whom we serve is the only God and that he and none but he should rule us and that we have grievously wronged him by disobeying him so long And yet would you have us again forsake him If we should lie in tears till we die it were too little to satisâ—â—e his Justice for one of the sinâ— we have already committed and if it had not been for the wonderful â—ave and suffâ—â—ing of the son of God we had been lost for ever And yet must we turn to this course again God forbid It was not so wise nor honest a course We our selves saith Paul were sometime foolish disobedient deceived serving divers lusts and pleasures living in malice and envy hateful and hating one another you hear how he calls his former life But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he sâ—ved us by the washing of regâ—neration and renâ—wing of the Holy Ghost Tit. 3.3 4 5. And should Paul have turned a fool again and be deceived and disobedient again to Agâ—ee with the rest of the deceived world O Sirs we have seen that which you have not seen and tasted that which you never tasted Had you seen and tasted the Love of God in Christ and the delightful hopes of eternal life and felt the comfort of his service and the joyes of the Holy Ghost you would never wish us to come back again to agree with you in sin but you would abhorr your selves the very thoughts of your former folly Why you may better perswade a man to repent that he was born and â—o go into the womb again 〈◊〉 perswade us to â—epent thaâ— we are new-born and return to our 〈◊〉 staâ—e of death Deaâ—h is not so â—weet to us â—or Hâ—ll â—or the wâ—aâ—â— or 〈◊〉 so 〈◊〉 â—or sin wâ—â—h 〈◊〉 pleâ—sure so 〈…〉 thaâ— we should turn to them again for â—eaâ—e with you If we have scaped them 〈◊〉 and will not take that for a warning to come â—here no more we deseâ—ve to pay for it Why Sirs we have made a solemn Covenant with God in the face of the Congregation in our Baptism and oft renewed it in the Loâ—ds Supper and vowed that we would be his and absolutely and unreservedly his And would you wish us to break so solemn a Covenant What honesty is in such persidiousness We have renounced the flesh the world and the devil and should we turn to them agaâ—n for Peace with you O what a cursed Peace were that Let me tell you that we have not found God so â—ad a Master as to forsake him for the sake of you or any creature We have tryed hâ—m â—nd fouâ—d him 〈◊〉 to us then all â—he woâ—ld He hath never given us cauâ—e to forsâ—â—e him And if we should now afâ—er all â—he tryals of his love turn back to the way of sin and ungodliness the Devil himself would charge us with dishonesty What! must the godly turn drunkards and worldlings and hateâ—s of godliness to have Peace with you Why you may next perswade us even to turn Devils that we may be reconciled to you The God that made us hath forbid us upon pain of his hot displeasure to walk in your wayes He saith to every one of us as to Ieremy 15.19 Let them return unto thee but return not thou unto them And should we obey God or men Judge you whether Why Sirs are you so utterly unreasonable as to wish us or any man living to love you better then God or to regard you more then God or obey you before God Or should we be so much worse then mad as to yield to you if you did desire it Why what are you in comparison with the Almighty O poor worms that are even dying while you are speaking that are but as bubbles ready to burst when you are swelled to the highest in ungodly pride That even while you are eating and drinking and making merry are passing on apace to weeping and gnashing of teeth and everlasting woes and lamentations What should we regard such dust and dirt as you are before the glorious God! It were far greater wisdom and honesty for your children to set up a dog or a toad and say This is more to be loved and honoured then my Father If a Traytor against an earthly Prince deserve to be hang'd drawn and quartered certainly that man that would forsake God and his Laws to please such silly worms as you did deserve to be hang'd in the flames of Hell and to be tormented by infernal fiends and ground to powder by the wrath of the Almighty Well! if you have eyes that can see you may see now past doubt that we cannot turn to you that are ungodly with any wisdom or honesty in the world nor without the highest madness and dishonesty But can you say so of your turning in to us Is it contrary either to Wisdom or Honesty for you to turn unfeignedly to God and to become a sanctiâ—ied godly people Me thinks you should not have such a thought in youâ— hearts And therefore if we be not all of a mind and go not all one way it is most apparent that it is not long of us but of you 3. If we do Vnite and Agree it must be upon terms of Safety This much I hope you cannot deny us You would not sure wish us to Agree to our own destruction and to make a bargain with you that we may all joyn together in cutting our own throats Do you think that this were a wise combination How much less should we make an Agreement to go the certain way to Hell and to joyn together in damning our own souls for ever Sirs if you dislike the way of Holiness do but find out any other way that will safely bring a man to heaven and we will promise you to joyn in it But unholiness will never do it God hath told us as plain as can be spoken thâ—t except a man be born again and be converted he cannot enter into the Kingdom of heaven Joh. 3.3.5 Mat. 18.3 anâ— that without hâ—liness no man s◠〈◊〉 the Lord Hâ—b 12.14 and that the righteous thâ—mselves are sâ—â—reely sâ—rvâ—d 1 Pet. 4.18 and that if any man be in Christ he is a new creature old things are past away and all things become new 2 Cor. 5.17 and that if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his Rom. 8.9 So that if God know who shall be saved it is as certain as any thing in the world that no unsanctified man can be saved If leaping into the water be the way to drowning or leaping into the fire be the way to burning or leaping down from the top of a stâ—â—ple be the way to break your necks as sure is an unholy life the â—ay to everlasting torment And would you wish us to undo our sâ—lvâ—s everlastingly for your â—riâ—ndship
with the Godly so far as you confess you ought to do and would but Unite with us in faithfulness to the truths which you cannot deny I think it will be best to call you to the tryal in some particulars 1. I hope we are all Agreed that there is one only God that maâ—e us and preserveth us and Redeemed us and therefore that we are wholly his and should resign our selves and all that we have absolutely to him for his service He is not worthy the name of a man that denyeth this And shall we aâ—l Agree now in the Practice of this much Shall we wholly resign our selves and all that we have to God and labour to know what God would have us be and do and that let us resolve upon whatever the flesh or the world say to the contrary Were but this much well resolved on we were in a fair way to a full agreement 2. We are all Agreed in Opinion or Profession that this God is our only Happiness and his favour is better then all the world and that he is infinitely Wise and Good and Powerful and therefore that he must be Loved above all things whatsoever and must be most feared and served and trusted and depended on And shall we but Agree all in the Practice of this much O that you would but heartily consent and do it Did we but joyn together in Loving God above all and fearing and trusting and serving him before all we should quickly be of one heart and soul and in a very fair way to a perfect agreâ—ment 3. We are all Agreed that profess Christianity that sin hath made us miserable and brought us under the wrath and curse of God and that the Lord Jesus Christ having Redeemed us by his blood is the only Physitian and Remedy for our souls and having manifested such infinite Love in our Redemption and also purchased Dominion over us we are strongly bound to Rejoyce in his salvation and fly to him for Safety and rest upon him and live in the thankful admirations of his Love and in careful Obedience to his gracious Laws And shall we all Agree in the Practice of this much Will you fly to Christ with broken bleeding hearts for safety from sin and wrath and Hell and set more by him then by all the world Will you study with all Saints to comprehend his Love Eph. 3.18 19 and admire him and his mercies and devote your selves to him and be ruled by him O that we were but all agreed in this much 4. We are all agreed in Opinion or Profession that the Holy Ghost is the Sanctifier of Gods elect or of all that shall be saved and that except a man be born again by the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of heaven and that without holiness none shall see God and that no man is the Son of God that hath not in him the Spirit of his Son 1 Cor. 12.12 13. Eph. 4.5 Ioh. 3.5 6. Heb. 12.14 Rom. 8.9 Gal. 4.4 Were we but all such now as we are agreed we must be and would you but all Consent to this Sanctification and newness of life the great difference were healed and the work were done 5. Moreover we are all Agreed or seem to be so that the holy Scripture is the word of God and of infallible truth and therefore must be believed and made the Rule of our Judgements and our lives Shall we all agree now in the practice of this Will you appeal to the Scripture and shall it be our Rule If the flesh perswade you to another course and murmur at the strictness of Gods Word if custom be against it and the greater number be against it if your profits or pleasures or worldly honours be against it and your former opinions and practice have been against it will you yet believe the Scripture before all and be ruled by it above all the world You are agreed I hope that God is to be obeyed rather then men or then the flesh and the Devil Will you resolve that 〈◊〉 shall be so O if the Word of God might be the Rule how quickly should we be agreed For all the Popish cavils at its difficulty and mens divers expositions yet how soon should we be agreed 6. We are all agreed in Opinion or Profession that there is a heaven for the Sanctified even an endless unconceivable Glory with God in the seeing of his face and enjoying him in perfect Love and Joyes and that the seeking of this everlasting Glory should be the main and principal business of our lives which all things must give place to He that will deny this can have no pretence to call himself a Christian. O that we might but all agree in the practising of this and that the principal love and desire of our souls were set upon the Heavenly blessedness and the chiefest of our care and labour might be laid out for the obtaining of it Agree in this and all will be agreed at last 7. We are all Agreed in our profession that there is an Hell or state of endless torments where all the finally unsanctified and ungodly must be for ever But why do we not agree in the diligent avoiding of such a dreadful misery and using our best endeavours to escape it 8. We are all agreed in Profession that the flesh is our enemy and must be mortified But will you agree in the practice of this mortification We are agreed iâ— Profession that the world is our enemy and must be contemned and that it is a vain and worthless thing compared with the Glory that is to come But yet mâ—n 〈◊〉 not agree to renounce the world unfeignedly and to be stranger to it and part with all rather thâ—â— with God and a good Conscience but while men spâ—ak contemptuously of the world they seek 〈◊〉 far more eagerly then heaven We are agreed that the Devil is our enemy and yet men will not forsaâ—â— his service 9. We are all agreed in profession that sin is a most hateful thing hated of God condemned by his Word and the only cause of the damnation of souls And yet men love it and live in it with delight Shaâ—l we agree all to deal with sin as we speak of it Will Magistrates and Ministers and people joyn together to banish it out of Town and Countrey Particularly we are agreed I hope that whoredom and wantonness and gluttony and drunkenness and strife and envying and lying and deceit and cursing and swearing and railing and backbiting and speaking against an holy life are all groâ—s hateful damning sins which every Christian must abhor But why do you not agree in the hateing and forsaking and beating down of these sins But Town and Countrey swarmeth with them as a carkase doth with maggots or a stinking pond with frogs and toads So that Magistrates and Ministers punishments and perswasions the Laws of the Land and the Laws of God can do but little to
Catholick Vnity OR The only way to bring us all to be of one Religion By Rich. Baxter To be read by such as are offended at the differences in Religion and are willing to do their part to heal them JAMES 3.17 But the Wisdom that is from above is first Pure then Peaceable Gentle easie to be intreated c. London Printed by R. W. for Thomas Underhill and Francis Tyton and are to be sold at the sign of the Anchor and Bible in Pauls Church-yard and at the three Daggers in Fleet-street 1660. To all those in the severall Parishes of these Nations that complain of the disagreements in matters of Religion Men and Brethren AS in the midst of all the impiety and dishonesty of the world it is some comfort to us that yet the Names of Piety and Honesty are still in credit and ungodliness and dishonesty are terms of disgrace so that those that will be ungodly and dishonest are fain to use the Mask and Vail of better names to hide their wickedness so also it is some comfort to us in the midst of the uncharitableness and discords of this age that yet the Names of Love and Concord â—ound so well and are honoured by those that are furthest from the Things For thus we seem agreed in the main cause and have this advantage in our debates that whatever shall be proved to be against Love and Unitâ— and Peace we are all oâ— us obliged by our professions to dâ—sown I may suppose that all that read these words will speak against the uncharitableness and contentâ—ons and divisions of the present times as well as I. Doth it grieve my soul to hear professed Christians so censoriously condemning and passionately reviling one another while they are proudly justifying themselves I suppose you 'l say It grieves you also Do I mourn in secret to see so many divisions and subdivisions and Church set up against Church and Pastors against Pastors in the same Parishes and each party labouring to disgrace the other and their way that they may promote their own I suppose you will say You do so tâ—o Do I lament it as the Nations shame that in Religion men are of so many minds and manage their differences so unpeaceably that it is become the stumbling block to the ungodly the grief of our friends and the derâ—sion of our enemies I know you will say that this also is your lamentation And is it not a wonder indeed that such a misery should be continued which all men are against and which cannot be continued but by our wilfull choice Is it not strange that we are so long without so great a blessing as Unity and Peace while all men say they love it â—nd desire it and while we may have it if we will But the cause is evident while men love Unity they hate the Holiness in which we must Unite While they love Peace they hate the necessary means by which it must be obtained and maintained The way of Peace they have not known or knowing it they do abhor it As well as they love Unity and Peace they love the Causes of discord and division much better The drunkard and whore-monger and worldling say they love the salvation of their souls But yet while they love and keep their sins they will miss of the salvation which they say they love And so while men love their ungodliness and dividing wayes we are little the better for their love of peace If men love Health and yet love Poyson and hate both medicine and wholsom food they may miss of health notwithstanding they love it Where know you a Parish in England that hath no disagreements in matters of Religion In this Parish where I live we have not several Congregations nor are we divided into such parties as in many other places But we have here the great division some are for Heaven and some for Earth some love a holy diligent life and others hate it some pray in their Families and teath them the word and fear of God and others do not some spend the Lords Day in holy exercises and others spend much of it in idleness and vanity some take the service of God for their delight and others are weary of it and live in ignorance because they will not be at the pains to learn Some make it the principal care and business of their lives to prepare for death and make sure of everlasting life and others will venture their souls on the wrath of God and cheat themselves by their own presumption rather then be at this sweet and necessary labour to be saved Some hate sin and make it their dayly work to root out the relicts of it from their hearts and lives and others love it and will not leave it but hate those that reprove them and endeavour their salvation And as long as this great division is unhealed what other means can bring us to any happy Unity It would make a mans heart bleed to consider of the folly of the ungodly rout that think it would be a happy Union if we could all agree to read one form of prayer while some love and others hate the holiness which they pray for and if we could all agree to use the sign of the Cross in Baptism while one half either understand not the Baptismall Covenant or wilfully violate it and neglect or hate and scorn that mortified holy life which by that solemn Vow and Covenant they are engaged to They are solicitous to bring us all to unity in the gesture of receiving the Sacrament of the Lords Supper while some take Christ and life and others take their own damnation When they should first agree in being all the faithfull servants of one Master they make a great matter of it that the servants of Christ and of the Devil may use the same bodily posture in that worship where their hearts are as different as spirit and flesh Poor people think that it is the want of Uniformity in certain Ceremonies of mans invention that is the cause of our great divisions and distractions When alas it is the want of unity in matters of greater consequence even of Faith and Love and Holiness as I have here shewed If once we were all children of one Father and living members of one Christ and all renewed by one sanctifying Spirit and aimed at one end and walked by one Rule the word of God and had that special Love to one another which Christ hath made the mark of his Disciples this were an Agreement to be rejoyced in indeed which would hold us together in the most comfortable relations and assure us that we shall live together with Christ in everlasting blessedness But alas if our Agreement be no better then to sit together in the same seats and say the same words and use the same gestures and Ceremonies our hearts will be still distant from each other our natures will be contrary and the
3.18 But it is the Lord that is the portion of the Saints Psal. 16.5 They lay up a treasure in heaven Mat. 6.20 and there they have their conversations Phil. 3.20 Being risen with Christ they seek the things that are above where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God for they are dead and their life is hid with Christ in God Col. 3.1 3 4. The business that the Saints and that the ungodly have in the world is clean contrary Their business is for Heaven and yours is for earth They are sowing to the spirit in hope of everlasting life and you are sowing to the flesh and shall reap corruption Gal. 6.6 7. They are making Provision for another life that never shall have end and you are making provision for the flesh to satisfie its desires Rom. 13.14 And how is it possible for these to be United What concord between light and darkness or Christ and Belial or righteousness with unrighteousness 2 Cor. 6.14 15. Can two walâ— together except they be agreed Amo. 3.3 We must better agree of our business in the world and of our journeys end before we can keep company with you While you are for earth and we for heaven it is not possible that we should go one way While one is for the world and another for God they must needs differ For God and the world are masters that are unreconcileable If you will cleave to one you must despise the other The work of the Butcher and the Souldier is to kill and the work of the Surgeon and Physitian is to cure And do you think these will ever take one course The Souldier studies how to wound and kill The Surgeon studies how to close these wounds and heal them And surely these must go contrary wayes Sirs as long as your business is principally for the flesh and the world and the business of the sanctified is against the flesh and world and for the Spirit and the world to come how is it possible that you should be agreed You must bring heaven and earth together first yea heaven and hell together first before you can have a Christian Unity and Agreement between the sanctified and the unsanctified 5. There is no Vnity to be had but in the Gospel The Apostle tels us there is One Faith Eph. 4.5 If an Angel from heaven would preach another Gospel he must be accursed Gal. 1.10 11. But the unsanctified do not truly and heartily entertain this Gospel You think and say you truly believe it when you do not If you truly believed it your lives would shew it He that indeed believes an everlasting Glory will sure look after it more then after the world or the flesh 6. There is no Christian Unity but in the Christian Nature Contrary natures cannot close Firâ— and Water the Woolf and the Lamb the Bear and the Dog wiâ— not well Unite The sanctified havâ— a new divine and heavenly nature Ioh. 3.6 2 Pet. 1.4 2 Cor. 5 1â— Their Disposition is another way then it was before But the unsanctified have the old corrupt fleshly nature still One is as the fire still bending upward the other as the earth or stone still bending downward to the earth And how can these agree together 7. There is no Christian Vnity to be had where the Affections run quite contrary wayes But so it is with the sanctified and the unsanctified One loves God above all and cannot live without holy Communion with him and retireth into him from the distractions of the world and maketh him his Rest Content and Solace The other mentions the goodness of God but findeth no such sweetness in him nor desires after him One treads the world underfoot as dirt or valueth and useth it but as a help to heaven And the other makes it his happiness and sets his heart on it One delighteth in Holiness and the other hateth it or regardeth it not One hateth sin as a Serpent or as death and the other makes it his meat and drink and business And how is it possible for men of such contrary affections to be agreed and natures at such enmity to Unite 8. The sanctified and unsanctified are moved by contrary Objects One lives by faith on things that are out of sight and strives for Heaven as if he saw it and strives against Hell as if he saw it for his faith is the evidence of things not seen Heb. 11.1 7. We live by faith and not by sight 2 Cor. 5.7 2 Cor. 4.18 But the unsanctified live upon things that are seen and things believed little move them because they are not heartily believed 9. The Holy and the unholy do live by contrary Laws One liveth by the Law of God and there asketh counsel what he must think or say or do resolving to obey God before his flesh and all the world The other will say he will be ruled by Gods Law till his flesh and carnal interest contradict it and then he will take his lusts for his Law His Pride is a Law to him and the pleasures and profits of the world are a Law to him and the will of great ones and the customs of men are his Law And how is it possible for mâ—n to agree that walk by such contrary Rules as these 10. There is no true Vnity but in the Covenant with Christ. As Marriage Vniteth man and wife so every truly sanctified man hath delivered up himself to Christ in a peremptory absolute Covenant and hath quit all claim of interest in himself and is wholly Gods But the unsanctified will not be brought to this any further then the lips and therefore they cannot be well United 11. The true members of the Church are built on the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Eph. 2.20 21. But the unsanctified regard them not if they cross their minds 12. There is no true Christian Vnity but with the Holy Catholick Church The body is but one 1 Cor. 12.12 13. Eph. 4.4 But the unsanctified are not of the Holy Catholick Church but only in the visible external Communion of it 13. There can be no true Christian Vnity with the Saints without a special Love to the Saints For by this we know that we are passed from death to life because we love the Brethren he that lovetâ— not his brother abideth in death 1 John 3.14 By this must all men know that we are Christs Disciples John 13.35 Love is the bond and cement of the Church He that doth not heartily love a godly sanctified man because he is such hath no true Unity with the Church But the ungodly love them not as such They see no such beauty and loveliness in Holiness Though Scripture call it Gods Image they be not in Love with Gods Image but think it a conceit or hypocritical pretence or a wearysom thing Why poor carnal wretches do you hate the godly and yet would you have Unity with them Do you hate them and yet cry
out against Divisions when your hearts are thus divided from God and his servants You must learn to Love them with a special Love and Christ in them before you can be United with them 14. There is no Unity to be had wiâ—hout a Love to the Body that you are United to You must Love the Church and long for its prosperity and the success of the Gospel and the downfall of wickedness Thus do the Saints but thus do not the ungodly Nay many of them are glad when they hear of any evil befall the godly 15. There is no true Vnity without a singular respect to the special members that are the ligaments and chief Instruments of Unity even the Officers of the Church and most useful members The Overseers of the Church must be highly esteemed in Love for their work sake 1 Thes. 5.12 Thâ—s do the godly but not the ungodly 16. There must be an inward inclination to the Communion of Saints before there can be any agreement and Unity All that are of the Holy Catholick Church must desire the Communion of Saints Their delight must be in them Psal. 16.3 But the ungodly have no such delight in their Communion 17. If you will have Vnity and Communion with the Church you must have a Love to the Holy Ordinances which are the means of Communion as to the Word of God heard and read to Prayer Sacraments Confession c. But the ungodly have either a distaste of these or but a common delight in the outside and not in the Spirit of the Ordinance And therefore they cannot agree with the Church when you loath that which is our mâ—at and drink and we cannot feed at one Table together what Agreement can there be 18. If you will Agree you must wâ—rk in the same Vineyard and labour in the same employment and walk the same way as the sanctified do And that is in a way of holiness and righteousness giving all diligence to make your calling and election sure 2 Pet. 1.10 If you live to the flesh and they live to the Spirit Rom. 8.5 13. What Unity and Agreement can there be 19. There is no Unity to be had unless you will joyn in a defensive and offensive league and in an opposition to that which would tend to our destruction What Common-wealth will Unite with them that defend their enemies and rebels There is an enmity put in the beginning between the seed of the woman and of the Serpent Gen. 3.15 Because we are not of the world the world will hate us Iohn 15.19 If you will be United to the Church and people of Christ you must be at enmity with sin and hate it and joyn for the destroying of it and you must be souldiers in Christs Army which the Devil and his army fight against and you must fight against the flesh the world and the devil and not live in friendship with them But this the unsanctified will not do 20. And therefore because you will not be United to them in the state and Kingdom of Grace you shall not be United with them in the state and Kingdom of Glory And thus I have made it plain to you that none can have true Union with the Church of Christ but only they that are sanctified by the Spirit Use I. BY this time you may see if you are willing to see who it is long of that the world is all in pieces by divisions and who are the greatest hinderers of Unity Even unsanctified ungodly men And you may see how fit these men are to cry out against Divisions that are the principal causes of them And how wisely they deal to cry up Unity and in the mean time resist the only ground and way of Unity As Ioshua said to Achan 7.25 Why hast thou troubled us the Lord shall trouble thee this day So I may say to all the ungodly Why trouble you the Church and hinder Vnity you shall one day have trouble your selves for this They cry out against the Ministry and others that fear God as Ahab did to Elijah Art thou he that troubleth Israel But saith Elijah It is thou and thy Fathers house that trouble Israel in that ye have forsaken the Commandment of the Lord 1 King 18.17 18. Sirs I tell you and I may confidently tell you when I have proved it so fully that it is the ungodly that are the great Dividers of the world It s you that make the breach and keep it open We are willing to agree to any thing that is reasonable or pâ—ssible but there is no possibility of Agreeing with the ungodly unless they will turn It would make any honest heart to ake to see these wreâ—ches set all on fire and then cry out against others as the Authors of it As Nero set Rome on fire and then persecuted the Christians for it as if it had been done by them They pluck up the Foundations and hold most damnable practical errours and when they have done they go about reviling other men as erroneous I speak not in the excuse or extenuation of other mens errours I have spoke my part against them also But I tell you it is the prophane and ignorant rabble and all the ungodly whether Gentlemen Schollars or of what rank soever that are the great dividers and stand at the greatest distance from Christian Unity O what a happy Church should we have for all the sects that trouble us so much if it were not for ungodliness that animateth some of those sects and virtually containeth many more Had we none but men fearing God to deal with we should have no opposition to the Essentials of Religion and we should still have the comfort of agreeing with them in all things necessary to salvation They would carry on their differences in Christian meekness charity and moderation and at the worst our Agreement would be greater then our disagreement But when we have to deal with haters of holiness or at least with men that are strangers to the sanctifying work of the Spirit we have predominant Pride and Selfishness and Covetousness to strive against We have radicated Infidelity and enmity to God and holiness giving life and strength to all their errours and making them stubborn and wilful and scornful against the clearest truths that can be shewed them There is no dealing effectually with a carnal heart for any but God himself Unless we can create light in them as well as reveal the truth to them what good can we do them What good doth the Sun to a man that is blind They have understandings left and therefore they can err but they have no heavenly light in them and therefore they cannot choose but err They have wills and therefore are capable of sin but they have no holy rectitude of them and therefore sin they will with obstinacy When we dispute with the godly that err through weakness we deal with men that have eyes in their heads and
propoundeth Impossibilities to be agreed on is the enemy of agreement But it is impossible for us to come to you and so to Unite with you Thâ—s I now prove 1. â—t is Impossible to have any Vniversal Vnity but in an Vniversal Head and Center and that is only God the Father Son and Holy-Ghost As I told you the Army must Unite in the General the Kingdom in the Soveraign the Family in the Master the School in the School-master In order of Nature you must Unite with God in the Redeemer by the sanctifying Spirit before you can Unite with us But while you are unsanctified you are divided from God Do you not feel your minds strange to him your hearts draw back from him and find by his strangeness to you that there is a division It s impossible for us to be United to you till Christ be United to you For 1. It s against Nature seeing he is the Center and the Head and Fountain of Life And what good would it do you to be one with us and not with him 2. God is against any Unity without him If you will not begin with him he will take it but as a treasonable conspiracy and will break it We dare not go without him lest he be angry and destroy us Souldiers must not make either Peace or war not so much as treat without the General Do you not remember how Iehosaphat had like to have sped by a friendship and confederacy with Ahab 2. Moreover the Godly and ungodly are of contrary natures I told you God hath put an enmiâ—y between them You must chanâ—e your nature or we ouâ—s before we can Unite You may as well think else to Unite fire and water or to build in the air or to incorpoâ—â—â—â— fire and Gun-powder or to reconcile men and serpâ—nts and maâ—ry the dog and the bear together Sirs these â—hings are meer impossâ—bilities 2 Cor. 16.14 There is no agreement between Christ and Belial righteousness and unrighteousness light and darkness dâ—ath and life the members of Christ and the members of an harlot or a drunkard or such like We have contrary spirits how then can we be One One hath the Spirit of holiness and the other the Spirâ—â— of profaneness One is led by the Spirit of God and the oâ—her by the flesh We live not by one Law Gods will revealed in hâ—s Word is Our Law and the will of the flesh and the course of the world is your Law We live not on one sort of food how then can we accord together Christ and his heavenly truth and holy Spirit and Ordinances is the meat and drink of the Saints they cannot live without them And the world and fleshly delights are your food you cannot be without it Your food would be our poyson your worldly cares your drunkenness and profaneness would be a torment to an honest heart They cannot live without some Communion with God in Faith and Love by Prayer and â—editation and your heart is against it They have not the same â—nd as you have Their work is all for Heaven and yours is all principally for earth Their work and yours are contrary Thâ—y go one way and you another So that its Impossible to be United and agree till one side change And we cannot Possibly turn to you God holds us fast by his Love and Spirit and will not let us go nor suffer us ever to be willing to go Do you not read Christ â—elling you that its impossible to deceive the Elect that is so far as to turn them away from Christ. We are kept by the mighty power of God through faith to salvation 1 Pet. 1.5 And who can break away from the upholding arms of Almighty power Christ hath such hold of us that he is resolved none shall take us out of his hands Ioh. 10.28 So that we cannot come over again to you But you may come over to us if you will God calls you and Christ would welcome you and the Holy Ghost would hâ—â—p yâ—u the door is set open by the blâ—od of Christ the promise is â—o you and to your children that you may and shall have Christ and life if you will come in and accept the offer The Devil cannot hinder you against your wills he holds you but in the fetters of your own wilfulness by his meer deceits Seeing therefore that you may come over to the sanctified and they cannot possibly come to you let any reasonable man be judge on what terms we should unite and agree 2. Moreover if we Agree it must be on terms of wisdom and honesty A dishâ—nâ—st Agreement is not to be desired but abhorred For you to lâ—ave your ungodliness and turn to the Love and Fear of God is an honest coursâ— of Agreement for it is but to have dishonesty it selâ— and become honest I hope none of you dare charge the way of God and godliness with any dishonesty God calls you to nothing but what is holy and just and good and therefore Honesty requireth you to yield But for the sâ—nctified 〈◊〉 unsanctified for the 〈…〉 bâ—come ungodly to be one 〈◊〉 you this were the bâ—sâ—st dishâ—â—â—sty in the world We know your way to be of the Devil and 〈◊〉 flesh and is it honest then to joyn with you in it We have â—yed too long already in the dâ—â—es oâ— our ignorance and have found it dishonest and deceitful and would you have us go against our own experience We were once in the way that you are in and were forced to renounce it or else we had been undone body and soul for ever and should we â—â—ck up the vomit which we were forced to cast out we were once Agreed with you and God constrained us to break that Agreement and shall we renew it again Alas your way hath cost us dear Many a bitter repenting day and many a sad thought to the breaking of our hearts and the very sense of Gods displeasure a taste of Hell was cast into our consciences many a groan and â—ear and prayer it cost us before we could recover the hurt that we câ—tâ—ht in the way of ungodlinâ—ss and yet we have not fully recovered it to this day And would you have us stark mad to forget so soon our former sorrows and turn to a hâ—e that hath cost us so 〈◊〉 already No we have paid too dear for it and smarted too much for it to go that way any more It brought us to the very brink of Hell and if we had but dyed in that condition we had been damned at this hour And would you be so unreasonable as to wish us to go back again No by that time you know as much of an unsanctified state as we do you will run from it your selves as fast as you can run as â—he Israelites did from the cry of the company of Dathan and Abiram lest the earth should swallow them up also Numb 16.34 We are cerâ—â—in that the Lord
to cure such small distempers that arise without The life of â—aith the love of God the love of Brethren and the Churches peace and welfare with the humility and self-dâ—nyal that is in every Christian will do a great deal to the healing of divisions among the Godly They will be content to meet together in Love and pray it out and refer the matter to the holy Scripture and they have all some special illumination of the Spirit But perhaps you will say Why are they not then more fully agreed I answer 1. Because there are such a multitude of ungodly persons among them that hinder them from opportunities and advantages for agreement And many of these ungodly ones are hypocrites that take on them to be godly and so are traytors in our bosoms and hinder peace the more by seeming to be godly when they are not 2. Because of the remnant of sin that is yet in the sanctified and because they are not yet perfect and in Heaven If they had no sin they would have no divisions And as their sin is healed as to the dominion of it but not perfectly till they come to heaven so their divisions are healed in the main but not perfectly till they are perfectly United to God in Glory 9. Consider also I beseech you what a joy it would be to Christ and to the Angels of heaven and to all good men if you would but all make such an Agreement and heartily joyn together in Holiness The whole 15. Chapter of Lukâ— â—s by divers Parables to tell you this wâ—at Joy there is in heaven it self for the conversâ—on of one sinner O what would there be then if Towns and Countries would agree in Holiness And I am certain it should be a Joy to the Princes and Rulers of the earâ—h for such a Unity only will â—old and be a blessing to their Dominions Plutarch makes it Agâ—silâ—us his reason why the Spartans had no Walls because the people being 〈◊〉 of one minde had no need or Walls And Pliny tells us of a stone that will swim if it be whole and sink if it be broken And so will Common-wealths that are brokeâ— fâ—om Christ and void of the cement of the Spirit that should â—nite them And to the Ministers of the Gospel and all good Christianâ— such an Unity as this would be an unspeakable joy Somewhat I know of other mens hearts by mine own Could I but prevail with this Nation yea with this one Town and Parish to meet all together and hearâ—ily Consent Agree and Resolve to joyn all together in an heavenly life I should more rejoyce in it then if I had the house full of gold and silver yea as to mine own interest then if I were Lord of all the world O what a joyful day were this if I could this dâ—y bring you to this Holy Unity and Agreement How comfortably should I spend the few remaining dayes of my pilgrimage among you if you would but all be brought to this Whereas I may now say as David Psalm 120.5 for all the godly that are among you Wo is me thâ—t I sâ—journ in Mesech that I dwell in the Tâ—ntâ— of Kedar My soul â—ath too long dwelt with him that hateth this holy peace I am for peace but when I speak and perswade men to it they are for war and continuance in the dividing course 〈◊〉 ungodliness Alas it grieveth us to see such divisions in all the Churches and Nations of the Christian world and O that we did know how to heal them But when we cannot heal the most ungodly separations and divisions of one Town and Parish it discourageth us from hoping for any great matters of such large extent Some attempts I have made and more I would fain make to further a Union and Peace among the Churchâ—s through the Land But when I cannot procure the Unity of this one Town and Parish what hope can I have to look any further â—lâ—s what a shame is this to you and what a grief to us that we cannot bring one Parish one Village that ever I knew of in all England to be all of a mind in thosâ— great those weighty needful things where it is worse thâ—n a madness for men to bâ— unresolved or disâ—greed As Melanthus made a jeâ—t of a great man that went about to reconcile all Greece and bring all the Princes and Stâ—tes to Peâ—ce when he could not bring hâ—s wiâ—e and her servant-maid to agreement in his own house So with what hopes can we attempt any publick peace when we cannot bring one Parish one Village yâ—a but very few â—amilies to agree in that which they must agree in or else the refusers will be certainly condemned I beseech you â—irs make glad the 〈…〉 of your Teachers â—nd of all good mâ—n by your Agreement You owe us this Comfort and you owe it to Christ and the Angels of heaven deny us not our due but without any more delay Agree togeâ—her to live as Saints What a Joy it would be to your Pastors you are not easily able to believe When Gregory Thaumatuâ—gus came first to be Bishop of Neocâ—sarea he found but seventeen Chrâ—stians in the City And when he lay on his death-bed he desired them to make enquiry how many Infidels were unconverted and they found but just sâ—venteen Infidels left and all the rest were converted to Christianity And though he rejoyced that he left but just as many unconverted Infidels as he found converted Christians yet he grieved withall that he should leave those seventeen in the power of the Devil When I came to you I found you all Professed Christians But Oh that I could say that I shall leave but seventeen unconverted when I am called from you for all that O that there were no more thâ—t are Infidels or Impious under the name of Christians But I and you are unworthy of so great a mercy 10. And I pray you consider this in time that all of you that now refuse this Agreement in Holiness will wish ere long that you had heartily embraced it and joyned with the godly and done as they And why will you not be of the mind that you will be shortly of And why will you be of that way and company that you will wish at last you had not been of The Prodigal in Luke 15. did think it a slavery to be kept up so strictly by his Fathers eye he must have his portion in his own possession and abroad he must be gone but when smart had taught him another lesson and misery had bâ—ought him to himself then he is glad to be an hired servant and casteth himself at his Fathers feet in the confession of his unworthiness to be called a son God grant that thâ—s may prove your case But let me tell it you for a certain truth theâ—e is not one of you that now 〈…〉 tâ— become so 〈◊〉 and joyn your selves in the wayes of God but
to kill You will make and apprehend it to be your Interest to go contrary to us And what Agreement can there be where there are contrary Interests Under all your outward Profession you will still retain a secret enmity and hatred to the life of holiness and will not have that hearty Love to the Saints as beseems all those that are members of Christ and of the holy Catholick Church So that when you have Communion with the Saints it will be but an external and superficial communion in some common things but you will have no Communion with them in the same Head and Spirit and Promise and Holy Nature and saving Benefits of the Gospel And shall this be called Vnity that leaveth you at so sad a distance as this This is but such a Union as a wooden leg hath to the body or as the vessels of honour and dishonour have by being in the same house together In their highest Professions the Lord himself saith of unsanctified Professors that they are none of Christs Rom. 8.9 and that they cannot be his Disciples Luke 14.33 that they are not Israel though of Israel nor are they children of God nor the seed of promise Rom. 9.6 7 8. and when they plead their highest Priviledges at last Christ will tell them that he knoweth them not Mat. 7.23 25.12 Psalm 1.5 6. And if in mercy to the Church God cause the Lyon and the Lambs to lie down together yet will he not therefore mistake the Lyon for a Lamb. So that you see what a poor kind of Unity and next to none it is that meer profession maketh And therefore this will not serve our turn 2. Moreover if we have no other Unity we are unlike to live in Peace together Though it be our duty to endeavour to have peace with all men yet we can have but little hope of it As long as there is so much difference and contrariety as I have mentioned and as long as there is a secret enmity at the heart it will be working into dissention if God for the sake of his Church restrain it not The godly will be crossing your carnal Interest and hindering you in the sinful wayes of your commodity pleasure or vain-glory They will be calling you to self-denyal which you cannot endure and putting you upon duties of Holiness Righteousness and Mercy which your sinful flesh will utterly refuse If you are scandalous you will be called to Confession Repentance and Reformation or by Church-censures be cut off from them to your shame And the Magistrate also must trouble you by the penalties of the Law The very examples of a strict and holy living which are given you by the godly will displease you because they are so unlike to your lives and therefore witness against your negligence and ungodliness So that it is not possible that we should avoid offending you for our very obedience to God will offend you and our studying and following the Holy Scripture will offend you and our diligent labour to save our souls will offend you and our hateing and avoiding the Poyson of sin will offend you And how then should we live in Peace with such If you yoak a swine and a sheep together one will be drawing to the wash-tub when the other would be at grass and one will be drawing to lie down in the mire when the other would lie clean one will be rooting in the earth and eating dung which the others nature is against It is Christ before me that calleth the wicked by the name of swine and the godly sheep And if you will come no nearer us then this we are like to have but poor Agreement And as our wayes will displease you so your galled malicious hearts will manifest the offence and will be girding and maligning if not slandering deriding or openly persecuting as far as you have power those that thus offend you And what Unity is this 3. If Reason perswade you not do but ask experience it self Whether in all ages men that Profess the same Religion with zealous godly men have not been their persecutors and oft-times more cruel then Infidels themselves The Arrians that called themselves Christians were as cruel to the true Believers as the Heathens The Papists profess the same Christianity as we and take the whole Scripture as the Word of God And yet none of the Heathenish Persecutions do match or come near to their French Massacrees and Spanish Inquisition and the cruelty that in Ireland England and their part of the Christian world they have exercised upon the sheep of Christ. The many Ministers that were silenced in Germany and some imprisoned and many Families undone was by the Lutherans against men that were Protestants as well as they And they that cast out so many Learned holy Ministers in England and occasioned the expulsion of so many thousand persons fearing God were Professed Protestants as well as we And that there may not be the appearance so much as of a difference in Ceremonies to cover their proceedings abundance of conformable men are troubled and undone as well as others and they gave out that none were worse then the conformable Puritans It was a holy observation of the Lords day and opposition to the abuse of it by Dancings and it was hearing Sermons and instructing mens families and praying together that were the things enquired after that occasioned our troubles And who ever was in the right or wrong you all know that the late miserable wars among us was between men that professed themselves to be of the same Religion not only as Christians but as Protestant and Reformed in the main To this day you see among our selves in Towns and Countries that those that do not only dwell with us and come to the same Assâ—mblies with us and profess themselves of the same Protestant Reformed Râ—ligion have yet many of them a sâ—cret malignity against the godly that will not be as loose and negligent as they and will not as madly cast away their souls And also even maâ—y greater Hypocrites that rank themselves with us in the same Church-order and seem to own all Ordinances of God and Government of the Church yet when this Government crosseth them in their carnal wayes and these Ordinances open the nakedness of their miscarriages they prove stark enemies to the Government Officers and Ordinances themselves Indeed however we may abide together as the clean and unclean creatures in Noahs Ark yet still at the heart there is so much enmity or distance and in our Ends and Interests there is so much contrariety that if the Ministers and other followers of Christ will faithfully discharge the duty that is required of them they will certainly be persecuted by men of the same Profession in Religion especially by the Prouder and Loftyer sort of wicked men Because some will receive the same truth better from one then from another I will give you my assertion in the
the application and destroy the corruptions that blind us and hinder us from perceiving the Truth Whereas the unsanctified are all in the Dark and what wonder if there they disagree and are of many minds They be not guided by the word and Spirit and they are strangers to the Light that must Reconcile us if ever we be reconciled It s true too true that the godly are illuminated but in part and therefore as yet they differ in part But yet this imperfect illumination doth more to a true and safe Agreement then all the world can do besides If you would stop your ears against the flesh yield all to the teachings of the word and Spirit we should be sooner agreed 13. And if we were once United in the Spirit and Holiness We should all have the use and benefit of all the Reconciling Healing means and Ordinances of God which would be an exceeding great advantage to us The unsanctified have but the outside the sound and shell of Ordinances but it is the Sanctified that have the light and life and fruit of them Every Chapter that you read and every Sermon that you hear will do somewhat towards the healing of our breaches It will further our Knowledge and our Love The Communion of the Saints in all holy Duties especially at the Lords Supper when they partake of one Christ will enflame their Love and humble them for their divisions and soder and glue their hearts together as being all one bread and one body And so they will be all as of one heart and soul Acts 4.32 1 Cor. 10.16 17. Acts 2.42 43 44 46. When we hear of the tender Love of Christ to his weakest members how can we choose but love them if we be his Disciples When we hear how much and how freely he hath forgiven us how can we choose but forgive them Mat. 18.35 When we have Communion with them in holy worship as servants of the same Lord as Members of the same body how can we choose but have the affections of fellow-Members 1 Cor. 12.26 When we joyn with them in Prayer or holy Conference and perceive the fragrant odour of their Graces and the holy breathings of their souls after God we cannot choose but Love Christ in them As the new Commandment so frequently pressed in the Gospel is the Law of Love Ioh. 15.12 17. and the New Nature of the Saints is a Disposition of Love for this they are taught of God effectually 1 Thes. 4.9 So the Ordinances do all of them exercise that Love and engage us to it We must leave our gift at the Altar and go first and be reconciled to our Brother if we remember he hath any thing against us Matth. 5.23 24. We must pray for forgiveness but on condition that we do forgive Differences and Divisions that make a breach in Christian Charity are so insufferable among the Saints that they long for healing and smart as the wounded body doth till the time of healing and are pained as a bone out of joynt till it be set again And as they cannot bear it themselves when they are themselves so the Church cannot bear it but is engaged to watch over them and to set them in joynt again so that God hath hedged in his Servants into one holy Society that they should not straggle from him or from each other and hath set Pastors over them for this very end to guide them and keep them in holy Unity Ephes. 4.11 12 13 14. Now all these Uniting Healing Ordinances are effectual upon the Sanctified for their hearts are open to them and their New nature is suited to the new Commandment and work But to others they are in a manner as Food or Physick to the dead They hate the power of them they break the holy Enclosure of Discipline and proudly Rebel against their Guides and say Let us break their bands and cast away their cores from us Psal. 2.3 what must we be Ruled by such and such It is but the outside of Sacraments Praises and Prayers that they are acquainted with and these have no such healing force So that in this you see the great advantage that we should have for full agreement if we were but once agreed in the main and United by the Sanctifying Spirit 14. Moreover if once we were United in the Spirit and in Holyness We should manage all our differences in a holy manner and be awakened and disposed to seek after healing in a healing way It would put us upon enquiring after Peace and studying the meetest terms of Peace till we had found out the way in which we should accord The Spirit of Love and Holiness would provoke us to begin and seek for Peace with those that will not seek to us and that seem averse to it and to follow after peace when it flyeth from us Heb. 12 14. and even to lie down at the feet of men and deny our honour and worldly Interest if it might procure Brotherly love and peace Whereas a proud unsanctifyed heart will scorn to stoop especially to those that are below them or have wronged them and will scorn to ask forgiveness of those that they have wronged When you have shewed them the plainest word of God for it and perswaded them to it with undeniable reasons you lose your labour and may almost as well perswade the fire to be cold If you will stoop and humble your self to him and ask him forgiveness and give him the honour or change your minde and be of his opinion and say as he saith and do as he would have you perhaps you may have some Peace with the most ungodly man But the servants of Christ have a spirit of Meekness and Humility and Self-denyal and therefore if there be fallings out among them they can humble themselves and seek for reconciliation If there be difference in Judgement about any weighty matters they will go or send to one another as Brethren and confer about it in Love and meekness and search the Scripture and seek after Truth and compare their evidences and Pray together for that Light and Love that must Reconcile them If they fall out they can say to one another We are Brethren and must not Live at a distance nor suffer any wounds in our Affections or any breach of Charity to remain The Sun must not go down upon our wrath Come lâ—t us go together in private and beg of God that he would repair our Love and reconcile us and prevent such breaches for the time to come And thus they can pray themselves friends again I am perswaded that one quarter of an hours fervent Prayer would do more to quiet our distempered minds and reconcile us if thus we would get together in private then many hours debates without it Now the Spirit of holiness is a Spirit of Prayer and therefore disposeth the servants of Christ as meekly and lovingly to search for Truth so earnestly to
pray themselves into Agreement 15. Moreover were we once United in the Spirit We should be under the Promise of Divine assistance which the unsanctified have no part in When we Pray for Light and Peace and Concord we have a promise to be heard and helpt at least in the time and measure as shall be fittest we have a promise of the Spirit to be our Teacher and to lead us into Truth We have promises for the maintaining and repairing of our healing Graces and our Communion-Graces our Love to Christ and one another our Patience and Meekness and the rest Aud this must needs be a great advantage to Unity and Agreement For God is partly engaged for it 16. And if we were United in the Spirit and Agreed in the main The Great Truths which we are agreed in would very much direct us to find out the rest which yet we differ in For these have an influence into all the rest and the rest are all connext to these and also linkt and knit together that we may finde out many by the help of one All holy Truths do befriend each other but especially the Great and Master points which the rest depend upon and flow from There is no way to a right Agreement in other points but by agreeing first in these Fundamental Rudiments 17. Also if we were once Agreed in Holiness we should have that continually within us and before us that would much take us off from vain contendings and from an over-zealous minding of smâ—ller things We should have so much to do with God in holy Duties and so much to do with our own hearts in searching them watching them and exciting them and mending them reproving and correcting them supporting and comforting them by the application of the Promises that we should have less time for quarrelling and less minde of it then the unsanctifyed have We should have so many great and practical Truths to digest and live upon that lesser and unnecessary matters which are the common causes of Contention would find less room Or at least we should allow each Truth its due proportion of our study and talk and zeal and so that lesser would have comparatively so small a share and be so exceeding seldom and remissly medled with that their would be the less danger of Contentions 18. Yea if once we were united in the Spirit the very forethought of an Everlasting Vnion in Heaven would have a continual influence upon our hearts for the healing of our breaches We should be thinking with our selves Shall we not shortly be all of one mind and heart and all be perfected with the blessed vision and Reconciling Light of the face of God! There will then be no dissention or division or unbrotherly censures or separations And should we now live so unlike our future life Shall we now be so unlike to what we must be for ever Shall we now cherish those heart-burnings and dissentions that must not enter with us into Heaven but be cast off among the rest of our miseries and shut out with the rest of our enemies and hated for ever by God and us Must we there be closed in perfect Love and be all imployed in the same holy Praise of God and our Redeemer and does it beseem us now to be censuring contending and separating from each other Thus the belief of the Life to come will be a more effectual means with the godly for Agreement then any that unsanctified men can use 19. Moreover they that have the Spirit of Holiness have a dear and special Love to Truth as well as unto Peace And therefore they have a great advantage for the receiving of it in all debates and consequently they are fairer for a just Agreement They are friends with the most searching spiritual truths But the ungodly have at enmity to all that Truth that would shew them their sin and misery and duty and make them holy and lead them up from the creature unto God And as the Proverb is He that would not know cannot understand When you deal with a wicked graceless heart you do not set Reason against Reason for it that were all we should soon have done but you set Reason against Will and Passion and Appetite and fleshly Interest and when you have convinced them you are little the neerer prevailing with them You may as well think to satisfie a hungry belly with Reasons or to tame a wild beast with Reasons or to humble the Proud and bring the sensual person to self-denial by all your Reasons For they Love not the Truth because they Love not the Duty that it would perswade them to and because they Love the sin that it would take from them There are two sorts of Satan in a wicked man that none but God can batter so as to win them that is A Proud and Ignorant mind and a Hard and sensual Heart Many a year have I been battering them by the Word of God from this place and yet with many can do no good But the sanctified heart that Loveth the Truth will meet it and welcome it and thankfully entertain it Love maketh a diligent hearer and a good schollar and giveth us hope that informations and debates may be succesful A godly man is so far from hating truth and flying from it that he would give all the riches of the world to purchase it He prayes and reads and studyeth for it and therefore hath great advantage to attain it 20. Moreover if we were all Agreed in Holiness and united in the Spirit of Christ we should Love the Truth in a Practical manner and we should know that every Truth of God hath its proper work to do upon the soul and therefore we should Love the end of each Truth better then the Truth it self And therefore we could not pretend the Truth against the Ends of Truth And therefore we should see to the security of those ends in all our debates and controversies We should not make havock of the Church of Christ nor easily be guilty of divisions nor quench our Love of God and of our Brethren under pretence of standing for the Truth which unsanctified men will easily do Truth is for Holiness and Love as its proper end Ungodly men will tread down Love and Holiness or at least disadvantage it and hinder it in the world for the exalting of their own conceits under the name of truth They will cure the Church by cutting it in pieces or by cutting the throat of it and are presently dismembering for every sore But with the godly it is not so 21. Moreover the sanctified have a great advantage for Agreement in that they have hearts that are subject to the Truth and will be True to it when they understand it Did they but know the right way they would presently walk in it Nothing is so dear to them that should not be forsaken for it or sacrificed to it But the wicked are false to
perfection where all our differences will be ended and we shall be perfectly Agreed in mind and will being One in him that is the only Center of Universal Peace and Concord And it s a great comfort to us in our darkness and differences that we are in the sure and ready way to perfect light and Harmony of mind 2. Yea and till we do come thither we are still on the mending hand and if we do but thrive in Holiness we shall certainly thrive in Concord and in Peace And it s a comfort to a sick man not only to be certain of a full recovery but to feel himself daily on the mending hand 3. And in the mean time God himself will bear with all our differences though not so far as to approve or cherish them yet so far as to own us for his children though we are too often falling out with one another and so far as to pitty our frailty and infirmity and to pardon us and deal as a Father with us And if our quarrels cause him to use the rod it is but to keep us in quietness afterwards that as we had the taste of the four fruits of our contentions so we may after have the quiet fruits of righteousness And thus I have given you in four and twenty particular discoveries a sufficient Proof that A Vnity in the Spirit and an Agreement in Holiness hath abundant advantages for our further Agreement in lowers things and such as all other men are destitute of and therefore that there is no way possible for a just a safe a durable Agreement but that we all Agree in a Holy life and be United in the sanctifying Spirit of Christ. BUt perhaps you will Object If all this be so whence comes it to pass that there are so many differences still among those that you call the sanctified Do we not see that they are more contentious and divided into partyes and make more stir about Religion then any others Answ. 1. The differences among the godly are nothing for number or greatness or weight in comparison of yours I have shewed you in my Discourse of the Catholick Church twenty great and weighty points in which they all agree together and in which the ungodly agree not with them What if they agree not whether Church-Government should be exercised by the Elders only the flock consenting or by all the flock the Pastours Guiding Or whether One among the Pastours should be of a superior Degree or of a superior Order or whether they should only be of the same Degree and Order though chosen to preside and moderate for the time What if one think that its Necessary to read the publick Prayers out of a Book and another think its necessary to pray without book and a third more truly thinks it is in it self indifferent whether it be within book or without with other suchlike differences as these which will keep no man out of Heaven Are these like our differences with ungodly men Our differences with you are Whether Heaven or Eath is chiefly to be loved and sought after Whether Grace and Holiness or sin and carelesness be the better whether it be the more sweet and desirable life to be heavenly minded and live in the Love and Service of God and to be much in holy communion with him and meditating upon his Law and upon the Life to come or on the contrary to live to the world and to the flesh whether it be better to obey the Word of God and his Ministers that speak it in his name or obey our fleshly desires and the proud conceits of ignorant minds In a word our difference with the ungodly though they will not confess it and speak out is plainly this whether Heaven or Earth be better and whether God be God and shall be our God and whether Christ be Christ and shall be our Christ and whether the Holy Ghost shall be our sanctifier or whether we shall live after the flesh and Rule our selves against the Will and Word of God and so in effect whether God be God and man be man and whether we should live as men or as beasts and so whether we should choose Salvation or Damnation If you could but understand your selves and the depth of your deceitful hearts you would see that here lyeth the difference For though some of the unsanctified have a fair and plausible deportment and will speak handsomly of the Christian Religion because they have had ingenuous Christian education yet all this is indeed but little more then formal complement so far are they from a Heavenly mind and a heart that 's truly set on God as their careless lives and carnal unsavory conference sheweth if not their scorns at a state of Holiness So that our differences are nothing in comparison of the difference with you 2. Moreover the servants of God do mind the matters of Religion more seriously then others do and therefore their differences are brought to light and made more observable to the world Their very heart is set upon these heavenly things and therefore they cannot make light of the smallest truth of God and this may be some occasion of their difference Whereas the ungodly differ not about Religion because they have heartily no Religion to to differ about They trouble not themselves about these matters because they do not much regard them And is this a Unity and peace to be desired I had rather have the discord of the Saints then such a concord of the wicked They are so careful about their duty that they are afraid of missing it in the least particular and this with their Imperfect light is the reason of their disputings about these matters But you that are careless of your duty can easily agree upon a way of sin or take any thing that comes next to hand They honour the Worship of God so much that they would not have any thing out of order but you set so little by it that you will be of the Religion that the King is of let it be what it will be And its easy to agree in such an ungodly careless course Astronomers have many controversies about the positions and motions of the heavens and all Philosophers have many controversies about the matter of their Sciences when ignorant men have none of their controversies because they understand not and therefore regard not the things that the learned differ about And will you think ever the better of Ignorance or ever the worse of Learning for this The controversies of Lawyers of Historians Chronologers Geographerr Physicians and such like do no never trouble the brains of the ignorant But for all that I had rather be in Controversie with the Learned then without such controversie with you If you scatter a handful of Gold or Diamonds in the street perhaps men will scramble for them and fall out about them when swine will trample on them and quietly despise them because