon all these accounts so much to be desired by all Good Men we must seek it by that Rule which St. Paul here proposed to the Dissenting Christians of my Text We then that are strong in the faith ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please our selves I cannot but think it a Reflection becoming every good Christian among us but in a more especial manner worthy the Consideration of such an Auditory as this Whether somewhat may not yet be done for the sake of Peace and to bring things to such a TEMPER that both Order and Decency may still be preserved and yet our Vnity no longer broken And for Exhortations to so Good and Christian a Work shall I set before you the Example of our Blessed Saviour recommended to us in the Text with what a mighty condescension he has treated Us how he came down from Heaven and took upon Him the form of a servant and being made in the likeness of a sinful man humbled Himself even to the Death upon the Cross for us How He still bears not only with our Infirmities but with our Sins too and by all these wonderful instances of his Love to us teacheth us says St. John How we ought also to love one another Or rather shall I shew you how far such a Blessed Vnion as this would conduce to the Glory of God to the Security of our Religion and to the Promotion of Peace and Charity and Piety among us I need not say what a dishonour our Divisions have already brought to the Reformation nor what a stop they have put to the progress of it Great to be sure is the Advantage which our Enemies either have or at least hoped to have made by those Contests which they have taken so much pains both to bring in and to keep up among us And methinks there should need no other Argument to stir up every true Friend to the name of Protestant to endeavour all he can to compose our Differences than this one thing That we are sufficiently convinced who they are that we please and whose Interests we serve by the continuance of them Let us add to this what great Obligations our Holy Religion lays upon us to follow after those things that make for peace and whereby we may edifie one another How our Saviour has set it down as the very Badge of our Discipleship By this shall all men know that ye are my Disciples if ye have love one to another What Exhortations his Apostles have given us If it be possible as much as in us lies to live peaceably with all men But especially with reference to the differences about Religion To mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the Doctrine which we have learnt and avoid them With what a scrupulous care did St. Paul manage himself between the dissenting parties in my Text What admirable Rules did he lay down for them to walk by And with what an affectionate earnestness did he enforce them If there be 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 And may I not beg leave tho' not with the Authority yet with the Charity of St. Paul to apply all this to those unhappy Divisions that at this day rend in pieces the Church of Christ among us and beseech you by all these endearing Considerations to pursue those things which may make for our Peace and for the closing of those breaches which the malice of our Enemies too successfully begun and our own weakness has too fatally kept up among us Never certainly was there a time since the name of Separation was first heard of among us in which we had greater reason to consider of such a Vnion or I hope a fairer opportunity to promise our selves an Accomplishment of it Only let us be on all hands as careful to improve it as I am persuaded we have all of us not only seem'd to desire but have indeed earnestly long'd for it Let us shew the sense we have of that wonderful Deliverance God has given us out of the hand of our Enemies by uniting our selves in the strictest League of Friendship with one another Hitherto we have defended our Church by our Arguments let us now by our Charity settle and establish it against the like Dangers for the time to come This will indeed render both our selves and our Religion Glorious to the World and may be a Happy Augury
the Pardon and Salvation of Mankind than by the Death of his Son For since it was the Pleasure of God to pitch upon this way of doing it to what purpose is it for us vainly to enquire whether he might not have made use of some other This we ought at least to believe That God had his Reasons for preferring this and that however we ought not so far to tye up the Power and Liberty of our Creator as to presume to say he could not otherwise have redeem'd us than by the Death of Christ yet thus much we may and 't is our duty to conclude That none could have better or so well have answer'd the great Ends both of his Justice and of his Mercy or more illustriously have set forth the Riches of his Love and Favour to Mankind or more powerfully have engaged us to a suitable return of Love to him or more clearly have convinced us of the hatred of God to Sin or more effectually have stir'd us up to our utmost endeavours to live as we ought to do and as becomes those who had been so wonderfully redeem'd by the precious Blood of the Son of God himself But though this then be a Question otherwise of more Curiosity than Vse and raised for the most part rather to cavil at Religion than to magnifie the Power of it yet may it here perhaps be of some benefit to us to fill our Souls with the highest resentments of Love and Gratitude to our Great Redeemer to consider not only from what Miseries he has delivered us but with what a freedom and readiness and good-will to us he did it No God was not constrain'd nor any necessity put upon our Saviour Christ as if either the one must have died or that the other could not by any other means have reconciled Mankind unto himself It was the free Choice of both by this means the better to magnifie their Love to us and to secure our Love and Duty to them again that so as St. John says 1 Ep. iv 19 We may love God because he first loved us Hence it is that the Holy Scriptures every where set out to us the whole business of our Salvation as the effect of the free Choice and Pleasure of God So says St. John cap. iii. 16 God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life So says St. Paul 2 Tim. i. 9 where he makes the business of our Redemption to have been the eternal purpose of God before Adam had yet sinned or by consequence before there could be any necessity of Christ's dying for us who hath saved us says he and called us with an Holy Calling not according to our works but according to his own purpose and Grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the World began And of our Blessed Saviour the same Apostle tells us not only that He gave Himself for us Tit. ii 14 but that he did it with all imaginable readiness and with the same good-will with which God designed it Lo I come says he to fulfil thy Will O God Heb. x. 7 9. And again in St. John speaking of laying down his life for us he declares ver 18. No man taketh it from me but I lay it down of my self I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again Such therefore was the love of our Blessed Saviour to us in freely giving up himself to the Death for us And for the reason that induced him to it and the benefits which thereby accrue to us I shall not need to say either what or how great they were Indeed the time would fail me should I go about particularly to lay them all before you Miserable was the State and deplorable the Condition of Mankind beyond any thing that we are able almost to conceive We were all dead in Trespasses and Sins and must for ever have lain both under the Guilt and Punishment of our Transgressions had not the Blessed Jesus opened to us the Gates of Heaven and sealed a Gospel of Repentance with his own Blood for the Remission of our Sins Our Nature was decayed and that he has restored so that whereas before we had no sufficiency of our selves we have now a sufficiency of God and can do all things through Christ that strengthens us Our Sins had got the dominion over us and these he has not only very much prevented by his Grace but will also utterly wipe away by his Death and Satisfaction for us We were under a miserable Sentence of Death and Judgment But Christ has now took away the sting of the one and the danger of the other so that our Temporal Death is no longer a Punishment but rather a Blessing to us and the Eternal Judgment of God shall instead of being our Condemnation prove to us perfect Absolution and a glorious Reward This is the blessed Change which has been made in our Condition and which certainly ought to render the remembrance of our Text most dear and precious to us But I must not insist any longer upon this Point I am persuaded there is no one that now hears me so ignorant in the great Mystery of Godliness as not to be fully acquainted with this first and chiefest Foundation of all our Faith Nor have I mentioned that little which I have now remark'd of it so much to instruct you in what you ought to make a great part of your Memorial when you come to this Holy Sacrament as rather if it shall please God to stir up some Affections both in my self and you that may be suitable to a serious Reflection on all these things There being nothing it may be in the World more apt to fill our Souls with that due resentment we then especially ought to have of the Death of Christ when we come to this Sacred Memorial of it than to consider the wretched condition from which we were delivered by it nor more apt to engage us to live as becomes those who have been freed from such unspeakable Miseries and are now put into a capacity of Everlasting Glory and without which our remembrance of him in this Sacrament will be a Reproach and a Scandal not an Honour and a Service to him we shall forfeit all the benefits of that Death we are call'd to commemorate and as our Apostle phrases it ver 29. of this Chapter Eat and drink our own Damnation not discerning the Lord's Body This is the first thing we are to do in pursuance of the Command of the Text This do in Remembrance of Me. Secondly This remembring of Christ in this Holy Sacrament will oblige us to consider what that Death and Passion was which he underwent for our sakes and commanded us in this place to continue the Memory of in this Institution And this to be sure must be the proper business of every one when