Twenty Sermons, Sermon 13
AD AULAM. Sermon XIII.
WHITEHALL July 1641.
Rom. 15.6.
—That ye may with one minde, and with one mouth glorifie God, even the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ.
1. THe sence hangeth unperfect, unless we take in the former verse too. Both together contain a Votive Prayer or Benediction; wherewith the Apostle, for the better speeding of all the pains he had taken in the whole former Chapter, and in the beginning of this, (to make the Romanes more charitably affected one towards another, without despising the weakness,Rom. 14.3, 10. or judging the liberty, one of another,) concludeth his whole discourse concerning that argument. His Exhortations will do the better, he thinketh, if he second them with his devotions; I have shewed you, saith he, what you are to do: foreign, Now God grant it may be done. Now the God of patience and of consolation grant you to be like minded one towards another according to Christ Iesus; That ye may with one, &c.
2. In the matter or substance of which prayer, (besides the formality thereof in those first words, Now the God of patience and consolation grant you:) S. Paul expresseth, both the thing he desired; even their unity, in the residue of the fifth verse [to be like minded one towards another according to Christ Iesus:] and the end for which he desired it; even Gods glory, in this sixth verse [That ye may with one minde, and with one mouth, glorifie God, even the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ.] Of that I have heretofore spoken, now, some yeers past: of this I desire by Gods grace presently to speak. And like as in that former part we then considered three particulars: First, the thing it self, Unity or like-mindedness [to be like-minded;] and then two amplifications thereof; one in respect of the Persons, that it should be universal and mutual [one towards another;] the other in the manner, that it should be [according to Christ Iesus:] So are we at this time, in this later part to consider of the like three particulars. First, the end it self, the glory of God [that ye may glorifie God.] And then two amplifications thereof: the one, respecting the person whom they were to glorifie; thus described [God, even the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ:] the other respecting the manner how, or the means whereby they were to glorifie him [with on… minde and with one mouth.] Of which in their order: the End first, and then the amplifications.
foreign, That ye may glorifie God. We must a little search into the words, that we may the more fully understand them. The first word foreign, though but a particle, hath its use: it pointeth us out to some end or final cause. Would S. Paul have so bestirred himself as he doth; spent so much breath, so much oratory, so many arguments; been so copious and so earnest as he is, by his best both perswasions and prayers, to draw all parts to unity: if he had not conceived it conducible to some good end? He that doth not propose to himself some a—foreign. Aristot. 1. Ethic. 1.main end in all his actions, especially those that are of moment, and such as he will make a business of; is not like either to go on with any good certainty, or to come off with any sound comfort. There would be ever some fixt end or other thought of, in all our undertakings and endeavours.
4. And so there is most an end; (Nature it self prompting us thereunto:) but for the most part (our nature being so fouly depraved) a wrong one.Phil. 2.21. Omnes quae sua: he speaketh of it complainingly, as of an errour that is common among men, and in a manner universal. All seek their own; seldom look beyond themselves: but make their own profit, their own pleasure, their own glory, their own safety, or other their own personal contentment, the utmost end of all their thoughts. Which upon the point is no better then very aQuis enim est bonus, qui facit nihil nisi sui causâ? Cic. 7. epist. 12.Atheisme, or at the best (and that but a very little better) Idolatry. He that doth all for himself, and hath no farther End: maketh an Idol of himself, and hath no other God. [The ungodly is so proud, that he careth not for God, neither is God in all his thoughts. Psalm 10. He is so full of himself, Psal. 10.4.his thoughts are so wholy taken up with himself, that there is no room there for God, or any thing else but himself. But this self-seeking S. Paul every where disclaimeth: not seeking his own profit, 1 Cor. 10. Nor counting his life dear unto himself, 1 Cor. 10.33. Act. 20.24.so as he might do God and his Church any acceptable service, either with it or without it, Act. 20. If he had looked but at himself and his own things; what needed the dissentions of the Romanes have troubled him any thing at all? If they be so minded, let them go to it hardly; judge on, and despise on;Rom. 14.3, 10. Gal. 5.15. tugg it out among themselves as well as they can; bite and devour one another: till they had wearied and worried one another: what is that to him? It would be much more for his ease, and possibly he should have as much thanks from them too, (for to part a fray is mostwhat a thankless office,) to sit him down, let them alone, and say nothing. This is all true, and this he knew well enough too. But there was a farther matter in it: he saw his Lord and Master had an interest; 1 Thes. 3.1, 5.his honour suffered in their dissentions: and then he could not hold off. foreign (as his phrase is twise in one Chapter,2 Cor. 5.14.) he could not for his life forbear, but he must put in: for the love of Christ constrained him. We by his example to make God our chiefest good, and the utmost end of all our actions and intentions. Not meerly seeking our own credit, or profit, or ease, or advancement; nor determining our aims in our selves, or in any other creature: But raising our thoughts to an higher pitch, to look beyond all these at God, as the chief delight of our hearts, and scope of our desires;Psal. 16.8. That we may be able to say with David Psal. 16. I have set the Lord alway before me. That is a second Point.
5. And if we do so, the third will fall in of it self, to wit, his Glory; for he, and it, are inseparable. The greatest glory on earth is than of a mighty King, when he appeareth in state: his robes glorious, his attendants glorious, every thing about him ordered to be as glorious as may be, (Solomon in all his glory. Mat. 6.Mat. 6.29.) There is, I grant, no proportion here: (finiti ad infinitum.) But because we are acquainted with no higher; it is the best resemblance we have, whereby to take some scantling of the infinite glory of our heavenly King. And therefore the Scriptures fitted to our capacity, speak of it to us mostly in that key [The Lord is King, Psal. 93.1. —104.1.and hath put on glorious apparel. Psal 93. O Lord my God thou art become exceeding glorious: thou art cloathed with Majesty and honour. Psalm 104.) But as I said before, it holdeth no proportion. So that we may not unfitly take up our Apostles words elsewhere, (though spoken to another purpose;) Even that which is most glorious here hath no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth. 2 Cor. 3.10. And the force of the argument he useth at the next verse there, holdeth full out as strongly here: For, saith he, if that which is done away be glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious. The glory of the greatest Monarch in the world, when it is at the fullest is but foreign, (the word fitteth the thing very well,) a matter rather of shew and opinion then of substance; and hath in it more of fancy, then reality: (foreign, is S. Lukes expression Act. 25.Act. 25.23.) Yet as empty a thing as it is: if it were of any permanency, it were worthy the better regard. But that that maketh it the verier vanity is, that it is a thing so transitory: it shall and must be done away. But the glory of the great King of heaven remaineth, and shall not (cannot) be done away for ever. The glorious Majesty of the Lord endureth for ever, Psal. 104 31.Psal. 104. If then that be glorious, much more this: but how much more, is more then any tongue can utter, or heart conceive. So that if we look at God, we cannot leave out Glory.
6. Nither if we speak of Glory, may we leave our God: and that is a fourth Point. For as no other thing belongeth so properly to God, as Glory: so neither doth Glory belong so properly to any other person, as to God. The holy Martyr S. Stephen therefore calleth him The God of Glory. Act. 7.2.And the holy Apostles, when they speak of giving him glory, Rom. 16.7. 1 Tim. 1.17.do it sometimes with the exclusive parcle foreign, to the onelyonly wise God, or (as the words will equally bear it) onelyonly to the wise God be glory: to him, and onelyonly to him. Yea and the holy Angels in that Anthem they sang upon our Saviours birth, when they shared heaven and earth their severall portions, allotted us our part in peace, and the good will of God, but with reservation of the whole glory to him. [Glory be to God on high, Luke 2.14.and in earth peace, and towards men good-will.] It is aTibi Domine, tibi maneat gloria illibata: mecum benè agitur, si pacem habuero. Bern. in Cant. ser. 13.well and happy for us, if we may enjoy our own peace, and his good-will, (full little have we deserved either of both, but much rather the contrary,) but we were best take heed how we meddle with his glory. All other things he giveth us richly to enjoy; many a good guift and perfect giving. He hath not withheld from us any thing that was his,1 Tim. 6.17. and useful for us; no not his only begotten Son excepted:Jam. 1.17. Psal. 84.12. the best guift that ever was given, and a pledge of all the rest. Ey and he will give us a kind of glory too; (the Lord will give grace and glory, Psal. 84.) and that not a light one neither, nor fading away: but such as neither eye, nor ear, nor heart of man can comprehend;2 Cor. 4 17. so massie, and so durable (an eternall and exceeding weight of glory.) But that divine, infinite, incomprehensible glory, that belongeth to him as supreme King of Kings, as his peculiar Prerogative, and the choisest flower in his Crown: of that he is most jealous; in that he will brook no sharer. And he hath made known to us his royall pleasure in that point, Esay 42. My glory will I not give to another.Esay 42.8.
7. He will part with none, you see: it seemeth rather fifthly, (by the forme of the verbe foreign) that he looketh for some from us. For what else is it to glorifie, but to make one glorious by conferring some glory upon him, which he had not, (or not in that degree,) before. And to God how can that be done? whose a—foreign &c. Naz. …rat. 34.glory is perfect, essentiall, and infinite: and to what is perfect, much less to what is infinite, can nothing be added. What a bMacrob. 1. Saturn. 24.great admirer of Virgil said of him (tanta Maronis gloria, ut nullius laudibus crescat, nullius vituperatione minuitur) was but a flaunting hyperbole, farr beyond the merit of the party he meant it to. But the like speech would be most exquisitely true of him, of whom we now speak; (indeed a foreign rather then an hyperbole:) Whose Glory is truly such, as all the creatures in the world, should they joyn their whole forces together to do it, could not make it either more or less then it is.
8. We must therefore of necessity forsake the proper signification of the word Glorifie (which is to adde some glory to another, either in specie or in gradu, which before he had not:) and understand it in such a sense, as that the thing meant thereby may be feisible. And so cDominum magnificat, qui domini magnificentiam praedicat. Euseb. Emiss. hom. 6. Psal. 66.1.to Glorifie God, is no more then to shew forth his glory: and to manifest to our own consciences and to the world, how highly we prise and esteem his glory; and how earnestly we desire and as much as in us lieth endeavour it, that all other men would also with us acknowledge and admire the same, Sing praise to the honour of his name; make his praise to be glorious Psal. 66. Not make his essence to be more glorious then it is in it self: but make his praise to be more and more glorious in the eye and esteem of men; That so his power, his glory, —145.12.and mightiness of his kingdome might be knowen unto men; and that men might ascribe unto the Lord the honour due unto his name; —96.8.and that men might sing in the way of the Lord, that great is the glory of the Lord. —138.5.To endeavour by our thanksgivings, confessions, faith, charity, obedience, good works, and perseverance in all these, to bring Gods true religion and worship into request, to win a due reverence to his holy name and word, to beget in others more high and honourable thoughts concerning God in all those his most eminent attributes of Wisdome, Power, Iustice, Mercy, and the rest: that is in Scripture language to glorifie God.
9. One thing more from the person of the Verbe: and then you have all. It is not foreign, that God may be glorified; and so leave it indefinite, and uncertain by whom it should be done: but foreign, that ye may glorifie him. The thing to be done: and they to do it. One would think the glorious Angels and Saints in heaven were fitter instruments for such an employment, then we poor sinful Worms upon earth. Very true, they in heaven are fitter to do it, and it is best done there: but there is more need of it upon earth; and if it be done here (in truth & singleness of heart,) it is very well accepted. Poor things, God knoweth, our best services are, if God should value them but according to their weight and worth. But in his mercy, (and that through Christ,) he graciously accepteth our unfained desires, and faithful endeavours, according to that truth we have, be it never so little: and not according to that perfection we want, be it never so much. Alas, what is the tinckling of two little bells in a Countrey-steeple, or the peoples running to the Towns-end, and crying God save the King; to adde any honour or greatness to the majesty of a potent Monarch? Yet will a gracious Prince take those mean expressions of his subjects love, as an honour done him: because he readeth therein their hearty affections towards him, and he knoweth, that if they knew how to express themselves better; they would. So it is here: It is not the thing done, that is looked at so much, as the heart. Set that right first: and then be the performance what it can be, God is both pleased and honoured therewithal. Who so offereth praise glorifieth me, Psal. 50.23.Psal. 50. That is; so he intendeth it, and so I accept it.
10. You have now all I would say by way of explication, from these words. The particulars are six. First we should propose to our selves some end: therein Secondly, look at God: Thirdly, that God may have glory: and that he alone may have it, Fourthly: Fifthly, that something be done for the advancement of his glory: and Lastly, that it be done by us. The result, from the whole six taken together is; That the glory of God ought to be the chiefest end, and main scope, of all our desires and endeavours. In what ever we think, say, do, or suffer in the whole course of our lives and actions, we should refer all to this, look at this as the main. Whatsoever become of us and our affairs, that yet God may be glorified. Whether ye eat or drink, 1 Cor. 10.saith S. Paul, or whatsoever else ye do, let all be done to the glory of God, 1 Cor. 10. He would have us, not onelyonly in the performance of good works and of necessary duties, to intend the glory of God, Matth. 5.16.(according to that of our Saviour, Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorifie your Father which is in heaven:) but even in the use of the Creatures, and of all indifferent things; in eating, and drinking, in buying and selling, and in all the like actions of common life. In that most absolute form of prayer, taught us by Christ himself as the patern and Canon of all our prayers, the glory of God standeth at both ends. When we begin, the first petition we are to put up, is, that the Name of God may be hallowed and glorified: and when we have done, we are to wrap up all in the conclusion with this acknowledgement, that to him alone belongeth all the kingdom, the power, and the glory for ever and ever.
11. The glory of God, you see, is to be the Alpha and the Omega of all our votes and desires. Infinitely therefore to be preferred, not onelyonly before riches, honours, pleasures, friends, and all the comforts and contentments the World can afford us in this life, but even before life it self. The blessed Son of God so valued it; who laid down his life for his Fathers glory: and so did many holy Martyrs and faithful servants of God value it too▪ who laid down their lives for their Masters glory. Nay, let me go yet higher: infinitely to be preferred, even before the unspeakable joyes of the life to come, before the everlasting salvation of our own souls. It was not meerly a strain of his Rhetorick, to give his brethren (by that hyperbolical expression,) the better assurance of his exceeding great love towards them, that our Apostle said before at Chap. 9. of this epistle, that he could wish himself to be accursed, Rom. 9.3.to be made an Anathema, to be separated and cut off from Christ, for their sakes. Neither yet was it a hasty inconsiderate speech, that fell suddenly from him as he was writing (fervente calamo;) and as the abortive fruit of a precipitate over-passionate zeal, before he had sufficiently consulted his reason, whether he should suffer it to pass in that form or not, for then doubtless he would have corrected himself, and retracted it upon his second thoughts; Acts 23.5.as he did Acts 23. when he had inconsiderately reviled the High-Priest sitting then in the place of judicature. But he spake it advisedly, and upon good deliberation; yea and that upon his conscience, ey and upon his Oath too, and as in the presence of God: as you may see it ushered in there with a most solemn asseveration, as the true real and earnest desire of his heart; I speak the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience bearing me witness in the holy Ghost. Rom. 9.1.Not that S. Paul wished their salvation more then his own; (understand it not so:) for such a desire neither was possible, nor could be regular. Not possible, by the law of Nature, which cannot but begin at home (aTerent Andr. foreign. Se…ar. Graec. Omnes sibi melius esse malunt quàm alteri:) Nor regular, by the course of Charity; which is not orderly, if it do not so too. That is not it then, but this: That he preferred the glory of God before both his own salvation, and theirs. In so much that, if Gods glory should so require (hoc imposibili supposito:) he could be content with all his heart rather to lose his own part in the joyes of heaven, that God might be the more glorified; then that God should lose any part of his glory, for his salvation.
12. And great reason there is, that as his was, so every Christian mans heart should be disposed in like manner: that the bent of his whole desires and endeavours, (all other things set apart, otherwise then as they serve thereunto) should be the glory of God. For first, all men consent in this as an undoubted verity, That that which is the chiefest good, ought also to be the uttermost end. And that must needs be the chiefest good, which Almighty God (who is goodness it self, and best knoweth what is good,) proposeth to himself as the End of all his actions: and that is meerly his own glory. All those his high and unconceiveable acts ad intra, being immanent in himself, must needs also be terminated in himself. And as for all those his powerful and providential acts ad extra, those I mean which are exercised upon and about the creatures, and (by reason of that their effluxe and emanation) are made better known to us then the former: if we follow them to their last period, we shall finde that they all determine and concenter there. He made them, he preserveth them, he forgiveth them, he destroyeth them, he punisheth them, he rewardeth them, every other way he ordereth them, and disposeth of them according to the good pleasure of his will, for his own names sake, and for his own glories sake. That so his wisdom, and power, and truth, and justice, and mercy, and all those other his divine excellencies, which we are to believe and admire, (but may not seek to comprehend) might be acknowledged, reverenced, and magnified. Those two great acts of his most secret and unsearchable counsel; then the one whereof there is not any one act more gracious, the Destination of those that persevere in Faith and Godliness to eternal happiness; nor any one act more full of terrour and astonishment then the other, the designation of such as live and die in Sin and Infidelity without repentance, to eternal destruction: the scriptures in the last resolution referr them wholy to his Glory, as the last End. The glory of his rich mercy being most resplendent in the one: and the glory of his just severity in the other. Concerning the one; the scripture saith, that he predestinated us to the praise of the glory of his grace, Eph. 1.5, 6.Eph. 1. Concerning the other;Prov. 16.4. The Lord made all things for himself, yea even the wicked for the day of evil. Prov. 16. He maketh it his End: we should make it ours too, if but by way of Conformity.
13. But he requireth it of us secondly, as our bounden Duty, and by way of Thankfulness; in acknowledgement of those many favours we have received from him. What ever we have, nay, what ever we are; as at first we had it all from him, so we still hold it all of him: and that jure beneficiario, as feudataries with reservation of services out of the same, to be performed for the honour of the donour. Our Apostle therefore in our Lords behalf presseth us with the nature of our tenure, and challengeth this duty from us by a claim of right. Ye have them of God, saith he, and ye are not your own: 1 Cor. 6.19, 20.therefore glorifie God in your body and in your spirit, which are Gods. Glorifie him in both, because both are his. As the rivers return again to the place whence they came Eccl. 1. they all come from the Sea, Eccles. 1.7.and they all run into the Sea again: So all our store, as it issued at first from the fountain of his grace, so should it all fall at last into the Ocean of his glory. Rom. 11.36.For of him, and through him, and to him are all things: to him be glory for ever and ever Amen.
14. But say there lay no such obligation upon us, yet thirdly, in point of Wisdom it would concern us to seek our Masters glory: the benefit whereof would so abundantly redound upon our selves. For (as was touched before,) there accrueth no advantage to him thereby: the gain is solely ours. By seeking his glory, we promote our own: and so by doing him service, we do upon the point but serve our selves. Doth Iob, doth any man, serve God for nought? Job. 1.9.I speak it not for this purpose, as if we should aime at Gods glory, with a farther aim therein at our own benefit. For that could be but a mercenary service at the best: neither worthy of him, nor becoming us. And besides, the reason should contradict it self: for how could Gods glory be our farthest End, if we should have another End beyond it, for our selves? I note it only, to let us see the exceeding goodness of our gracious Lord and Master, and for our better heartening, that we faint not in his service, who doth so infallibly procure our glory, whilest we unfainedly seek his. And hereof we have a faire and full assurance, and that from his own mouth, and that in as plain and express terms, as it is possible for a promise to be made, 1 Sam. 2. Them that honour me, 1 Sam. 2.30.I will honour.
15. From the Point thus confirmed, will arise sundry profitable Inferences: some whereof I shall propose to you, and those all by way of admonition. Since our chief aim ought to be, that in every thing God may have the glory due to his name: beware we first, that we do not by base flattery, or other too much reverence or obsequiousness, give unto any mortal man, or other finite creature any part of that Honour, which is due to the infinite and immortal God alone. Not the glory of Omnipotency, unto any power upon earth, be it never so great, (God spake once, Psal. 62.11.twise have I heard the same, that power belongeth unto God. Psal. 62.) Experience sheweth there is impotency in them all. Not the glory of Infallibility, to any judgment be it never so clear; nor to any Iudicatory, be it never so solemn. (Let God be true, Rom. 3.4.and every man a lyar, Rom. 3.) Experience sheweth, there is Errour and Partiality in them all. Not the glory of Religious worship, to any Image, Saint, Angel, or other Creature, though never so blessed and glorious:Esay. 42.8. For God is extremely jealous in that particular above all other. (My glory will I not give to another; neither my praise to graven Images: Esay 42.) Experience and reason sheweth, there i… some deficiency or other in them all.
16. Beware we secondly, that we do not a—sacrilegus invasor gloriae …uae. Bern. in Cant. ser. 1….sacrilegiously rob God of his honour, b—foreign. Chrys. in 1 Tim. ser. 3. Act. 5.2.by deriving the least part of it upon our selves. As Ananias kept back for his proper use part of the price of his land, when he should have brought in all for the Churches use. Like cEt qui dispensa…, frangit sibi. Juvenal. satyr. 7.crafty Stewards, that enrich themselves by lessening their Lords …ines: or untrusty Servants, that turn some of their Masters goods into money, and then put the money into their own purses. Non nobis Domine, Psal. 115.1.non nobis, saith David, Psal. 115. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to thy Name be the praise. He repeateth it twise, that he might disclaim it wholly; and wash his hands of it so clearly, that not any of it might d—fidelis fa…ulus es, si de multâ gloriâ domini tui —transeunte per te, nil tuis manibus adhaerere contingat. Bernard. in Cant. Serm. 13. Heb. 1.3. Phil 2.6, 7. Heb 5.5. John 8.50. Prov. 25.27.stick to his fingers: as who say, By no means, to us. Our blessed Lord himself Christ Iesus, who was the very brightness and express image of his Fathers glory, and (without robbery) of equal and coeternal glory with him: yet, as he was man, he did not glorifie himself; nay, (let me say more) having taken upon him the form of a servant, he durst not seek his own glory, but the glory of his Father that sent him. We use to call it vain-glory, when a man seeketh his own glory unduly or inordinately; and rightly we so term it: for Vanity is next akin to nothing; and such glory is no better, if Solomon may be judge, For men to seek their own glory, is not glory, Prov. 25.
17. But, though we may not seek to pull any glory upon our selves: yet if others will needs put it upon us unsought for; may we not admit it? may we not take it, when it is given us? No, that you may not neither. Beware of that therefore thirdly. It is a aFortè grave non est, gloriam et honorem non petere; sed valdè grave est non cum suscipere cum offertur. Gregor. hom. 7. in Evang.strong temptation, I grant, to our proud mindes: but that maketh it nothing the lesse, it rendereth it rather the more dangerous. For what hath any man to do, to bestow what is none of his? And if we know they have no right to give it, sure we are greatly to blame, if we b-non m…dò non ipse sibi accipere gloriam— sed nec ab alio quidem recipere oblatam. Bern. in Qui habet. Serm. 14. Acts 12.22. —23.take it. —foreign. He that receiveth stollen goods, is not much less guilty then he that stole them. It did not any thing at all either excuse Herod from guilt, or exempt him from punishment, that he did no more but admit those shouts and acclamations, wherewith the people so magnified his eloquence (It is the voice of God, and not of man.) Great ones had need take heed how they listen too much to those that magnifie them too much. Because he did not some way or other shew himself displeased with those flatterers, (not chastening them so much as with a frown,) nor transmit the glory they cast upon him higher, & where it was of right due: he standeth convicted and condemned upon record, for not giving God the glory, Acts 12. Marvel not that one of Gods holy Angels was so ready to do execution upon him there for that fault: when you finde another of those holy Angels so very shy in a case of that nature.Rev. 22.8.9. Who, when Iohn fell at his feet, with the intent to worship him, timely and severely forbad him, foreign, see thou do it not at any hand; I am but thy fellow-servant: that honour belongeth to our Master onelyonly, and not to me; worship God. And how did Paul and Barnabas bestir themselves at Lystra, when the people began to deifie them, and were preparing Oxen and garlands to sacrifice to them?Acts 14.11. —15. As soon as ever they heard of it, in token of grief and detestation, they rent their clothes, and in all haste ran in among the people, crying out, Sirs, what do you mean? Why do you thus? Mistake not your selves, nor us. Neither are we Iupiter and Mercury, as you suppose: neither, if we were, are Iupiter and Mercury Gods: But we men, subject to like passions (both of sin and misery) with you; and they but Idols and Vanity.
18. There is yet a fourth thing, whereof I cannot but intreat you to be exceeding wary, above all the rest. Not that it is worse, (nor perhaps simply so ill) as some of those afore-named: but that it is in some respects more dangerous; as being for the most part less suspected then they, and not altogether so easie to be discerned, as they. And that is this, That we beware by all means we do not indeed manage our own quarrels, whilest we pretend to stand for the glory of God. Is it not enough for us, to doat upon our own wilde fancies, as Pigmalion did upon the image himself had carved? Enough, when we have embraced some fond conceipt upon weak grounds through ignorance or prejudice, to contend with some acrimony for it? Enough, having perhaps over-shot our selves in some speech or action rashly, to set our selves to maintain it for our credits sake, when our hearts can tell us all was not right? but we must needs draw in God, and make him a party in the business: as if the cause were his, as if in all we had said or done, we had sought nothing more then him and his glory, nothing less then our selves and our own interest? Alas what a pity it is, nay what a shame, that Conscience, Religion, the honour of God, and the vindicating of his glory, should be made a stale to disloialty, sacriledge, sedition, faction, or private revenge? Yet so it is daily: and so it ever was, and so it ever will be, more or less, whilest the World standeth. In nomine domini, you know the old saying: and what a world of errours and mischiefs men have been led into, under that notion. Those words are used pro formâ, and set in the beginning of the Instrument: when all that followeth after in the whole writing, contain nothing but our own wills. Time was, when they that killed the Apostles,John 16.2. thought they did God a piece of good service in it: and when our Apostle before his conversion made havock of the Church, it was the zeal of Gods glory that so bemadded him: (Concerning zeal persecuting the Church.) And neither of these,Phil. 3.6. I take it, a pretended zeal, but true and real: that is to say, not counterfeit, though erroneous.
19. But as in all Monopolies, there is a pretension of some common good held forth, to make them passable: when as in most of them it may be there is no good at all intended to the publick, but private lucre onelyonly; or at the best, together with some little good to the publick, such an apparance withal of private interest over-ballancing it, as that wise men justly fear, they will prove rather mischievous, then beneficial, taken in the whole lump. So doubtless many times zeal of Gods glory is unconscionably pretended: where either it is not at all, but in shew; or at leastwise mingled with such a strong infusion of corrupt partiality and self-seeking, as sowreth it extremely, and rendreth it very inexcusable. How did the Pharisees and other Iews juggle with the poor man that had been born blind Ioh. 9. seeking to worke upon him with fair words and pretences, (Give God the praise &c.) when at the same instant they did most wickedly endeavour to obscure the glory of that miraculous cure,Joh. 9.24. which Christ had wrought upon him, in giving him his sight.
20. It were no hard matter, if the time would suffer (or indeed if the times would suffer,) to set before you variety of instances, even unto satiety. But I shall only give you a taste in two; both concerning matters Ecclesiastical: the one in point of Government, the other of Worship. For Church-Government, who knoweth not on the one side, how in some former ages one man, taking the advantage of every opportunity (whereof the ambitions and factions of Princes and Bishops in every age afforded good store) to lift up himself still higher and higher, hath perked himself up at length in the Temple of God, there bearing himself as God, or a vice-god at least: stretching his Diocess over the whole world, and challenging a Monarchical superintendency over the universal Church of Christ, as Oecumenical Pastour, or Christs Vicar-general upon earth? And who seeth not on the other side, how busie some spirits have been in this last age and a very little before, to draw all down to such a Democratical parity (for such indeed it is, and not Aristocratical, as they would fain have the world believe it to be) as was never practised, nor, (for any thing appeareth in the ancient histories and monuments of the Church) ever so much as heard of, in any setled Church in Asia, Europe, or Africa, for fifteen hundred years together? Both sides pretend from Scripture; and for the glory of God, both: and that with equal confidence, and (for ought I know) upon equal grounds; that is, to speak plain, no grounds at all for either. For no man yet on either side hath been able to make it sufficiently appear from clear evidence of Scripture or Reason, that it is the pleasure of God to be glorified by either of those new devises.
21. Likewise in point of publick worship. How just the blame is on either side, I dispute not: that is not now the business. But some have been blamed for bringing into the Church new forms and Ceremonies; or (which is all one in the apprehensions of men that consider not much, and so is liable to the same censure,) for reviving old ones, but long dis-used and forgotten: and other-some have been blamed for seeking to strip her both of old and new, and to leave her starke naked of all her ornaments and outward formalities. In this case also, as in the former, the glory of God is pretended on both sides. Those thinking their way maketh most for the honour of God, as adding decency and solemnity to his service: and these theirs, as better suiting with the simplicity of the Gospell.
22. Methinks, dust and ashes that we are, we should tremble to make so bold with the glory of the great God of heaven and earth, which is the most sacred thing in the world, as to engage it in our quarrels, and to make it serve to our humours or ends, when and how we list. Were it not a lamentable case, if it should ever come to that, that Religion should lye at the top, where avarice, ambition, or sacriledge lye at the bottome; and perhaps malice, partiality, oppression, murther, some wicked lust or other in the midst? Yet is not any of this impossible to be: yea, rather scarce possible to be avoided, so long as we dare take upon us, out of the furiousness of our spirits, and the rashness of a distempered zeal, to be wiser and holier then God would have us: I mean in the determining of his glory according to our fancies; where we have no clear texts of Scripture to assure us, that the glory of God is so much concerned in these or those particulars, that we so eagerly contend for. Nay, when there seem to be clear Texts of Scripture, to assure us rather of the contrary, and that the glory of God doth not consist therein, but in things of a higher nature. For the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink, Rom. 14.17.saith the Apostle in the next former chapter. It consisteth not in this, whether such or such meats may be eaten or not: for neither if we eate, nor if we eate not, are we much either the better or the worse for that.1 Cor. 8.8. But the kingdom of God is righteousness, and peace, and joy in the holy Ghost. It consisteth in the exercise of holy graces, and the conscionable performance of unquestioned duties. Sincere confession of sin proceeding from an humble and contrite heart; constancy in professing the true faith of Christ; patience in suffering adversity, exemplary obedience to the holy laws of God, fruitfulness in good works: these, these are things wherein God expecteth to be glorified by us. But as for meats and drinks and all other indifferent things, in as much as they have no intrinsecal moral, either good or evil in them, but are good or evil only according as they are used well or ill; the glory of God is not at all concerned in the using or not using of them, otherwise then as our Faith, or Temperance, or Obedience, or Charity, or other like Christian grace or vertue is exercised, or evidenced thereby.
23. I have now done with the first thing, and of the most important consideration, proposed from the Text: to wit, the End it self, the Glory of God. The amplifications follow: the former whereof containeth a description of the party to be glorified. That ye may glorifie God. If it be demanded, which God?1 Cor. 8.5. For there be Gods many, and Lords many. It is answered in the Text, (God even the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ.) Of which title there may be sundry reasons given: some more general, why it is used at all: some more special, why it should be used here. First, this is Stylo novo: never found in the Old Testament; but very often in the New. Ephes. 3.14. 2 Cor. 11.31. 1 Pet. 1.(For this cause I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ, Ehpes. 3. The God and Father of our Lord Iesus Christ knoweth that I lie not, 2 Cor. 11. Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ, 1 Pet. 1.) As the old Covenant ceased upon the bringing in of a new and better Covenant: so there was a cessation of the old style, upon the bringing in of this new and better style. The old ran thus,Exod. 3.15. The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Iacob: proclaimed by God himself, when he was about to deliver the posterity of those three godly Patriarchs from the bondage of Egypt. But having now vouchsafed unto his people a far more glorious deliverance then that, from a far more grievous bondage then that, (from under Sin, Satan, Death, Hell, and the Law,) whereof that of Egypt was but a shadow and type: he hath quitted that style, and now expecteth to be glorified by this most sweet and blessed Name, The Father of our Lord Iesus Christ. Exchanging the Name of God, a name of greater distance and terrour; into the Name of Father, a name of more neerness and indulgence. And taking the additional title or denomination, not from the parties delivered, (as before,) who were his faithful servants indeed, yet but servants: but from the person delivering, his only begotten and only beloved Son. It is first the Evangelical style.
24. Secondly, this style putteth a difference between the true God of Heaven and Earth, whom only we are to glorifie: and all other false and imaginary titular gods, to whom we ow… nothing but scorn and detestation. The Pagans had scores, hundreds, (some have reckoned thousands) of gods; all of their own making. Every Nation, every City, yea almost every House had their several gods or godlings; 1 Cor. 8.6.Deos topicos; gods many, and lords many. But to us, saith our Apostle, (to us Christians,) there is but one God the Father, and one Lord Iesus Christ, his Son. This is Deus Christianorum. If either you hope as Christians to receive grace from that God, that alone can give it; or mean as Christians to give glory to that God, that alone ought to have it: this, this is he, and none other; God even the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ. It is a style of distinction.
25. These two Reasons are general. There are two other more special; for the use of it here: in respect of some congruity it hath with the matter or method of the Apostles present discourse. For first, it might be done with reference to that Argument, which he had so lately pressed, and whereof also he had given a touch immediately before in the next former Verse, and which he also resumed again in the next following Verse; drawn from the example of Christ. That since Christ, in receiving us, and condescending to our weaknesses, did aim at his Fathers glory: so we also should aim at the same end, by treading in the same steps. We cannot better glorifie God the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ, then by receiving one another into our charity, care, and mutual support, as Iesus Christ also received us to the glory of his heavenly Father.
26. Secondly, since we cannot rightly glorifie God, unless we so conceive him as our Father (—If I be a Father where is mine honour? Mal. 1. —That they may see your good works, Mal. 1.6. Matth. 5.16.and glorifie your Father which is in heaven, Mat. 5.) it may be the Apostle would have us take knowledge how we came to have a right to our son-ship; and for that end might use the title here given, to intimate to us upon what ground it is, that we have leave to make so bold with our great Lord and Master, as to call him our Father: even no other but this, because he is the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the onelyonly Son of God by nature and generation: and through him onelyonly it is, that we are made the sons of God by grace and adoption. (As many as received him, to them he gave power to be made the sons of God, Iohn 1.) If we be the sons of God, we are made so:John 1.12. but he is the Son of God, not made, nor created, but begotten. I go to my Father, and to your Father, saith he himself John 20. Mine first:Athanas. in Symbolo. and then, and therefore, yours also. He is medium unionis: John 20.17.like the corner stone, wherein both sides of the building unite; or like the ladder, whereon Iacob saw Angels ascending and descending. Gen 28.12.All entercourse, 'twixt Heaven and Earth, God and Man; is in and through him. If any grace come from God to us, it is by Christ: If any glory come from us to God, it is by Christ too.Ephes. 3.21. (Unto him be glory in the Church by Christ Iesus, Ephes. 3.) And this shall suffice to have spoken concerning the former amplification: briefly, because it seemeth not to conduce so much, nor so nearly to the Apostles main scope here, as doth that other, which now followeth; respecting the manner. [With one minde and with one mouth.]
27. Wherein, omitting (for brevities sake) such advantages, as from the words foreign and foreign, might be raised, for farther enlargement: observe first, that whereas he nameth two instruments wherewith we are to glorifie God, the one inward (the Minde) the other outward the Mouth:) he nameth the inward first. The minde must be first, and before the mouth, in this service. Else we shall incur that reproof in the Prophet Esay, as well as the Pharisees did, to whom our Saviour applyeth it in the Gospel (This people draweth near me with their mouth, Esay 20.12. Matth. 15 8.and honoureth me with their lips: but their hearts have they removed far from me. Or that other in Ieremy 12. in words not much unlike, Thou art near in their mouth, but far from their reins. David calleth his tongue his glory, Psalm 108. for this reason (as I conceive) among others, because the chiefest employment he had for it, was to glorifie God with it. But if when his tongue was so employed, his minde had not gone with it; if he had not roused up himself, that is, his heart and his minde, (for aforeign. Plato. Psal. 108.2.the minde, that's the man) as well as his tongue (Awake my glory, awake Lute and Harpe, I my self will awake right early:) the best musick of his tongue, with Lute and Harpe to boot,Heb. 4 12. had been no better, then sounding brass, or a tinckling Cymbal. God is foreign, an exact critick in spelling and examining the thoughts of our hearts most accurately. He mindeth us, how we minde him in all our services: And will no more take himself to be honoured by us,Mat. 7.21. Luke 18.11. when we cry Lord, Lord, or (as the Pharisee) God I thank thee; if our mindes the while be aloof off, hankering after the world, or our own base lusts: then Christ took himself to be honoured by the souldiers,Matth. 27.29, 30. that put a reed into his hand instead of a Scepter; and bowed the knee before him, saying, Haile King of the Iews, and then presently spat upon him, and smote him on the head. Let us be sure then, if we mean God should have any glory from us, in all our addresses and services to take our minds along with us.
28. But then observe secondly, that though the minde is to go first, yet the mouth must bear a part too. We may not think we glorifie God sufficiently,Rom. 10.10. if with the heart we beleeve in him, unlesse with the mouth also we be ready to confesse him. David therefore professeth very often in the Psalmes, that he would performe his services to God with his mouth and lips. Psal. 51.15. —63.5.(Open thou my lips, and my mouth shall shew thy praise. My soul shall be satisfied as it were with marrow and fatnesse, whilest my tongue praiseth thee with joyfull lips,) and in many other places. Nor indeed can it be otherwise: for if the inward parts be right set, the outward will follow of themselves. A full heart cannot but overflow, when time serveth, out of its own abundance: and if there be much heat there, it will break out at the lips. Psal. 39.4.My heart was hot within, saith David, and whiles I was musing, the fire kindled, and at last I spake with my tongue, Psal. 39. And in another Psalm, as his heart was busie enditing of a good matter, —45.1.his tongue was as the pen of a ready writer, to take it as fast as his heart could dictate it. Heart and Tongue, Minde and Mouth, both must joyn together, and if there be any thing else in us besides, that can contribute any furtherance to the worke, it must in too: and all little enough, to glorifie our Maker.
29. Observe thirdly and principally, (for the weight of the Amplification lieth most there,) that God is much glorified by unity, peace and concord. This observation ariseth clearly from the main scope of the words. He had exhorted them at large, to study to be like-minded: and he prayeth in the verse next before, that God would grant them so to be. Why so, might one say, or to what end all this? Even for this end, saith he, that ye may with one minde and with one mouth glorifie God. Which argument were of very little force, if unanimity and like-mindedness were not a thing very subservient to Gods glory. What an honour is it to the God of Israel, when all Israel commeth in as one man to do him worship! God hath bestowed guifts upon his Church,1 Cor. 12.4—6 and disposed the persons therein into several ranks, administrations, and offices, with admirable variety. Not that they should jarr and clash one against another, and pull every one from other what they can for themselves: for that would soon bring all to confusion first, and then to destruction. But that each should sustain other, and mutually supply out of their several stores the wants each of other, for the better preservation of the whole, and the more comfort of the several parts. As the variety of instruments and voyces, is so far from hindering the musick, that it maketh it up: (for what else is musical harmony, but concordia discors, variety in consort?) the musick could not be either so ful, or delightful without some variety. But then care must be had of two things, first, that the instruments be well in tune, (not only each within it self, but well timed also one to another:) and then that the minstrels agree to play the same lesson.
30. If either of these be wanting, all the musick is marred. For the tuning; if any one single string, of any one single instrument in the whole consort should be out of tune, though but a little (say it be no more difference then a flat and a sharp) aures eruditae ferre non possent. Any thing that is tolerable will passe among country-people: but the least discord in the world will offend a choise and delicate eare. But if it should be very much out of tune; it would be harsh, and grate even a thick and vulgar eare. But say all the instruments should be perfectly well tuned; yet if the men should not agree what to play, but one would have a grave Pavane, another a nimbler Galliard, a third some frisking toy or Iigg, and then all of them should be wilful, none yield to his fellow, but every one scrape on his own tune as loud as he could: what a hideous hateful noise may you imagine would such a mess of Musick be? No less odious to God, and equally grievous to every godly man it is, when such voices as these are heard in the Church; I am of Paul, and I of Cephas, and I of Apollo. 1 Cor. 1.12.When (as it is now growen with us) one Pamphleter must have the Church governed after this fashion, another after that. Twenty several models and platforms of government: just as one of our own aSpencer in Fairy Queen.Poets (of good note in his time) hath long since described Errours Children; a numerous brood, but never a one like other; saving only in this, that they were all ill-favoured alike. And these Models printed, and published to the world, and dispersed through all parts of the kingdom, and ecchoed in the pulpits: to the manifest dishonour of God, the deep scandal of the reformed Religion, and eternal infamy both of our Church and State, and God knoweth what other sad and desperate consequents in future; if some speedy and effectuall course be not taken to repress the unsufferable licenciousness both of our Presses and Pulpits.
31. But I will repress my self howsoever. Indignation, though just, may carry a man into a digression, ere he be aware: though I do not perceive, that I have yet digressed very much. To return therefore; As I have heard those words of the last Psalm read monethly in our Churches,Psal. 150.5. (Praise him upon the well tuned Cymbals, praise him upon the loud Cymbals:) it hath often come into my thoughts, that when we intend to glorifie God with our Cymbals, it should not be our only care to have them loud enough; but our first care should be to have them well-tuned: els, the lowder, the worse. Zeal doth very well: there is great, yea necessary use of it, in every part of Gods service. The Cymbal will be flat; it will have no life, nor spirit in it; it will not be loud enough without it. But if meekness, peaceableness, and moderation, do not first put the Cymbal into good tune: the loudness will but make it the more ungraceful in the player, the more ungrateful to the hearer.
32. But I will pursue this Metaphor no further. There is another Metaphor also much used by our Apostle: that of Edification. He would have all things in the Church done to Edifying. And if you will take the pains to examine it,1 Cor. 14.26. you shall finde that most times where he speaketh of glorifying God, he doth it with reference to Edification; and most times where he speaketh of Edifying, he doth it with reference to those mutual respects and charitable offices, whereby we apply our selves to our brethren for the maintenance of peace and unity. That passage (for example) before mentioned, and of all other the most obvious in this argument (Whether ye eat or drink, 1 Cor. 10.31.or whatsoever else ye do, let all be done to the glory of God) is meant especially in the case of brotherly condescension, in yielding somewhat to the infirmities of our brethren for charities sake, where in godly wisdom we shall see it expedient so to do, for theirs, our own, or the common good: as is evident from the whole frame of his discourse there. And so it is here also: He speaketh of bearing the infirmities of our weaker brethren, vers. 1. of not pleasing our selves, but each man pleasing his brother for his good unto edification, vers. 2. of receiving one another by Christs example, vers. 7. and he cometh in among with this votive prayer, that God would grant them to be like minded one unto another; that so by their unanimity they might glorifie God. That is, that their like-mindedness might serve to Gods glory, in the edification of their brethren.
33. Now if that which best edifieth the Church, do also most glorifie God, (as these and the like passages seem to import;) then certainly not by many things is God more glorified, then by Peace, Love, and Concord: sith few things edifie more then these do. As to the use of Edification, Knowledge (that seemeth to be all in all with some,) is very little or nothing in comparison; or but a puffe to Charity. 1 Cor. 8.1.It may swell, look big, and make a shew: but Charity doth the deed.—1.10. S. Paul was a wise Master-builder, and knew what belonged to the worke as well as another: and he when he speaketh of compacting the Church into a building, Eph. 4.16.mentioneth the edifying of it selfe in love Eph. 4. It hath been my hap heretofore more then once, yet both times led thereunto by the Texts, to insist somewhat upon this Metaphor: which maketh me the unwillinger to dwell upon it the third time. Yet sith it appeareth to have been of so frequent and familiar use with our Apostle, and is withall so pertinent both to the process of his discourse in this place, and to the business now in hand: I cannot but desire to press it a little farther, and that in two respects especially, and both of them very considerable in building: to wit, Dispatch and Strength.
34. For Dispatch first. No man that goeth about a building, but would willingly get it up as fast as he can, without any delay or let, more then needs must. Now where the workmen, and labourers (layers, fillers, servers, and the rest) agree fairely, first to do every man what belongeth to him in his own office, and then to further every one another in theirs: the work goeth on, and getteth up apace. But if they once begin to fall out one with another: then are they ready to hinder and to cross one another; and then the work standeth. When one of them hath laied a course in the wall, up steppeth another, and pulleth the stones all asunder, and throweth them down: One saith, it shall be thus; another starteth up and sweareth it shall not be so, but thus; and then they grow to hot words, and from words to blowes, and so instead of pointing the wall, fall a thrusting their trowels in one anothers faces: How should the work go an end now, think you, with any good expedition? When one buildeth and another pulleth down, Sirac. 34.23.what profit have they then but labour? saith the wise son of Sirac, Eccl. 34. A great deal of noise, and a great deal of bustle: but little worke done. It is even so in all other things: distraction ever hindereth business. The vessel must needs move slowly, when some of them that sweat at the Oare, ply with all the strength they have to thrust her Eastward, and other some of them, ply as hard to drive her Westward.
35. Nor is it otherwise in the Church and Common-wealth, when a—humilit…r subesse, & utiliter preaesse: obedire sponte, & imperare discretè. Bern. Par. ser. 56.Superiours rule with moderation, Inferiours obey with chearfulness, all men (keeping themselves within their own ranks and stations) bend themselves with their utmost diligence to advance the publick welfare: the worke commonly riseth apace, and prospereth in their hands. But if they that worke above, shall strive only how to extend their Power; and they that worke below shall strive as much, how to enlarge their Liberty; the one to impose, the other to refuse, what they list: If those shall hold them stiffly at this point, We may do it, and therefore we will do it; and these as stiffly at this; We may chuse, and therefore we will not do it; when shall they meet? where is that foreign? that yielding and condescension the Apostle so often requireth? It were a blessed thing, (and till it be so in some measure, the building will never rise to purpose,) if men would look, not so much at their power, what they may do; or at their liberty, what they may not do, so to serve their own turns, humours, or ends: as how to use both power, and liberty, with all due sobriety and charity,Phil. 2.4. to the glory of God in the good of others. If we could once grow to that, not to look every one on his own things, but every man also on the things of others, as S. Paul elsewhere exhorteth: then should we also agree with one minde and heart to follow the work close, till we had got it up. That for dispatch.
36. But hasle maketh waste, we say. It doth so: and in building as much as in any thing. It were good wisdom therefore to bring on the work so, as to make it strong withal: lest if we make false work for quicker dispatch, we repent our over-hasty building by leisure. To rid us of that fear; know secondly, that unity and concord serveth for strength too, as well as dispatch. Evermore virtus unita fortior: Matth. 12.25.but division weakneth. A house divided against it self cannot stand: and the wall must needs be hollow and loose, where the stones stand off one from another, and couch not close. Now brotherly love and unity is it, that bindeth all fast; so making of loose heaps one entire piece. I beseech you, brethren (saith the Apostle) that there be no divisions among you, 1 Cor. 1.10.but that ye be perfectly joyned together in the same minde, and in the same judgement, 1 Cor. 1. Like-mindedness, you see, is the thing that joyneth all together: and in the well joyning consisteth the strength of any structure. In Ephes. 4. therefore he speaketh of the bond of peace: Ephes. 4.3. Col. 3.14.and in Colos. 3. he calleth love the bond of perfectness.
37. In Phil. 1. he hath another expression, which also notably confirmeth the same truth.Phil. 1.27. That I may hear, saith he, of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit with one minde. They never stand so fast, as when they are of one minde. There is a Greek word sometimes used in the New Testament (foreign is the word) which is commonly translated confusion, and sometimes tumult. Not unfitly for the sense, either: but in the literal notation it importeth a kinde of unstableness rather, or unsetledness; when a thing doth not stand fast, but shaketh and tottereth, and is in danger of falling. And this S. Paul opposeth to peace, 1 Cor. 14. God is not the author (foreign,) of confusion, or unstableness, but of peace: By that very opposition intimating, that it is mostly for want of peace, that things do not stand fast, but are ready to fall into disorder and confusion. S. Iames speaketh out, what S. Paul but intimateth, and telleth us plainly, that this foreign is the effect of discord, James 3.16.and that contention is the Mother of confusion. For where envying and strife is, saith he, there is foreign, inconstancy, unsetledness, confusion and every evil work. The builders make very ill work, where the building is not like to stand, but threatneth ruine, and is ready to drop down again, by that it be well up. And yet such ill work doth envying and strife ever make: it is concord only and unity that maketh good work, and buildeth strong. Let Ierusalem be built, as a city at unity in it self: and Ierusalem will be like to stand the faster, and to stand up the longer.Psal. 122.3.
38. For a conclusion of all, I cannot but once again admonish, and earnestly entreat all those, that in contending with much earnestness for matters of no great consequence, have the glory of God ever and anon in their mouthes: that they would take heed of embarquing God and his glory so deep in every trifling business, and such as wherein there is not dignus vindice nodus. But since it clearly appeareth from this and sundry other Texts of holy Scripture, that peace and love are of those things, whereby our gracious Lord God taketh himself to be chiefly glorified: that they would rather faithfully endeavour by their peaceable, charitable, and amiable carriage towards others, especially in such things, as they cannot but know to be (in the judgement of sundry men both learned and godly) accounted but of inferiour and indifferent nature, to approve to God, the World, and their own consciences, that they do sincerely desire to glorifie God, by pleasing their brethren for their good unto edification. Which that we all unfeinedly may do, I commend us and what we have heard, to the grace and blessing of Almighty God: dismissing you once again, as I did heretofore, with the Apostles benediction in the Text; (for I know not where to fit my self better,) Now the God of patience and consolation grant you, to be like-minded one towards another, according unto Christ Iesus; That ye may with one minde, and with one mouth, glorifie God even the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ.
To which God the Father, and his Son Iesus Christ our Lord, and the blessed spirit of them both; three persons, &c.