had respect to the capacity and temper of the People he preached to them as they were able to bear Mar. 4.33 And did forbear to declare many things to his Disciples which he had to say Because they could not hear them then John 16.12 Christians of all Capacities whether their standing be higher or lower in the Church are to do nothing to one another but what doth well consist with Love The precept is Universal both in respect of Persons and things Let all your things be done with Charity 1. Cor. 16.14 By Love serve one another Gal. 5.13 Forbearing one another in Love Ephes 4.2 The very severities of Excommunication are to proceed from Love to the delinquents soul That the Spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus And therefore nothing should be imposed that savours of want of Love or tenderness No burdening of one anothers Consciences but rather bearing one anothers burthens and so fulfilling the Law of Christ Imitating St. Paul who said I was gentle among you even as a Nurse cherisheth her Children And without doubt this is the best method to preserve and increase Peace Love and Unity and the edification of the Church Eph. 4.16 Edifying it self in Love VII Direction Those that would endeavour to keep the Unity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace as they ought must not so contend on any side for external circumstances about the administration of holy things as thereby to expose the substantials of Christianity Peace Charity and Unity to ruine and destruction For the preservation of that which is most essential to the keeping of the Unity of the Spirit as Peace and Charity are is more to be endeavoured than the retaining what is but circumstantial to it as a more or less convenient mode of Administration is The Unity of the Spirit may be kept in the use of a less convenient mode of Administration when a more convenient cannot be had without the loss of Peace Charity and Unity but the Unity of the Spirit cannot be kept where Peace and Charity are banished Peace Charity and Unity are duties of a higher Nature than circumstances about Administrations that are not absolutely necessary but only more convenient To love our Neighbour as our selves is the Royal Law Jam. 2.10 one of the two great Commandments Mat. 22.39 the fulfilling of the Law Rom. 13.10 the more excellent way 1 Cor. 12.31 greater than Faith or Hope 1 Cor. 13. last ver And so Peace is that in which together with Righteousness and Joy in the Holy Ghost the Kingdome of God consists Rom. 14.17 and which is to Rule in our hearts and to over-rule in many cases Col. 3.15 Charity and Peace are great Moral duties in which much of the Christian Religion in the power of it doth consist as being that wherein a Man most resembles God and by which God dwells in him and he in God 1 Joh. 4.16 And when these fall into competition with circumstances relating not to the being but only to the better constitution of Churches and Ministry and the Administration of Ordinances in a better mode and to the better exercise of discipline and government they are to give place to Peace Love and Unity and not Peace Love and Unity to them 1. Because those are but means subordinate and subservient to these as their end and the means as such are no farther useful than they are serviceable to their end Which may be the reason why washing of Saints feet the gifts of Charity the annointing the Sick with Oyl in the Name of the Lord have been dis-used though otherwise once enjoyned 2. Those controverted points about the betterness of wayes and modes of Administration on which side soever the Truth falls are not things wherein the glory of God the Honour and success of Religion and the good and Salvation of Men are so much concerned as they are in the great duties of Love Peace and Unity and what depends upon these and therefore it must needs be a duty of a higher Nature and of greater obligation to secure and promote Love Peace and Unity which are the greater than the betterness of Modes of Administration which are but the less And a Man's duty in the less is to be pleaded only in subordination to his duty in the greater but never in opposition to it And therefore well might St. Paul say above all these things put on Charity which is the bond of perfectness Col. 3.14 And St. Peter likewise above all things have fervent Charity among your selves 1 Pet. 4.12 And if above all things then above the circumstances relating to the constitution of Churches to Ministry Administration of Holy things and discipline I might both amplifie and exemplifie this and over-prove it in shewing how that duties which become so only by institution are alwayes to give way to Moral duties when they come in competition I will have Mercy and not Sacrifice Hos 6.6 Mat. 9.13 and 12.7 Go and be first reconciled to thy Brother and then come and offer thy gift Mat. 5.24 Circumcision waited upon and was suspended upon a Moral necessity forty years in the Wilderness being intermitted so long Josh 5. Now then if positive precepts themselves are superseded by Moral when they come into competition then so are those things much more which are but circumstances relating to institutions and such circumstances too as that it is matter of dispute among Wise and good Men on both sides which whether these or those do best agree with the Nature and ends of those institutions Now that our dividing separating and running into parties upon the account of the lesser things fore-mentioned does tend to the decay and destruction of Love as well as Peace and Unity is a thing too apparent in our own experience to need proof That which is an occasion of separation will certainly lessen if it do not quite destroy Love The Law of Commandments contained in Ordinances which was a Wall of Separation or partition between Jews and Gentiles is called the Enmity Ephes 2.15 Because as it did separate them it was the cause of enmity and laid waste Charity as all separation upon a Religious account ever hath done more or less And to deny this whatever one of late hath said to the contrary is to contradict the general sense and experience of Men. And therefore what is our dividing upon the terms before described but a Method of seeking to purchase little things in Religion with the loss of great Of securing Circumstances with the loss of substance of obtaining supposed conveniencies with the loss of what is certainly and absolutely necessary it is as if they should have Robbed the Temple to build a Synagogue And I fear this will be found an ill way of trading with our Master's Talents and such as will turn but to a bad account when profit and loss is computed The want of a due care to prefer Charity before things less
of proceeding to give or to receive satisfaction there yet remains a difference in judgment about things which are not of the essence of Christianity yet there will be no unpeaceable striving nor contending no ill and provoking reflexions among such as are of this humble and modest temper but they will quietly and patiently bear with one another in Love as knowing themselves not to be infallible The Servant of the Lord must not strive but be gentle unto all Men patient in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves shewing all meekness to all men 2 Tim. 2.24 25. Tit. 3.2 It was said of our Lord himself who was meek and lowly in heart that he shall not strive nor cry neither shall any man hear his voyce in the streets Mat. 12.19 And if this way of proceeding will not reconcile the different-minded to our judgment when we have truth on our side much less will any thing that we can do in a more imperious and passionate way of proceeding For the wrath of Man worketh not the Righteousness of God It is no fit Instrument or Tool for that Work Jam. 1.20 Whereas by a patient and peaceable forbearance not only Unity in affection and Communion is preserved but many times the dissenting party won upon and brought to a better understanding By long forbearing is a Prince perswaded and a soft Tongue breaketh the bone Prov. 25.15 And as for Charity there is nothing qualifies a Man more to keep the Unity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace then this The several properties of it are described by St. Paul in 1 Cor. 13 4-7 Do as it were conspire and naturally tend to promote peace and good agreement To what degree Charity dwells in any Man to that degree it disposeth him to suffer long and to forbear revenge to be kind and ready to do good and indisposeth him to Envy others in what they excell him to vaunt himself or to be puffed up or to behave himself unseemly or unbecomingly in word or deed or to seek his own with neglect of others benefit or to be easily provoked or to think or surmize evil or to Interpret things to the worst sence or to rejoyce in anothers halting though an Adversary but inclines him to rejoyce in the Truth and when right to keep place It enables a Man to bear with all things in another so far as is consistent with his and the general good to believe all things that are any wayes credible that tend to excuse or commend others To hope all things and not to despair but that a Neighbour may by his Charitable endeavours be recovered though he hath miscarried and to endure all things labour pains and many inconveniencies to himself so he may but be serviceable to others And if these be the properties of Charity well may it be called the bond of perfectness and Christians exhorted above all things to put it on How can it be thought that they can ever divide or separate in whom Love with these properties dwells And as Charity is of a healing so it is also of a comprehensive Nature I can scarce propose any endeavours properly useful to keep the Unity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace but more or less of these properties of Charity will be found in them And it is so universally usefull for the right conduct of all affairs in the Church that St. Paul gives it in charge thus 1 Cor. 16.14 Let all your things be done with Charity a line and vein of this should run through all And if all Christians had but this salt in themselves to allude to Mark 9. it would so season their converse that they would have peace one with another Where there is entireness of affection and a peaceable correspondence among Christians it makes them unwilling to differ from one another in judgment or practice There is such a comfort in Love as the phrase is Phil. 2.1 that it makes them very unwilling to admit of any difference that may diminish that comfort or weaken that love And this disposeth them to look not on their own things only but also on the things of others and to weigh without prejudice or partiallity what each offers to other which is the way to have the weaker brought over to the stronger in any thing wherein they differ And in this way doth the Church edifie it self in love Ephes 4.16 Being knit together in love even unto all riches of full assurance of understanding as the phrase is Col. 2.2 And indeed it is a common thing for one Man to be brought over to anothers judgment through affection to him being prepared thereby to give his reasonings the greatest liberty and scope in his judgment Whereas on the contrary it is a strong temptation to Men to differ from them in judgment and practice from whom they have departed in affection St. Paul could easily believe there were divisions in the Church of Corinth when he fore-knew there would be Heresies among them the one being the fore-runner of the other and a lesser difference making way for a greater as by sad experience we have seen in our dayes 1 Cor. 11.18 19. St. Paul observed it in some who having first swerved from Charity they quickly turned aside unto vain jangling 1 Tim. 1.5 6. Whereas Love is the bond of perfectness as it is called it is the strongest bond it holds the parts longest and fastest together Col. 3.14 It being a Master grace and of a benigne Nature it hath a kindly influence upon a mans judgment and whole practice As the integrity of the upright doth guide them so will their Charity too He that loveth his Brother abideth in the light and there is no occasion of stumbling in him 1 Joh. 2.10 It is doubtless then more for want of love then want of light when the Unity of the Spirit is not kept in the bond of peace This then is the first Direction that we would by a diligent use of all good means and motives cherish and nourish Humility and Charity in our minds and Spirits as principles of such a peaceable behaviour as directly tends to preserve Unity in the Church II. Direction This Unity is to be endeavoured to be kept in the bond of Peace by all good Christians by their being careful to abstain from despising and censuring one another upon account of their different apprehensions about the lesser things in Religion so long as they are agreed in the main Unless these be forborn in such cases its next to an impossibility to preserve peace and Unity among them These unchristian practices as they are the effects of pride and uncharitableness so they are and have been two great peace-destroyers and Church-dividers There is and ever hath been and will be different measures of knowledge understanding and grace in the several Members of the same Body Some are weak in the Faith and some strong some Babes and some strong Men. Upon account
A PERSWASIVE TO Peace Unity AMONG CHRISTIANS Notwithstanding their different Apprehensions in lesser things 1 Cor. 1.10 Now I beseech you Brethren by the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ that ye all speak the same thing and that there be no Divisions among you but that ye be perfectly joyned together in the same mind and in the same Judgment Phil. 2.2 Fulfill ye my joy that ye be like minded having the same Love being of one accord of one mind Rom. 14.19 Let us therefore follow after the things which make for Peace and things wherewith one may edifie another LONDON Printed for B. Aylmer at the Three Pigeons in Cornhil near the Poultry 1672. A PERSWASIVE TO Peace and Unity AMONG CHRISTIANS THE deep sense of the very ill effects of our Church-Divisions hath put me as it should do every good Christian upon healing considerations An account of some of which I shall give in the following Discourse which I shall ground on the words of St. Paul Eph. 4.3 Endeavouring to keep the Unity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace Which contain that behaviour in part by which Christians may and ought to walk worthy of that Vocation to which they are called Unto which the Apostle doth with the greatest earnestness exhort and perswade them in this and the two former Verses And the words give us occasion to inquire into two things 1. What is meant by the Unity of the Spirit 2. How this Unity is preserved by Peace and how we are to endeavour so to preserve it 1. What is meant by the Unity of the Spirit The Unity of the Spirit is that One-ness among Christians which the Spirit of God worketh or effecteth by the Gospel which is the Ministration of the Spirit For by the Spirits operation through that Men become one in Faith or Perswasion one in Profession one in Affection and one in Communion And by their Union and agreement in these or the three former of these they become one Body or Spiritual Corporation under Christ the Head of it By one Spirit we are all Baptized into one Body and are made to drink into one Spirit 1 Cor. 12.13 For the work of the Ministry till we all come to the Unity of the Faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God Ephes 4.12 13. 1. They are by the Spirit made one in faith or perswasion touching the great fundamental truths in the Christian Religion such as the Apostle doth instance in in the three following Verses Even as ye were called in one hope of your Calling One Lord one Faith one Baptism one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all First they are all called by the Gospel to embrace Christianity in One Hope of obtaining forgiveness of sins and eternal Life Secondly they all agree in professing Faith in One Lord Jesus Christ as the only Mediator in opposition to the Lords many the many Mediators the Heathen professed to have and to worship 1 Cor. 8.5 6. Thirdly they all agree in the Belief that the Doctrine of the Gospel by Christ and his Apostles contained in the Holy Scriptures is a revelation from God touching what Men ought to believe and how they ought to live called the One Faith and the Common Faith from the Christians unanimous agreement in it Tit. 1.4 Fourthly they all agree and are one in the belief of One God and Father of all in opposition to the many Idol-gods worshipped by others Fifthly there is also One Baptism by which all the Christians with one consent make profession solemnly of their belief in and Dedication to the Worship and Service of the Father Son and Holy Ghost into whose Name they were Baptized and by which as by a sacred Rite they are solemnly declared to be of the one Body the Church By one Spirit are all Baptized into one Body 2. They all agree and are one in the Profession of the Common Faith the fundamental Doctrines of the Gospel the belief of which is of necessity to Salvation Which Profession is called The acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness Tit. 1.1 2 Tim. 2.25 The acknowledgment of the Mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ Col. 2.2 As with the heart they believe unto Righteousness so with the Mouth confession is made unto Salvation Rom. 10.10 3. So far as they are Christians indeed they are all one in affection or Brotherly Love They Love all Men even those that are not Christians with a love of compassion desiring and seeking their good but they love their fellow Christians wish a special kind of love for the appearance of good in them for their one-ness with them in the Faith called a loving or the Truths sake which is in them 2 John 1.2 And a loving them in the 〈◊〉 Tit. 3.15 By which they become One 〈◊〉 and 〈…〉 togethâ—◠〈◊〉 Love Act. 4.32 Col. 2.2 And hence it is that Faith in our Lord 〈◊〉 Christ and love to all the Saints are frequently joyned together in Scripture 4. All they that rightly be of the Unity of the Spirit are also one in Communion One in their Communion in Grace mutually loving one another and praying one for another One in Communion in Gifts edifying one another as they have opportunity And one in Communion in Ordinances communicating together in Ordinances of Divine Worship Spiritually with all and locally with those among whom they live 1 Cor. 10.17 For we being many are one Bread and one Body for we are all partakers of that one Bread These are the things in which the Unity of the Spirit doth especially consist Not that I limit it to these only for it is the work of the Spirit in the Gospel to be bringing the Believers to speak all the same thing and to be perfectly joyned together in the same mind and in the same judgment in the lesser things of Religion as well as the greater but their actual agreement lyeth mostly in the greater 2. How this Unity is preserved by Peace and how we are to endeavour so to preserve it Unity in the whole community of Christians is preserved by each Member's observing the Laws and Rules made for the Government and good Order of the whole in their carriage towards each other For while every Man Acts his own part only and keeps in his own Rank according to Rule there is no confusion no disturbance no division and peace and confusion or disorder are put in opposition to one another 1 Cor. 14.33 Christ the Head of the Church or Spiritual Corporation hath made several excellent Laws and Rules to govern the Members of his Body in their behaviour one towards another for the common good of the whole and for the Honour of their Religion and of him who is the great Founder of it As that all their things should be done in Charity That they be gentle and courteous humble and condescending in Honour