Peace is to churches as walls to a city; nay, unity hath defended
cities that had no walls. It was once demanded of Agesilaus, why
Lacedemon had no walls; he answers (pointing back to the city), That
the concord of the citizens was the strength of the city. In like
manner, Christians are strong when united; then they are more
capable to resist temptation, and to succour such as are tempted.
When unity and peace is among the churches, then are they like a
walled town; and when peace is the church's walls, salvation will be
her bulwarks.
Plutarch tells us of one Silurus that had eighty sons, whom he calls
to him as he lay upon his death-bed, and gave them a sheaf of
arrows, thereby to signify, that if they lived in unity, they might
do much, but if they divided, they would come to nothing. If
Christians were all of one piece, if they were all but one lump, or
but one sheaf or bundle, how great are the things they might do for
Christ and his people in the world, whereas otherwise they can do
little but dishonour him, and offend his!
It is reported of the leviathan, that his strength is in his scales;
Job xli. 15-17, "His scales are his pride, shut up together as with
a close seal; one is so near to another, that no air can come
between them: they are joined together, they stick together, they
cannot be sundered." If the church of God were united like the
scales of the leviathan, it would not be every brain-sick notion,
nor angry speculation, that would cause its separation.
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