550 CHARACTER OF A SOUND, be but any obstruction or hinderance of communion, they will be painful or unuseful. He feeleth in himself the reason of all those strict commands and earnest exhortations : "Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, ;and that therebe nodivisions among you, but thát you be perfectly joined together in thesame mind, and in the same judgment ; " 1 Cor. i. 10. " If there be any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, ifany fellowship of the Spirit, ifany bowels and mercies, fulfill ye my joy, that ye be like minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vain-glory.; but in lowliness ofmind, let each es- teem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but everyman also on the things of others ;" Phil. ii. 1-4. " I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you, that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond ofpeace. There is one body and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope ofyour calling ; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. But unto every one ofus is given grace, according to the measure of thegift of Christ ; " Ephes. iv. 2-7. Read alsochap. iv. 12-16. 1 Cor. xii. throughout. He looketh at uncharitable- ness, and divisions, with more abhorrence than weak Christiansdo at drunkenness or whoredom, or such other heinous sin. He fear- eth such dreadful warnings as Acts xx. 29, 36. " For I know this, that, after my departing, shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things to draw awaydisciples after them." And he cannot slight 'such a vehement exhortation as Rom. xvi. 17, 18. "Now 1 beseech you, brethren, mark them 'whichcause divisions and offences, contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned, and avoid them. For they that are such serte not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by good words, and fair speeches, deceive the hearts of the simple." Therefore he is so far from being a divider himself,-that when lie seeth any one making divisions among Christians, he looketh on him as one that is slashing and mangling the body of his dearest friend, or as one that is setting fire on his house, and therefore doth all that he can to quench it ; as knowing the confusion and calamity to which it tendeth. He is of a Christian, and therefore of a truly catholic spirit : that is, he makethnot himself a member of a divided party, or a sect: he regardeth the interest and welfare of the body, the universal church, 'above the interest or prosperity of any party whatsoever; and he will do nothing for a party which is injurious
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=