so bring them under some kind of rule and govern

ment.

But had they that unity they brag of, which they have not, unity itself, unless there be verity too, is no essential mark, no true note of the Church: since it is nothing but truth can justify unity itself; and consent in error is as far from making a true Church, as a conspiracy of traitors or a combination of highwaymen is from being a lawful assembly.

And with what face can they boast the unity of the Spirit with the Apostles and primitive Saints, from whom they pretend their succession, when they have, in so many weighty matters of faith and high points of truth, manifestly departed from them?

To keep up the unity of the Spirit, then, there must be the unity of the same faith.

And this as to the union of the members with their head.

2. Again, as the members stand related to one another, there must be the communication of charity, by which they are to be united among themselves. There must be goodness as well as truth.

"The fruit of the Spirit," says the Apostle, "is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness," Gal. v. 22. Now, where the fruit of the Spirit is not, it cannot well be that there the unity of the Spirit should be; and here he tells us, in the verse foregoing the text, that we must "with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bon peace." It is in vain to endeavour to keep this u

without those good qualities and charitable offices whereby it may be secured and maintained.

Further, from this communion of the members with one another among themselves, there flows a double result, both of them very requisite for keeping this unity of the Spirit.

1. An inward sympathy of mind, an intimate sense and fellow-feeling of one another's griefs and joys, wants and supplies, distresses and succours, by charitable instincts, as we are members of the same body, animated by the same Spirit. This is the second branch of the unity of Spirit.

2. An outward symmetry of parts, a fair comportment and decorum of shape and proportion, of order and decency, of posture and carriage to each other in God's worship and church ministrations, as we are fellow-members compacted and knit together by bands and ligaments; this the bond of peace.

And in both these respects, all the members seem to contribute to the safety and beauty of the whole, and to be mutually concerned in the ease and welfare of their fellow-members; and this is, or ought to be, amongst all Christians, as members of the same mystical body.

First, that in charity they sympathise one with another, in all that befalls them, well or ill, in mutual congratulations and condolences.

When one member suffers, the rest suffer with ita, and upon all occasions express their affectionate resentments, and their readiness of serving to the good of the whole and of every part.

a 1 Cor. xii. 26.

This is that the Apostle enjoins, Rom. xii. 15., " to rejoice with them that rejoice, and to weep with them that weep."

The nerves, if touched with a sense of pain, even in the extreme and utmost parts of the body, speed notice of it presently through the whole body, and make a sudden report to the brain, the seat and original of the senses; and it is the same soul supplies every part with animal spirits.

The members, all in their several places and offices, serve one another, and they do all naturally expect, and as kindly accept, mutual assistances; nor does any one say to the other, "I have no need of thee; nor do they intrude upon one another's provinces, but with great quietness discharge every one the duties of its proper station.

O what a blessed unity of the Spirit would it be, if Christians that profess one common faith would be thus like-minded, and would commensurate their charity to their faith! If they would joy in their brethren's welldoing, as our Saviour tells us the saints and angels in heaven do, and lament their miscarriages, communicate to them in their wants, and be comforted in their comforts! if we would provoke one another unto good works, and do no ill to any one, though provoked!

These are the surest ligaments and ties of Christian society, when the minds of professors are linked together

in love.

The very name of friendship, though upon secular accounts, is a sacred thing; how much greater obliga

a 1 Cor. xii. 21.

b Luke, xv. 7.

< Heb, x. 24.

tions doth religion lay upon us, which is the highest friendship, as that which ties us together in God, making us fellow-citizens with the saints, and partners in God's own household?a

O how would that city be the joy of the whole earth", if it were but "compact together," and at unity with itself! and how pleasant a thing would it be to see Christian brethren live together in unity!a

But now this is our great misery, and perverseness to boot, that a small difference in religion opens a wide breach in charity, and an inconsiderable disagreement of opinion procures an irreconcilable divorce of affection.

To that sad pass religion is come, that whereas the main business and design of it is, to persuade unity amongst men, and cannot itself otherwise well subsist; yet it is made generally the main occasion of quarrel, and become the greatest boutefeu and disturber of peace in the world. And there are not wanting those who fancy that the unity of the Spirit here prescribed cannot better be kept than by disuniting, that is, by uniting against the Church; and make that blessed Spirit, whose fruit is peace and gentleness, the author and fomenter of discord and strife; as if the fiery tongues he appeared in had been designed for incendiaries; and the zeal, signified by those sacred flames, could not be fairlier expressed than in rash heats and foolish animosities; and the rushing of the wind, which filled the room where the disciples were met, portended only con

e

tinual storms and tempests to the Christian Church, and those to be bred within her own bowels.

But this is a subject not so fit, perhaps, for a public declamation in the pulpit as for our private mourning in the closet; that that which our Lord and Master made the cognizance and badge of discipleship, that we should" love one another," is now so universally worn off and disowned, that if charity be the measure we must take of our religion, it may well-near be a question whether there be such a thing as Christianity left in the world.

And surely, if charity be so decayed among Christians in the inward principle of it, it can be no wonder to see it so much lost in the outward circumstances and decorum of religion, which is our next consideration, and that which is mainly intended by the bond of peace.

III. That the members of this body keep a fair correspondence as to their outward appearance; that they be united in the decency of public worship, and in the order of polity and church-government.

This is exactly observed in the frame of the body, where all the parts, being compacted and fitly joined together, bear a due proportion and symmetry to the whole, and to one another in particular.

Where there are fractions and divisions, ruptures and dislocations in the body, there may be wens and tumours, botches and strumous swellings, imposthumes and gangrens; but through the interception of those spirits, which should unite and maintain the parts, there can be no orderly and regular growth.

a John, xiii. 35.