Catholic Unity, Part 1
Doct. The true Vnity of the Catholick Church of Christ consisteth in this, that they have all one Sanctifying spirit within them.
By the Holy-Ghost within them they are all United to Christ and to one another: By this One Spirit they are all made …aints, or an Holy people, having One Heaven for the matter of their Hopes, One Christ their Head, One summe of Christian doctrine, which they believe, containing all the Essentials of Christian Faith; and One living principle of Faith to believe it; One solemn Covenant with Christ; and One God the …ather their End and All.
It is only the Sanctified that have true Christian Vnity; and it is unholiness or ungodliness that is the cause of the miserable Divisions of the world. Now, Sirs, you see the Only way to Vnity: Even to have One Sanctifying spirit within us, and be all an Holy People; and there is no way but this: Now you see the principal cause of Division; even unholiness, and refusing the Spirit of Grace.
In handling this point, 1. I shall give you some Propositions that are necessary for the fuller understanding of it. 2. I shall demonstrate the Point to you, by fuller Evidence of Reason. 3. I shall make Application of it.
I. PRop. 1. Though it be only the Sanctified that have the true Un…on of Members w…th Chr…st and the Body; yet all that make Profession of Sanctification, and Null not that Pro…ession, have an Extr…nsick, Analogical Union in profession: As the wooden or dead leg is united to the body, and the dead branch to the Vine: And so even Hypocrites must not only dwell among us, but be of the same visible Church with us, as the chaff and tares are in the same cornfield. And as long as they seem Saints we must value them, and use them as Saints, and love them, 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 m…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 quest…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 its 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 S…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. 3.18. But it is the Lord that is the portion of the Saints, Psal. 16.5. They lay up a treasure in heaven, Mat. 6.20. and there they have their conversations, Phil. 3.20. Being risen with Christ, they seek the things that are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God; for they are dead, and their life is hid with Christ in God, Col. 3.1, 3, 4. The business that the Saints, and that the ungodly have in the world, is clean contrary. Their business is for Heaven; and yours is for earth; They are sowing to the spirit in hope of everlasting life, and you are sowing to the flesh, and shall reap corruption, Gal. 6.6, 7. They are making Provision for another life, that never shall have end; and you are making provision for the flesh, to satisfie its desires, Rom. 13.14. And how is it possible for these to be United? What concord between light and darkness? or Christ and Belial? or righteousness with unrighteousness? 2 Cor. 6.14, 15. Can two wal… together except they be agreed? Amo. 3.3. We must better agree of our business in the world, and of our journeys end, before we can keep company with you. While you are for earth and we for heaven, it is not possible that we should go one way. While one is for the world and another for God, they must needs differ: For God and the world are masters that are unreconcileable. If you will cleave to one, you must despise the other.
The work of the Butcher and the Souldier is to kill: and the work of the Surgeon and Physitian is to cure. And do you think these will ever take one course? The Souldier studies how to wound and kill: The Surgeon studies how to close these wounds and heal them. And surely these must go contrary wayes. Sirs, as long as your business is principally for the flesh and the world; and the business of the sanctified is against the flesh and world, and for the Spirit and the world to come, how is it possible that you should be agreed? You must bring heaven and earth together first; yea heaven and hell together first, before you can have a Christian Unity and Agreement between the sanctified and the unsanctified.
5. There is no Vnity to be had, but in the Gospel. The Apostle tels us, there is One Faith, Eph. 4.5. If an Angel from heaven would preach another Gospel, he must be accursed, Gal. 1.10, 11. But the unsanctified do not truly and heartily entertain this Gospel. You think and say you truly believe it, when you do not. If you truly believed it, your lives would shew it. He that indeed believes an everlasting Glory, will sure look after it, more then after the world or the flesh.
6. There is no Christian Unity but in the Christian Nature. Contrary natures cannot close. Fir… and Water, the Woolf and the Lamb, the Bear and the Dog, wi… not well Unite. The sanctified hav… a new, divine and heavenly nature Ioh. 3.6. 2 Pet. 1.4. 2 Cor. 5.1… Their Disposition is another way then it was before. But the unsanctified have the old corrupt fleshly nature still. One is as the fire, still bending upward; the other as the earth or stone, still bending downward to the earth: And how can these agree together?
7. There is no Christian Vnity to be had, where the Affections run quite contrary wayes. But so it is with the sanctified and the unsanctified. One loves God above all, and cannot live without holy Communion with him, and retireth into him from the distractions of the world, and maketh him his Rest, Content and Solace: The other mentions the goodness of God, but findeth no such sweetness in him, nor desires after him. One treads the world underfoot as dirt, or valueth and useth it but as a help to heaven: And the other makes it his happiness, and sets his heart on it. One delighteth in Holiness, and the other hateth it, or regardeth it not. One hateth sin as a Serpent, or as death; and the other makes it his meat, and drink, and business. And how is it possible for men of such contrary affections to be agreed? and natures at such enmity to Unite?
8. The sanctified and unsanctified are moved by contrary Objects: One lives by faith on things that are out of sight, and strives for Heaven as if he saw it, and strives against Hell as if he saw it; for his faith is the evidence of things not seen. Heb. 11.1, 7. We live by faith, and not by sight, 2 Cor. 5.7. 2 Cor. 4.18. But the unsanctified live upon things that are seen, and things believed little move them, because they are not heartily believed.
9. The Holy and the unholy do live by contrary Laws. One liveth by the Law of God, and there asketh counsel what he must think, or say, or do, resolving to obey God, before his flesh, and all the world. The other will say, he will be ruled by Gods Law, till his flesh and carnal interest contradict it, and then he will take his lusts for his Law: His Pride is a Law to him, and the pleasures and profits of the world are a Law to him, and the will of great ones, and the customs of men are his Law. And how is it possible for m…n to agree that walk by such contrary Rules as these?
10. There is no true Vnity but in the Covenant with Christ. As Marriage Vniteth man and wife; so every truly sanctified man, hath delivered up himself to Christ in a peremptory absolute Covenant, and hath quit all claim of interest in himself, and is wholly Gods. But the unsanctified will not be brought to this, any further then the lips, and therefore they cannot be well United.
11. The true members of the Church are built on the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Eph. 2.20, 21. But the unsanctified regard them not, if they cross their minds.
12. There is no true Christian Vnity, but with the Holy Catholick Church. The body is but one, 1 Cor. 12.12, 13. Eph. 4.4. But the unsanctified are not of the Holy Catholick Church, but only in the visible external Communion of it.
13. There can be no true Christian Vnity with the Saints, without a special Love to the Saints For by this we know that we are passed from death to life, because we love the Brethren; he that lovet… not his brother abideth in death, 1 John 3.14. By this must all men know that we are Christs Disciples, John 13.35. Love is the bond and cement of the Church. He that doth not heartily love a godly sanctified man, because he is such, hath no true Unity with the Church. But the ungodly love them not as such: They see no such beauty and loveliness in Holiness. Though Scripture call it Gods Image, they be not in Love with Gods Image; but think it a conceit, or hypocritical pretence, or a wearysom thing. Why! poor carnal wretches, do you hate the godly, and yet would you have Unity with them? Do you hate them, and yet cry out against Divisions, when your hearts are thus divided from God and his servants? You must learn to Love them with a special Love, and Christ in them, before you can be United with them.
14. There is no Unity to be had wi…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. Th…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 m…at and drink, and we cannot feed at one Table together, what Agreement can there be?
18. If you will Agree, you must w…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.