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
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
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
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
and have Communion with them as Saints Not as conceiving them certainly to be such but probably and by that humane faith by which we are bound to believe their profession not as we believe God who is Infallible but as men that are fallible And this in several Degrees according to the several Degrees of their Credibility and the Probability of their Profession So that you must not after this mâ—stake me as if I tyed our external Church-Communion only to true Saints for then we must have Communion with none because being not able to search the hearts we know not what Professors are sincere But yet even this External Church-Communion belongs only to them that make Profession of Love and Holiness as well as of Belief and no lower Profession must serve the turn Prop. 2. There is a Common Vnity of humane Nature that we have with all men and a common Peace that as much as in us lyeth we must hold with all Rom. 12.18 But this is nothing to the Unity in questâ—on which belongeth to our happiness The Devils have a Unity of Nature and some order and accord in Evil for if Satan be divided how can his kingdom stand Mat. 12.26 Prop. 3. The Unity of the Saints in the Spirit of Holiness consisteth in this life with much imperfection and discord according to the imperfection of their Holiness But as Grace is the seed of Glory and the beginning of Eternal Life for all its weakness and the sins that accompany it Iohn 17.3 So the Unity of the Spirit of holiness is the seed and beginning of the perfect Unity in Heaven for all the differences and discord that here accompany it II. HAving shewed you the only bond of Unity I come now by fuller evidence to convince you of the truth of what is said and even to force it into your understandings if you will but use your Reason and believe the Word of God It is unholiness and ungodliness that causeth our Discord and it is the Spirit of Holiness that is the Vniting Principle and there 's no true Christian Vnity to be had with ungodly men Never think of Vnity by any other way then Sanctification You are as on the other side of the River and cannot be united to the servants of Christ till the Spirit Convert you and pass you over You are dead men and unfit to be United to the living and it s the Spirit that quickneth and this Life must be our Vnion You madly rail against Division and yet stand at a distance from Christ and his Church and maintain the greatest division in the world Believe it you do but doat and dream if you think to have true Christian Vnity on any other terms then by the Sanctifying Spirit of Christ. And this I shall now evince as followeth 1. You know sure that there can be no Christian Unity but in God as your Father and the Center of Vnity All the true members of the Catholick Church must say Our Father and be as his children United in him If you will have Unity without the favour of God it must be the Unity of Rebels and such a concord as is in Hell The family of God do all Unite in him As all the Kingdom is United in one King so is all the Church in God Can you think it possible to have Unity as long as you will not Unite in God Well then there 's nothing plainer in the Scripture then that all men by nature are departed from God and none are United to him but those that are regenerate and made new creatures not a man is his child by Grace and in his favour but only those that are sanctified by his Spirit Ioh. 3.3 5. Mat. 18.3 2 Cor. 5.17 Heb. 12.14 So that there 's no true Vnity without Sâ—nctification because there 's no reconciliation with God nor Unity with him without it 2. There can be no true Christian Vnity but in Christ the Redeemer and Head of the Church For how can the members be United but in the Head or the Schollars but in their Teacher or the Subjects but in their Soveraign You know there 's no Christian Vnity but in Christ. Well then What Unity can we have with those that are not in Christ The unsanctified have indeed the name of Christians but what is that to the nature Some branches not bearing fruit are said to be in him the Vine by outward profession but they are dead and withered and must be cut off and cast away for the fire and so are unfit for Communion with the Vine Iohn 15. He that is in Christ is a new creature old things are past away behold all things are become new 2 Cor. 5.17 If any man have not the Spirit of Christ which is this sanctifying Spirit the same is none of his I pray you mark the plainness of these passages All you that are unconverted and unsanfied are out of Christ and none of his though you may talk and boast of him as long as you will And therefore you cannot have Vnity with Christians till you will first have Unity with Christ himself Till you are engraffed into him you are not engraffed into the Catholick Church but only seem to be what you are not 3. The dead cannot be United to the living who will be married to a dead corpse or would be tyed to it and carry it about It is life that must Unite us The unsanctified are dead in sin Eph. 2.5 and the Spirit is given to quicken the dead that they may be fit for converse What Union can there be between a block and a man or a beast that hath but a sensitive life and a man that hath a rational Soul So what Union between the sensual world and the sanctified Believer If you could have Vnity without the Sanctifying Spirit why are you then Baptized into the name of the Holy-Ghost as your Sanctifier To have a Vnity of Being is common to us with the Devils for they are Gods creatures and so are we To have a Vnion of Specifick Being is common to us with all the damned for they are men as well as we and common to the Devils among themselves But it must be a Unity in the Spirit of Holiness that must prove us happy and afford us comfort 4. There is no possibility of having Unity with those that have not the same ultimate principal end But the sanctified and the unsanctified have not the same end nay have contrary ends If one of you will go to York and the other to London how can you possibly go one way This is the great difference that sets the world and the sanctified by the ears You serve Mammon and they serve God You have one portion and they another Your portion is in this life Psalm 17.14 Here you have your good things Luke 16.25 and here you lay up your treasure Mat. 6.19 21. Your belly is your God and you mind earthly things Phil.
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
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
you make so great a matter of leaving your sins which are viler then your dung that you will rather break with God and us you must give us leave to make so great a matter of leaving Christ and hâ—s holy wayes and people that we will much rathâ—r break with you aâ—d all the wicked in the world and with oâ—â— carnal selves and that which is â—ost dear to them And I think we have good reason for it 4. Moreover thâ—s must be considered in our treaty that if we agree it is fit that our dearest frienâ— be taken into the Agreemenâ— Should we cast off them to agreâ— with adversaries and leave our olâ— friends in hope of new But if we come over to you and turn unholy we shall never have Gods consent to the Agreement we must leave him out and utterly lose him When alas we cannot live noâ— move nor breath without him wâ— cannot have our daily bread or one nights rest but by his gift And such a friend is not to be lost for you And we shall lose the Lord Jesus and the Holy Ghost aâ—â—â—he Communion of Saints are the peace of our own consciences O what a peal would conscience ring us night and day It would open Hell to us It would kindle the fire of Gods wrath in our bosoms and be scorching us as we lie down and as we risâ— up And who would endure such a life as this for all the world 〈◊〉 like it is not tâ—us with you but that is because you know not what a case you are in nor what a dreadful thing ungodliness is but we know it And therefore what shift soever you make to keep your consciences asleep I know not how I should quiet mine if I were in your case and knâ—w but what I know of it But now if you will joyn with Christ and us your true friâ—nds wâ—ll be glad of it you should noâ— lose one friend in the world by it unlesâ— you take the Devil and his servants for your friends that would destroy you Judge then whether you should come to us or we to you 5. Moreover this must be considered in our treaty that if we agree with you we have some regard to our Honour And what Honour is it to us to become the servants of sin and the Devil and be forsaken of God and return to the slavery that lately we were delivered from A hang-man is ten thousand times more honourable then this But on the other side if you will turn to Christ you will come out of the greatest shame and obtain the greatest honours that you are capable of You will be the sons of God and heirs of heaven coheirs with Christ fellow-Citizens of the Saints and of the houshold of God Iohn 1.12 Rom. 8.17 Eph. 2.19 and be built up an habitation of God through the Spirit Eph. 2.22 6. Moreover this is most considerable in our treaty that if we Agree it must be upon Vniversal terms that all will agree upon or else it can be no Vniversal Agreement If a few should Agree with you this would not make a Unity in the world We must have terms that are fit for all to Agree upon And in good sadness would you have all the world be such as you Tell me you that are covetous and proud would you have all the world become proud and covetous to Agree with you Nay if they should when they are likest you they would not Agree with you â—or the Proud will envy the Proud and their Pride will set them together by the ears And the covetous would be greedily snatching the prey out of one anothers jaws and their mammon would be the matter of their strife Tell me also you that are drunkards or unclean would you have all the world become drunkards and unclean for Unity with you You that are careless about your souls and pâ—ayerlesâ— in your families and forget the matters of eveâ—lasting life would you have all the world set as light by God and Christ and Heaven as you Could the worst of you all have the face to make such a motion as this What! would you have all Holiness and heavenly-mindedness banished out of the world because you have banished it from your selves Would you have all men shut their Bibles as much as you and instruct their children and servants no more then you and love God and serve him no more then you Is it possible that such an heart as this can be in the breast of the worst on earth What! would you have all the world be drunkards or fornicators or haters of godliness or at least unsanctified because you are so How quickly then would earth turn Hell and the flames of the wrath of God consume it How certainly then would God forsake the world as a man would be gone from roads and serpents Can there be such cruelty in any but the Devils as to wish all the world to be damned with you for company or to Agree with you on such terms that you may go hand in hand together to damnation Or if you had such Devilish hearts within you as to desire such an Agreement as this can you think that all the godly would yield to it No let me tell you not one of them in all the world will yield to it If you set â—o more by the Love of God be blood of Christ the presence and comforts of the Holy-Ghost and the Hopes of Glory yet they do and will do If you will run into Hell you shall never get them thither with you for company But on the other side there is nothing in the way of Holiness but what is fit for all men to Agree upon I know All will not and therefore we expect not an Agreement with all But that is their unhappiness There is no fit means of Agreement but this 7. Lastly this also must be considered in our treaty that we Agree upon terms that are like to hold and not to be repented of hereafter For what good will it do to Agree today and to break it or bewail it tomorrow Why alas Sirs we know as sure as we breath that if we should Agree with you in unholiness we should quickly Repent it either by Grace or in Hell-fire Nay we know that you will Repent of those unholy wayes and hearts your selves either by Grace or Judgement Nay there are even now some kind of purposes in many of you to repent I have heard abundance of ungodly men profess that they hope to repent hereafter and mend their lives and leave their sins And would you wish us to come and joyn with you in a way that you hope to forsake your selves and in a way that you purpose hereafter to Repent of I know as sure as that the Sun will set that every ungodly soul among you will shortly change their false opinions and they that deridâ—d the servants of Christ would wish then they might but be door-keepers among
them You will wish and wish a thousand times that you had done as they did and lived as holily as the best on earth You will then wish O that it were to do again and that my life were again to be lived and God would but try me on earth once more Those tongues that railed against Religion will a thousand times more reproach your selves for those reproaches and the neglect of this Religion You will then cry out Where was my wit and reason when I made so mad a change as of God for the creature Christ for sin and Heaven for Hell Do you think Sirs that it were any wisdom for us to Agree with you now in that for which you will fall out with your selves for ever and to go with you in that loose ungodly way which you will wish your selves that you had never known Besides we know that it is only the Saints that we must live with for ever and therefore you must become Saints if you would be Unitâ—d to us here What! Should we be so careful to Agree with you a while and be separated from you eternally or do worse by suffering with you But if you will Unite with us in Christ and Holiness this will be a lasting Unity which you will never have occasion to repent of The Union between the Lord Jesus and his members shall never be dissolved Heartily joyn with his servants now in the wayes of Holiness and you shall certainly joyn with them in the state of Happiness and in the joyful fruition and praises of the Lord. Well Sirs in this much of our treaty I have layed the case plain and open before you and shewed you that we cannot come over to you It is not Possible nor Honest nor Safe we cannot forsake an holy life without forsaking God and our Redeemer and our salvation which no man that is a man indeed should desire us to do nor can we do it till we first forsake our understandings But oâ— your side the case is oâ—herwiâ—e You may turn to God and an holy life without any hurt or wrong to you at all nay it is the only way to your felicity and if you do it not you are undone for ever So that the case is past all controversie before you that there is no way in the world to Unity but by Consent in Piety If half the Common-wealth turn Rebels and so shall make a Division in the body the way to Unite them is by the returning of the Rebels to their Allegiance and not for the true and lawful subjects to turn all Rebels and joyn with them For without the Head there cannot be a Union So that if the world be still divided and disagreed it is not long of the godly but of the ungodly And if you would have an Agreement it s you that must yield who cause the disagreement You may do it and must do it or do worse but the godly may not yield to you What say you now would you have Unity or Division Would you have Peace or no Peace You complain that the world is of so many minds Would you have them all reconciled and of one mind If you would let us see it The work sticks with you on your hands it lyeth and it is you that must do it if ever it be done If you would have all ungodly you deserve not to live on the earth Shall we then without any more ado agree all upon a life of Holiness O that our Towns and Parishes would all joyn together in this Agreement and it must be this or none But perhaps some of you will say What need you make so many words about a matter that no boâ—y doth deny We all knâ—w we should â—e Holy and Godly and nâ—ne should be ungâ—â—ly who doubts of this But the Question is What Holinâ—ss and Godliness is Tell us thâ—refore whâ—t you meâ—n by it â—nâ— who those be that you takâ— to be the Godly sanctified people Answ. If we are all agreed of the Necessity of Holiness then those that are not yet agreed to be Holy themselves do sin against their own consciences and condemn themselves in the things which they allow and wilfully divide themselves from Christ and from his Church And if any of you have been so long Baptized into the Name of the Holy-Ghost as your Sanctifier and yet know not what Sanctification is and who are to be accounted sanctified and godly you shew that you have perfidiously cast away and broak your Covenant with God and made but an â—ll use of your Baptism or any Means and Ordinances since But if you know not who are godly or ungodly I shall quickly tell you A godly man is one that being formerly in a state of sin and misery both strange and backward to God and heaven and an holy life and prone to earthly flesâ—ly pleasures is now by the powerful wâ—rk of the Word and Spirit of God converted to unfeigned faith and repentance broaken-hearted for his former sin and misery flying to Christ as the only Hope anâ— Physitian of his soul and so is made a new creature having his heart set upon God and everlasting life and contemning all the pleasures of the flesh and the things of this world in comparison of his hopes of Glory hating all known sin and not wilfully living in any and loving the highest degree of Holiness and willing to use the means that God hath appointed to destroy the remnants of sin and bring him nearer to perfection This is a truly godly man And he that is not such is ungodly He that yet remaineth in his Natural depraved state and is unacquainted with this great and holy change that hath any sin that he had rather keep then leave and any that he wilfully liveth in and wilfully neglecteth known duties as one that had rather be free from them then perform them and had rather live a fleshly life then a spâ—ritual and an holy life and is more in love with the creature then with God with his life on earth in flesh and sin then a life in heaven wiâ—h God and his â—aints in perfect holiness this man is undoubtedly a wicked and ungodly man how evilly or religiously soever he may seem to live in the world And so I have in a few words told you who they be that are godly and who are the ungodly The Question now that we are treating about is whether we shall all agree together to be godly Do you not believe it to be best and necessary If not you are blind If you do let us agree on it without delay You tell us with many great complaints of the many differences and divisions that are among us but shall we Agree so far as we are agreed that is shall we agree in heart and practice so far as we are agreed in opinion and profession O that you would make a solemn Covenant that you will but Consent and go along
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