Christian Concord: OR, S. Pauls Parallel BETWEEN The Body NATURAL and MYSTICAL. EXEMPLIFIED IN A SERMON preached in the Cathedral Church of S. Paul, On Sunday the 13th. of January 1660.  
By MATTHEW GRIFFITH D. D.  Phil. 2. -5. 
If there be therefore any consolation in Christ if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies; fulfil 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 of mind, let each esteem other better then themselves.  
Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.  
Let this mind be in you, which was in Christ Jesus, &c.  John 18.37. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth: every one that is of the truth, hears my voice. 
London, Printed by W.G. for T. Firby at Grayes-In-gate in Holborn. 1661.   

TO Sr. EDWARD NICHOLAS Knight, Principal Secretary of State to His majesty, And one of His MAIESTIE'S Most Honourable nutshell.  
Honoured SIR,  
I Have hitherto had so small Encouragement for publishing my good Affections both to Church and State; that upon just Grounds I had resolved to adventure no more on the Press: For though I never gave way to the Printing of more Sermons then two, the former out of a sincere desire to have prevented the late Commotions; and the latter to promote His majesties just Restitution) Yet all the thankes I reaped( such was then the iniquity of the Times) was, to be committed to Newgate for both; and this unequal Retribution for so pious intentions and peaceable endeavours, had rendered me very unwilling to appear again in Print. Yet being lately appointed by my Lord Mayor( whose courage, and vigilancy make him fit for, and worthy of the grat trust which he now so faithfully dischargeth) to preach this Sermon; I have been in some sort enforced to publish it, partly to satisfy the incessant and unavoidable importunity of many noble Friends, and well-affected Hearers; and partly to prevent being misrepresented by such short-Writers, as having taken my Notes,  told me plainly, that if I would not print this Sermon, they would, in order to the public good; so that I must needs say it is not entreated, but extorted; and yet I shall make this virtue of that Necessity, to let the World see in this poor Dedication, not onely how grateful I desire to approve myself to your Honour, For your daily repeated Favours; but also that your Prudence and Integritie● Candour and charity, are such a Muniment, and Ornament to the Court, that they alone are sufficient both to defend it from conspiracy, and to denominate it truly Christian.  
Your Honour hath by many and many Acts acquired such an habit of doing what is just, and Right, that( as it was said of Cato) you cannot do otherwise. You dispatch State-affairs with so much ingenuity, and dexterity, that what other Politicians Languished under as too hard a labour, is but your ordinary Recreation; who have not onely learned,( with Themistocles) but are able to teach the ready way how to make a small Common-wealth great, and of a sick body politic, a sound one: and your singular abilities will now as spectably appear in repairing our breaches, and healing our distempers, as the best Pilot's skill doth in a Storm, and the Gallantry of a Commander in a Battle; though being a Star of the first Magnitude, the Greater you are, the less you seem, by reason of the distance between you and us. All that know you, must aclowledge that no Prince ever had a more deserving, and obliging Servant, who prefers his Great Lord and Masters Honour, before his own Interest; and in these cloudy times to give him light, consumes himself. In your single person his Sacred majesty hath all the advantages of a Full and Faithful council. All your Oracles are so sweetly, and evenly tempered of policy and piety,( your Honour being wise as a Serpent, Innocent as a Dove) that Josephs Character, in the 23. of Saint Luke, at the 50. is not onely proper to you but in some sense, peculiar, Viz. An honourable counsellor, a good man and a just; one that consented not to the council and dead of them, waiting for the kingdom of God. Your own Laudable Actions commend you far beyond my invention, and expressions; yet Gratitude prompts me to have added my Mite, to your gracious treasury, but that I have constantly observed that you had rather be, and do things, worthy of praise, then hear of either: And so not doubting that your Honour will as cheerfully accept of this small present, as you have been ever accustomend to do things great, and glorious; I humbly crave both your patronage and pardon for this presumption; and rest,  
Yourr Honours most humble Servant, MATTHEW GRIFFITH.   
ROM. 12.4, 5. For as we have many Members in one Body; and all the Members have not the same Office: So we, being many, are one Body in Christ; and each of us Members one of another. 
OUR Blessed Lord and Saviour( in the 12. Chapter of St. Luke, at the 42. Verse) styles him a faithful and wise Steward, that gives his household their portion of meat in due season. The ordinary Dispensers of the Word and Sacraments, are called his Stewards( in the 4. Chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians,) The great Congregation in the beauty of holiness, is his household: Such select Scriptures as holy Church hath appointed for the proper Lessons, the Epistles and the Gospels to be red on the several sundays and Festivals throughout the year, are the portion of meat: And the orthodox explication and application of them to all emergencies of time and occasions, is to do Opus Diei in die suo, to speak a word in season. And according to this catholic sense, I hope I shall now set before your Lordship, and the rest Dearly beloved, such a portion of holy Writ as will appear upon a full and favourable hearing to be both seasoned and seasonable: For my text is a principal part of the Epistle for this very day, and so it is seasonable; and the chief Scope of this Scripture is to commend unto us Christian Unity and Unanimity, who( the greater is our Sin and shane) have been of late, and still are, too too much distracted, and divided among ourselves; and in this regard my Text( whether it be looked upon either as a cordial, or a corasive) must be confessed to be well seasoned: and therefore I shall need to make no other apology for my choice of this Text at this time, then one of the ancient Fathers did upon the like occasion, Deus tam faciat Scripturam commodam quam est accommoda; The Lord by his Spirit of grace make this Scripture as profitable to you, as ere I have finished my Discourse, it will appear at this time to be proper for you. And so I fall close to the words of my Text.  
MY Text begins with a Nam, for; and a Sicut, as: For as; this For, is connective; and this As is comparative. By this For, our Apostle would prove that which he had asserted in the Verse before, viz. That we must not be over-wise but sober-wise; or wise to Sobriety. In which his mind and meaning is to bring all men to be contented with such parts of Nature, and gifts of grace, as God hath been pleased to give them; and he would have them to use and improve these Talents, with all possible humility and charity, to the edification of their Christian brethren; and not for any obliqne respects whatsoever, to make a Schism in the Church, as some self-conceited persons then had done, to the loss of peace and truth on Earth and of Glory in the Heavens.  
And this our Apostle here both amplifies, and illustrates by a pithy and pertinent comparison, borrowed from the natural body, and applied to Christs body mystical. And as this For is a Conjunction causal, so St. Paul intends thereby to show cause why we should all be sober-minded; and the cause is implied in this Sicut[ As] with which it is coupled: Conceive then our Apostle making his transition, by this For; and both proving and clearing his former doctrine, by this Sicut, As; which is an Adverb of likeness, and a Note of Similitude.  
And some of the Ancients have observed to my hand, that comparisons in Scripture are of excellent use, and serve both to explain and adorn such truths, as being intellectual and abstruse, are not in and of themselves obvious to men of ordinary capacity. Both the Prophets and Apostles are full of them; Yea our blessed Lord himself is in nothing so frequent, as in these similes and Sicuts; and so are all the Fathers: Similitudinem vobis adhibeam, saith St. Augustine de verbis Domini, Let me use a Similitude unto you, that what you do not so clearly understand, may be made easy by a familiar instance. And St Chrysostome did so superabound in this kind, that some Neoteriques have made it their work, to collect, and reduce all his allusions to proper heads, by way of Common places; for the better imbellishing of such mens discourses, as are jejune, and barren of Invention: and as you shall meet with many other parables, and similitudes; so with none more apt, and elegant, then this of the Body and the Members: and what energy there is in this comparison, may be gathered from the wholesome effect it took among the Commons of Rome, to whom Menennius Agrippa propounded only this Similitude; and therewith pacified the tumultuous rabble; as livy in the Second of his decades, relates it on this wise.  
Upon a time( saith he) the Members complained of the Stomach or Belly; that they devoured all, yet did no work and because they seemed not to labour like the rest of the parts, the Members conspired among themselves to feed them no longer; and the Stomach not taking in due sustenance, the Eyes ere long waxed dim; the Ears deaf, the Hands and Arms grew weak and feeble; the Legs were scarce able to stand, or the feet to stir; briefly all the Members became epileptic, and the whole body consumed for want of nourishment: and the Members being sensible of this Atrophie, they soon recanted their error and fell close to feeding the Stomach again, as being convinced by sad experience, that howe'er the Stomach seems not to take pains, and to labour like the other parts, yet when it is duly fed and faustered, the whole body fares the better for it, because it feeds not only for itself, but what it takes in it digests, and so sends forth nourishment unto the rest of the Members; and by this seasonable Apologue the mutinous multitude was appeased, and fairly reduced to their former subjection and obedience.  
And what the orator there applied to that Senate of Rome, which he looked upon as the Stomach of the Body politic: Our Apostle here adapts to Christs Body mystical; and under this comparison, he infers two things for the better confirming of what he had before delivered.  
The one is, that every man hath his measure of gifts in the Church; seeing that each man is but as it were a particular Member of the Body mystical: and therefore as the hand is not capable of seeing, neither the foot of hearing; so, Non omnia possumus omnes: For Almighty God, who is a most free Agent, hath allotted each man both his measure, and his stint: some have more( as in the Parable of the Talents) concredited unto them, some fewer; every one hath some, but none hath all; as in the Proverb, Unus Bernardus non vidit omnia.  
The other is, That every man must be sober-minded, and modestly conceited of his own parts, and abilities; seeing that what ere his gifts be, yet in one kind or other, he hath as much need of others as they can have of him; though perhaps they be not so highly pearch'd and preferred; yet they may be altogether as needful, and useful in their way, as himself.  
And therefore as all the members of the body do sweetly accord together in their distinct Functions, each standing in need of the others help: so in the Church each true member thereof should tend to the good of all the rest; without either envying their Dignity, or encroaching upon their Office. Thus no less piously, then prudently, doth our Apostle take order to prevent both emulation, and usurpation, when he saith in the Text; For as we have many members in one body,& all the members have not the same office, so we &c.  
In which words, let me commend to your Chaistian attention and intention two principal parts, viz. {αβγδ} a Proposition; Et {αβγδ}, and a Reddition, or the Pattern; and the parallel: and in each of them we have three things considerable; For,  
In the former main part, which I call the Proposition, our Apostle by way of comparison set's down the excellent state of man's body in three respects; viz.  
First, in regard of it's unity; for, the body is but one.  
Secondly, in regard of plurality of parts; for, it hath many members.  
Thirdly, In regard of diversity of Functions; for, all the members have not the same Office.  
And in the latter main part, which I call the Reddition; Our Apostle delivers three things proportionanable to those that I have already hinted: for,  
First, as there he shewed that the natural body is one; so here, applying it to the Church, he shows that the body mystical is but one.  
Secondly, As there he saith that this one natural body hath many members; so here he saith, that we are many in Christs body mystical.  
Lastly, As there he assumes that the divers members of the natural body have not the same Office: so here he applies it by demonstrating that We are members one of another in Christ's body mystical; and consequently by the Law of the body, and the members of the same, we are all strictly bound to be mutually helpful each to other, in the faithful discharge of all Ecclesiastical and Spiritual duties.  
These are the six wings of this Seraphim, which are now spread over you; or rather these six be the comfortable branches of this three of Life; whose fruit( by Gods assistance) I come now to shake off, and you are to gather up as they fall: and I begin with the first particular of the first main part, Viz. The Unity of the body natural; for so saith our Apostle here, Sicut, &c. As the body is one, &c.  
And though Saint Paul speaks here with a Sicut, and by way of comparison; yet elsewhere he delivers this as a positive Truth, viz. That the body is but one; as in the 12. Chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians, at the 26. verse; and in the 4. Chapter to the Ephesians, at the 4. verse, There is on body, &c. And I presume this will be easily granted: and yet how, and in what sense the body is one, seeing it consists of so many members, I find it among the Schoolmen very much disputed; who observe that things may be said to be one divers ways: For,  
First, There is an unity which is made by collection; thus many stones laid together make one heap.  
Secondly, There is an Unity which is made by conjunction; Thus Man and Wife make but one person in Law; and are but one flesh in the Gospel; for our Saviour saith, in the 19. of Matthew at the 6. verse, that they remain no longer two, but one flesh.  
Thirdly, There is an Unity in numeration; Thus God is styled One, in the 6. chapter of Deuteronomy, at the 4. verse, The Lord our God is one Lord. He is one and onely one. And as in arithmetic all numbers flow from Unity: so in theology all creatures do from God, and in him they terminate, that He may be all in all, 1 Cor. 15.28.  
Fourthly, There is an Unity which results from constancy; which makes men in all estates and conditions, still one and the same; thence grew the Motto, semper idem.  
Fifthly, There is an Unity which is made by consent in matters of Religion; Thus in the 4. chapter of the Acts, at the 32. verse; The multitude of them that believed were of one heart, and one soul, &c.  
Sixthly, There is an Unity which is made by Devotion; thus our Apostle( speaking of such an one as sincerely cleaves to God in Christ) saith that he is one spirit with him.  
Seventhly, There is an Unity which is made by vouchsafing; as in the first chapter of Saint John at the 14. verse, when the Word was made flesh, he was truly styled Emanuel, God with us; God and Man in the Unity of his Person.  
Eighthly, There is an Unity which is spoken either indefinitely, as the 22. of Saint Luke; and one of them smote the servant, &c. Or by way of excellency; for our Saviour  told the Jews, There is one that accuseth you, &c. Thus Unus homo nobis, &c. saith the Lyrique Poet, meaning Fabius, who cunctando restituit rem. Or by way of reproach: Thus Judas the traitor is called One of the twelve, in the 14. chapter of Saint Mark, at the 10. verse: Unus, saith Saint jerome, numero non merito.  
Lastly, there is an unity which springs both from composition, and integrality, thus both the body natural is one, though it consists of divers parts; and the Church is also one, though compacted of never so many members; and so you see what kind of Unity this is in the Text; and herein you may withal observe.  
First, The never enough admired wisdom of God, who of two so dissimilar parts as are the body and the soul, the flesh and the spirit, did at first frame so excellent a piece as man; and by cementing together two so contrary parts, could make such a compositum, as is but a clod of day quickened with the breath of Life; a dead coal kindled by a Divine spark, and a lump of flesh animated by the spirit of God.  
And this was in truth so rare a composition, that the Anthropomorphites thought God himself to be for form like to Man: and Aristotle himself calls man a microcosm, or little world; and he that studiously travels over the Isle of Man, shall therein find as many wonders, as there be in the macrocosm; and Saint Augustine saith more, Omni miraculo quod sit per hominem, majus miraraculum est ipse homo. Run through all the Miracles that ever were wrought by Man, and you will meet with none to be compared with Man himself.  
Secondly, This transcendent excellency of our creation should stir us up to magnify our Maker: It is a kind of brutishness in us to take no notice of our Original Dignity; yea he that is not highly affencted with the rumination hereof, deserves not indeed to be accounted a man; who should lift up his heart to heaven, as well as his head is lifted up; as Saint Cyprian counsels us, Cum statu oris,& corporis animum, Let thy bodily state teach thee to erect thy soul; and that thou mayest know God the better, study thyself. Gaelo descendit, {αβγδ}.  
Thirdly, this very consideration that the body is one, should teach us christian Unity and concord. It was Abrahams apology to Lot in the 13. chapter of Genesis, at the 8. verse, Let there be no strife between me and thee, for we are brethren; and how much more ought all we that are christians to live in Unity and godly love, seeing we are not onely brethren of the same Parents, God and his Church, but so many members of the same body? But of this more anon when I come to handle the Reddition; for the present I hasten from the bodies Unity, to speak somewhat of the plurality of members, which is the next thing considerable.  
It was the infinite sapience of the creator to furnish the body of Man with variety of members.  
First, because variety of parts proportionably conjoy'nd procure beauty.  
Secondly, for Necessities sake, because no one member, though never so excellent in the kind, is able to perform so many several offices as the body stands in need of.  
Thirdly, for strength, for look how many distinct parts there be in the body, so much the more ability there is, and sufficiency in time of need: which may be one principal reason why God hath given us two eyes, two ears, two hands, two feet, &c. That so if any one should chance to fail of doing its Office, the other might happily supply the defect thereof.  
To which let me add that in the Original our Apostle saith not {αβγδ}, but {αβγδ} viz. That the members of the body are not onely many in number, but of divers natures, and sundry fashions; that so each of them might be fit to discharge its proper Function. Consider( saith Tertullian de carne Christi) in the body of man, in some sort like to the body of the earth, musculos ut glebas, ossa ut saxa, aspice nervorum tenaces connexus, ut traduces radicum; ac venarum ramosos discursus,, ut ambages rivorum,& lanugines, ut muscos;& carnem, ut cespitem,& ipsos medullarum in abdito the sauros, ut metalla carnis, &c.  
But leaving his nice speculations, the body is usually in Scripture described by two general notions, viz. of flesh and bones; as in the second chapter of Genesis at at the 23. verse, where Adam speaking of his wife, saith This now is bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh. And our Saviour after his Resurrection from the dead, willing to convince his Disciples, that he had no fantastical, but a real, natural body, bids them to handle him, and see; for a Spirit( saith he) hath not flesh and bone, &c.  
Now God hath in the frame of our bodies fitted flesh and bones together, that so we may have both strength and motion: and besides that, our bones teach us,  
First, to confess our sins, and to cry to God for mercy; for while I held my tongue, my bones consumed away, saith that lively pattern of Repentance, in the 32. Psalm at the 3. verse.  
Secondly, To trust in God alone, as the same Princely Prophet speaks in the 34. Psalm, at the 20. verse, for God keeps all our bones so that not one of them is broken.  
Thirdly, To praise God, as the 35. Psalm at the 10 verse, All my bones shall say unto thee, O Lord, who is like unto thee? and some of the rabbis have well observed, that there be just as many precepts in the Law of God, as Anatomists say there be bones greater and smaller in the body of man. And when we look upon our flesh, we are thereby put in mind,  
First of our natural frailty, for all flesh is grass, saith the Prophet Isaiah in his 40. chapter, at the 6. verse; so that in a qualified sense, we are but so many grasshoppers, especially when we idle away our time in truthless vanity.  
Secondly, Our flesh may teach us humanity each to other, since we are all so near akinn: This argument Abimelech used to the Sichemites, in the 9. chapter of Judges, at the 2. verse, I am flesh of your flesh, and in the 11. Chapter of the first book of Chronicles, all Israel said to King David, behold thou art flesh of our flesh.  
Thirdly, Our flesh may be our remembrancer of charity to the poor, as the Prophet Isaiah enforces the motive; when thou seest the naked cover him, and hid not thy face from thine own flesh, poverty cuts not off connaturality,  
And( if in the next place) we descend to a more distinct consideration of the bodily members, we cannot but observe therein.  
First the Majesty of some parts, for most creatures stand in awe of Mans very look; and as Saint Ambros● notes, they serve Man, and by human institution they are brought by degrees to put off their own nature: Obliviscuntur quod nata sunt, induunt quod jubentur. Some that are critics in the holy Tongue, observe that the Hebrew word for an Eye, comes of a root which signifies a Well, because it is both the bodies Looking-glasse, and sends forth water.  
The Philosopher calls the ear, the sense of understanding; and Job saith, that it tastes words: It is the palate of the soul. It is curiously framed, that by the repercussion of the sound we may hear others speak, and that the sound may last the longer, it hath many meanders and concavities.  
The lips, teeth, and tongue, are instruments of Speech, by which we communicate our Notions each to other, as the Angels do only by intuition.  
Not to insist upon particulars: we have some members common to us with the bruits, and they have all the sences too; and in the acuteness of each, some of them excel us; Nos aper auditu pracellit, aranea tactu, valour odoratu, linu visu, simia gustu. But in two things men do very much exceed and excel all sublunary creatures; viz. By reason in the soul, and the hand in the body: yea Anaxagorus upon a diligent inquiry into, and survey of the properties and motions in the hand, as it were in an ecstasy of admiration, concluded Man to be the wisest creature, because he hath hands; as if they were the Well-head of all intellectual and artificial Elegancies.  
And to the same effect Galen argues, that because Man is the wisest of the bodily creatures, therefore he hath hands given him, that as he is the most intelligent, so he might have fit Organs to express and explain his skill and knowledge: With these man tames fierce Lions, sturdy Steeds, wild Bears, subtle Foxes, &c. Docentur ut parvuli, serviunt ut infirmi, verberantur ut timidi, corriguntur ut subditi, denique in mores transeunt nostros.  
And this excellency of our several members should make us both the more careful over them, and the more fearful to turn them into so many instruments of unrighteousness. I am fearfully and wonderfully made, saith the Psalmist, and that my soul knows right well. And the more we know the excellency of our bodily members, the less should we abuse them: for God did not put such beauty on thy body, that thou shouldst wallow like a Sow, in the mire of uncleanness: He gave thee not so clear, quick and sharp eye-sight, to lust in looking upon an Harlot: He gave thee not such tender and purged ears, to listen to evil communicatious which corrupt good manners: He gave thee not such a voluluble and persuasive Tongue, to ly, and flatter, and swear and curse, and blaspheme with: He gave thee not such dexterous hands to be the instruments of Bribery and sacrilege, Oppression and Extortion, Rapine and blood-shed: In a word, considering, saith Saint Cyprian, that our bodies are Temples of the holy Ghost: O let us take good heed how we profane and pollute them; and he gives this Reason, Eorum nos Templorum cultores,& antistites sumus; serviamus illi, cujus esse jam caepimus.  
Here then two sorts are peccant, and so to be reproved.  
The one is of such persons as abuse their members, by seeking to find out new and strange ways to add more beauty to them, then God thought fit to put upon them; I mean all such as patch and paint their Faces, frizle, colour and powder their hair, &c. They transgress Gods Ordinance, when they thus transform that which he formed otherwise; and they turn his Image( saith our Apostle) into the image of an Harlot; they are seldom better that use the Cyprian Arts: and they have just cause to fear that at the Day of judgement God will not know them, at least not aclowledge such mutuatitious Forms to be his Workmanship.  
The other sort to be reproved, are all such as defile their bodies, and deform themselves by any vicious qualities; as by luxury, which our Apostle calls sinning against our own body; or by laziness, which the wise man called A living mans Sepulture; or by surfeiting, which hath destroyed more then Sword, Pestilence and Famine; or by Envy; For an envious Man counts anothers good his hurt: parum est si ipse sit foelix, nisi alter sit infoelix. And therefore Bonaventure in his Diet of Health, wittily compares each envious wretch to Cain, who said of himself in the 4. of Gen. Whosoever finds ma, shall slay me: For in all that he meets with he either sees that which is good, and then he repines; or that which is evil, and then he rejoices; and both these slay the envious: Or by anger, in which his hair stands on end, to show the obdurate inflexibleness of his mind, his eyes stare and kindle, as if with the Cockatrice or Basilisk, he would kill with a look, he grates and gnashes his teeth, as if he would grinned all to powder; his Face is now read and anon ●ale, as if it either blushed for shane of the minds Folly, or envied others Good, his Tongue fumbles and falters, as not being able to express the rage of his heart, his blood boils ready to burst through the veins, as if it were afraid to make longer stay in so furious a body; his breast swells, as if it were not large enough to contain the passion; his hands and feet tremble and beat each against other, as if the little world were in an Earthquake, which threatens nothing but desolation and destruction. Our Apostle in the 15 ch. of the 1. Epistle to the Corinthians, saith that he had fought with Beasts, after the manner of men which Saint Chrysostome expounds of brutish Men, such as kick backward like Asses, raven like Wolves, roame like boars, grin like Dogs, neigh like Horses, &c. Men in shape, these and such like Beasts in conditions. Beasts, did I say! Saint Ambrose saith, that they are worse then beasts, Nam omni Bestia bestialior est Homo, rationem habens,& non secundum rationem vivens.  
And thus I have shewed both that the body is one, and also that in the Unity of the body there is a plurality of members: It now onely remains that I touch in a word, that those many members in this one body have not the same Office: which is the last thing considerable in the first main part.  
The eye to see, and the ear to hear saith Solomon in the 20. Chapter of the Proverbs at the 12. verse, One God is the maker of them both. As if he had said, God hath imprinted in each member his proper Faculty, and appointed it his office, as our Apostle demonstrates at large in the 12. chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians, where we red that the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of thee; nor the head to the foot, I have no need of thee; neither doth any one member in the body, encroach upon the office of an other: and thence flows that sweet Harmony in the body; in which as in a perfect consort, every instrument being exactly tuned, concurs to make up the consent of the whole. Thus the eye( which our Saviour calls the light of the body) sees for the feet; and the feet walk for the hands, and the hands work for the mouth, and the mouth feeds for the stomach, and the stomach disgests for the belly, and the belly is the draft or sink to carry away the Excrements of the whole body.  
Which teacheth us,  
First, to be modest, and like the bodily members not to usurp anothers office. It is a foul fault in these dayes that some will not onely be judging and censuring others in such things as they do little understand, or grant they did, yet they do not at all concern them; but also that they will be intermeddling in other mens matters, and they will enterfere in other mens callings, they will, as the Proverb is, be busy Bishops in other mens diocese; and think nothing well done, unless they have an hand in doing it: but this fault would soon be amended, would they but considerately observe the carriage of their own bodily members; among which they cannot but take notice, that the eye doth not control the ear, nor the feet the hands, but each doth its proper duty according to its place: and this tacitly implies, that if thou be an hearer, 'tis presumption to speak in the Congregation; and if thou be a Subject, thou mayst not prescribe laws: Quis te constituit Judicem? said the Sodomites to Lot.  
Lastly, we are taught hence both to praise God for the sound members of our own bodies, and also for the wholesome members of the body politic, as it takes in both Church and State, which have long languished under a deep& dangerous distemper and disorder( as the cripple did at the pool of Bethesda) for want of a Man: but now God be thanked we have a Man like David according to Gods own heart, he hath restored our Gracious sovereign unto us; and together with and under him, such Magistrates and Ministers, as like so many conduict-pipes may convey unto us our old good laws and Religion, and establish us in our just Liberties and Properties?  
The Heathen orator notes, that it is no small comfort to any man, when he hath all his sences sound and vigorous; Mentem sanam in corpore sano. Then much more comfort must it needs be to us, to see all the members of the body politic now apt and able to do their respective duties: wherefore let us who are in the state of Grace; observe and imitate the bodily members in the state of Nature: I say let the natural body thus far teach the body mystical: For this I take to be the chief scope, and drift of our Apostle in his Reddition: So we being many, are one body in Christ, and each of us members one of another; which words contain the second main part of my Text.  
And the first thing in this {αβγδ} that offers itself to our consideration, Is the Unity of Christs body mystical, in some sort proportionable to that of the body natural; For that in the former verse is but One body, and We are one body in Christ, saith the Apostle here; and herein he shows both the Unity of the Church; in that he calls it one body; and also the Author of the same; viz. Christ, we are one body in Christ.  
I begin with the former, viz. the Churches Unity implyed here, when our Apostle calls it, one body. Now that all the Faithful make but one Church, as all the Members do but one body, may be evinced out of the sixth Chapter of the Canticles, at the 8. Verse; where though we find mention made of threescore Queens and Virgins without number,( Christs mystical members being compared to Queens for Majesty, and for Purity to Virgins) yet the Church itself,( which the Spouse there styles his Dove, his undefiled) is but one; yea, she is the onely one of her Mother, the choice one of her that bare her: Or as Saint Bernard renders it, Ecclesia non solum una, said& unica; vel, si ità loqui liceat, unissima: For so she is in divers respects, viz.  
First in regard of one and the same Original; for one and the same God, hath both called and chosen his Church, Who is yesterday, and to day, and the same for ever, as our Apostle speaks.  
Secondly, in regard of one and the same end, Salvation; which is alike common to all the members of the true Church; For so saith Saint Peter in the first Chapter of his first Epistle General, at the ninth verse, Receiving the end of your Faith, even the salvation of your souls.  
Thirdly, in regard the means are the same to bring them all to this one end; for the same Word and Sacraments; the same Faith and Obedience; the same Regeneration, and Repentance, are propounded to all alike.  
Fourthly, in regard of the same Spirit; for by one Spirit( which Tertullian fitly styles, Vicarium Christi, Christs Vicar general upon Earth) his Church is animated, ordered and governed all the World over.  
Fifthly, in regard of one head; For all true believers receive the same influence of Grace, from Christ their Head; whence it distills upon all and every of his mystical members, as the oil that was powred on the head of Aaron, ran down to the very skirts of his clothing, in the 133. Psalm, at the 2. verse.  
Sixthly, in regard of the strict connexion between this one head, and all the members; for by one and the same bond of peace, and Christian love, the faithful are tied each to other; all to Christ.  
Here then you see,  
First what an happy and blessed thing it is for all Christians to live in Unity and godly Love; which the sweet singer of Israel displays with an En& eccè &c. Behold how good and pleasant a thing it is for brethren to dwell together in Unity? And therein he insinuates, that it contains in it all kinds of good; as being both honest, and pleasant, and profitable: And upon this ground Saint Augustine cries out, Unum cogitate fratres,& videte in ipsa multitudine si delectat nisi unum? Ecce Deo propitio, quam multi estis! Quis vos ferret nisi unum saperetis! Unde in multis ista quies? Da unum populus est, tolle unum, turba est: quid enim est turba, nisi multitudo turbata?  
And in the next place, this Unity of the body natural, applied to the Church, which is Christs Body mystical, should teach us especially to avoid three things, as threatening danger, if not destruction.  
The first whereof is Curiosity; for as in the body when one member busies itself in the Office of another: so in the Church, when men will needs be intermeddling in matters that they have nothing to do with; it must needs disturb the welfare of the whole. It is not for Mechaniques to enterfare on the Magistrates or Ministers duty nor may they think themselves, fit, able and worthy, to discharge their places. They shall do well to call to mind how dear it cost Cora, Dathan, Abiram, Uzzah and others, for taking too much upon them in this kind. I would have one that is thus over-wise to tell me; if a Mote should chance to fall into the eye, and the foot should strive to prevent the hand in undertaking to take it out, whether that would not be a rude part, and performed with as ill success? And if he cannot rationally deny that, then he must needs grant me this; that every one ought to keep himself within the lists and precincts of his proper Calling; least if they stand to justify such usurpation and intrusion; they turn Sion into Babylon; and both Church and State into a Chaos of confusion.  
The second is Arrogancy; for as one member of the body doth not insult over an other: so if thou be preferred in the Church, thou must not look like a son of Anak upon others as so many grasshoppers. While fools admire thy promotion, all wisemen examine thy person and thy parts too, they seldom honour any thing, but merit. Mardocai did not buckle to Haman himself in the ruff of his pride; because though he was the Courts Favourite, yet he was the Churches Enemy: neither could Haman more undervalue Mardocai's outward meanness, then Mardocai did Hamans inward emptiness. Then let no man look and speak bog; for the feet that daily trudge through thick and thinn; are as needful as the head that is so lofty; and were it not for the legs and feet that support it, the head must needs tumble in the dirt. All the members of the body are quickened alike with the same soul: Officia diversa( saith Saint Augustine) vita communis. And thus it is in the Church of Christ; in which whilst every man keeps his own station, and acts his own part; the benefit redounds to the common good. Then over-ween not thyself, undervalue not others; for take away Peasants, and what will become of Potentates? Who sees not that the rich stands in as much need of the poor mans service, as the poorest wretch alive doth of the rich mans salary?  
Thirdly, This Doctrine of Unity in the Church condemns the monstrous sin of schism: Christ will have his mystical body One; and wilt thou needs divide it into parts? The common Souldiers, though barbarous, would not divide Christ's Coat because it was seamless; and darest thou divide his Church, which is One and only One? It must needs be a misgrounded and misguided zeal( though varnished with the pretence of Religion and Reformation) which stirs thee up, and pricks thee on to do that which ordinary reaso● would not permit the Souldiers themselves to do; viz. to divide that which is seamless; and by cutting it into parts to destroy the whole. Tantum Religio potuit suadere malorum. This schism is spawned by the Devil himself:( whom our Saviour styles the envious man; Saint Chrysostome calls him {αβγδ}, a counseling enemy; and St. John names him {αβγδ}, A destroyer, he begets Schism between pride and hatred: schism commonly begins in pride; for by pride alone Man makes contention, saith Solomon in the 13. Chapter of the Pr verbs, at the 10. verse: and the Scismatiques pride is the worst in the kind, viz. Spiritual pride, Luciferian pride; I will be like the most High, said Lucifer in the 14. Chapter of Isaiah; and thereby he did what he could to make a schism in Heaven, and it is generally true of Scismatiques on Earth, what Saint Ambrose reports of Novatus the heretic; viz. That Episcopatus amissi dollar succensus Schisma composuit; he affecting a bishopric, and seeing a worthier then himself preferred unto it, caused a schism in the Church. And we have had some ambitious and turbulent spirits, who when for want of abilities, they could not become equal to the Bishops in Ecclesiastical Dignity, they made it their work( as Aerius did) to pull down the Bishops, and to level the Church, by an Anabaptistical party. They cried down Prelacy, and Lording it over the Flock; but pretending equality, they sought Dominion. Thus we now plainly discover that the late schism took the first rise from pride and avarice; and it will end, as it hath hitherto gone on, in envy, hatred, malice, and all uncharitableness.  
And as the members of the body natural cannot endure a schism among ●●emselves: so neither do they separate each from other: which Saint Augustine( speaking of himself, and all other members of Christs Church) applies and illustrates thus; Neque enim, &c. Neither for the Tares do we leave God's Field; nor for the chaff, his Floor; nor for the Goats, do we leave his Fold; nor for the Vessels of dishonour do we forsake his house, the Church; which our Apostle calls the Pillar and Ground of Truth, And Saint Bernard upon the parable of the Virgins( in the 25. chapter of Saint Matthew) well and wittily observes that all men whatsoever are denoted and comprehended in and under those ten Virgins, as being either wise or foolish: and if they be foolish, they stand in need of the wise; but if they be wise, then the foolish stand in need of them so that whether they be wise or foolish, yet they may not separate themselves: This Doctrine we learn from the members of the body; for if the head ache, doth the foot therefore refuse to bear it? Or if the eye be blemi'sht do the other members forsake it? Nay rather do not all the rest do their best endeavour to cherish it? what then do all Separatists get by their gathering of Churches, or creeping into corners, and crumbling into peculiar Congregations; but onely to cut off themselves from all hope and expectation of life and comfort from Christ, who is the Head of the Church? Saint Augustine enforceth it thus, Sicut enim, &c. For as a member that is rent from a living body, cannot possibly retain life in it: so whosoever departs from the Unity of the Church, he cannot participate of the Spirit of Life and Grace, which animates and regulates the same.  
But the Popes janissaries, the Jesuits,( who have been active in our late troubles) lay the same imputation upon us, who are the professed members of the Church of England; which we do upon our brethren( that we justly call Separatists) for they call us schismatics, because we are fallen from the Church of Rome, which had formerly been our Mother? and which( say they) is the Mother Church and the true Vine? and they hold that it is at this day De necessitate salutis, to be Subject to the Pope? and they add withal that all our late distortions and distractions, are Gods just judgement upon us for our former schism and separation from them?  
The charge I confess is heavy; but the comfort is our answer is easy and ready:  
For first we say, and are able to prove that it is not we that have departed from the Unity both of Verity and Charity, but they: for they have long since forsaken the holy ancient Doctrine; and set abroach many new points of Religion, which in the Tridentine Council are made so many Articles of Faith; some of which were scarce heard of, much less universally receive in the Primitive Church; not many hundred years after.  
Secondly, We wholly deny that there is any absolute necessity, that all Christians should be subject to the Pope: we know that the Greek Church never was, and they must aclowledge that a great part of christendom at this day is not; and in plain English may not keep communion with the Papacy; which not a few of the most Orthodox Divines have from time to time held to be mystical Babylon.  
Thirdly, We are ready to prove that we have not forsaken the ancient Church of Rome;( many of whose Bishops lived and died Professors, Confessors and Martyrs for the cause of Christ) but onely the new fangled Court of Rome; the Roman pride, the Roman superstition, the Roman errors and absurdities, I had almost said the Romish Antichrist; with whom we have nothing, and may have no more to do; save to justfie our separation, we being in very dead no farther departed from her, then she is from her self.  
And therefore we are confident( that God who in mercy did at first open our eyes to see, and our hearts to loathe the Romish impostures, and abominations) hath not laid upon us these divisions among ourselves, as his judgement for our defection from the See of Rome; but rather for our great unthankfulness to him, who called us out of so gross darkness, into this marvelous light; and for our unworthiness of the precious means of Grace, Peace and Truth, which above all the neighbouring Nations, we so long and happily enjoyed, and yet so horribly abused by our late innovations and wilful rising up against all that is called God among us; and have not yet soundly repented for the same.  
And thus having shewed that the body of the Church is but one; I hasten now to speak somewhat of the Author of this Unity, viz. Christ; for as the Church is one body, so it is one body in Christ, saith our Apostle; which is the second particular in the first part of the Reddition.  
As the Church is one body, so it must be the Church christian, or it cannot be one body in Christ; for Christ is the Head of it, and it is coupled together in, by, and under him. This body of the Church Christian) began in the twelve Apostles, who were called and chosen immediately by Christ himself; and he gave them a special Commission to preach the Gospel to all Nations, in the 28. chapter of Saint Matthew and by their Ministry the Church was propagated, and dispersed over the face of the Earth: but wheresoever the members were planted, yet still they made up but one body in Christ, all the lines of the Churches circumference still terminated in him alone as their centre; as our Apostle demonstrates( in the 4. chapter to the Ephesians, at the 15. verse) how all the members of the Church are coupled together in Christ, who is the Head from whence the whole body, being knit together, as with so many joints, receives all it's influence.  
Then the Church is neither without an Head; as the Anabaptists fancy a Church like a Spider, or Plinies Acephali, all body and no head: Neither is it all head and no body, as the Papists have framed a Church like a Toad-stool, For Harveus makes the catholic Church to be nothing but the present Roman Church; and most of that persuasion hold the Roman Church to be nothing but the Pope; who( say they) is virtually the whole Church; Admiranda canant, said non credenda.  
For if Cardinals and jesuits be justly reputed Monsters, as being men of all Professions, Orders, Degrees, Offices and benefice: then I leave them to judge what a Monster of Monsters the Pope must needs be, seeing they believe him to be all these; and yet they must confess that none of these can be both the head and the body too.  
Neither is the Church double-headed; Christ one Head, and the Pope another as Hart the jesuit( out of his Master Stapleton) nicely distinguishes them thus: The Church hath one Head, viz. Christ who is properly the Head of the Church, principal, invisible, and quickening, and the Pope( saith he) is the other Head, improperly, visibly and Ministerially; not to enliven, but to direct the body.  
But he must know and aclowledge, that the Office of Direction is only proper to the Head that quickens; and that is Christ alone, who as the Head of the Church, hath promised to be with it for Direction to the end of the world: That so as one body sanctified by one Spirit, through the Sacrament of one baptism, knit to Christ in one Faith, and to each other in one Bond of Love, it should serve one Lord, under one hope of Eternal Life. So that Christ alone is the adequate Head of this body, He holds good proportion with the whole body, which the Pope cannot possibly do.  
And should we admit, what the Romish sticklers so eagerly contend for, viz. that the Pope is Head of the Church; then they cannot deny but sometimes the Church hath had a She-head, as Pope joan; and that the Church hath sometimes had no Head at all, for after the death of evaristus there was no Pope for thirty eight years, eight moneths, and some odd dayes, as their own Chronicles record; and that there were a while three Popes at once; and Bellarmine himself ingeniously confesseth, that no man could certainly determine, which of the three was the right Pope: seeing that each of them had many learned men to defend him; during all which time the Church of Rome was like Cerberus a Monster of three heads: whereas the Church catholic as it is one body in the Text, so is it one body in Christ, saith our Apostle: so that in truth no more have Christ for their Head, then onely they that are sound and living members of this one body in the Text. The Lord Christ( saith Saint Bernard) is a Mountain of celestial Spices, and a Fountain of spiritual Graces, both to the whole body of his Church, and also to every living member of the same. And therefore as the Princely prophet David cheers himself in the 23. Psalm, that the Lord is his shepherd, and therefore he can lack nothing: so much more may all the true members of this mystical body comfort themselves with this consideration, that the Lord Christ is their Head, and therefore they can lack nothing: And since he is our Head, who in the 14 chapter of Saint John at the 6. verse) Is the way, and the Truth, and the Life; We that are his mystical members, may be in some good measure assured, that he conducting us we cannot possibly wander out of the way; totally fall from the Truth, and finally fail of Life everlasting. And thus you have seen the parallel of the first main part of this comparison, in which I have done my endeavour to prove and clear two things, viz. both that the whole Church is but one body; and also that it is one Body in Christ; He is the onely Head of it. The next thing remarkable in this Reddition here, is that this one body of the Church hath many members: for so stands the words, So we being many, are one body, &c.  
Though the body of Christs Church be one, yet are the members thereof many: for our Saviour saith, in the 20. chapter of Saint Matthew at the 16. verse, Many are called, but few are chosen: and look how many are called, so many be the members of the visible Church; for outward calling and profession, make men members of the Church. And in the 10. chapter to the Romans at the 18. verse, Our Apostle( speaking of the Apostles and Disciples sent to preach the Gospel) saith Their sound is gone out into all the world: That sound was the signal to call them; and when the sound is so universally diffused, as throughout the Universe, the persons called must needs be many.  
And though our Saviour saith there, That but few are chosen; He doth not mean that the Elect are but few in themselves, but that they are few in comparison of them that are called; as you may see in divers Learned and Laborious men, who have professedly handled the argument of Christianographie; in which they have made a clear Discovery, that Christianity is now planted and propagated in most parts of the habitable world.  
So that if we seriously consider the Church in itself, it must be acknowledged to be a Body collected and compacted of all Nations; and consequently the members thereof must needs be exceeding many; and upon this ground we profess in the Apostles Creed, That we believe the holy catholic Church.  
And let me tell you that it is both the Churches Beauty, Strength and Glory, that in her members she is dispersed far and wide over the face of the Earth; in which regard the Church in Greek is styled catholic; that is, Universal; and so she is no less truly, then properly styled in many respects, viz.  
First, in respect of place; for the Church Christian is not confined to one Nation as was that of the Jews; but it extends to all Nations. I say it is not restring d either to afric, or Rome, Amsterdam, Geneva, or New-England, much less to any gathered Church, peculiar Congregation, or corner-creeping Conventicle. But it is extended to all places; For God saith to Christ in the 2. Psalm at the 8. verse, I will give thee the Heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the Earth for thy possession. And Saint John in the 7. chapter of the Revelation at the 9. verse, saith, And I beholded, and lo, a great multitude which no man could number of all Nations and Kindreds, and People, and Languages stood before the Throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white Robes, and with palms in their hands▪  
Those white Robes, signified their Purity; those palms, their Victory; and their standing before the Lamb, their Glory; which among other considerations, moved Bellarmine to writ that no less comfortable, then admirable Treatise, De amplitudine regni coelestis. But the Church triumphant could not be of that amplitude he speaks of, were not the members of the Church militant exceeding many as Saint Chrysostome insinuates when he saith, Ecclesia expassis sinibus, &c. The bosom and arms of the Church are open to embrace all Nations. And Saint Augustine saith, Ecclesia dicitur Catholica, &c. The Church is called catholic, because it is diffused throughout the world. Thus catholic is the Church in regard of place, and consequently the members thereof are many.  
Secondly, the Church is called catholic in regard it takes in men of all qualities and conditions; genera singulorum( as the School speaks) though not singula generum. Gods Church is made up of all sorts of people, high and low, rich and poor, bond and free, wise and simplo, learned and ignorant, noble, and ignoble, one with another. For God would have all men to be saved, in the second chapter of the first Epistle to Timothy at the 4. verse. And for this cause at the first verse, of the same Chapter, our Apostle exhorts that prayers, and supplications, and Intercessions be made for all men in general, and especially for Kings, &c. And we have in Scripture examples of all sorts, as of Abraham among the Canaanites, Joseph among the egyptians, job among the Idumaans, Daniel, among the Idolaters, Mattathias among the apostatas, Nicodemus among the Pharisees, Joseph of Arimathea among the Jews, and Cornelius among the Gentiles. Thus( as the Apostle speaks in the 10. chapter of the Acts at the 34. verse) you may perceive that God is no respecter of persons; but in every Nation he that fears God and works righteousn●sse, is accepted of him: and Saint Augustine adds, Qui seipsum excipit, seipsum decipit: He that excepts himself, deceives himself; he that doth his duty may expect Gods blessing; as God himself inculcated to Cain in the 4. chap. of Gen. If thou dost well, shalt thou not be accepted? &c.  
It was therefore a presumptuous error in the Iewes to pled( as they did in the 3. chapter of Saint Matthew) We have Abraham to our Father; as if the grace of God had been entailed upon them for ever; For our Apostle proves that intayl to be cut off long ago, and the partition wall to be broken down, and that in the body of Christs Church the former nice differences of jew and gentle, bond and free, male and female are taken away, and Saint Peter in his vision of a sheet let down from Heaven( in which all sorts of creatures were promiscuously exposed both to his eye and his appetite) was tacitly taught that what God hath sanctified, no man should dare to think, or call common and unclean: and consequently the members of the Church are many, in respect it takes in some of all sorts and conditions.  
Thirdly the Church is catholic, in regard it extends to all parts of time; viz. past, present and future; for it began with the beginning of time, and shall continue till time shall be no more. For as Christ, who is the Head of the Church, is yesterday, and to day, and the same for ever; so is his mystical body the Church too: when this fails the world cannot stand; For the members thereof are the props and pillars of it; as the Prophet Elizeus cried out to Elias at his translation, My Father, my Father, the chariots of Israel, and the Horsemen of the same? The strength of Israel consists in these: No chariots and horsemen can so safe guard any place, as the Saints do their persons among whom they live. In plagues, in dearths and other calamities, it lies no doubt in the powerful prayers of some few the Friends and Favourites of God to avert the judgement, and to make an atonement for the wicked among whom they live, as the Scripture shows in Moses and Aaron, Noah, Lot, job, Daniel, and others.  
The Church Militant is the Nursery to the Church Triumphant; and it is true in this, which is observed in all other Nurseries; still some embrio's in the Faith, as so many tender plants are inserted, inoculated and engrafted into the mystical Vine, as others are daily transplanted thence from Grace to Glory. And consequently the members thereof are many.  
Fourthly, the Church is also catholic in regard of Doctrine, for the Faith is one and the same among all Nations; as St. Cyprian speaks, Omnium credentium Fides una. All the sincere members of Christs Church cordially embrace, and orally profess the whole and sole Doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles, upon whom they are built, Christ himself being the chief corner ston.  
There may be some difference in Ceremonies,( and it is wished there were less among us, who can neither have fewer, unless we would have the body of the Church stark naked; nor yet more innocent and inoffensive then those which are retained in the Church of England, whose Piety and Prudence it was in the Infancy of Reformation, to keep the golden mean between Popish Superstition, and fanatical profaneness; and therefore it is sin and pity, that some out of Pride, prejudice or Interest, wilfully break the Churches Unity, rather then meekly submit to the supreme Authority by which they are established) but sure I am the substantial part is ever the same: For the Articles of Faith can neither increase, notwithstanding the super-institution of the Tridentive Council; nor yet decrease, notwithstanding the late brain-sick fury of some zealots pretending to Reformation, which for the time rejected the three Creeds, which have been ever received by the whole Christian Church: Neither do the Articles change or alter in any Fundamentals, against which we have a sure promise, That the gates of Hell itself shall never prevail. And this serves for the just conviction both of Papists and fanatics.  
First, I say it discovers the absurdity, and so stops the mouths of all such as usually style themselves Roman-Caholicks: I have shewed already that the Church of Christ is called catholic, because it extends to all places, times, &c. but the present Roman Church is but of yesterday in comparison; and at most but a National Church, and that none of the best neither; but grant it were better then in truth it is, yet( as Saint jerome speaks) Orbis mayor esturbe. And that onely is catholic, saith Vincentius Lyrinensis, not which some few ( said quod omnes pariter uno; eodemque consensu, apart, frequenter,& perseveranter tenuerunt) but which all alike have with one and the same consent, publicly, frequently and perseveringly held; and this no more agrees to Popery, then to judaism; for the Trent Faith was not known many hundred years after Christ.  
And it also convinces all fanatics, whose Faith and Churches are particular; whereas the Apostle assert's, that no Scripture is of private Interpretation; and the ring-leaders of these peculiar Congregations, either through ignorance, or affectation, falling short of the catholic sense and interpretation of the holy Scriptures, can never approve themselves and their followers, so many sound members of the holy catholic Church. And therefore what Tertullian speaks of the Marcionites, I may apply to all other heretics and schismatics; faciunt favos& vespae, faciunt Ecclesias& Marcionitae. These make Churches, as the Wasps do make combs; For as Wasps have no good Hony in their combs, but live onely upon robbing of the Beehives: so all Separatists have little or none of the Scripture Truth among them, which the Psalmist saith is sweeter then Hony and the honeycomb: but they live and thrive by the sacrilegious ruins of the Church: and as the same Tertullian speaks, Nostra suffodiunt, ut sua aedificent. They build up their Babels with the ruins of Sion; and with Micah their good Master, they care not how much they rend and tear the Churches Garments, so their own may be whole.  
Secondly, As this Doctrine sets forth both the beauty and comeliness of Christs mystical body; that the members thereof are many: so doth it exceedingly commend the incomprehensible wisdom and goodness of God, in ordering his Church so sweetly; that men born, and living never so far asunder, and differing very much each from other in customs, manners and languages; yet agree so well together in the verity of Christian Religion, and unity of the catholic Faith.  
And for this among other Reasons, I conceive that Christs Church in the 6. chapter of the Canticles at the 4. ver. is compared to an Army with Banners. For as it is observable in an army, that some carry these colours, others those; some march under this Chieftain, others under that; some are Horse-men, others Foot-men, &c. yet all concur to make up the beauty and strength of the whole Army, which hath but one and the same discipline, under one General or Commander in chief: Even so it is in the Church; For Almighty God hath one Regiment among us, another in Holland, a third in France, a fourth in Germany, &c. For our Apostle saith in his Reddition here, that we are many Members: and yet admit them to be nere so many, it is note-worthy in the Text, that all these taken collectively, make but one body in Christ: and so should all live under one Discipline.  
Thirdly, this should improve our Charity and Hospitality towards exiles and strangers; seeing that they professing Christianity, be members with us of one and the same mystical body, Souldiers of the same Army, Trees of the same Orchard, Branches of the same Vine, Corn of the same Field, Sheep of the same Fold, &c. Let us not then be envious and malicious, but harborous and helpful each to other: Let not any difference in Opinions cause distance in our affections; but let us jointly and severally pray for the peace of Jerusalem; and let us all make a conscience of practising what we pretend to pray for by endeavouring to keep the Unity of the Spirit in the Bond of peace. And since the evil angels conspire together for the propagating and perfecting of Sathans kingdom: Oh let not any of us either by open schism, or private separation discerp and tear in pieces the Church which is Christs kingdom; and though we be many in number, yet let us be as one man in judgement; at least let us not heighten our differences to the loss of Christian concord; but rather let us agree like Brethren; and which is yet nearer like members of the same body for the completing of the beauty and safety of the whole.  
Fourthly, Though the Church militant be not altogether so vast as the Church malignant, yet let not this paucity discourage any man from being one of Christ's little flock, as it did Rutholdus Duke of Fridland, who when he had one foot in the water ready to be baptized, demanded of the Priest who was to Officiate, An plures, &c. Whether he thought that more of his progenitors were saved or damned? as having lived and dyed out of the communion of the Church; and the Priest replying, that extra Ecclesiam non est salus: the Duke thereupon plucked back his foot, saying, It is better to follow many then few. So argued Jovinian against St. jerome, Pauci pro vobis? You have but a few on your side: To whom he modestly answered, pauci steterunt pro Christo. They were but a few that stuck to Christ himself. And Saint Paul professeth that no man stood to him. And Liberius a Bishop of Rome, being importuned to turn Arrian upon this motive, Pene Omnes jam consenserunt. All in effect have now subscribed to arianism: Confidently answered Veritas, solitudine non minuitur: Truth is not weakened by paucity of Professors. Elias stood up alone in the cause of God, and carried it against all the prophets of Baal, and the Grove: so did Athanasius prevail at last against all the Arrian Bishops. And when Philip Melancthon with some few more of the Reformers( as Sleidan reports) entreated Frederick Duke of Saxony to abolish the private mass, for divers good reasons then alleged, and urged; and the Duke replied, Pauci pro vobis? They stopped his mouth with this rejoinder; Semper mayor pars hominum, &c. The greatest part have ever resisted the truth.  
But what though in all places and ages, the greater part of the world hath resisted the truth, as Iannes and Iambers withstood Moses? yet the Church of Christ hath always had many members; as our Lord himself tells that sceptic in the 13. chapter of Saint Luke, at the 29. verse, where to show that his members are many in themselves, though but few in comparison of the Church malignant, he saith, That many shall come from the East, and from the West, and from the North, and from the South, and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, in the kingdom of God.  
And thus having proved both that the body of Christs Church is but one; and yet that in this one body there be many members; It now onely remains that I show how that be they nere so many, yet they are all members of one another; which is the last thing considerable in our Apostles Reddition, and come now to be handled.  
As all the members of the body natural have not the same Office; but each of them having somewhat that the other lacks, it freely communicates to all the rest what it hath, and they stand in need of: so in the Church we are all members one of another; and therefore the Priest must study for the people, and the people must labour for the Priest: The civil Magistrate is to rule, and the Subjects are to obey: briefly, all must serve God in their several stations, and so contribute towards the welfare of the body mystical.  
And therefore as in a choir, some sing the triple, others the Mean, others the counter-Tenor, others the Tenor, others the Base; and so, while they keep themselves exactly to their own parts, the music is sweet, and the Harmony complete: so in the Church, while every one dischargeth his own duty, and conscientiously performs his own part; the whole Church flourisheth to the glory of God, and the general good.  
Here's all the difference, that the several members of the body natural so well agree, flows from the Law of Nature: but that all the members of Christ's body mystical so sweetly correspond, comes merely from the gift of Gods grace; and if any of these members agree not with the rest, as they should and ought, it is onely for want of Grace: and a foul sin and shane it must needs be unto us that are Christians, if the members of the body natural be more peaceable among themselves, and so more perfect then are the members of Christ's body mystical.  
And since it hath pleased the Holy Ghost here to make use of this comparison; and to bring in the body thus to teach the soul; it is our bound duty, and should be our diligence, at least to observe and imitate, if not to exceed and excel the bodily members in our Christian relations, and Spiritual performances each to other.  
First then as in the body natural, if the Head be in danger, the arms and hands will offer and expose themselves for to defend it: So in the body politic( which consists of Church and State:) The King is under God The supreme Head in all Causes Ecclesiastical and Civil; and as Davids Worthies truly said to him, Worth ten thousand of us; He is the Light of our eyes, the Breath of our nostrils, and the Ioy of our hearts, and therefore should his sacred Majesty be in the least danger; He deserves not the name of a true britain,( who have ever been justly honoured for their Courage and Loyalty) and much less of a true Christian, who would not be prodigal of his blood in such an exigent, and willingly ransom his Gracious sovereigns Life, with the loss of his own.  
Secondly, As in the body natural the inferior members envy not the the more Honourable neither do the superior members disdain their underlings: so in the Church, such as are sordidly ignorant should not malign them that are eminently Learned: neither should the Learned despise those that are Ignorant. As our knowledge should not puff us up, so our Charity should edify others. The poor must not pine at the rich mans prosperity, neither should the rich insult over the poor in their necessity, For as one God made them both, so he made the one for the other, saith Solomon. And the greatest Potentate on Earth may sometimes stand in need of the meanest Peasant; as in the Fable, The Mouse delivered the Lion, by gnawing the snare asunder.  
Thirdly, As in the body natural, if any one member be in pain, all the rest grieve and groan for company; for let but the Foot be pricked,& strait the Eyes weep; the Ears listen, the Head consults; the Tongue complains, the Heart aches; and the Hand, doth what it can to pick out the thorn: So should we all stand affencted in the body mystical; we must sympathise in each others miseries. Who is afflicted saith our Apostle, and I burn not. And if he were so sensible of a single mans affliction, then how should we be wounded with the pressures and persecutions of the whole Church? If when only Saint Peter was imprisoned in the 12. chapter of the Acts, then prayers were made by the Church for him? Then how much more must the true members be pang'd, when the whole Church is either vexed by Tyranny, or rent in pieces by schism? Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? The Lord Christ was in his natural body Triumphant in Heaven when he thus accosted Saul, and yet to show how extremely sensible he was, of the injuries and indignities offered to his mystical body then on the Earth; he cried out, why persecutest thou me? as if he still languished in all our troubles and bled at all our wounds.  
Fourthly, As in the body natural, if there be any extraordinary virtue in, or Honour done to any one member, all the rest are equal sharers in it: If the Head be more politic, or the Tongue more persuasive, or the Hand more active and cunning in any kind them usual, then doth not the Heart rejoice to think of it, and the ear to hear of it? Yea, doth not the whole man shout, and stand on tiptoe for joy that he hath such a glittering Head, such an eloquent Tongue, such a dexterous Hand? &c. In like manner we should cheerfully impart all our gifts of grace to the benefit of our fellow members in the Church. In this kind, like the primitive Christians, we should have all in common; and as the Apostle speaks; No man should seek his own things, but every one should study to promote the cause of Christ. Saint Augustine taxes it as a fault in Acesius, one of the Ring-leaders of the Donatists, that he having found out, as he gloried, a nearer and shorter cut to Heaven, then any of the ancient Fathers ever heard of; when he was got up himself, he plucked away the Ladder, least any more should follow him. Et ab uno disce omnes, in him you see the nature of all separatists, who envy Heaven itself to all but their own Faction; and you may remember that some of the late fanatics that were executed, died with imprecations in their mouths, by which you may see of what Spirit they all are: But though Israel play the Harlot, yet let not Judah sin, and what is reported in the mythology, that a blind man and a lame Covenanted to live together; that so between the eyes of the one, and the Legs of the other, their personal defects might be mutually supplied, we that are true Christians, should in our several places labour to make good: we must( as Job speaks of himself) become Eyes to the blind, and Feet to the lame, and( as our Apostle did) all unto all: that so the body mystical may not lack what any particular member thereof hath; seeing that what ere we have, God hath given it us for the good of others, as well as for ourselves.  
Fifthly, As in the body natural, should the members fall out among themselves, so that the Hands should either strike the Head, scratch the Face, pluck out the Eyes, or tear off the Hair; or if the Teeth should either bite out the Tongue, or bite the flesh of the arms, &c. would not all that saw or heard it judge the man to be stark mad, and pack him away to Bedlam? So in the body mystical of which we are all members, should there be any person or faction of so desperate principles, and so damnable in their practise, as to plot how to lay violent hands upon the Lords Anointed, whom God ( as an inestimable blessing) hath made our Head and governor; or to extirpate Episcopacy root and branch, which is all one as to pluck out the eyes of the Church, for the Holy Ghost hath made them our over-seers: or to abolish the public Liturgy of the Church: with all its Ceremonies, vestments, and Ornaments, which is all one as to scratch the face, and tear off the hair of our Religion established: Or to silence and sequester the loyal orthodox clergy, which is in effect as bad as biting out their tongues; or to bite off the flesh of their arms, by discoulouring and dispoyling the Loyal Gentry, and others that Ventured their lives, and fortunes, in the late just undertaking against fanatics, and all others that no less insolently then causelessly rose up against lawful authority, &c. We can conclude all such to be no better then persons distracted; sure they were mad for the time, and some of them still stand in need of physic, as well as both our pity and prayers, that God would bring them to their wits again; and that he would abate their pride, assuage their malice, and confounded their designs and devices, that so there may be no more carrying into captivity at home, or abroad, and no more complaining in our streets.  
Sixthly, As in the body natural should any of the members go about to bring in new ways of discharging their several offices, as some will stand on their heads, and walk on their hands, &c. The attempt must needs be looked upon by all sober men as monstrous, because it inverts the order of nature, and the endeavour, though never so well performed, would be censured by the graver-sort to be very Ridiculous: So God is the God of order; and our Apostle wills that all things bee done decently and in Order: And therefore all such innovators, as either out of affectation, or prejudice, faction or interest, do despise the old, and labour to introduce new forms of administration in Gods public worship and service, preferring their own brain-sick inventions before the long experienced good ways and rules of the Church of God; as they are both monstrous and ridiculous in themselves so they cannot choose but be both odious, and abbominable in the sight of God, and all that are good.  
Seventhly As in the body natural, if one of the members corrupt, and putrifie, the skilful and faithful chirurgeon is forced to cut it off without delay, least by a gangrene it destroy the whole: Ense rescindendum est, ne pars syncera trahatur. So in the Church if any go about by heresy, Schism, and Sedition to infect, wiredraw, and withdraw their fellow-members from Obedience to God, and Allegiance to his Anointed( as too many fanatics have done of late.) They must not only be rebuked, and shamefully discountenanced and discarded by Excommunications, Suspensions, Degradations, Deprivations, giving over unto satan, and such other Ecclesiastical censures as properly fall under the power of the keys which our saviour committed to his Church,( as knowing well that if the Church have no jurisdiction, no coercion in its power, there will be no conscience in the Peoples practise) but also if Schismatical and seditious Ring-leaders continue contumacious, and become incorigible, then they must be timely cut off by such corporal punishments, as by the law of God, and this Land, the Civil Magistrate is impowred to inflict upon such Capital Offenders; as in the 7. chapter of Ezra at the 26. verse, Whosoever will not do the Law of thy God, and the Law of thy King, let judgement be executed speedily upon him, whether it be unto death, or unto banishment, or to confiscation of goods, or to imprisonment. And Saint Bernard justifies that Sentence upon this ground, Melius est ut pereat unus, quam unitas. It is better one perish, then Unity.  
And we cannot but be sensible now that Impunitas ad deteriora: as wise Solomon hath it in his Ecclesistes, Because judgement is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of man is set to do evil, &c. Some men who are bad enough by nature, have been so poisoned in their their Principles, by the iniquity and indulgence of these Times, that they neither will nor can live under any Law, but what their own licentiousness propounds to itself in their clandestine meetings, in which their preaching is but plotting how to blow up both Church and State like the men of the Gunpowder Gospel, which made choice of a Vault. In their Declaration they cry up King Jesus, when they would pluck down his Christ, I mean his Anointed; and they call their Rebellion Religion; and their Conspiracy, Conscience. They know that as silly as some of the common people are, yet they will not easily be induced to swallow the hook of such villainy, unless it be speciously baited with the show of Gods Cause, and Christ's Call: though the Devil begets the Brat, yet they will have God himseif to father it. The Civil Magistrates mercy fleshes these to do more mischief, who like so many mad Oxen, kill him that is next, and destroy without distinction: and if they be not prevented will set all on fire, though they are sure to be consumed in the flamme. There is no dallying with such Desperado's as these Jesuited fanatics: you have too long cherished these Serpents in your bosoms, which now not only hiss, but spit the poison of defiance in your faces. Forget not the Proverb, pity spoils a city: then take these brats of Babel, and pay them in their own Coin: Nec Lex est justior ulla, quam, &c. The speedy execution of justice is the most convincing, and only unanswerable argument to be used and urged against such Traytors, as like meddlers will never be good till they be rotten; they may miscal themselves Martyrs, but they act,& suffer as the worst of Malefactours.  
Eighthly, As in the body natural, the members abhor nothing more then to be rent and torn piece-mele each from other, as we red in Ecclesiastical History, that during the ten Persecutions, some Christians were cast to hunger-starv'd lions; and others were tied by the arms and legs to the tails of wild horses, that so they might be torn in pieces: In like manner in the Church nothing can be more dreadful then to observe how many poor members of Christs body mystical have been violently distorted, and drawn as it were a pieces, each from other, all of them from Christ, by such wilful schisms, and wicked Separations as have within some few years been made amongst us. The Roman Historians report of a gulf which happened in Rome, and could not be closed till some noble Roman in love to his Country did cast himself into it▪ whereupon Quintus Curtius having armed himself Cap-a-pee, did ride full speed, and threw himself in; and the Roman Ladies threw their Gold Chains into it after him, thereby worthily crowning so renowned a Fact: But now alas, the Times are so changed for the worse, that it is the chief work and glory of many to make gaps of separation, and gulfs of division in the Church, which before was like jerusalem at unity within itself; and some both of our City and Country Ladies, by their leave, will have none to be their Chaplains, but onely such noted Sectaries, and notorious schismatics as shall not sit down with them at table, till they have in a longwinded Grace given God thanks for the numerous increase of the Brethren and Sisters of the pure and Holy Separation.  
And though our Apostle( in the 16. Chapter to the Romans, at the 17. Verse) gives this special Caveat, observe them who cause division among you, and avoid them: Yet now who sees not that too many observe the Sowers of discord and division, that they may the better side with them; because they see with no small content some that have been forward Seedsmen in that kind, now not only pardoned but preferred: and when schism and Sedition prove the high way to promotion, sure, that new-found-road will never want store of Travellers, which in time will prove troublers both of Church and State, and I could tell you how malapert some of them are grown already in the Pulpit, but that for travailing too near the heels of truth, some have had their Teeth beaten out.  
There be Six things( saith Solomon in the 6. Chap. of the Proverbs) which God hates, and his Soul abhors the Seventh; and that is he which sows discord among brethren: and there is a great deal of reason why God and men should abhor him: for,  
First, This soweing of discord is a 'vice opposite to Charity, which our Apostle( in the 13. Chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians) prefers not only before moral virtues, but the Teological graces.  
Secondly, Hereby is bread not only the hatred of some one, but even of Unity itself.  
Thirdly, This Sin, like the plague of Pestilence, infects all that come but near it.  
Fourthly, it is contrary to peace, which is the chief earthly good; and therefore the Jews when they wished well to each other, used this both for their Salutation, and Valediction, Peace be to you.  
Fifthly, It divides such as are joined together nearer then man and wife, even the Members of the same body mystical; then which as nothing can be more painful, so of all other miseries and mischiefs; it is the most dreadful: and upon these grounds St. Augustine first mourned in secret for such unchristian, and indeed Antichristian divisions; and then censured the authors thereof to be worse then the very Tormentors of Christ himself upon the cross: Venit Persecutor( saith he) & non fregit Crura Christi, &c. The Persecutor came and did not break Christs Legs hanging on the cross; but Donatus came( he speaks of the schismatic) and rent his Church in pieces; the natural body of Christ was whole in the hands of his Tormentors, and yet his body mystical( which he loved much more then his natural, for he gave this to save that) is not whole among us who profess ourselves christians.  
Lastly, as in the body natural, nothing is more useful and graceful then the right and proper placing of every Member; so is it also in the body mystical; in which God hath appointed every man his proper calling, and particular function, in which he is to abide, and to which he is wholly to apply himself, as Gods sanction; and which he that transgresseth, sins with an high hand against Gods express Ordinance, and paves the way to anarchy and confusion.  
Then to wind up all, let us humbly and hearty beseech the Lord to give unto all the Members of his Church, comeliness, quietness, and order; that so Evangelical purity, which was both the beauty, and glory of our first Reformation, may not ere long degenerate into profaneness, our Churches into conventicles, and our spiritual Union into civil dissension; from which, Good Lord deliver us: and give us all Grace in our distinct callings( as the most probable means to prevent these imminent mischiefs) to imitate the bodily members; in the faithful and peaceable discharge of our duties; and so to deal with all other Christians in our respective places, as if they were as near and dear unto us, as are our own natural Members. Now to God the Father, &c.  
FINIS.