a

c

other things. To hold the unity of faith, and the knowledge of the Son of God, and of the truth as it is in him. I determined to know nothing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.' God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.' There is not salvation in any other, no other name under heaven whereby we can be saved.' To hold a unity of worship; "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." (Matth. iv. 10) "God is a spirit; and they that worship him, must worship him in spirit and truth." (John iv. 24) To hold a unity of obedience; "As we have received Christ, so to walk in him, to walk as he walked: because, without holiness, no man can see the Lord." (Col. ii. 6. 1 John ii. 6. Heb. xii. 14) Primum in unoquoque genere est regula cæterorum.' All our knowledge must be measured by a unity, the unity of faith: all our worship by a unity, unity of spirit: all our obedience by a unity, unity of love, and of uprightness; called by the apostle 'singleness of heart.' (Eph. vi. 5) Without this unity of faith, of spirit, of love, of sincerity, neither our knowledge, nor our worship, nor our obedience, is at all salvifical. These are the cement and ligaments of concord in the church of Christ.

And if we consider it, we shall find that the great breaches and divisions, which have been caused in the church of God, have arisen by adding pluralities unto these unities. See it in the Roman church. We hold one scripture; they add their traditions. We hold one judge of controversies, the word of God; they add their Papal infallibility. We hold one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus;~~~ they add many mediators of intercession, saints and angels. We hold one satisfaction by the blood of Christ; they add penances and purgatory of their own. We worship one God in spirit and truth; they add angels, and saints of their own making. We obey God according to his precepts; they add evangelical councils. We teach justification by the righteousness of Christ alone; they add the righteousness of our own works. And yet they accuse us of schism and division in the church, who hold close to that primitive unity which was first delivered to the saints, and cannot admit

a 1 Cor. ii. 2.

Gal. vi. 14.

c Acts iv. 12.

those human super-additions, which carnal interest hath introduced.

d

I would willingly here have added one thing more, as a needful expedient unto consent in judgement, out of the apostle, (1 Cor. i. 10) which is Tò autò λéyei: To speak the same things; to hold the form of sound words.' (2 Tim. i. 13) For many times the use of new phrases and expressions (a curiosity too much affected in this age) doth make way for the introducing of new doctrines. Eusebius tells us of some in his days, who, to win upon the minds of men, did amuse them with new words: whereas those who were orthodox and zealous defenders of the truth in those primitive times, would not change a letter nor syllable in their forms of speech, to the prejudice of the truth. Gregory Nazianzen, a holy and grave writer, is bold to compare this curiosity and novelty of speech in the things of God, unto lascivious dancing, and the arts of jugglers, whereby they deceive the senses of those that look on; and telleth us, that the τὸ ἁπλοῦν τε καὶ εὐγενὲς τοῦ λόγου εὐσέβεια ἐνομίζετο, that simple, proper, genuine language was, in holy things, wont to be esteemed godliness. It was good counsel which Austin gave unto him that intended the truth, but used an incommodious expression, "Sententiam teneat, linguam corrigat."

Hitherto I have spoken of the first duty in a spiritual relation, as you are Christians. It is very necessary for you to extend it further, as you are patriots and citizens; especially in such a time as this is, wherein your discords and divisions may endanger the welfare of three nations. I beseech you consider the great depositum which you are entrusted withal, the liberties, the properties, the safety, the dignity, of three great Christian Protestant nations. This you cannot but agree in, that the preservation of these is one of your principal duties; so you have an évoqpóvnois to build upon. Look straight forward unto these great and honourable ends; look still upward unto the Father of lights, for wisdom to direct you to unanimous expedients for promoting of these ends.

d Euseb. Hist. 1. 4. c. 7. et c. 11. οἱ τοῖς θείοις λόγοις ἐντεθραμμένοι, προέσ θαι μὲν τῶν θείων δογμάτων οὐδὲ μίαν ἀνέχονται συλλαβήν. Basil. apud Theodor. 1. 4. c. 17. et lib. de spir. sanc. cap. 1. • Greg. Naz. Orat. 21.

Vid. Vedelium de Prudentia veteris Eccles. 1. 3. c. 3. et 4.

Be you faithful to his interests, and he will be careful of yours. It would be arrogance in me to counsel so wise a body in matters political. I shall make it my business to beg help and counsel from God for you ;-and shut up this first duty with minding you of that famous example of the two statesmen in Plutarch, who, being jointly sent abroad upon public service, laid down all their private differences at the city gate; and went, with united resolutions, to prosecute the ministry entrusted with them.

Now followeth the second duty, τὴν αὐτὴν ἀγάπην ἔχοντες, "Having the same love."

1. The same in object, to love the same things: for the love of different objects, doth naturally divide the minds of men into divers studies and judgements.

2. The same in truth, love unfeigned; (1 Pet. i. 22) without dissimulation. (Rom. xii. 9) Of all affections, love is the most naked and open-hearted.

3. The same in measure, to love ad ultimum virium :' for love is strong as fire. "Amor meus pondus meum :" it is the weight, the wing of the soul, which carries it swiftly to its proper object.

Now this duty of love is very naturally subjoined unto that of minding the same things; for it serves both to limit it, and to strengthen it, and to excite it."

1. It limits it. For Turks consent in the same impure religion; devils are of one mind in the same cursed designs. But the object of our consent must be 'Res per se diligibilis,' that which is in itself amiable and lovely. Such is Christ to believers, precious, their hope, their desire, their love; as Ignatius called him, " the chiefest of ten thousand, altogether lovely." Such the word of Christ, unsearchable riches. Such the church of Christ; beautiful as Tirzah, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, terrible as an army with banners. (Cant. vi. 4, 10) Such are country, law, liberty, property, dignity, safety, to true patriots: they look on these, as most desirable things."

• Περὶ τῶν αὐτῶν οὐ τὰ αὐτὰ, φίλοι τε ὄντες, καὶ μὴ γινώσκομεν. Greg. Νaz. Orat. 14. • Μηδεὶς οἰέσθω με λέγειν, ὅτι πᾶσαν εἰρήνην ἀγαπητέον· οἶδα γὰρ ὥσπερ στάσιν τινὰ βελτίστην, οὕτω καὶ βλαβερωτάτην ὁμόνοιαν, &c. Greg. Naz. Orat. 12. 1 Pet. ii. 7. Col. i. 27. Hag. ii. 7. Cant. v. 10, 16. Ephes. iii. 8.

be

2. It strengtheneth our unity. For though things may put close together, and joined one to another, yet if there be not a bond to fasten them, they will easily fall asunder. And this bond is love: so the apostle calleth it, Col. iii. 14. It is as the mortar, which fasteneth the stones of the building to one another. Apostasy from the truth proceedeth from want of love unto it; as the apostle saith of such, that "they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved." (2 Thess. ii. 10) For when God himself doth inwardly teach by his spirit those who are called according unto purpose, he doth it with ineffable sweetness: "Ita ut non ostendat tantummodo veritatem, verum etiam impertiat caritatem.".

3. It exciteth and acteth it. Love is a working and painful grace; laborious to remove difficulties; victorious to conquer them; of a healing nature to close up breaches; of a uniting nature, to endear the hearts of men unto one another.

d

And here is added the basis and foundation of this love; and that is ouμxia, to have the same soul, to be animated by the same spirit of Christ; as it is said of believers, that they were" of one heart, and of one soul." (Acts iv. 32) This the apostle calls, "Christ living in us:" (Gal. ii. 20) for, "by one spirit, we are all baptized into one body." (1 Cor. xii. 13) This is the ground of that love which is in believers one to another; (the heathen took notice of it, "Vide ut se diligunt Christiani") because they are all members of that body, which is actuated by the same common spirit; so that they weep together, and rejoice together, and have the same care one of another. As some philosophers have affirmed a universal intellect; and a general soul which actuateth the whole frame of nature, Totamque infusa per artus Mens agitat molem, et magno se corpore miscet;' so, in the universal church, it is most certain, that the head in heaven, and the members on earth, are all animated and enlivened by the same spirit. (Ephes. iv. 16)

You see the great duties of the text, unanimity and love. I shall but name the manner of the apostle's pressing them;

Aug. de Grat. Christi. 1. 1. cap. 13.

· Γίνεται ἀμφότερα ἓν εἰς ἕνα Χριστὸν, ὑπὸ τοῦ αὐτοῦ συναρμολογούμενα καὶ συντιθέμενα πνεύματος. Greg. Naz. Orat. 26.

and that it is marvellous, earnest, and pathetical. I told you, it had a threefold efficacy.

1. By way of prevalent insinuation, and most rhetorical obtestation. As if he should have said, "O ye Philippians, I your apostle, your father that begat you unto Christ, who am willing to abide in the flesh, to continue in bonds, for your furtherance and joy, that your rejoicing may abound; I adjure you by the choicest of all your endearments; if you have ever had any sense of the consolations of Christ; if you have ever felt sweetness in his love to you, or in yours to him; if you have ever been ravished with the communion of saints, and with the glorious joys of the spirit of grace; if you have any mercy and bowels for a poor prisoner in bonds, who could with joy be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith; if you would minister any joy to your father in Christ, to revive and comfort him in the midst of his afflictions;-this, this is the way to express it all, by your being "like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind." He might, by his apostolical authority, have commanded and charged them; but he rather beseecheth and obtesteth them. The duty is a duty of love; and therefore he useth no expedients but those of love and sweetness, to move them unto it. As he said unto Philemon, "I might enjoin thee; yet for love's sake, I rather beseech thee; being such a one as Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ, I beseech thee;" (Phil. viii. 9, 10) so to the Romans, Chap. xvi. 17. So to the Corinthians, in the present case, "I beseech you by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Cor. i. 10. The apostle doth, as it were, melt his heart into theirs, that theirs may be soldered and united together. O the tenderness, and gentleness, and meekness of soul, which should be in spiritual pastors towards their people; to win them, and to prevail with them unto the love of peace and truth! Mutato nomine,' you may look on all this as spoken unto you.

2. By way of rational argumentation. He takes principles, which their own hearts could not choose but grant, having tasted the truth of them; and from them he infers the duty.

1. Εἴ τις παράκλησις ἐν Χριστῷ. If any exhortation: so Ambrose and others render it. If you have any regard to the