The True Way of Concord of All the Christian Churches, Part 1 · Chapter 7
CHAP. VII.
III. What obligations are on all Chriſtians to avoid ſinful diviſions and diſcord, and to promote this Vnity and peace.
§. 1. FRom what is already ſaid it is eaſie to gather, that many and great obligations are on all Chriſtians to be promoters of Concord and enemies of diſcord and diviſions. I. The many and expreſs commands of Chriſt in Scripture do oblige them. This is no dark or controverted point, written in words which are hard to be underſtood, but plainly uttered and often urged: Yea when ſeveral of Gods commands are mentioned, this is ſtill preferred before moſt others that can be imagined to ſtand in competition againſt it: As the uniting Love of God is called the firſt and great Command, ſo the uniting Love of man is called the ſecond like to that, and the ſumm of the ſecond table, and the fulfilling of the Law. It is not mentioned as an Accident of the New Creature, but as an eſſential part; not as the high qualification of ſome rare Chriſtian, but as that which is neceſſary and common to all that are the living members of Chriſt: Not only as needful to ſome inferiour uſes, but as neceſſary to all the great Ends of our Religion, preferred before ſacrifice and all the rituals, and not to be diſpenſed with, on any pretence.
§. 2. II. No man therefore can be an obedient ſervant of Chriſt that ſeeketh not to keep the Vnity of the spirit in the bond of peace: If he that breaketh one of the leaſt commands and teacheth men ſo to do, ſhall be called Leaſt in the Kingdom of God, what ſhall he be called, and where ſhall be his lot that breaketh the greateſt?
§. 3. III. The Love of God our Father and of Chriſt our Redeemer doth oblige us: For if he that loveth not his brother whom he ſe…th daily, cannot Love God whom he never ſaw; how much leſs he that loveth not the multitude of believers, and ſo great an intereſt of God in the world, as is that unity and concord of the body of Chriſt? And if he that doth or doth not good to one of the leaſt of the ſervants of Chriſt, is ſuppoſed to have done it or not done it to himſelf, how much more he that doth or omitteth that which Chriſt and his whole Church is ſo much concerned in?
§. 4. IV. The Love of our own ſouls obligeth us, conſidering how many and great impediments diſcord doth raiſe againſt all grace and duty, and againſt our holineſs, comfort and ſalvation: And how much Chriſtian Love and Concord do conduce to the preſervation of all grace, and to the attainment of Glory: All men in true Concord are our helpers, and all men in diſcord are our hinderers, and tempters. How fair and eaſie is the way to Heaven among true Loving and agreeing Chriſtians? and how hard is it where diviſions and contentions take place?
§. 5. V. The Love of our neighbours ſouls obligeth us to this: That which is beſt for us is beſt for them. Alas, carnal minds deceived by ſin need not to have the way to heaven made harder, nor to be tempted by the diſcords of Chriſtians to deſpiſe them: Their own malignity and the devils temptations, when we have done our beſt may ſuffice to deceive them and undo them: Every Chriſtian ſhould be a helper to the ſalvation of all about him, and a ſouldier under Chriſt, to fight againſt Satan as he is the great divider and deſtroyer. As ever therefore we pity the ſouls of ſinners, and would not be guilty of their damnation, we ſhould keep the Unity of the ſpirit in the bond of peace.
§. 6. VI. Our Love to the Church and Sacred Miniſtry doth oblige us. Our Diſcords unſay too powerfully what Chriſts Miniſters ſay, when they ſet forth the power of grace, and the excellency of Chriſtianity! All the oppoſition of the arguments and reproaches of Quakers or malignant prophane enemies is of far leſs force againſt the Goſpel, than the diſcords of profeſſed Chriſtians. The labours of many worthy Miniſters have been hindered, and their hearts even broken with ſuch ſinful and ſcandalous diviſions; when the enemies hit us in the teeth with theſe, we are aſhamed and cannot deny the fact, though we can deny their falſe concluſions. How much of the deſigns of Satan and his agents have lain in dividing the ſervants of Chriſt? Some of the moderate and peaceable Emperours in the more flouriſhing ſtate of the Church and Empire, by the diſcords and mutinies of factious Chriſtians were made a-weary of their Crowns: Yea ſome of thoſe that the haſty hereticating Orthodox party too haſtily pronounced hereticks and heretical (ſuch as Theodoſuis junior, Zeno, Anaſtaſuis, Juſtinian, &c.) were tired out with labouring in vain to keep the Chriſtian Biſhops in Peace, and by Hiſtorians are recorded to be men of better qualities than the Biſhops: And one of them (Anaſtaſius) laid down his Crown and told them he would not be the Ruler of ſuch contentious and unruly men, till the neceſſities of the people brought them to remorſe, and to intreat him to continue Emperour, and promiſed to ceaſe their mutinous contentions.
And what the diviſions in the Church of Rome did to ſhame and thus far abaſe the Papacy, is paſt all doubt: When there have been in many generations ſometimes two and ſometimes three called Popes at once; when ſome Kingdoms owned one and ſome another, and when they often fought it out, and (as Victor the third and many another) got their pretended right by Victory, not by the Word but by the Sword; When one Pope for forty years together lived in France at Avignion, and the other at Rome; When they fought it out with many Emperours and Kings; When Italy was kept by them many ages in diviſions and bloody wars; and when the very Citizens of Rome and their Popes were put to fight it out at home in their ſtreets; And when the Popes have excommunicated the people of Rome it ſelf (where then was the Church of Rome?) All this Church hiſtory recordeth to their perpetual ſhame.
And have not the diſſenſions between Luther and Caroloſtadius, and Zuinglius, Lutherans and Calviniſts, to name no more, been a reproach to the Reformation (as I ſaid before). As we Love the Church then, and as we regard the honour and ſucceſs of the Miniſtry, and would not have Chriſts houſe and Kingdom fall or be ſhaken or diſgraced by our ſinful diſcords, Let us keep this ſpiritual Unity and peace.
§. 7. VII. And indeed Experience is not the leaſt of our obligations: A danger never tryed, is ſeldom ſo cautelouſly avoided as thoſe into which we have formerly fallen, and out of which we have narrowly eſcaped. They that have read Church-Hiſtory, what the factions and hereſies of the Biſhops and people have done from the dayes even of the Apoſtles to this day: Yea, they that have but ſeen and felt what Religious diſcords have done in this generation, even at home in England, Scotland and Ireland, and yet do not hate ſuch diſcord as death, and love peace and ſpiritual unity as life and health and ſafety, they are hardened paſt all excuſe.