Irenicum, to the lovers of truth and peace heart-divisions opened in the causes and…

The number 2. hath been accounted accursed, because it was the first that departed from unity. The departure from that unity God would have, is a very cursed thing, for it hath much sin in it.¹ That which S. Aug. says of original sin, we may well apply to our divisions, They are sin, the punishment of sin, the cause of sin, nothing but a heap of sin.

The number 2. hath been accounted accursed, because it was the first that departed from unity. The departure from that unity God would have, is a very cursed thing, for it hath much sin in it.¹ That which S. Aug. sayes of originall sin, we may well apply to our divisions, They are sin, the punishment of sin, the cause of sin, nothing but a heap of sin.

1. 1Peccatum, poe•a peecati, causa peccatj.

First, they are against the solemn charge and command of God, and of Jesus Christ. 1 John 3. 23. This is his commandment, that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another as he gave us commandment. It is not an arbitrary thing that we should love one another, but it is the command of God, and a great command joined to that of believing in his Son Jesus Christ. The one is as truly necessary to salvation as the other. Let men talk of faith, of believing on the Son of God, of trusting to free grace in Christ, yet if they have dividing, contending spirits, no love, no sweetness, no grace of union with the Saints, their faith is a dead faith: And because God stands much upon this to have his people live together in love, at the beginning of the verse he says, it is his commandment; at the end of the verse he says, he gave us commandment; ⟨p. 199⟩