The True Way of Uniting the People of God, Title page – To the reader
THE TRUE WAY Of Uniting the People of God In Theſe NATIONS. Opened in a Sermon Preached in the Chappel at White-Hall, Jan. 1. 1659.
By PETER STERRY.
LONDON: Printed by Peter Cole, Printer and Book-ſeller, at the ſign of the Printing-preſs in Cornhill neer the Royal Exchange. 1660.
TO THE Chriſtian Reader.
Chriſtian Reader,
I Thought not of troubling the Preſs with this Sermon, untill I had that Task impoſed upon me by ſome worthy Perſons, and Honorable Members of this preſent Parliament, who were Auditors. When I have been meditating upon the Works of God with us in theſe Daies, that Scripture hath come into my mind, which our Savior propounds to his Apoſtles, as a Cure of their Ambition, and a quickening Cordial for their Mutual Love: The firſt ſhal be laſt, and the laſt ſhal be firſt. As the Apothecary beats his rich Spices very aCompoſitio perfecta per minimas partes.ſmal to the fineſt pouder, then turns them often over from top to bottom, from the bottom to the top again; that ſo he may make a perfect mixture of them into one Body. Thus the Lord beateth and bruiſeth his People in theſe Nations; thus he raiſeth up, and caſteth down; he ſets them up over the heads, he laies them low under the feet of each other by many Changes, and Viciſsitudes. The end of all is, that He may hide Pride, Ambition, and the Love of this World from our Eyes; that He may work us through Humility, Meekneſs, and Mutual love unto the Unity of the Spirit, and the ſweet Fellowſhip of one Myſtical Body in our Lord Jeſus.
The little pleaſure which I take in, as alſo the little profit, which for the moſt part redounds from Verbal Apologies have made me long ſilent, while thou mayeſt perhaps have read, or heard reported words, as having proceeded from me in a publick Sermon, which were abſolutely untrue both for the form of Expreſsion, and the Senſe. It ſeems not unfit upon this occaſion of appearing in Print, nor improper for my preſent Subject, to give thee this Account of my ſelf.
Firſt, It appears to me a very vain thing for any perſon in this world to determine with an infallible Aſſurance the ſtate of any perſon in the next world without a particular, infallible, and extraordinary Revelation from Heaven in the caſe, which I never pretended to.
Secondly, According to my poor meaſure of Underſtanding in the Goſpel, nothing can more fundamentally ſubvert the whol Myſtery of Chriſt together with all Evangelical, Spiritual Principles, and Truths; nothing can more directly oppoſe the Supream Deſign of the Father, the Peace and Comfort of all his Children; than to joyn any Creature with our Lord Jeſus in the Great Work of his Mediation, a principal part whereof his Interceſſion is, the value, and Ʋertue of which Part, as of the whol Mediation, conſiſts in this, That our Lord Jeſus, our only and ever bleſſed Mediator, and Interceſſor is the only, true, Eternal God, of one undivided Eſſence with the Father, and in all things equal to Him.
I humbly intreat thee, Chriſtian Reader, to judg of me according to theſe Maxims, and to beleeve that I never did, and through Grace hope, that I never ſhall expreſs any thing unſuitable to them.
But it is good for us to ſay to all in all Caſes, as St. Paul ſaith to the Galatians: You have not bInjury is foreign, the privation of ſome good: but the good things of a good man can never be taken from him. Maxi. Tyr.injured me: I am as you are, be you as I am. I am as you are; I ſet my ſoul in your ſouls ſtead. Be you as I am, in the fellowſhip of the ſame Grace, and Love of the Father; in the Unity of the ſame Spirit through our Lord Jeſus, in whom I am for his ſake
Thy Servant PETER STERRY.