first; in the defence of the truth, as the Lord shall call us, let us be of one mind and all as one man. Satan acts by that maxim, and all his followers have it, Divide and conquer; and therefore let us hold that counter-maxim, Union is invincible. Secondly; in the practice of the truth, agree as one. Let your conversation be uniform, by being squared to that one rule; and in all spiritual exercises join as one, be of one heart and mind. Would not our public worship, think you, prove much more comfortable and profitable, if our hearts met in it as one; if our prayers ascended up as one pillar of incense to the throne of grace; if they besieged it as an army, all surrounding it together to obtain favor for ourselves and the church? And in your private society, seek unanimously your own and each other's spiritual good; not only agreeing in your affairs and civil converse, but having one heart and mind as Christians. To eat and drink together, if you do no more, is such society as beasts may have; to discourse together of civil business is to converse as men ; but the peculiar converse of Christians as born again to immortality, an unfading inheritance above, is to further one another towards that, to put one another in mind of heaven and heavenly things. And it is strange that men who profess to be Christians, when they meet, either fill one another's ears with lies and profane speeches, or with vanities and trifles, or, at the best, with the affairs of the earth, and not a word of those things that should most possess the heart, and where the mind should be most set, but are ready to reproach and taunt any such thing in others. What! are you ashamed of Christ and religion? Why do you profess it then? Is there such a thing, think ye, as the communion of saints? If not, why say you believe it? It is a truth, think of it as you will. The public ministry will profit little any where, where a people some part of them are not thus one, and do not live together as of one mind, and use diligently all due means of edifying one another in their holy faith. How much of the primitive Christians' praise and profit is involved in the word, They were together with one accord, with one mind! And so they grew; the Lord added to the church, Acts ii, 1, 44, 47.

Div.

No. VI.

2 D

The

Having compassion. This testifies, that it is not a bare speculative agreement of opinions that is the badge of Christian unity; for this may accidentally be where there is no further union; but that they are themselves one and have one life, in that they feel how it is one with another. There is a living sympathy amongst them as making up one body, animated with one spirit. And this lively sense is in every living member of the body of Christ towards the whole, and towards each other particular part. This makes a Christian rejoice in the welfare and good of another, as if it were his own, and feel their griefs and distresses, as if himself were really a sharer in them; for the word comprehends all feeling together, feeling of joy as well as grief, Heb. xiii, 3; 1 Cor. xii, 26. And always, where there is most of grace and of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, there is most of this sympathy. apostle St. Paul, as he was eminent in all grace, had a large portion of this; 2 Cor. xi, 29. And if this ought to be in reference to their outward condition, much more in spiritual things there should be rejoicing at the increase and florishing of grace in others. That base envy which dwells in the hearts of rotten hypocrites, who would have all engrossed to themselves, argues that they move not further than the compass of self; that the pure love of God, and the sincere love of their brethren flowing from it, are not in them. But when the heart can unfeignedly rejoice in the Lord's bounty to others and the lustre of grace in others, far outshining their own, truly it is an evidence that what grace such a one hath is upright and good, and that the law of love is engraven on his heart. And where that is, there will be likewise a compassionate tender sense of the infirmities and frailties of their brethren; whereas some account it a sign of much advancement and spiritual proficiency, to be able to sit in judgment upon the qualifications and actions of others, and to lavish out severe censures round about them; to sentence one weak and of poor abilities, and another proud and lofty, and a third covetous, and thus to go on in a censor-like, magisterial strain. But it were truly an evidence of more grace not to get upon the bench to judge them, but to sit down rather and mourn for them, when they are manifestly

and really faulty; and as for their ordinary infirmities, to consider and bear them. These are the characters we find in the Scriptures, of strong Christians; Rom. xv, 1; Gal. vi, 1. This holy and humble sympathy argues indeed a strong Christian. Far will he be from the ordinary way of insulting and trampling upon the weak, or using rigor and bitterness even against some gross falls of a Christian; but will rather vent his compassion in tears, than his passion in fiery railings; will bewail the frailty of man and our dangerous condition in this life, amidst so many snares and temptations and such strong and subtle enemies.

As this sympathy works towards particular Christians in their several conditions, so it acts, and that more eminently, towards the church, and the public affairs that concern its good. And this, we find, hath breathed forth from the hearts of the saints in former times, in so many pathetical complaints and prayers for Zion. Thus David, in his saddest times, when he might seem most allowed to forget other things and be wholly taken up with lamenting his own fall, yet even there he leaves not out the Church; Psal. li, 18; Do good in thy good pleasure to Zion. And though his heart was broken all to pieces, yet the very pieces cry no less for the building of Jerusalem's wall, than for the binding up and healing of itself. But where is now this spirit of high sympathy with the church? When will men change their poor base grumblings about their private concerns, into strong cries for the church of God? But vile selfishness undoes us, most of us looking no further. If themselves and theirs might be secured, how many would regard little what became of the rest! As one said, "When I am dead, let the world be fired." But the Christian mind is of a larger sphere; it looks not only upon more than itself at present, but even to after times and ages, and can rejoice in the good to come, when itself shall not be here to partake of it it is more dilated, and liker unto God, and to our head, Jesus Christ.

Love as brethren. Hence springs this feeling we speak of. Love is the cause of union, and union the cause of sympathy and of that unanimity mentioned before. They

who have the same spirit uniting and animating them, cannot but have the same mind and the same feelings. And this spirit is derived from that Head, Christ, in whom Christians live, and move, and have their being, their new and excellent being, and so, living in him, they love him and are one in him: they are brethren, as here the word is: their fraternity holds in him.

one.

Sin broke all to pieces, man from God and men from one another. Christ's work in the world was union. To make up these breaches he came down, and began the union which was his work in the wonderful union made in his person that was to work it, making God and man And as the nature of man was reconciled, so, by what he performed, the persons of men are united to God. Faith makes them one with Christ, and he makes them one with the Father, and hence results this oneness amongst themselves. Concentering and meeting in Jesus Christ and in the Father through him, they are made one together. So that where this exists, it is the groundwork of another kind of friendship and love than the world is acquainted with or is able to judge of, and hath more worth in one dram of it, than all the quintessence of civil or natural affection can amount to. The friendships of the world, the best of them, are but tied with chains of glass; but this fraternal love of Christians is a golden chain, both more precious, and more strong and lasting. The others are worthless and brittle.

The Christian owes and pays a general charity and good will to all, but peculiar and intimate friendship he cannot have, except with such as come within the compass of this fraternal love, which after a special manner flows from God, and returns to him, and abides in Him, and shall remain unto eternity.

Where this love is and abounds, it will banish far away all those dissensions and bitternesses, and those frivolous mistakings which are so frequent among most persons. It will teach men wisely and gently to admonish one another, where it is needful; but further than that, it will pass by many offences and failings, it will cover a multitude of sins, and will very much sweeten society, making it truly profitable: therefore the psalmist calls it both

good and pleasant, that brethren dwell together in unity; it perfumes all, as the precious ointment upon the head of Aaron.

You that know these things and have a portion in them, who have communion with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ, I beseech you, adorn your holy profession, and testify yourselves the disciples and the brethren of Jesus Christ by this mutual love. Seek to understand better what it is, and to know it more practically. Consider that source of love, that love which the Father hath bestowed upon us in this, that we should be called the sons of God, and so be brethren; and thence draw more of this sweet stream of love. God is love, says the same apostle; therefore surely where there is most of God, there is most of this divine grace, this holy love. Look upon and study much that infinite love of God and his Son Jesus Christ towards us. He gave his only begotten Son; the Son gave himself; he sweetened his bitter cup with his transcendent love; and this he hath recommended to us, that even as he loved us, so should we also love one another. We know we cannot reach this high pattern; that is not meant; but the more we look on it, the higher we shall reach in this love, and shall learn some measure of such love on earth, as is in heaven, and that which so begins here, shall there be perfected.

Be pitiful, be courteous. The roots of plants are hidden under ground, so that themselves are not seen; but they appear in their branches, and flowers, and fruits, which argue there is a root and life in them: thus the graces of the Spirit planted in the soul, though themselves' invisible, yet discover their being and life in the tract of a Christian's life, his words, and actions. Thus faith shows that it lives; and thus Love is a grace of so active a nature, that it is still working, and yet never weary. Your labor of love, says the apostle; it labors, but delight makes the hardest labor sweet and easy. And so proper is action to it, that all action is null without it; 1 Cor. xiii, 1, 3. Yea, it knits faith and action together; it is the link that unites them. Faith worketh, but it is by love. So then where this root is, these fruits will spring from it and discover it, pity and courtesy.