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 this covenant a daily muniment and armour of defence, to beat back all the fiery darts of the devil: when any one tempts thee by promise of preferment to do contrary to thy covenant, or threatens to ruin thee for the hearty pursuing of thy covenant, here is a ready answer, "I am sworn to do what I do, and, if I do otherwise, I am a perjured wretch." This is a wall of brass, to resist any dart that shall be shot against thee for well-doing, according to thy covenant. Famous is the story of Hannibal, which he told king Antiochus, when he required aid of him against the Romans, "When I was nine years old (saith he) my father carried me to the altar, and made me take an oath to be an irreconcilable foe to the Romans. In pursuance of this oath, I have waged war against them thirty-six years. To keep this oath, I have left my country, and am come to seek aid at your hands, which, if you deny, I will travel all over the world, to find out some enemies to the Roman state." If an oath did so mightily operate in Hannibal; let the oath you are to take this day work as powerfully upon you; and make your oath an argument to oppose