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Show ·All IJWt aJj11red not to flir 11p nor arPa/ze chrift. nemy; next to the wilhing of him a firebrand adually burning in Hell, I would wiO\ him a perfecutor oftheChurchofGod upon the Earth, I would wifh him fuch a one as S•ul was (before his Converlion) a man breathing out threatn ings, and revilings and t1aughters again I! the difci ples of the Lord Jefus ; and follictting power and authority from the cbief-Prieftt, that where-ever he found any worfhi pping God in Spirit and in T ruth, he might bind and imprifon them. I fhould think that if I thuscurfed any, I fhould wilh his Soul to Hd l, his body to ruin, his pctlerity to a curfe, and his children to beg their bread, and his boule to he made a jaques, l n fhort that I had wifhed him all evil to which he is fubj~ded by his humane nlture. Oh ! take heed of having any thing of this nature to do. Do not only fear to be Principalt, but to be accefJaries in it. Mr. Fo;c tells us of one J udg Mergan in England' that was but the Inllrument of the Law to condem11 the religious Lad)•,Jane Dudley: God foon after llruck him with madnefs, he died raving and in his mad-fits ( to Chew what lluck upon his Confcknce) crying out, Ha11e aR>•J 1he Lady 1•ne from before me. But I fhall add no more to this Branch, I hope you all tremble at this Sin. · Secondly, You that are members of the Church of Chrifl ,ta~ you heed of dif/urbing 1be rejf of Cbrift, and of awaking him by ~ufol•Ji divzfimJ. A man rcll<th ill in an houfe that is full of noifes ; Chrills rell is highly dilturbed in his Church, by his pea- ~ pies Divifionr. Divifions are either in matters of Dotlrillt; thefe are called Error1, and (if publickly and pertinacioully maintained) Herefies. Of thefe the Apoflle fpeaks, Rom, t 6. r5. Mar~ 1hem A>hich ma~t DivifionJ among you; contrary to 1he Do{Jrine ""bich you h- received. Every Error is not of this nature, but Error I in Fzmd•menlaiJ; and thofe not kept private to our felves,but openly publifhed and maintaintd to the dillurbance of the Church of Chritt, and the drawing of others into that fnare. There are c· rher Divifions which relate to pratlice in matters of Worfh.P and Order, thefe are call ed Schijm1. Now every frparalion is not linfu1, every lepararion is nor Scbifm: No, every feparatir.n from a Church, that may yet have a name of a 'True-church is not r.nfui.Jn fhort where a m~n cannot joyn with any company in the Worlhip of God, without Sin, there{tpdralion cannot be a Sin. The Church of the Jews were indeed a declining decaying Church, but yet they were a Church, Aa1. 19. 8, 9• hence Paul owneth them fo f.u, AU men charged not to flir JIP nor a'll'a4! Chr/fl. far, as to go into their _Synagogues·, 'and for three months toge• ther to .preach and to d1fpUteamongll them: Bul R>hM lh•y 111ir1 hardned a11d belirv•J 1101, bul /P•k.! tilitof I hat "'"Y btfm tht multitt< de be dep11r1edl from them 11nd· flparaled•lhe Dt[ciplet dlf;111iHg daily in theScbooltif. o1te'Iyrannu1. When any number of baptized people owning the n~me of theChurcb of ·Goil., grew corru~t in matler •f Do!frine, or·tn maller ofWorjTup; ro that other_Cilnflians cannot enjoy the Ordinances of God with 'them Without fin a [eparatio>l from tliem ( efpecially if hard ned again !I a .Rc· for~anon, or reproaching it,~ is fo far from being Chrift.ians fi~, that it is their Duty, · having firll ufed all due means tn thetr places for a Reformation. But that is a caufelefi [eparJtiolt, and a finful Schifm, when men f~parate from a c~·urch o( <?od. with whom ( without any fin agatnfl God) thefmlght confcienttoull)' walk.in fellowfhlp accdrding to the ordet of the·Gofpel, 'This i& indeed very finful, and is a fin that dilturbeth Chrilts rell in a Church. Such were thofe at Coriltlh, one faid lam of Paul, ano. ther, I atrt'of ApoUo, another, I am ofCrpbM. H ence now we jullly contemn the Papills Reproach,ofSchiftria'ticksjwe have indeed fe· para ted from them ; but it was becaufe'wecould coot continue with them, without countenancing ~nd joyninli with their grofs Idolatries and Superltitions, while yet we confels the fin ofSchifr11 to be great, and that it is very unlawful to f<)'arate from a true Church of-Chrill in whofc t ommunion we may keep and enjoy the Ordinancesl~t' € hrift without finningagainfl •tlili Laws of Ghrill. That therefore which I here defire you to beware of, is, ~he enterl•bring, publij1n'ng, and pertinaciouny main~aining D~~ £Irina, which make divifioll! contrary to the truth recctved. It ts very pollible that a Chr iltian may other.wife thin It in fome mat• ters ofnochine, than doth the Church of which he. is a member. what l!lalll'ie do? I anfwer, T hefe Dodrines may be o( Ieifer momei11, f~~h as «iuah novhe foundations of Faith and H~linefs: Or elfe -2. Such as :are more ttlomerltous, and do touch the foundations beJthey what they will. ·Every Chrillian is not bound to publifh'what he believes to draw others to his party. The Apollie hath a good Rule, Rom.r 4.22. Hafllho•faith, have ,it lo thy [elf ~e{ore Gorl. There is no 0 \>ligation can lie upon· a: man<to pub. lifh all his notions, It may ·!;e tmny.of rhem are of noimortlent, ~t leall not comparatively with ihe Churches peace. I conf<fs, tf one be called to teach the people,• it alteretb-the cafe : for as be be. x lirvttll, |