Guildhall of the Mischief of Separation yet in the Defence of it P. 81 82. the Dt. in the Preface propounds this very seasonable Question What then Is there nothing to be done for dissenting Protestants who agree with us in all doctrinal Articles of our Church and only scruple the use of a few Ceremonies and some late Impositions Shall these Differences still be Continued when they may so easity be removed And so many useful men encouraged and taken into the Constitution Do we value a few Indifferent Ceremonies and some late Declarations and doubtful Expressions beyond the Satisfaction of mens Consciences and the Peace and Tranquility of the Church In Answer he saith That tho he thinks there is no ground for scruple as to the use of those things Notwithstanding that because the use of Sacraments in a Christian Church ought to be the most free from all Exceptions and they ought to be so administred as to invite rather than discourage Scrupulous persons from joyning in them I do think it would be a part of Christian Wisdom and Condescention in the Governours of our Church to remove those bars from a freedom in joyning in full Communion with us Thirdly Consider the great Mischief of our past and present Divisions to the Interest of Real Christianity the Reformed Religion and the Peace and Happiness of the Nation The Contentions among Protestants the passionate Heats among Difsenters themselves and the severities used by others to enforce an Vniformity have dishonoured the Profession of the Gospel and cost the Nation very dear on all accounts These things have hindred the usefulness and fruit of many Ministers preaching and depriv'd us of the advantage of the publick labours of many hundred others and lessen'd the Authority and Success of the Ministry in general filling many with such prejudices that they have turned their backs upon all preaching By this means the weak have been scandaliz'd See First Part of the Prot. Recontiler chap. 1. Mr. I. Burroughs Itenicum chap. 27 28 29 3◠the doubtful staggered Infidels hardned Scepticks gratified Popery and Prophaness advanc't thousands of souls endanger'd the Devil pleased and his Kingdom built up to the weakning of the Kingdom of Christ and the Reformed Interest Besides the Good that is lost and the Miseries procured hereby the sinfulness of Heart-Divisions among Good men is greatly aggravated The Provocation to mutual Revenge and the advantage given to Popery is that I wish all Protestants would consider As to Revenge our Experience now tells us that it is an effect of such proceedings tho I wish it could be supprest and cured yet considering the Corruption of Humane nature might well enough be expected This Dr. B. in the Preface above mention'd hath represented with some sharpness How unreasonable is it saith he that they who cannot help thinking as they do should be made a sacrifice to the Rage of others who perhaps have little more to say for themselves than that they are in the Possession of the Law which in the next Revolution of Affairs that may fall out will be an argument so much the stronger for using themselves in the same manner because it is a just Retaliation on them for that which they made others to suffer The Reverend and Worthy Dean of Canterbury in his Preface to Bp. Wilkins's Sermons commending his Moderation saith That Vertue however of late declaim'd against must be the Temper of the Members of the Church of England especially of the Clergy if ever they seriously intend its firm establishment and do not industriously design by cherishing Heats and Divisions among our selves to let in Popery at those Breaches Most of those who renounce our Religion and imbrace Popery profess this to be the first great stumbling block the want of Unity This their Priests of late in several Pamphlets have insisted on Dr Stilling Idolatry of the Rom. Church ch 5. Mr. Baxter safe Religion and other Treatises aggravating our Divisions to prove the Necessity of an Infallible Judge as the Center of Unity How unreasonably this is urged by Papists who differ among themselves about Fundamental Doctrines of Faith many of our Divines have shown However the Church of Rome hath manifestly serv'd its own ends by procuring and animating the rigid Imposition of doubtful disputable terms among Protestants that all those who could not conform to the establisht Rites might be look't upon if not as bad as Papists yet as unpeaceable and Factious and be provok't to do somewhat that might make them as unfit to be tolerated Hereupon the Papists have pleaded for themselves as better subjects or deserving at least an equal Toleration with Protestant Dissenters And what some of the latter have suffer'd on the account of their different sentiments from the Established Church hath tempted them to so much Revenge as that the less considerate and judicious are too ready to joyn with the Papists or any body rather than with those by whom they have been opprest thô this be greatly to be lamented yet it cannot much be wonder'd at for Solomon tels us that Oppression will make even a wise mad Mad And is it strange that some who do not see far before them nor well consider what they do and what forgiveness the Gospel requires should be ready to say we were as good joyn with the Papists who promise us our Liberty than adventure to be Ruin'd by Protestants That there is not now much ground to fear it and therefore that no Protestant ought to act on such a supposition I shall endeavor to show presently Fourthly The Vnity of the Adversaries of the Reformed Religion against us notwithstanding the Differences among themselves deserve to be considered We read of ten or eleven sorts of men of several opinions and ways in the matters of Religion who all with one Consent joyn'd against Sion Psal 83.5 6. Ten Kings of the Earth were of one mind to give up their Power to the Beast and make war with the Lamb 17 Rev. 13. The Popish Clergy that acknowledg the Headship of the Infallible Man at Rome agree in their desires and are bound to unite their endeavors for the Extirpation of the Northern Heresie i. e. the Reformed Religion And shall not we agree and unite for the preservation of that common Interest against which so powerful a Confederacy hath been and still is engaged yea may we not very well do so Notwithstanding our Differences if we can but be wise and honest enough to forbear one another in love Soldiers of different Nations habits and customs may engage in the same cause and notwithstanding their little quarrels with one another in their Respective Garrisons may be unanimous and therby Victorious when they come into the field In a Battel between Hannibal and Scipio Livy when the two Armies joyned we read that the shouts of Scipio's men were far more Terrible than those of Hannibals because being all Romans they had almost
following expression One calleth to me out of Seir Gen. 32.3 4. makes it more probable that the Edomites or Idumeans are understood Seir being the Land of Esau or the Country of Edom which God gave to Esau and his Posterity and would not permit the Israelites so much as to pass thro it without their leave which Moses requested as their nearest way to Canaan but it was denied 'em Deut. ◠◠and they passed by the borders of Idumea without entring into it For the better understanding of this and several other places of H. Scripture I shall premise somewhat 1. Concerning Esau 2. His Country 3. The Idumeans his Posterity § 1. Of Esau the Brother of Iacob and Father of the Idumeans we read that he is called Edom. Gen. 25. v. 30. Esau quasi Factus Gen. 25.25 Joseph An tiq lib. 2. c. 1. saith Dr. Lightfoot being born Hairy as if he had been of mature Age or Edom red from the Colour of his Hair. And afterwards that name was confirm'd to him on the Sale of his Birthright for a mess of red pottage to his Brother Iacob The Contentions and Enmity that should happen between the Posterity of the two Brothers was presignified by their struggling in their Mother 's Womb. Gen. 27. The Lord said unto Rebecca two Nations are in thy Womb and two manner of People shall be separated from thy Bowels and the one shall be stronger than the other and the Elder Esau shall serve the Younger This Oracle she kept in her mind and so firmly believ'd it that when Iacob scrupled to follow her Counsel as to the manner of obtaining his Father's Blessing lest instead of it being discovered he should meet with a Curse Gen. 27.12 13. she tells him Vpon me be thy Curse my son only obey my voice It is not improbable that she seared lest the whole Family might otherwise be excluded from the Blessing of Abraham apprehending that God might justly disannul the promise as to Esau because of his Prophaneness which he discovered not only by the contempt of the Blessing in selling his share in it and right to it Gen. 26.34 35. with his Birthright for so small a matter butin his whole Conversation especially by his Marriage among the Hittites who were under the Curse of God and to be rooted out Concerning one of Esau's Wives 't is said expresly that she was a Daughter of Ishmael and by that marriage against the Consent of his Parents as is intimated by their grief and concern at it He endeavored to establish the Pretensions and Plea of Ishmael the son of the Bondwoman for the Blessing of Abraham to the exclusion of his Father Isaac Heidegeri Hist Patriarch de Esavo Dissert 12. Deut. 2.12 21. in whose line God had fixt it § 2. Concerning the Country of Psau He at first inhabited the Eastern part of Idumea and therein Mount Seir or the Land of Seir as 't is called Gen. 32.3 But before Israel came out of Aegypt his Posterity slew the Horites or Horims of the race of Cham who inhabited the southern part and so possessed themselves of all Idumea (a) See Spanhemii F. Hist Jobi c. 4. Gen. 32. By the South is sometimes meant Idumea and confounded with the Southern part of Iudaea Esau dwelt in Seir before the death of Isaac for from thence he came in an Hostile manner to meet his Brother Iacob returning from Mesopotamia whither he had retired after he got the Blessing to avoid the Revenge which his Brother threatned Upon their Reconciliation Esau returns to Scir Gen. 32.16 He came afterwards with his Family to Hebron and was there with his Brother Gen 36.6 7 8. at the Death and Funerals of their Father Isaac But such was the Increase of the two Families that the Land could not bear them both there was not sufficient Pastorage for their Cattel therefore Esau departed with his Family and Substance and went to Mount Seir and there remained the rest of his Life He being the Prince of that Country Mare rubrum mare Erithraeum vel mare Idumaeum ab Edomo vel Erithro N. Fulleri Mise 5. lib. 4 cap. 20. the adjoyning Red-sea had its name from him Solomon is said to have sent ships to Ophir on the banks of the Red sea in the Land of Edom 1 Kings ◠c. 26. The Country o◠Idumea is commonly divided into the Greater and Lesser the former swallowed up saith (a) Decas choragr marco praef § 1. 5 Spanhemii Hist Jobi cap. 4. Dr. Lightfoot under the name of Arabia and the Lesser or new Idumea is mention'd by the Evangelist Mark. 3. c. 8. which at length was a part of Iudaea as possessed by the Idumeans after they were Proselites to the Jewish Religion A (b) Steph. Morin Dissert de cognatione Laced Hebraeorum learned man hath lately attempted to prove the Phaenicians and Idumeans to be all one Phaenices dicti quasi Idumaei rubri a mari Edom. § 3. Concerning the Edomites or Idumeans who bordered on Indaea as did the Moabites Ammonites Ishmaelites three things are observable 1. That notwithstanding their Agreement in Circumcision yet the Jealousies and Contentions between them and the Iows were irreconcileable They lookt upon their Father Esau as the Firstborn and that by the priviledge of Primogeniture the premised Blessing of the Messiah should come in his line rivalling the Israelites as having no Right unto it but by Iacob's supplanting their Father Esau But God had particularly promised that Biessing to the line of Abraham Isaac and Iacob On this account he is so often stiled the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Iacob to denote a special Relation to the Iews as his peculiar people Mr. Alliae Reflexions sur le Pentat part 2. chap. 15. in opposition to the pretences of all their Neighbours The God of Abraham and not of Lot against the Moa bites who descending from Lot pretended to the Blessing of the promised seed in that line The God of Isaac and not of Ishmael against the Ishmaelites who to the like purpose pleaded the Primogeniture of their Father Ishmael The God of Jacob and not of Esau to exclude the Idumeans of the race of Esau who therefore hated the Israelites and were always Jealous of them Some conformity and agreement in Sacraments among Christians we find by Experience doth rather produce Jealousie than procure love The differences in other things are therefore thought the more unreasonable and hard to be born by the differing parties and are the more insisted on to the exasperating of one another Instances of the like may be given in the discord between the Iews and the Samaritans Epiphanii opera Tom. 2. lib. 1. Hzres 29. Epiphanius takes notice of the Nazarites who acknowledged J. Christ but withal continued the Customs and Ceremonies of the Iews that such was the hatred of the
Iews against them that they did solemnly curse'em three times a day in their Synagogues The Turks have an honourable Esteem of our Saviour J. Christ which the Tartars have not yet the latter imbrace the Christian Faith sooner than the Turks So for the Turks and Persians tho both are Mahumetans and both Circumcised they yet detest one another more than they do the Christians and will sooner permit the Christians to live among them than tolerate one another 2. I would farther observe that the Hatred and Enmity of the Idumeans against the Iews did on all occasions discover it self till the time of the Macchabees Not only did they deny them a passage thro their Country Namb. 22. but they took all opportunities to joyn with their Enemies to ravage and spoil them When Nebuchadnezzar burnt the City and Temple of Ierusalem 2 Chron. 36. the Edomites with others who serv'd under him rejoyc't in its Ruin and assisted the Chaldaeans They cried Raze it Raze it even to the ground Psalm 137. v. 7. Following the Chaldaean Army like Ravens to feed upon the Carcasses which fell by their Cruelty taking the advantage of their miseries to be Revenged upon them Ezek. 25.12 15. For which God threatens to take vengeance on Edom. Of this the Church professeth her Confidence 60 Psalm Jer. 49. c. 8. 8. God hath spoken in his Holiness over Edom will I cast out my shoe T is an Emblem of subduing them under his feet I will walk thro possess tread down the land of Edom which was true when David put garrisons in Edom and all they of Edom became his servants He penned this Psalm 2 Sam. 8.14 when his General Ioab smote twelve thousand Edomites or Idumeans in the Valley of Salt and Abishai six thousand and therfore called * 1 Chron. 18 12. Eighteen thousand They are called Syrians in one place and Edomites in another During the captivity of the Jews in Babylon 't is thought the Idumeans did invade those parts of Iudaea that were next adjoyning to their Country and fixed there till rooted out by the Macchabees They served the Israelites the Seed of Iacob for about seven hundred years and had no proper King of their own till the time of Iehoram when they cast off the yoke of Judah 2 Kings 8.20 Every Vice-roy was called a King till that time So we read 1 Kings 22.47 There was no King in Edom a Deputy was King It was foretold by old Isaac Gen. 27. c. 40. Joseph Antiq lib. 8. c. 8 l. 9. c. 2. that the Time should come when Esau should have the Dominion break the Yoke of Jacob from off his neck This began in Solomons time when he forsook God and turned to Idolatry by Hadad who fled to Aegypt for shelter when Ioabs Army conquered Idumea afterwards under Iehoram they wholly revolted and slew their King who had been subject to Jehosaphat the Father of Iekoram For about eight hundred years they continued a free People Ibid. lib. 13. c. 17. till the time of Johannes Hircanus the son of Simon the Macchabee who forced and compelled them to receive Circumcision and the Religious Rites and Ceremonies of the Jews This was one of the first Instances of Force used in the matter of Religion which as it was a symptom of the degenerate State of the Iewish Church at that time so it was attended with the ordinary Consequent of such Compulsion viz. instead of making the Idumaeans sincere Professors of the Iewish Religion it did but exasperate them the more against their Religion and Nation 'T was an Evidence the Spirit of God had greatly forsaken the Iews under the second Temple and it succeeded accordingly for the Pharisees who were lately his Favorites and suggested that Counsel to Hircanus Ibid lib. 13. c. 18 19. and put him upon it were the next whom he severely proceeded against for under the most grievous penalties he forbad and endeavor'd to abolish their Opinions and Ordinances and within a few years the very Family of Hircanus too by contentions and quarrels among themselves was extinquisht and by the righteous Judgment of God the Government of the Iews fell into the hands of the Idumeans when such as Antipater and Herod ruled over them After this the Jews were more careful as well they might not to make Proselytes to their Religion by fraud or Force or to admit any but such as offered themselves freely of their own accord From that time the Idumeans were comprehended among the Iews Light foot centur Choragr Matth. praem cap 3 and Idumea began to be confounded with Iudea and reckon'd as a part of Pallestine Balaam's prophecy had now been fullfilled that Edom should be a Possession and Seir a Possession for his Enemies 24. Numb 18. They were now reputed as Iews and Herod the son of Antipater of an Idumean stock being the son of Parents who were Proselites might be called the Brother of the Jews and being by profession a Iew and standing in the third Generation might enter into the Congregation and be their King. Joseth de bello Jud. lib. 1. c. 15. Spanhemii dub Evang. pars 1. dub 16. De Herodis M. genere Causabon Exercit. 1. ad appar Baron Herod's family of the race o' Edom did by leave of the Romans reign over the Iews for the space of an hundred years then had Esau dominion over his Brother Jacob as foretold Gen. 27. c. 40. till this time they were separated from the rest of the world under Governours of their own who descended from Iacob and this is the time when the coming of Shiloh the Messiah drew near And many do here reckon the Accomplishment of that Prophecy 49. Gen. 10. The Scepter shall not depart from Judah till Shiloh come But the learned * Medes diatribe in Gen 49.10 Petavli Animadv ad Hzr. 29. Epiphan Mr. Mede hath prov'd that Shilo or the Messiah was to come and the gathering of the Nations or Gentiles unto him was to be accomplisht before the Scepter should finally depart from Iudah which was not so soon Josephus mentions many instances of the violence of the Idumeans against their Brethren in the last Civil Wars of the Iews which issued in the Final Destruction of Ierusalem De bell Jud. lib. 4. c. 5 6. their Temple City and Nation by the Romans when Wrath came upon them to the uttermost and the Scepter departed from Iudah so that they have continued without King or Prince or distinct Government of their own to this very day 3. It is farther to be observ'd concerning Edom or the Idumeans that they being the old Inveterate Enemy of Israel all the Adversaries of the Church of God are sometimes exprest by that name We read 83 Psalm 7 8. in a short Catalogue of the Enemies of the Church that Edom is set in the head of them And the Messiah when described as
Interest whose Destruction God hath promis'd and we expect And who can imagin that such great things as God hath foretold concerning the final Ruin of Babylon should ever be effected without great Commotions The last strugglings of Antichrist to support the throne of the Beast we may presume will be the fiercest We read of an Earthquake to precede the Raising of the Witnesses Rev. 11.13 and of another great Earthquake at the Fall of Babylon 16 ch 18. Blessed is he who shall be counted worthy to escape the things coming on the Earth and to stand before the Son of Man. Therefore he that hath Ears to hear let him hear not only what the spirit saith to the Churches but what the Providence of God speaks to the Professors of the Reformed Religion in Great Brittain Ireland and Holland He calls loudly to us by the Bonds by the Banishment by the Blood of our Brethren in other places which will be found in the skirts of Babylon by a Voice out of Hungary a Voice out of France a Voice out of Savoy and Fiedmont to consider our Ways and turn to the Lord and not to think or say that they were Greater Sinners than we but enquire whether the cup of Trembling be not like to go round Except we Repent Some of the grounds of our Fears with reference to an Approaching Night I shall now mention 1. Tho in the Evening time it may be Light yet the diminution of Heat by the declining Sun betokens Night to be at hand Such is the increase of Knowledg among Protestants and Blessed be God the Light is much greater than formerly that some are ready to conclude on that account that we have nothing to apprehend or fear But we have no such reason to be Confident considering the prevalency and spreading of many pernitious Errors against the Mysteries of Faith that a Flood of these is of late come out of the Mouth of the old serpent If withal we consider the Prejudices and obstinacy of the most for the Opinions they have blindly receiv'd against the Evidence and Conviction of farther Light. And the miserable neglect of Catechising younger persons in private and in publick to the shame of English Protestants in comparison with the Dutch or French so that multitudes have a Zeal for the Reformed Religion but not according to Knowledg and by ignorance of the grounds and Principles of Faith and Practice are prepared for Apostacy and of those who know the Truth the greatest part hold it in Vnrighteousness the Light shines in darkness and they have not received the Truth in the Love of it However granting that there is more light than formerly may it not be the last blaze of the Candle of the Lord gasping as it were a little flash of Light before it be quite Extinct and the Candlestick remov'd Because the Light of Truth is accompanied with little warmth of Devotion little love to God and fervor in his Service A spirit of Lukewarmness Indifference and Formality hath overspread all Churches and all Places And who almost is free from the Common Contagion When the Generality of Protestants grow Loose and Vain Covetous and Worldly Proud and Sensual in any particular Country may we not fear that God will spue them out of his Mouth Rev. 2.4 5. when they have lost their First Love that he will come quickly to the like severity against them as against the Church of Ephesus God departs by degrees from a People as he doth from Particular Persons First he is cast out of the Heart then out of the Closet secret Devotion is neglected then out of the Family he is not invok't and called upon there then out of the Congregation publick Ordinances are laid aside as useless and at last they are given up to a spirit of Prophaneness and Irreligion Any of those degrees have a threatning aspect as to a further progress The Tree is first Barren and brings forth no Fruit then no Leaves then no Bark and so is fit for the Ax and to be cast into the Fire Ezek 9. So a gradual Departure of the Presence of God from his Temple as represented in the Prophet's vision by five several removes threatens further and final forsaking For as it was not the Ark of God alone with the Mercy-seat covered with Cherubims but the Answers given immediately by God in the Holy Place that were the undoubted evidences of the Presence of his Glory with Israel so it is not the Doctrine of the Gospel alone and the publick Ministry of it in our days but the Powerful Operations of the Spirit by the Gospel on the Consciences and Lives of men that is the clearest demonstration of his Gracious Presence 'T is true there is much Light by Preaching but few hard Hearts are melted and softned few blind Eyes open'd comparatively but a few in most places The Word is a dead Letter for the most part preacht and heard without the Life and Heat and Power of the Quickning Spirit Isai 6.9 10 11. John 12.40 Thus it was with the Jews before the Babylonish Captivity and so in our B. Saviour's time before their final Ruin. 2. When Drowsiness a spirit of slumber and security doth generally obtain not only among the Foolish Virgins but even those who would be accounted Wise When Christians are more careless and confident than ordinary setled on their lees little concern'd for any thing but their own Repose and loath to be stirred up and kept from sleeping 'T is an ill sign when tho their Neighbours House be on Fire they are no more affected with it than men fast asleep on their beds such a spiritual Judgment doth commonly end in Temporal Plagues that they who are not sensible of the one may be made to feel the other For such a provocation God commands the Prophet to set the Trumpet to his mouth and proclaim war against Israel Hos 8.1 Especially when former warnings have been slighted preceding Judgments disregarded the word of God despised his Messengers mockt and his Ministers silenc'd in such a case we read that his wrath arose against them and there was no Remedy For this God threatned to search Jerusalem with Candles 2 Chron. 36.16 Isai 30.8 9 12 13. Zoch 1.12 and punish the men setled on their lees who say in their Hearts The Lord will not do good neither will he do Evil. The Security of Particular Persons is a presage of their Ruin when the slothful and wicked servant thinks his Lord doth delay his coming he will come Math. 24.50 and cut him asunder in a day when he looketh not for him and in an hour that he is not aware of when Agag said the Bitterness of death is past he was nearest Execution When the Rich Fool in the Parable said soul take thine ease the next news we hear of him is that the Pillow is pluckt from under his Head and he is cast into Hell. So
for Nations in the Instances of the old world of Sodom and Gomorrah the People of the Jews and the Romish Babylon whose Plagues shall come suddenly upon her as in one day when she sits as a Queen Rev. 18.7 8. and thinks she shall see no Evil. 3. The night is a Time of Solitariness men don't meet together in such Companies by night as by Day In the Evening every one seeks a Shelter and an Hiding-place for himself to rest in Thus a selfish narrow dividing spirit generally obtaining among any People is an ill sign that a Night of Calamity is at hand When all mind their own things Phil. 2.4.21 and few or none the things of Christ or of their common Peace And here the want of Concord and Vnion among Protestants Divisions and Separations and the sinful causes of 'em ought to be confidered especially when they arise to that degree that tho the Common Interest be at stake men will not so far as in them lies unite together to preserve and defend it I shall speak of this more largely in the conclusion of this Discourse 4. Another sign of an approaching Night is when God calls home his Labourers from their work and his Children to their bed of Rest When his Remembrancers in Sion who should stand in the breach to turn away Wrath they who are the Root and the substance in the midst of a Land Isai 6.13 Mich. 7.1 2. 5 Jer. 1. Ps 112.1 2 Kings 2.13 who are the Stay and the Staff the Chariots and the Horsemen of Israel are called away in great numbers One Elisha by his Interest with God and the prevalency of his Prayers was a better defence to Israel than Chariots and Horses and all their warlike Preparations The loss of such is the weakning of a Country because they can do more for its preservation than the most numerous and disciplin'd Army May we not apprehend the fall of an House when we see the principal Pillars of it removing Prov. 10.25 The Righteous is an everlasting Foundation saith Solomon Fundamentum seculi as some renderit the foundation of his Age and Generation as if the Happiness and Peace of any Age depended on the Righteous who live in it and when they dye the Foundations are removed Isai 65.8 Obad. 21. They are the Repairers of Breaches the Restorers of Paths to dwell in the strength of a People the Saviours of a Nation By their Examples Councels Authority Interest and Prayers they do their utmost to stop that Current of sin which brings Desolation 'T is for their sakes Ezek. 22.30 31. that others are not destroyed that national mercies are given and continued and desolating Judgments kept off A Vineyard is watered and fenc't for the sake of the Vines which bear fruit otherwise it would quickly be laid waste and the wild Boar of the Forest suffer'd to enter How often had God destroyed the Israelites Psalm 106.23 Gen. 19.21 22. had not Moses his chosen stood in the breach A whole City is spared at the Intercession of Lot. Had there been ten Righteous Persons in Sodom it had been spared and when that number was not found yet it could not be destroyed till Lot was gone No wonder therefore when such Intercessors are removed if Judgment follow as when the Wind ceaseth the Rain falls When there are but a few left to stir up themselves to call on God and know how to wrestle with him for National mercies no wonder if God hides himself from a professing People Isai 64.7 Isai 57.1 and consumes them for their Iniquities for such are taken away from the Evil to come While they continue a storm is often delayed and Judgment deferr'd as the Wars in Germany till after the death of Luther who was wont to say that God would be Propitious and spare 'em as long as he liv'd and no longer God will not sweep a Land with the Besome of Destruction till the greatest part of his Jewels are pickt out of the Rubbish and the Residue shall be taken care of For their sakes he will spare a Remnant Obad. 16.17 Math. 24.22 and not make an utter Consumption And when they can't prevail to divert the Calamity yet it shall be lessened and shortned for their sakes Exemplary Christians and Faithful Pastors are the Glory of Christ and stars in his Right Hand and therefore their Removal cannot but presage Judgment to follow Especially when the Ignorance and Corruption of very many of those who succeed them is a new provocation to hasten vengeance When the nurseries of Learning are little better than schools of Vice and the sons of the Prophets strengthen the hands of Evil doers and the offering of the Lord is made to be abhorr'd among the People thro the vileness of the sons of Levi for this saith God I will feed them with Wormwood Ezek 22.26 Jer. 23.14 Jer. 5.30 and make them drink the Water of Gall. Shall I not visit for these things shall I not be avenged on such a Nation as this 5. When the Shadows grow long The higher the sun and the farther from setting after once he is risen the shorter alway the shadow but the shadows lengthen towards sun-set 'T is therefore an ill sign when shadows are greatned and so much more ado is made about Ceremonies and circumstances and Points of Discipline and Church-Government than for the weightier Things of the Law and Gospel When those things which by one party are acknowledged to be Indifferent and but a shadow and others fear to be sinfull are yet imposed and urged as if they were Necessary How desireable soever Vniformity in lesser things among Christians may be imagin'd as it cannot be proved that the H. Scripture doth require it so too dear Experience will assure us that it is not practicable without Persecution And even that likewise hath been too long tried without Success 'T is impossible but that Christians of different degrees of knowledg different tempers educations c. will have various apprehensions about doubtful points It is not to be expected they should ever agree in the lesser disputable Doctrines and modes of Worship nor in any such Terms of Church Communion as Christ and his Apostles have not made necessary But yet they ought and very well may bear with one another in those Differences for the sake of their Common Christianity and so hold the Vnity of the spirit in the Bond of Peace Div. Dialog 5. 6. 30. p. 412. It would confer much to this saith Dr. H. More who liv'd and dyed in the Communion of the Church of England if all Opinions and Practices in Religion that either hinder or do not promote the Life of God in the world were universally undervalued by the Church of God. and by this means all occasions of squabling and Contention about the shadows and Coverings of Opinions and Forms being thus removed and taken out of the way
all the same tone of voice whereas Hannibals Army being made up of several Nations their shouting was less formidable by reason of the Variety of their voices it will not therefore follow that their success must be the less on that account Our opposition to Popery might appear to them and to the world more formidable if we were altogether of one speech and of one way and our shouts more uniform yet the Success may be as Great and the Victory as sure tho we are not if we are but wise enough to bear with one another in our lesser Differences Fifthly Since none of us do pretend to Infallibility we have all the reason in the world to bear with one another The principles of the Roman Church will better justifie them to demand a blind Submission to all that is required and to treat them severely who refuse it than any of the Protestant Churches with reference to one another We all acknowledg our selves liable to mistake and therfore should use gentleness and Compassion to our Brethren that we think do Err and pity them upon the account of Humane frailty and fallibility which all would be more disposed to do for others had they a deeper sense of their own What two persons in the world are just of the same Sise of understanding have the same apphrehensions of things or hold the same Opinions What man in the world but as he grows elder and without losing time doth also grow wiser but alters his Opinions in many points Do not various Educations callings Studies Company imployments interests conditions in the world make a mighty difference in the apphrehensions of some from others and of all men from themselves at different seasons Besides the various degrees of the grace of God to several Christians c. all which should incline us as fallible mutable Creatures to bear with one another The Papists teach that an implisit faith in the Judgment of the Clergy is sufficient to justifie the belief and practise of the People and so may better exact an Uniformity in Doctrine and Worship than we who deny it and hold that every man must Judge for himself It may farther be considered that men cannot change their Opinions when they please any more than their Stature or their Taste You may as soon fill a mans belly with a Syllogism as alter his Opinion and Belief by Force Till his Reason be convinc't he will believe as he did If any are willing to know the truth and endeavor it and practise according to their light and desire to live peaceably with others of a different persuasion is it just and reasonable much less Christian that they should be persecuted and destroyed because they will not subscribe some doubtful Articles cannot sit within the little Circle of some mens Opinions that are uppermost or consent to worship God just after the same manner they would have them Especially they who stand out to their outward Disadvantage whose temporal Interest pleads strongly for a compliance in such a case there is ground for Charity that they are sincere There is hardly any man but some time or other will allow such Considerations to have some strength The word of God saith Bp. Saunderson Cases of Conscience lect 3. § 29.30 doth Expresly forbid us to subject our Consciences to any other or to usurp Dominion over the Consciences of any And there is no hope that Religion should be restored to her former Original and Purity till the wounds that have been made wider by our quarrels and dissentions being anointed with the oyl of Brotherly love as with a Balsom shall begin to close again and to grow intire into the same unity of faith and Charity Bp. Taylor hath much to the same purpose of moderation Part 3. p. 420 425. not to quote the many places in his Liberty of Prophecy in his Great Exempler or Life of Christ he saith We should ill dye for our Brother who will not lose a meal to prevent his sin or change a dish to save his soul And if the thing scrupled be Indifferent to us yet it ought not to be indifferent whether our Brother live or dye When the Evil occasion'd by the Law is greater than the Good designed or greater than the Good that will come by it in the present Constitution of things and the Evil can by no other Remedy be healed it concerns the Lawgivers Charity to take off such positive Constitutions which in the Authority are meerly humane and in the matter indifferent and Evil in the Event Sixthly Let us consider the Vnseasonableness of our Divisions and backwardness to Union and Forbearance at this Time. Neither the Church of England nor Protestant Dissenters are ever like to have such a time of Tryal again as this when mutual Interest doth so loudly call for an Accommodation of our unhappy Differences For not only doth the Heighth and progress of abounding Wickedness and Impiety require the utmost Union of Hearts and Hands and Tongues to promote Repentance and Reformation but we all do now see the mischief of our past Divisions all Parties in their turns have been sensible of it All have complain'd of a Spirit of Bitterness Persecution and Revenge and therfore none should imitate that which they condemn or be averse to that which sometime or other they have thought desirable 2 Kings 17. See Isai 9.21 The Divisions of Israel made them a prey to their Enemies and those of the Jews exposed them to Destruction by the Romans Which they might have prevented by an carly Submission or by uniting their Strength to defend themselves but by reason of their Divisions could do neither So the contest between the Greek and the Latin Church ended in the Ruin of the Eastern Empire And justly may God leave us to be destroyed of one another or by the Enemies of our Religion if we will not at last learn the way of Peace Who will pity us who can help us if having a prize in our hands we will not know it or improve it Ought we not to consider that next to the Displeasure of God for the sins of English Protestants this is the great strength of the Church of Rome and their most Considerable Advantage against us We need not otherwise fear their other Politicks for which they have been so cried up in the World tho principally because they scrupled nothing that would serve as a means to attain their end were we duly sensible of this one Policy of theirs to divide and exasperate us one against another The Preaching of their Monks and Priests will of it self do little to turn the Nation to Popery if we may Judge by their printed sermons they are not like to get much ground by their Preaching among a People who in most places have been used to so much better And as little need we fear their books of Controversie notwithstanding the noise that hath been made of
the Learning of the Jesuites their strength hath of late been tried to their irreparable shame if they are capable of any and as much to the Honour of the learned Divines of the Church of England Their Converting-books and Pamphlets have been so weak and the Answers to them so strong and so many that they are not like to prevail much that way neither if English Protestants would but bear with one another and not seek Revenge which the juncture of Time doth dissuade from as unseasonable as well as our Common Christianity doth forbid as unlawful which will appear if we consider Seventhly Whether it be not Improbable that the Leading men of the Church of England should hereafter commit the same Error again to molest and Persecute their Brethren for the Differences between us and them All the world now sees at what door a great part of the severity against Protestant Dissenters ought to be laid so far as it was the sin of others I hope God will let them see it and give 'em Repentance And there are very many Parish Ministers in England who are pious and peaceable who preach and live holily and never did consent to the Persecution of their Brethren but endeavor'd to hinder it I only wish they had been more If it be said they are by consequence Partakers of such a guilt it hath been and must again be replied that if God should Charge undiscerned Consequences upon them and us none of us would be meet either for Church Communion now or for Heaven hereafter The past faults and miscarriages of some should not make us injurious to others Far be it from us to imagin that there are no Faithful Ministers of Christ in England but such as are of our principles and particular persuasion Let us not refuse to love those that are Good because many of their Church or Opinion are bad Is there any Kingdom or Country upon Earth where the greatest part are not bad Is there any place where the Religion countenanc't and encouraged by the Government hath not many who comply with it for secular Interest The Author of the late Apology for the Church of England as to the spirit of Persecution hath said many things to this purpose it will be good news to hear that the greatest part of his Brethren are of his mind that all Prot. Dissenters might believe that the wisest and most leading men of that Church do see their Error their sin too might be added if it be an essential Right of Humane nature as Dr. B. saith for every man to Worship God according to his conviction And we have great Reason to hope that they will not again use severity to their Brethren if it should ever be in Their Power but come to a Temper in the matters of Conformity as the seven Bishops have under their hands declared their disposition to do And in the mean time one of the Articles which the A. Bishop of Cantcrbury hath recommended to the Bishops under his Jurisdiction is a Tender Regard to their Brethren the Protestant Dissenters At the same time assuring us and all the World that they are really and sincerely Irreconcileable Enemies to the Errors Superstitions Idolatries and Tyrannies of the Church of Rome and that all the unkind Jealousies to the Countrary have been altogether groundless Let us not therefore be over sensible of past Injuries to the Hindrance of Concord for the common Good lest we wrong the Church of Christ and neglect the security of the Reformed Religion and the wellfare of the Nation and of Posterity because others have wronged us For however the Jesuites may now plead for Liberty of Conscience no Protestant Brittish or Irish especially but must needs know that of all Religions in the World the Romish by their avowed Principles is obliged to be the most Cruel Assoon as our divisions have made us weak enough we have but too much reason to expect it which God Prevent Lastly Consider that we Agree with the Church of England in great and many things and those things wherein we differ are comparatively few and small and therefore mutual forbearance and Concord is possible as well as desireable Yea those things for which they are Hated and struck at by the Church of Rome are not such Doctrines or modes of Worship wherein we differ from them but 't is for the sake of those things wherein we agree with the Church of England and therefore in prudence we are obliged to espouse their cause as our own The Reader may easily perceive that all that I have said relates to the Union of Protestants among themselves who tho of different Persuasions in some External and Circumstantial things do hold the Head 2 Coloss 19. and agree in the main and Essential Doctrines of Faith But as to the Church of Rome which perverts the Christian Faith maintains and practiseth Idolatry and false Worship and the declared Enemy to all Protestants and by her Constitutions doth oblige all her Members under an Anathema to root out and to destroy them as Hereticks how far those of her Communion may be tolerated in a Protestant Country without sin or Danger is a matter too large at present to dilate upon It would seem very strange and Irrational for any Party of Protestants to strengthen the Papists and contribute to their being set up in Power and Authority especially in the Legislative power in opposition to those of the Church of England as fearing that these will not establish and allow them Liberty of Conscience and imagining that the Papists will who depend upon a forreign Power and are not masters of their own Consciences but have subjected them to another whom they suppose Infallible Surely from the Members of the Church of England we ought the rather to believe and hope this because they have of late deserved so very well of all Protestants by a vigorous and learned opposition to Popery in a great number of select Discourses upon all the Considerable points in Controversie between us and the Church of Rome And having done so much to keep out Popery as to the Doctrine let us hope and pray and charitably believe that they will also do their utmost hereafter to prevent Persecution which is one of the worst parts of Popery in Practice I conclude with the pathetical Exhortation of the Devout Bishop Hall O Lord Passion Sermon p. 390 391. how long shall thy poor Church see the dear sons of her womb bleeding about these Apples of Strife The Enemy is at the gates of Syracuse How long shall we suffer our selves to be taken up with Circles and Angles in the dust ye Men Brethren and Fathers Help for God's sake put to your hands for the quenching of this Common flame the one side by Humility the other by Compassion both by Prayers and Tears Let me beg for Peace as for Life by your filial Piety and duty to the Church of God whose Ruins follow upon our Divisions by your love of God's Truth by the Graces of that one Blessed spirit whereby we are all informed and quickn'd by the precious â—lood of the son of God shed for our Redemption be inclined to Peace and Love. Tho our Brains be different yet let our Hearts be one Let us have Peace with our selves and War with none but Hell and Rome Amen THE END