A17412:963
Sermons upon the ten first verses of the third chapter of the first Epistle…
Sermons upon the ten first verses of the third chapter of the first Epistle of S. Peter Being the last that were preached by the late faithful and painful minister of Gods word, Nicolas Byfield. Wherein method, sense, doctrine, and use, is, with great variety of matter, profitably handled; and sundry heads of divinity largely discussed. Published since the authors death by William Gouge.Sermons upon the ten first verses of the third chapter of the first Epistle of S. Peter Being the last that were preached by the late faithfull and painfull minister of Gods word, Nicolas Byfield. Wherein method, sense, doctrine, and vse, is, with great varietie of matter, profitably handled; and sundry heads of divinitie largely discussed. Published since the authors death by William Gouge.
London: printed by H. Lownes for George Latham, 1626
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
The third Doctrine then, which I observe out of these words, is, That all true Christians are bound in a special manner, to strive to be all of one mind; which in this place is meant of unity and agreement in judgment, and matter of belief in the points of Religion. This is urged in divers Scriptures, as 1. Cor. 1.10. 2. Cor. 13.11. Phil. 2.2. Rom. 15. 5. and this was the great glory of the first christian Church, that all the multitude were of one heart and one soul, Act. 4. 32. There are many reasons to persuade us hereunto.
The third Doctrine then, which I observe out of these words, is, That all true Christians are bound in a speciall manner, to strive to be all of one minde; which in this place is meant of unity and agreement in judgment, and matter of beliefe in the points of Religion. This is urged in divers Scriptures, as 1. Cor. 1.10. 2. Cor. 13.11. Phil. 2.2. Rom. 15. 5. and this was the great glory of the first christian Church, that all the multitude were of one heart and one soule, Act. 4. 32. There are many reasons to perswade us hereunto.
11 From the nature of this agreement; It is as it were one of the bonds of the mystical union: for though it be not the principal one, for that is the Spirit of Christ, yet it is a special one; it is like the veins and sinews which tie the body together: to break this unity, is to cut asunder the very veins and sinews of the mystical body of Christ,