Exhortation to saints to maintain and promote peace 5/8

  Again, among men, though the father shows not so much partiality in his affection, yet oft great ine­quality in the distribution of his estate.  Though all are children, yet not all heirs, and this sows the seed of strife among them; as Jacob found by woeful exper­ience.  But Christ hath made his will so, that they are all provided for alike, called therefore the ‘common salvation,’ Jude 3, and ‘the inheritance of the saints in light,’ Col. 1:12, for the community.  All may enjoy their happiness without justling with or prejudicing of one another, as millions of people who look upon the same sun, and at the same time, and none stand in another’s light.  Methinks that speech of Christ looks a little this way, ‘The glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one,’ John 17:22.  By ‘glory’ there I would understand heaven’s glory prin­cipally.  Now saith Christ, ‘I have given it,’ that is, in reversion, I have given it them; not this or that fav­ourite, but ‘them’—I have laid it out as the portion of all sincere believers, and why? ‘that they may be one,’ that all squabbles may be silenced, and none may en­vy another for what he hath above him, when he sees glory in his.  It is true indeed some difference there is in Christians’ outward garb—some poor, some rich —and in common gifts also—some have more of them, some less.  But are these tanti? of such weight, to commence a war upon, among those that wait for the same heaven?  If the father clothes all his children in the same cloth, it were sad to see them stab one another, because one hath a lace more than the other; nay because one’s lace is red, and the other’s green; for indeed the quarrel among Christians is sometimes, not for having less gifts than another, but because they are not the same in kind, though another, as good and useful, which possibly he wants whom we envy.

           (2.) Consider where you are, and among whom. Are you not in your enemies’ quarters?  If you fall out, what do you but kindle a fire for them to warm their hands by?  ‘Aha! so would we have it,’ say they. The sea of their rage will weaken this bank fast enough; you need not cut it for them.  The unseasonableness of the strife betwixt Abraham’s herdsmen and Lot’s is aggravated by the near neighbourhood of the heathens to them: ‘And there was a strife between the herdmen of Abram’s cattle and the herdmen of Lot’s cattle: and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land,’ Gen. 13:7.  To fall out while these idolaters looked on—this would be town-talk presently, and put themselves and their religion both to shame.  And I pray, who have been in our land all the while the people of God have been scuffling? Those that have curiously observed every uncomely behaviour among them, and told all the world of it —such as have wit and malice enough to make use of it for their wicked purposes.  They stand on tiptoes to be at work; only we are not yet quite laid up and dis­abled, by the soreness of those our wounds, which we have given ourselves, from withstanding their fury. They hope it will come to that; and then they will cure us of our wounds, by giving one, if they can, that shall go deep enough to the heart of our life, gospel and all.  O Christians! shall Herod and Pilate put you to shame?  They clapped up a peace to strengthen their hands against Christ; and will not you unite against your common enemy?  It is an ill time for mariners to be fighting, when an enemy is boring a hole at the bottom of their ship.