gether, to further it, to the uttermoft we can ; let us not exafperate the fpirits of one another in ways of ftrife and oppofition, but let every one fet his hand and hand to this worke, that he may be able to fay, Oh Lord God, thou that knowɛfi the fecrets of all bearts, knowest that upon this great mercy of thine, my heart was fo moved, that whatsoever I could poffibly fee to be thy will for the furtherance of this great work of Reformation, and that I was able to doe, I did fet my felfe to doe it, and am refolved to spend my ftrengsh and life in it. If every one did thus, oh what glory might God have from this mercy of his ! 6ly. When the Lord comes to us with mercies, and fuch great mercies, he expects we should rejoyce in them, and fing praife; but how can we fing without Harmony? Prayer requires an agreement. Mat. 18. 19. If two of you shall agree on earth touching any thing they fhall aske, it shall be done for them. Surely Praife requires agreement much more. Pfalms out of tune are harsh to the eare; difagreement of heart is much more to the Spirit of God. 7. Surely when God hath done fo much for us, it must be acknowledged to be our duty, to ftudy what facrifice would be beft pleafing to him;fome facrifice we muft offer: If there be any more acceptable to him then other, furely he deserves it no. If a friend had done fome reall kindness for you, you would be glad to know what might be moft gratefull to him, wherein you might teftifie your thankfulness: Is this in your hearts? Do you now fay, Oh that we did but know what is the thing that would be moft pleafing to God; what facrifice would fmell fweeteft in his noftrils! The Lord knowes we would fain offer it, whatfoever it be. I will tell you, That we would lay afide our divifions, our frowardneffe, that we would aband on our contentions and ftrife, that we would put on the bowels of mer cies, kindneffe, bumbleneffe of minde, meekeneffe, long-fuffering, forbearing one another, forgiving one another; If any man bath a quarrell against any, even as Chrift forgave you, so also do ye, Col. 3. 12. And 1 Pet.3.4. A meeke and a quiet spirit is in the fight of God of great price, it is much fet by, OUTERÉS. Pfal. 15. 17. The facrifice of God, that which is in ftead of all facrifices, is a broken fpirit. Our hearts have been broken one from another in our unhappy divifions, oh that now they S 2 could 6. 7. could break one towards another in love and tenderness!Here would be a facrifice more efteemed of God, then thousands of Rams, and ten thoufand Rivers of Oyle: Loving mercy, and walking bumbly is preferred above fuch facrifices, Micah 6.8. 81. God might have foder'd us together by the fire of his wrath, he might have made our blood to have been our ce ment to have joyned our flinty hearts together; but it is otherwife, God fecks to draw us to himselfe, and one to another by the cords of love, the allurings of his mercy. I Nin hly, what can have that power to take off the fowrneffe of mens fpirits like mercy; the mercy of a God? furely if any thing poffibly can sweeten them, that muft needs do it. We read 1 Sam. 11. 11, 12, 13. a notable experiment of the efficacy of mercy to fweeten mens hearts. After Saul had flain the Ammonites, fome of the bofterous fpirits would have had him to have flain thofe who formerly had rejected him; but mark Sauls anfwer, ver. 13. There shall not a man be put to death this day: Why? For this day the Lord hath wrought falvation in Ifrael. Though Saul at another time was a man of a harsh and cruell fpirit, yet now mercy fweetens him;that which he was one day by the fenfe of mercy, that fhould we be not only in the day of our Thanksgiving, but in the courfe of our lives. When falvation came to the houfe of Zacheus, O what a fweet temper was he in! Behold, balfe of my goods I give to the poore, and if I have wronged any one, I reftore foure-fold. Salvation is this day come to the Kingdome, O that all we had hearts to fay, If wee have wronged any, wee will reftore; if wee have wronged any in their names, by word, or writing, any way, we will reftore: Mercy and love calls for mercy and love; if we were in a right tune, there would be a fympathy between the bowels of God and ours; as in two Lutes, if the string in one be wound up to be answerable to the other, if you then ftrike one ftring, the other will move though lying at a diftance: Now Gods love, Gods bowels move, let our love, our bowels move an (werably. 10. God fhewes that he can owne us notwithstanding all our infirmities: Was ever Kingdome in a more diftempered condition then ours hath been of late? and yet the Lord hath owned owned us: Why should not we own our Brethren, notwithftanding their infirmities? Why fhould our divifions caute u s to call off one another, feeing our divifions from God hath not provoked him to caft us off? 11. Is it not in our defires, that this great Victory might be pursued, that it might not be loft, as others (in great part) have been? Surely it cannot be pursued better, then to take this advantage of it, to unite our felves more together then ever we have done. This would ftrike as great a terror into the hearts of our Adverfaries as the victory hath done. Laftly, we had need take heed of breaches, left God fhould be provoked to change his adminiftrations toward as if there be fo much choller in the ftomack, that sweet meats are turncd into choller, it were juft with God to come with bitter and fowr pils to purge out our choller. We read Jude, ver. 5. The Lord faved the people out of the land of Egypt, yet alterward he destroyed them that believed not; the Lord hath granted us a great falvation from our Enemies, who would have brought us into Egyptian bondage. We have been finging the fong of Mofes, we have been praifing God according to that, Apoc. 15.3. but let us take heed that yet God be not provoked against us, for we are not out of all danger; as they by not believing, fo we by not agreeing, but contending and quarrelling may at laft be deftroyed. You know how the Lord of that fervant to whom roooo. talents were given, tooke it, that he fhould presently go to his fellow-fervant who ought him but a hundred pence, and lay hands on him, and take him by the throat, and fay, Pay that thou oweft, and cast him into prifon, Mat.18.28. If men be not mollified by this mercy, they will be hardened, they will use their brethren worse then they did before, the rather, because they would declare to all the world, that they make no fuch interpretation of this mercy, as that God would have them have further tender regard towards, to feek union and peace with, to beare with or yeeld unto their Brethren more then before; it is not unlikely but temptation may be fuggefted to do fome act the more against them, either now or within a while,to wipe away any conceit of any such an interpretation of this gracious work of God for us. But those who are of gracious & peaceable fpirits, fhould take the 11. 12. hint of this, and goe to all they know, who have been at diftance one from another, of whom they may have hope to doe good, and feek to mollifie their spirits, to know what it is they have one against another, what prejudices, what hard thoughts have been entertained by them, and by all meanes they are able to remove them, that fo we loving & delighting in one another, the Lord may love us, and delight in us, and thew mercy to us yet more and more. CHAP. XIX. The 5. divi- The fifth Dividing Diftemper (Rigidneffe ;) the fixth, Rafbneffe, ding diftempthe feventh, Wilfulneffe; the eighth, Unconftancy. er. R Igid, harsh, fowre, crabbed, rough-hewn spirits are unfit tor union ; there is no fweetness, no amiableness, no pleafingneffe in them, they please themselves in a rugged aufterencfs, but are pleafing to none else in all their ways; they will abate nothing of their own, nor yeeld any thing to o thers: this is against the rule of the Apoftle, Rom. 15. 1, 2, 3, We must not please our felves, but let every one please his Neighbour for bis good to edification; and this, according to the example of Christ, who pleafed not him felfe. This is the duty not of weake men only, who had need please others, because they have need of others, but ver. 1. thofe that are ftrong ought not to please themselves, but feek to please others: Men who are of auftere ipirits affe&ing a gravity which turns to a dull, fullen, fternneffe, they think it to be the commendations of the ftrength of their fpirits, that they can carry themselves as they doe towards others, feeking altogether content to themselves without any yeeldableness to others; no, that is but lightneffe and weaknes in men, they are of a more ftaid and ftrong temper then to do fo: These men by their wildome do very much finn againft the wisdome of the holy Ghoft in this Scripture; yea, and againft the example of Jefus Chrift, who as in his whole course manifefted tendernefs, gentleness, affableness, amiablenefs towards weak ones, who were infinitely beneath him, and here is fet forth unto us to be one who pleafed not himfelf, far from this rigid harsh temper: Thofe fwords are not of of the beft tempered metall who will not bend but ftand stiff, but fuch as yeeld and bend with unft ease, and ftand ftreight again; neither are thofe difpofitions the bift, who are the ftiffeft; but fuch as are moft yeeldable, and yet ftand ftreight too. This harsh and rigid (pirit makes mens gifts and graces to be very unuseful. When Plato faw Xenocrates of an auftere rigid temper,he advised him to facrifice to the Graces, that he might have more mildneffe, fearing that otherwise his parts and learning would be unprofitable. The Jews obferve upon Exo. 25.3. That no Iron was in the fluffe of the Tabernable; rigid iron fpirits are very unfit for Church work. Levir. 17.7. They shall no more facrifice to Devills: The word tranflated De- y vils, fignifies rough ones; Devils had their names from thence; this is the name of a Satyr, Ifa. 34. 14. The rough one. The Spirit of God is a Dove-like fweet spirit, but the fpirit of the Devill is a rough harsh spirit, the spirit of a Satyr. Prov. 11. 17. He that is cruell, troubleth his owne flesh. That word here tranflated cruell, the Septuagint elsewhere tranflates it by a word that fignifies rigid, stiffe, sepeòs, Jer. 30. 14. Men of fuch tempers are very troublesome to themfelves, to their families, to all with whom they converfe: If a Smith would joyn two pieces of iron,he muft first file them, or beat them fmooth: If the Joyner would joyn two pieces of wood, he must plain them: Except our spirits be filed, beaten smooth, or plained, they are unfit for joyning. A The fixth dividing Diftemper, Rashnesse. Cts 19. 36. Te ought to be quiet, and do nothing rafhly. Doing 1. Rashnesse makes men engage themselves fuddenly in bufineffe, before they have examined it well: This caufes much trouble, for if a man be engaged he lies under a temptation to goe on in it: As 2 Chron. 25. 9. When the man of God came to Amaziah, to take him off from a bufineffe he was engaged in; O but fays he, what shall I do for the hundred Talents I have given out already?thus many answer to the truth of God that would |