were the worst Minister in England not wishing himselfe worse then he was but all Ministers better The fourth dividing Distemper Passion PRov. 29. 23. An angry man stirreth up strife Passion is so opposite to Union that Prov. 22. 24. the holy Ghost would have us make no friendship with an angry man First this fire of anger burns asunder the bands of union the bands of relation as Nebudhadnezzars fire did the bands of the three Children A froward heart carâ—â— not for any relations What makes divisions between husband wife brother and brother servants and Masters and Mistresses neighbour and neighbour but passionate forwardnesse Secondly this fire burns asunder the bands by which mens lusts were tyed up and kept in it sets mens lusts at liberty The lusts of mens hearts are like a bed of snakes in the cold but the heat of passion warming them causes them to crawl and hisse What a stir would the Lions in the Tower makâ— and the Bears in Paris-garden if they were let loose Passion lets mens Lion-like lusts loose Philosophers say of the inferiour Orbes that were they not kept in restrained in their motion by the Primum mobile they would set all the world on â—ire If our lower affections especially this of Anger be not kept in and ordered by Reason and Religion they wil set all on â—ire Passion makes men and women to be lawlesse boundlesse carelesse Men know not what they doe in their anger this raises such a smoak that they cannot see their way the more corrupt the heart is the greater and the more noysome is the smoke raised by this fire in the heart Put fire to wet straw and filthy stuffe oh what a filthy smoke arises Lev. 13. 25. we read of a leprosie breaking out of a burning seldome doe mens passions burne but there is a leprosie breaking out of that burning and what union can there be with such It froward people were dealt withall like the Lepers shut up from others we should have more peace Some men when once their anger is got up they will never have done we can have no quiet with them this fire in them is like that of hel unquenchable The dog-dayes continue with them all the year long Seven devils can better agree in one Mary Magdalen then seven froward people in one family If one should set the Beakons on fire upon the landing of every Cock-boat what continuall combustions and tumults would there be in the Land Those men who upon every trifle are all on a fire by their passions and what in them lies set others on fire do exceedingly disturb the peace of those places where they live those societies of which they are Their hot passions cause the Climate where they live to be like the torrid Zone too hot for any to live near them Christ is the Prince of Peace and the Devil is the Prince of divisions Hence that expression of the holy Ghost Ephes 4. 27. Let not the sun goe down upon your wrath neither give place to the devil you are loth to give place to your brother you will say What shall I yield to him you will not yeeld to him but you will yeeld to him that is worse to the Devil So you doe when you yield to wrath There are divers other dividing distempers that we shall speak to but for the present let us make use of the great mercy of God towards us that yesterday we solemnized in a publick Thanksgiving let us see how we may improve this glorious work of God for the closing of our spirits the healing our divisions It cals to us aloud to joyn oh let your hearts joyn There are 12 Arguments in this great work of God to perswade us to union First there hath appeared much of Gods presence in this his great work I will praise thee O Lord for thou hast done it Ps 52. 9. The Lord hath appeared wonderfully his naked arm hath been revealed his right hand hath become glorious in power Those who were present saw much of God in this work They send to us to give God the glory and all the Countrey about sent still to tell us how much of God they have seen in this But how is this an argument for us to unite Suppose children or servants were wrangling one with another were not this an argument to make them be quiet Your Father is here your Mr. is come will not all be whist presently God is come amongst us wee may see the face of God in what he hath done for us and shall we be quarrelling before his face But 3. days before this great goodnesse of God by speciall Order from the House of Commons there was a day set apart to humble our souls before the Lord and to seek him for this mercy that now we rejoyce in in our Humiliation was not this one great sinne we did confess our divisions did we not then acknowledg that it were righteous with God because of our divisions to give us up as a prey to our adversarieâ— Now then have not our divisions overcom Gods goodnes lest Gods goodness overcome our divisions Suppose there had been a day of Humiliation set apart to mourn under the heavy hand of God against us in delivering us up into the hands of our enemies as through his mercy we have had a day of Thanksgiving to blesse him for our deliverance from them would not this sinn have been the matter of a great part of the comfession of all your Ministers Oh the divisions that are amongst us Thou hast dealt righteously with us Our wraths were up one against another and just it is with thee O Lord to let out the rage of the Adversary upon us shall we yet continue in that after a mercy which we have confessed might justly have prevented the mercy shall we stil be guilty of that which our consciences tell us would have been the burden of them as the just â—ause of our misery if the Lord had come against us in his sore displeasure God forbid Let not that evill now be found in us that would have galled our consciences if mercy had been denyed us 3. We are delivered from being devoured by our enemies shal we now devour one another oh unworthy we of such a deliverance as this It went ill with us in the beginning of the fight but God looked mercifully upon us his bowels wrought if I come not in for their help These ungodly men wil devour my servants howsoever they have been faire to some because yet they have not attained their own ends but if they prevail here they will account all their own and then they will begin to exercise that cruelty that yet hath not been heard of but it shall not be my heart cannot bear the cries of my servants under such cruelties as I foresee Do you think this was Gods end in delivering us from being devoured of our enemies that we
in the wilderness in an afflicted condition we are fiery serpents one to another The Hebrew word that signifies afflicted signifies meeke to note that afflicted ones should be meek ones When the storm is comming the Bees flock together to the hive Ier. 50. 4. In those dayes saith the Lord the children of Israel shall come and the children of Judah together going and weeping they shall goe and seek the Lord their God Judah and Israel could not agree at other times but when they are in a weeping condition then they shall come together Secondly it is a time of Fasting and Prayer England never knew what such Fasting and Prayer meant as it hath knowne of late No nation in the world that we know of ever knew the like and shall we in such times as these when we are casting downe our selves before Almighty God when we are judging our selves before him in the pride and frowardness of our hearts contend against one another Esay 58 4. Behold ye fast for strife and debate and to fight with the fist of wickednesse It is a fist of wickedness indeed that fights in times of Fasts Is it such a Fast that I have chosen How doe we in the dayes of our Fasts acknowledge our vileness our unworthyness of the least mercy our pride our self-love our envy our passions all those distempers that are dividing distempers yet still we continue in them and they break forth into dividing practices Surely our Fasts will rise up in judgement against us to make the sin of our divisions out of measure sinfull Thirdly It is a time also of great mercies We are afflicted but not forsaken and mercies should sweeten our spirits This Summer hath been a continued miracle of mercies if our agreeing together our love to one another were now beyond the expectation of all men as Gods mercies to us have been beyond and above all expectation even such a fruit of mercies would be the greatest mercy of all But if instead of being sweetned by mercies we are the more imbittered one against another how great is this sinne If we shall take occasion from our victories at Nazeby Taunton Bridgewater Sherburne Bristol to seek to drive out of the Kingdome thousands of godly men whom God used as instruments of so great mercy to us will not this be sin unto us God brought us indeed into a wildernesse but he hath there spoke comfortably to us our wildernesse is our way to Canaan It was the charge of Joseph to his brethren Gen. 45. 24. when they were going from Egypt to Canaan See that ye fall not out by the way We hope God is leading us to Canaan oh that we could see Christ looking upon us and charging us saying See that you fall not out by the way do not grudg one against another let not one say You are the cause of our trouble and another say Nay but you are the cause of our trouble let every one charge his own heart let every man fall out with his own sin as much as he will but let not brethren fall out by the way Fourthly it is a time of Service God never put such opportunities of service into our hands as now he hath How many holy men who were furnished with large abilities and enlarged hearts to have done service for God and his people in former times lived privately onely enjoyed sweet communion between God and their owne soules but oh how did they prize opportunities of service how did they thirst after and greedily embrace advantages for publique work they were willing to submit to any thing to the uttermost their consciences would suffer them that they might be employed in work for God and his Saints Though their encouragement from men was small yet their work was wages to them but in those times almost all places of publique imployment were in the hands or at the dispose of evill men could they have foreseen that within a few yeers there should be a doore open for all godly men to full opportunities for the imployment of their gifts and graces to the uttermost How would they have rejoyced and longed to have seen those times and blessed those who should live in them I am confident it cannot be shewn that ever there was a time since the world began that so many godly people in a Kingdome have had such a large opportunity of publike service as for these last five yeers hath been in England and shall this opportunity be lost with our wranglings and contendings Oh how unworthy are we to live in such times as these are When a Master sets his servants to work and that in such a peece of work as is of great concernment the opportunity of which if lost will be a great losse to him if these servants shall trifle away this opportunity with wrangling one with another about their work one opposing another in it will this be a good account to their Master So much time was spent in work but so much in quarelling whereby there is little of the work done We read of Nehemiah cap. 6. 3. when Sanballat and Tobiah those quarelsome companions sent to him to meet them intending to quarrell with him he answered them I am doing a worke so that I cannot come why should the worke cease If we see men set upon strife and contention we should not meddle with them to spend our time in answering what comes from them our case were miserable if we were at the mercy of every quarreller bound to answer whatsoever he pleases to put forth But let us tend our work these opportunities of service that now we have are too pretious to give away to them to be spent to be lost upon them How just were it with God to take these opportunities from us to bring us againe into such a condition as we should be glad of a dayes imployment in publick service and then oh how would our consciences wring us and grate upon us for such ill improvement of them for such unworthy losse of them when we had them 5. This time is the time of the tryall of our spirits We never had such a time to try what spirit of love what principles of union are in us as now we have and shall we now miscarry May it not be justly thought that all our seeming love one to closing one with another formerly was only for our own ends Before we were all under oppression or at least the fears of it when we looked upon our selves as in the same condition then the trial was not so much but now there is some difference made in the condition of godly men Some have the times smiling upon them more then others now is the time of tryal The time of the triall of the spirit of Pharaâ—hs Butler towards Joseph was when he was out of prison injoying his preferment at the Court Joseph remained stil in prison Perhaps while they were fellow-prisoners
liberty now their division rose high some would to up to Jerusalem to worship others would not those that went up cryed out of those who went not and those who went not vilified those who went Now their hearts are thus divided now shall they be found guilty The desolating judgment must now come This is the time for their captivity Now he gives them up to the Enemie God was exceedingly provoked with their contentions one against another at this time What says God when I was in some way of favour towards them when I took off in great part the yoke of bondage that was upon them that sore oppression that was before none of them a while since dared goe to Jerusalem to worship and now their Governours are more moderate their oppressing Courts are downe there is more liberty in the Land for my true worship and do they now fall out contemn divide wrangle one with another let them goe into captivity let the enemy come in upon them my soule takes no delight in such a crooked perverse Generation as this is Our condition seems to parallel with theirs very much we lately were under sore and cruell bondage nothing was more dangerous then the worshipping God in his own way wee were under hard Task-masters oppressing undoing Courts The Lord hath in a great measure delivered us it is the unthankfulness the sinfull distemper of mens spirits that makes them say what is done it is as ill with us as ever it was No we have much ease such liberties as were our fore-fathers raised out of their graves to see they would admire Gods goodness and bless him with meltings of heart but we spend that strength in siding wrangling contending quarrelling vexing opposing one another that we should spend in magnifying blessing and praising the Name of God for that mercy we enjoy We are a divided people whose hearts are divided and heads too and hands too peace and unity seems to be flown from us and a spirit of contention and division is come upon us King Subjects are divided Parl. is divided Assembly is divided Armies are divided Church is divided State is divided City is divided Country is divided Towns are divided Families divided godly people are divided Ministers almost every where are divided yea and what heart almost is there at this time but is divided in it self the thoughts the counsels contrivances endeavours ways of men almost of all men how are they divided O blessed Saviour are these the times thou speakest of wherein five should be in one house divided three against two and two against three the father against the son and the son against the father the mother against the daughter and the daughter against the mother Oh woe to us wee find it so amongst us and yet there is found no healing we are broken and there is no binding up It is with us as it was with Ezek. 2. 6. Briars and thorns are with us and we dwell among Scorpions O Lord what is this thy curse at this time upon England Bryers and thornes shall it bring forth We are rending and tearing and devouring one another while the adversary stands before us ready to devour us Ephraim is against Manasseh and Manasseh against Ephraim A fire is come out from Abimilech and devours the men of Sechem and fire comes from the men of Sechem and devours Abimilech yea there is a fire kindled in our owne bowels it rises from our selves Ezek. 19. 14. Fire is gone on t of a rod of her branches which hath devoured her fruit so that shee hath no strong rod to be a Seepter to rule this is a lamentation and shall be for a lamentation This is amongst us at this day and how long it shall continue God onely knows What this people were in their divided condition that we are and what does this threaten but that we should be as they a while after this were namely a people given up to the rage and fury of the Enemie which the Lord forbid There is a great out-cry of our divisions and while we cry out against them wee still encrease them we are angry with men rather because they are divided from our selves then because they are divided from the truth we are angry because every man is not of our own mind does not as we do There was a great deal of doe in Luthers time about the seamless coat of Christ Granvillian the Emperours Deputy in a Speech he made to the Citizens of Wormes beseeches them for the death of Christ and for all loves that they would amend our Lords coate which is rent and torn on every side When Luther laboured to bring Reformation to the Rule they bad him take heed that he did not rend the seamless coat of Christ and because they talked so much of the tunica inconsutilis they were called the Inconsutilistae the seamelesse men And what a stirre hath there been in out-cryes against men that would not yeeld to every thing that was enjoyned O they rent the seamlesse Coat of Christ I remember Musculus in a Tract he hath De Schismate hath a witty and pious note upon this The Souldiers saith he would not divide the seamelesse coat of Christ but what made them to be so carefull of it was it out of respect to Christ that they were so unwilling it should be divided No but out of respect to their owne advantage every one hoping it might fall to his share therefore say they Let us cast lots for it so saith he men would not have Christs coat divided they would have no division in the Church but what do they aime at their own advantage that they might enjoy quietly their owne ease honour and means that they might have none to contradict them but that the streame may run smoothly and wholly with them what a fine brave thing were this And because they see they cannot doe this while their ways are looked into and crossed therefore they make such an outcry against the dividing the seamlesse coat of Christ But certainly till our hearts be otherwise then yet they are all our out-cries wil not serve our ends the stilling our divisings Did we less divide between God and our own ends our own wayâ— we should not divide so much one from another Wherefore let us first turn our thoughts to consider a little of this division between God and other things and the evil of it CHAP. II. The evill of dividing between God and any thing else THis people would give God something and their idols something and so think to please both 2 King 7. 33. They feared the Lord and served their Idolls Thus Judah in the days of Josiah Zeph. 1. 5. sware by the Lord and by Malcham Swearing is a part of Gods worship therefore no humane instituted Religious ceremony ought to be joyned with it no more then with the Sacrament or any other divine worship no creature should share