pass then that this part of the covenant is so much forgotten? The
Lord mind you of it this day; and the Lord make this great and famous
city, a city of holiness, and a city of unity within itself: for if
unity be destroyed, purity will quickly also be destroyed. The church of
God is _Una_, as well as _Sancta_; it is but one church, as well as it
is a holy church. And "Jesus Christ gave some to be apostles, etc. till
we all come to the unity of the faith." The government of Christ is
appointed for keeping the church in unity, as well as purity. These
things which God hath joined together, let no man put asunder. That
government which doth not promote unity as well as purity, is not the
government of Christ. Oh, the misery of the kingdom where church
divisions are nourished and fomented! A kingdom or church against
itself, cannot stand. Would it not be a sad thing, to see twelve in a
family, and one of them a Presbyterian, another an Independent, another
a Brownist, another an Antimonian, another an Anabaptist, another a
Familist, another for Prelatical government, another a Seeker, another a
Papist, and the tenth, it may be, an Atheist, and the eleventh a Jew,
and the twelfth a Turk? The Lord in His due time heal our divisions, and
make you His choice of instruments, according to your places, that the
Lord may be one, and His name one in the three kingdoms.

_Quest._ But some will say, "How shall I do to get up my heart to this
high pitch, that I may be a covenant-keeper?" I will propound these
three helps. 1. Labour to be always mindful of your covenant, according
to that text, "God is always mindful of His covenant." It was the great
sin of the people of Israel, that they were unmindful of the covenant.
They first forgot the covenant, and afterwards did quickly forsake it.
He that forgets the covenant, must needs be a covenant-breaker. Let us
therefore remember it, and carry it about us as _quotidianum
argumentum_, and _quotidianum munimentum_. 1. Let us make the covenant a
daily argument against all sin and iniquity; and when we are tempted to
any sin, let us say, "I have sworn to forsake my old iniquity, and, if I
commit this sin, I am not only a commandment-breaker, but an
oath-breaker. I am perjured. I have sworn to reform my family, and
therefore I will not suffer a wicked person to tarry in my family; I
have sworn against neutrality and indifferency, and therefore I will be
zealous in God's cause." 2. Let us make