An Exhortation to Peace and Unity | Page 9

for charity
shall cover the multitude of sins;" 1 Pet. iv. 8. Let us therefore live in
unity and peace, and the God of love and peace will be with us.
That you may so do, let me remind you (in the words of a learned man),
that the unity of the church is a unity of love and affection, and not a
bare uniformity of practice and opinion.

III. Having shewn you wherein this unity consists, I now come to the
third general thing propounded: and that is, to shew you the fruits and
benefits of unity and peace, together with the mischiefs and
inconveniences that attend those churches where unity and peace are
wanting.
1. Unity and peace is a duty well-pleasing to God, who is styled the
author of peace and not of confusion. In all the churches God's Spirit
rejoiceth in the unity of our spirits; but on the other hand, where strife
and divisions are, there the Spirit of God is grieved. Hence it is that the
apostle no sooner calls upon the Ephesians not to grieve the Spirit of
God, but he presently subjoins us a remedy against that evil, that they
put away bitterness and evil-speaking, and be kind one to another, and
tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake
hath forgiven them; Eph. iv. 30, 32.
2. As unity and peace is pleasing to God, and rejoiceth his Spirit, so it
rejoiceth the hearts and spirits of God's people. Unity and peace brings
heaven down upon earth among us: hence it is that the apostle tells us,
Rom. iv. 17, that "the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but
righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost." Where unity and
peace is, there is heaven upon earth; by this we taste the first fruits of
that blessed estate we shall one day live in the fruition of; when we
shall come "to the general assembly and church of the first-born, whose
names are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the
spirits of just men made perfect;" Heb. xii. 23.
This outward peace of the church (as a learned man observes) distils
into peace of conscience, and turns writings and readings of
controversy into treatises of mortification and devotion.
And the Psalmist tells us, that it is not only good, but pleasant for
brethren to dwell together in unity, Psalm cxxxiii. But where unity and
peace is wanting, there are storms and troubles; "where envy and strife
is, there is confusion and every evil work;" James iii. 16. It is the
outward peace of the church that increaseth our inward joy; and the
peace of God's house gives us occasion to eat our meat with gladness in
our own houses, Acts ii. 46.

3. The unity and peace of the church makes communion of saints
desirable. What is it that embitters church-communion, and makes it
burdensome, but divisions? Have you not heard many complain, that
they are weary of church-communion, because of church-contention?
but now where unity and peace is, there Christians long for
communion.
David saith, that he was glad when they said unto him, "Let us go to the
house of God;" Psalm cxxii. 1. Why was this, but because (as the third
verse tells us) Jerusalem was a city compact together, where the tribes
went up, the tribes of the Lord, to give thanks to his name? And David,
speaking of the man that was once his friend, doth thereby let us know
the benefit of peace and unity; Psalm lv. 14. "We," saith he, "took
sweet counsel together, and walked to the house of God in company."
Where unity is strongest, communion is sweetest and most desirable.
You see then that peace and union fills the people of God with desires
after communion: but, on the other hand, hear how David complains,
Psalm cxx., "Wo is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, and that I dwell in the
tents of Kedar." The Psalmist here is thought to allude to a sort of men
that dwelt in the deserts of Arabia, that got their livings by contention;
and therefore he adds, ver. 6, that his soul had long dwelt with them
that hated peace. This was that which made him long for the courts of
God, and esteem one day in his house better than a thousand. This
made his soul even faint for the house of God, because of the peace of
it; "Blessed are they," saith he, "that dwell in thy house, they will be
still praising thee." There is a certain note of concord, as appears, Acts
ii., where we read of primitive Christians, meeting with one accord,
praising God.
4. Where unity and peace is, there