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Did we differ in any fundamental points either of faith or practice, we were then indeed to contend earnestly for them, and to resist unto blood; yet not the blood of others, but our own. But, when mere modes and circumstances, things altogether in themselves extraneous to religion, and by all parties acknowledged not to be necessary nor essential to it, shall yet be so eagerly contested, as if the whole weight of religion and the eternal salvation or damnation of men's souls turned upon those hinges, to the violation of charity, peace, and order; what can we think, but that God may be justly provoked to try whether we will be as zealous about the necessary and vital principles of religion, as we are hot and fiery about small indifferences and unconcerning circumstances? For my part, I shall always think that the power and savour of the Gospel hath taken most hold on those, who are willing, for the preservation of such an inestimable blessing as peace, to comply with any thing and to do any thing but sin. So long as the doctrine of faith which we preach, the duties of obedience which we press, the ordinances of Jesus Christ which we administer, are the very same; since we profess the same Lord, the same Faith, the same Baptism, the same God and Father of all, what should hinder our coalition and union together in the bond of peace? What! shall we rend the coat of Christ in pieces, only because there are some loops and fringes sewed to it? shall we separate from communion, and crumble ourselves into endless fractions; perpetuate irreconcileable divisions and animosities, and run ourselves into that which is clearly sinful; to avoid what, at worst, is but dubitable? If any can as evidently prove out of the Word of God, that those debated forms and modes are sins; as it can be certainly proved out of the Word of God, that, to join in church fellowship and the communion of holy ordinances, to preserve the peace and unity of the Church, and to yield obedience to things required which are not in themselves unlawful, are duties, in comparison with which weighty matters of the law, all disputes about forms and circumstances are but mere trifles: I shall then yield; and confess, that they ought not to purchase peace, how desirable a blessing soever it be, at the loss of truth or the price of a sin. But, till this be done, if any can dispense with the express doctrine and command of Christ, of preserving peace and unity, and joining in all his public ordinances, rather than submit to those things which can never be evinced to be contrary to the command of Christ; yea,

and which those, who most of all dissent, cannot but judge to be disputable: I must needs say, that such an one strains at a gnat, and swallows a camel; for conscience of a circumstance, neglects the substance; and, for fear of that which is but doubtful, doth that which is undoubtedly sinful.

Let me then, by the bowels of Christ, persuade you all to mind the same things, and to walk in the same way: and, since we are agreed in all fundamentals of faith and in all the substantials of worship, let not other things, on which no more stress is laid than that of decency and order, be pretended as an obstacle to a happy closure. But, if men will stumble at shadows, let them beware that they do not provoke God to take the substance of our religion quite from us, while we are so quarrelsome about the shape of it; and lest, while we strive to dress it up, each after his own garb and fashion, we lose not the body itself. Since we will needs be disputing, and opposing, and contradicting, though it be about a matter of nothing, may we not justly fear, that God will find out a full task and employment for our busy spirits, and put us upon the sad necessity of striving and contending about the very essentials of religion, and call us to shed our blood and lay down our lives for them? If ever such a time of trial should come upon us, which we have but too much cause to fear that God will hasten, because of our wanton dissentions; we shall then learn, to our costs, to put a difference between substantials and circumstantials, and shall look back with grief and shame upon our unreasonable and uncharitable divisions: yea, and then should we be heartily glad, could we but enjoy the liberty of the Gospel and the ordinances of our Lord Christ, under any form of administration now so hotly and furiously controverted amongst us. Certainly, the stake will reconcile us all we shall there embrace, and not. cry out of superstition and will-worship, and I know not what: the fire of martyrdom will purify all our intemperate heats; and, as our bodies, so our hearts, shall flame together in love and union, and together shall we ascend in that fiery chariot to the same heaven: for, when the sheep scatter and separate; and, though their appointed pastures be fair and flourishing, will yet, out of wantonness, rather than necessity, stray into others; the Great Shepherd may justly send in those dogs or wolves to worry them, which will quickly make them run together again.

Since, then, the angels from heaven have proclaimed peace on earth; since the Lord of angels, Jesus Christ himself, came

down from heaven to establish and promote peace on earth; beware that none of you, upon pretence of celebrating this great and joyful day, be guilty of violating either peace with men or peace with God. And, yet, what more common and ordinary, than now, in the time of this great joy, when the angels proclaim peace from heaven; what more common, than for many, by rioting, and drunkenness, and revelling, and quarrels, to proclaim war against one another, against God, against Christ, against piety, religion, temperance, and all that is sacred and venerable! Certainly, Christ came not into the world to patronize men's debaucheries; or to give you a fair occasion to be guilty of gluttony and drunkenness, to revile, reproach, and quarrel with one another: no; these are some of the sins, which he came to destroy; and, if you will indulge yourselves in these abominations, I cannot proclaim Peace or Good-Will to you, but war and wrath from the Almighty and Jealous God.

iii. I shall proceed to the INFINITE LOVE AND GOOD-WILL, that God hath shewn towards men.

Now I am entering upon a theme, enough to puzzle and nonplus, not only our expressions, but our apprehensions too; not only our apprehensions, but even our admiration itself, But, O Lord! we can neither keep silence, nor speak out thy love: it is so great and so infinite, that it arrests our thoughts, and cramps our tongues, and leaves us no relief, but that expression of the Apostle; O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, &c. Rom. xi. 33. Oh, the boundless dimensions of the love of God, which passeth knowledge! If the angels, who sang this song, Peace on earth, goodwill towards men, should themselves be questioned, how great good-will; even they must falter and stammer in it: they are continually prying into it; and there is infinitely more in it than they have seen, and yet they see infinitely more than they can relate.

And what do we here, then, this day? What is it, that I attempt, or you expect? Haste home, therefore, O Christians: yield up yourselves to be swallowed up with the thoughts and meditations of that, which we cannot comprehend.

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And, that I may give you some hints for your meditations to I shall endeavour to illustrate the great and infinite Love

on,

of God in sending Christ into the world, from these considera

tions: From

The Person, that was sent.

The Manner and Circumstances of this sending.

The Persons, to whom he was sent.

The unspeakable Benefits, that do redound to men, by this free gift of God.

In all these, God's good-will towards men is admirably glorious, as I shall demonstrate to you.

1. If you consider the Person sent, this will exalt the goodness of God towards us.

And who is it? Is he an Angel? truly, if he were, herein divine love doth infinitely advance itself, that God should spare one of his own retinue from his attendance on him, to give such a glorious servant as an angel is, for the redemption of such a rebellious worm as man! But who is not astonished? it was not an angel, but the Lord of Angels: not a servant, but a Son, is by the Father himself plucked from his own bosom, and sent with this message: "Haste, haste to the earth, for there are thousands of sinful and wretched creatures, sinning themselves to hell; and must for ever fall under the strokes of my dreadful justice: step thou between them and it: receive thou my wrath thyself: do thou satisfy my justice; and die thou thyself, to save them." When God tried Abraham's obedience, he aggra vated his command by many piercing words, that must needs go to the heart of a tender father: Gen. xxii. 2. Take now thy son, thine only son....whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him up there for a burnt-offering, upon one of the mountains which I will shew thee, &c: this heightened Abraham's obedience, that, notwithstanding all these aggravations, yet he was willing to sacrifice his beloved son upon God's command. Truly, in the very same manner, God heightens and illustrates his own love towards us: he takes his Son, his only Son, the Son of his Eternal Love and Delights, and offers him up as a sacrifice for the sins of men.

And this greatly extols the love of God, that,

(1) He lay under no necessity of saving us at all.

As nothing accrues unto him by our happiness, so nothing would have been diminished from his Essential Glory by our

* Hence to the end of this head is added from the Appendix. EDITOR.

eternal misery. For, as God created men and angels, not that we might supply his indigence but partake of his fulness; so he redeems us and preserves them, not that he might reap our services, but that we might enjoy his mercies. What saith Eliphaz, Job xxii. 2, 3? Can a man be profitable unto God, as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself? Is it any plea sure to the Almighty, that thou art righteous? or is it gain to him, that thou makest thy ways perfect? and if we cannot profit God by serving him, much less certainly by receiving rewards for it. We can contribute nothing to his essential happiness; for God is for ever blessed in the contemplation and enjoyment of his infinite perfections. It was not to ease the solitude and tediousness of eternity, that therefore God created the world: for all the delight, which he takes in any of his creatures, is only as he views his own perfections in them; which being eternally in himself before the world was, he then possessed the same felicity as now, without receiving any addition or variation from any thing that he hath made. As it is no advantage to the sun, that so many eyes behold its light; but it would still be as bright and glorious in itself, although no creature were capable of receiving its rays: so is God infinitely glorious and blessed, in the excellencies of his eternal being and attributes; and would have been so for ever, although he had never formed any creature to observe and adore the brightness of his perfections. And, if God gain nothing by creating us, then certainly neither doth he gain by saving us: all the tribute, that either angels or glorified saints pay unto him, is but love and praise; and these cannot suppose the person who receives them to be benefited, but to be beneficial: it is true, Christ was sent to seek and to save those that were lost, Mat. xviii. 11; but, if this gracious design had never been laid and all mankind had perished for ever, the loss had been only to themselves, not to God ; whose justice would then have had that whole glory, which is now divided between his justice and his mercy. If, therefore, it be commendation of love to be wholly disinterested, nothing can more gloriously advance the love of God, than that he should give his Own Son for the redemption of such inconsiderable creatures, whose hatred and rebellions are but despicable, and their service and obedience unprofitable.

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(2) But, as some affirm, God lay under no necessity of saving us in so chargeable a manner, by the death of his Son, but that he might have freed us from death by the absolute prero

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