Secondly, Christ, as the chief Shepherd, by his Spirit and Power, and his Under-Officers, by their Ministry and Service, do feed and rule his Church by his Staff called Bands, procuring and advancing the Unity thereof, and gathering together into one all the members belonging thereunto, that the whole body may be fitly joined together ⟨p. 26⟩and compacted without Schisms and Divisions, which is a singular and eminent Blessing of God thereunto. God made man at the first after his own Image, so that as the Lord is wholly one and undivided in himself, no dissonancy between any of his Attributes, Decrees, or Counsels; so in man as he came out of Gods hands, there was an exact harmony and agreement; his Affections consonant unto his Will, his Will to his Reason, and his Reason to God. And being thus perfectly One with himself, he could not but be one likewise with others, who were perfectly like himself, as finding nothing more in them, from the which to differ, then in himself. But when sin came into the world, it brake the bond of Union between God and man, making usu enemies unto him by wicked works, and so wseparating between him and us, and hiding hie face from us. It brake the bond of Union between a man and himself, the Will rebelling against the ⟨p. 27⟩Mind, the Sensitive part against the rational, onex lust warring against another, and all against the Soul. It brake the bond of Union between man and man, between one wicked man and another, upon the ground of different Interests, yhateful and hating of one another; between wicked men and good men, upon the ground of contrary seeds, the the Lord havingz put enmity between the Seed of the woman, and the Seed of the Serpent; Because God hath chosen his Church out of the world, therefore the aworld hateth them; When he had his Church only in one single people, the Jews, who dwelt alone, and were bnot reckoned among the Nations, we find not only in thec Scriptures, but also in dprofane Writers how great scorn and contempt was cast upon chem by those ⟨p. 28⟩of other Nations. And when Christian Religion began to obtain in the world, the like horrible Reproaches were cast upon Christians, as we read of Thyestaea convivia, & Oedipi incestus, ine Tertullian, fEusebius, andg others. So true is that of Solomon, He that is upright in the way, is an abomination unto the wicked.
Secondly, Christ, as the chief Shepherd, by his Spirit and Power, and his Under-Officers, by their Ministery and Service, do feed and rule his Church by his Staffe called Bands, procuring and advancing the Unity thereof, and gathering together into one all the members belonging thereunto, that the whole body may be fitly joyned together ⟨p. 26⟩and compacted without Schisms and Divisions, which is a singular and eminent Blessing of God thereunto. God made man at the first after his own Image, so that as the Lord is wholly one and undivided in himself, no dissonancy between any of his Attributes, Decrees, or Counsels; so in man as he came out of Gods hands, there was an exact harmony and agreement; his Affections consonant unto his Will, his Will to his Reason, and his Reason to God. And being thus perfectly One with himself, he could not but be one likewise with others, who were perfectly like himself, as finding nothing more in them, from the which to differ, then in himself. But when sin came into the world, it brake the bond of Union between God and man, making usu enemies unto him by wicked works, and so wseparating between him and us, and hiding hie face from us. It brake the bond of Union between a man and himself, the Will rebelling against the ⟨p. 27⟩Mind, the Sensitive part against the rational, onex lust warring against another, and all against the Soul. It brake the bond of Union between man and man, between one wicked man and another, upon the ground of different Interests, yhateful and hating of one another; between wicked men and good men, upon the ground of contrary seeds, the the Lord havingz put enmity between the Seed of the woman, and the Seed of the Serpent; Because God hath chosen his Church out of the world, therefore the aworld hateth them; When he had his Church only in one single people, the Jews, who dwelt alone, and were bnot reckoned among the Nations, we find not only in the
- uCol. 1. 21. Rom. 5. 10.
- wIsa. 59. 2.
- xJam. 4. 1.
- yTit. 3. 3.
- zGen. 3. 15.
- aJoh. 15. 19 1 Joh. 3. 1. D•on c. 36.
- bNum. 23. 9. Philostrat l. 5.
- cNehem. 4. 2, 3, 4. Ester 3. 8, 9. Psal. 44. 13, 14. 79. 1, 4. 137. 3. Lam. 1. 7. 2. 15, 16. Isa. 43. 28. 47. 6. Jer. 24. 9. 1 Reg. 9. 7.
- dCicero Orat. L. Flacco. Plin. l. 13. cap. 4. Tacit. Hist. lib. 5. Plutarch. Symposiac. 1. Pal. 5. Justin. l. 36. Sueton. August. cap. 76. H. Tiber. cap. 36. Horat. lib. 1. Satyr. 9. Juvenal. Sat. 3. 6 14. Martial Petron. Epigram. Apion apud Josephum & Eusebium, Hist. l. 2. cap. 5. Vid. P. Cunaei Antiquit. Heb. l. 2. c. 24. & l. 3. c. 5.
- eTertul. Apolog. c. 1, 2, 3, 7.
- f
