But that must not abate of our Obedience where it is due we must not rob our Rulers to give our Fellow-Subjects Suppose we for Example that a Family be so divided as that some of the Children rise up against the Parents and whilst they make them Contemptible and raise loud Clamours against them seek as is usual to propagate their Discontents and to ingratiate themselves with the rest of the Family by pleading the common Liberties of all What shall they do now that are not engag'd in this undutiful Quarrel The rest of the Brothers that are willing to be subject to Paternal power must they excuse or favour this Mutiny or remain indifferent out of Moderation and Brotherly Kindness No doubtless In other Cases they might be neuter or offer to arbitrate the Dispute But here God and Nature have engag'd them on their Parents side they are to maintain their power and by all lawful means to reduce their undutiful Brothers to the same Obedience They are freely to blame their proceedings and to shew them the iniquity of the mischief of them What usage must we expect from our Fellow-Servants should they shake off the yoke and become Masters when we see them contend against their Governors and refuse to yield where their Duty requires it If they have so much of Pride or stubborn ill Nature as not to bend their Will and submit their Humour to that Authority God hath plac'd over them they must be lookt upon as common Enemies and the Disturbers of the Peace Undutiful Children must be plainly told so even by their Brothers be they never so kind where such Contentions do arise And this is a more likely means to make up the breach of a Family than to hold in some things with one and in some things with the other and so perpetuate the Quarrel out of tenderness not to disoblige either side Union can only be had by the Concentring of many different Wills into subjection to one whom God hath set above the rest Then if the Children fall out among themselves the Father decides the matter But if any of them fall out with him who shall judg betwixt them Nothing remains but Confusion where the means and bonds of Order are rejected And so clearly he is the peaceable Man and the true Peace-maker not that holds in some things for Obedience and in some thing for the Disobedient But he that Conforms himself to the Laws and asserts their Authority subdues his own Spirit to the Determinations of his Governors and doth what he can bring others to the same Submission that there may be one common Rule for all which is that which we call Order and Unity But then Thirdly What shall they do that cannot comply with some Laws not because their Will or their Interest is against them but because their Persuasions are not satisfied and they have Objections and Scruples unremoved Must they act against their Conscience and Obey where they firmly believe they ought not to do it No by no means They must suffer meekly what the Sanction inflicts This is my last Proposition and a thing absolutely requisite in order to publick Peace That where the Laws enjoyn what is Sinful there a good Man without breaking or endangering the common Tranquillity must Submit himself to the Punishment Blessed be God this is far from our Case The very stating such Suppositions implies something of Ingratitude against God and the just and easie Government of our Gracious Sovereign But I speak it only to prevent the Objection of such of our Fellow-Subjects as complain and are uneasie and would insinuate that this is our Case I say then If it be clear and evident to a Man that the Declarations of Humane Authority are against some plain and express Commandment of God there he must chuse God's Will rather than Man's And yet submit to that Power God hath Ordained over him The same Conscience the same Duty to God requires his patient Subjection and that he should never resist as that he should transgress an impious humane Injunction As Daniel did Dan. 6.10 Acts 4.18 and the Apostles and all they that have endured Persecution for Righteousness That is he must Suffer for Well-doing and thus still remain dutiful to God and to his Prince This is not in the case of Doubts much less of Ignorance where Men sometimes entertain Aversions and Dislikes and know not for why Nor yet in the case of Wisdom or Expediency where a Man might censure the publick Constitutions as inconvenient and fancy he could appoint better Though many upon these accounts are forward enough to be Factious and Clamorous yet few will be willing to Suffer peaceably It must be where we cannot obey Humane Laws without disobedience to God Then for Conscience towards God to endure Grief suffering wrongfully this is a good proof that a Man is truly persuaded he cannot Conform without Sin This is highly acceptable to God and he will reward it And however this Patience and Resignation of him that Suffers preserves the peace of the Community and no doubt doth also preserve the peace of his own Mind The Conditions of Peace and War are the highest Prerogatives of Kings and Supreme Magistrates They may appoint the common Terms of Union and Agreement for a whole Nation and by what Rules Men shall Govern themselves But a private Person judgeth for none but for himself only So that when he Dissents from the Laws Establish'd he may not by Noise and Complaints make Parties against them nor excite Discontents nor Resistance against those Higher Powers that have Impos'd them That would be to make his private Judgment superior to that of publick Authority That would put it in the power of every one that pretends Conscience for not Obeying to null Laws and to be very troublesome A Man must take great care that his Conscience be well inform'd and always guided by God's Will And then in following of it when it leads him against publick Decrees he must do it with so much Humility and so much Meekness that it may plainly appear it is upon God's account he disobeys and Suffers patiently he must Conform and Comply as far as ever he can without sinning against God and he must be passive where he may not proceed further For still he is but a Subject who must be over-rul'd by the Will of his Superiors still the Government remains in full Force and he is bound to preserve Peace and therefore passively to Submit himself to the Laws which are the known and fixt Measures and Conditions of it Saint Paul here and elsewhere recommending peace with all Men intended not to bind Christians to observe all the Laws of the Roman Empire of which some were against Christianity and others for Idolatry He rather oblig'd them to meek and patient Subjection to undergo the Infllictions of those evil Laws without disturbance to the Commonwealth That they should not be provoked to
would be Impracticable and Extortions not to be prevented And if the variable and inconstant Wills of Men were not restrain'd and limited Humane Society would of necessity be dissolv'd and all Order banished out of the World God Almighty himself in the Government of the Universe appointed Laws according to which Nature moves That there might be in that infinite variety of Creatures and Changes here below such Rules and Uniformities as that he should not need do things by a particular Will except in the case of Miracles But leave the Material World under the guidance of his own wise Constitutions to go in ways Determinate and Constant without uncertainty and without Confusion So besides his own Appointment we have also his own Example that Laws and Prescriptions are the best means of Peace And experience confirms the same that if Men were not determin'd in their principal Concerns and Actions their Passions and Apprehensions being so uncertain and oftentimes so opposite they would be in a worse state than the Brutes Some must chuse for others and confine their Freedom otherwise Men would come upon the Stage of the World like the off-spring of the Dragons Teeth only to Fight and Destroy one another I may not it seems take nor do what I would nor have mine own will and I would not yield to my Neighbour in all things Each of us would command and hath the same claims and pretentions Here then commenceth a Quarrel never to be decided except a third Person with power doth enterpose and Judg and determine betwixt us This is the use of Laws and Magistrates Single Persons may be brought to agree in their submission to Authority who for ever would be at odds among themselves were they left to their liberty And so to make an Agreement 't is not to give every man his own Humour That 's the very ground of all Dissention But to make them all yield to a Common Master who shall be Umpire betwixt them God Almighty therefore made but one Man at first that he might be Sovereign over all his Posterity as long as he lived that from him the Elder of each Tribe might be a Prince over all his Kindred and that no two Men might ever be found in the World Free and equal Competitors without a Superior to decide betwixt them Government is not the product of Experience and an after-invention of Mans Wit upon a Pact and Covenant but it is the express and primary Institution of God by whom Mankind were bound to Obedience by their very coming into the World Indeed if there were no Laws there would be no Transgression properly so called but then neither would there be any peace The worst the strongest the most violent would soon Tyrannize for men left to themselves will no more be just than be of one mind And the Dispute is not really whether or no there must be Laws but who shall make them Most men will claim that priviledg and that leads back to Confusion as much as having none at all So that I say what is stated and already in force must determine our Actions and receive our Obedience except we would bring our Communities to the state of the first Matter to be a Caos without form That the standing Laws under which we live are the Principle and the Measure of our peace that in them we may meet and rest when in our own Notions and Inclinations we cannot we have blessed be God besides other Reasons a fair Instance of it in the happy Change in the state of things amongst us since Laws have resum'd their Vigour and been more carefully put in Execution Those endless Fears and Jealousies and Complaints and endeavours for a Change which so much disturbed the Nation are in great measure quell'd And men are return'd more calmly to mind their own Business and I hope to serve God better since Obedience to Government hath been more strictly Exacted This late Experiment confirms strongly what I Plead for and Demonstrates clearly that it is not by indulging to Peoples Humours by Tolerations and leaving the Bridle loose upon their Necks that they are to be united If thousands of Soldiers were to be brought to the same place and to joyn in the same Design they are not to be Disbanded They would soon be dispers'd and go stragling about were they left to their liberty but if they are under Command they are united in their Ways and Works who never would be so in their Choice or their Opinions We see that where there are fewer things determined by Law and Men enjoy but the empty name of Republican Liberty there is generally a standing armed Force to awe them into Subjection and Quietness And we cannot but remember that they that Buz'd it here into Peoples Ears that they were Free-born when they were got into Power did keep it with the terror of the Sword and allowed leave to none any ways to dissent from them well knowing that had the People indeed been left to their Freedom their own dominion and booty would soon have been snatch'd out of their hands Men may Confederate to oppose Government for that in its Dissolution they hope for a Prey and to Scramble for some share of it But they must be forc'd together into Peace and Order they never of themselves conspire into that And if the present Laws were but Obeyed quietly till others could be made by general Consent and all were Agreed they would be as Firm and Unmoveable as the Foundations of the Earth If we would have peace it must not be by living without Control and having every one his Will but by submitting that Will to Authority and yielding to the Wisdom and Decrees of publick Constitutions 'T is not in the Enlarging of Peoples freedom but in the Abridgment of it in which consists the nature and essence of Peace The Terms of it are Laws Humane Laws for our Entercourse one with another and many of our outward Actions And where we are free from these the Laws of Christian Prudence and Charity bound we are in every thing bound even to make a right use of our Liberty And 't is our Obedience either to God or man that can alone keep us in Peace This brings us to the Second thing I laid down as a Consequent of what was said for the Explaining of the Text. That they are the true peaceable Men who Maintain and Obey the Laws 'T is not a demure Countenance nor a grave and formal Deportment nor yet speaking softly nor pretending friendliness to the World that makes a man a Peace-maker 'T is not the assuming fine Titles nor the charging others with having Arbitrary Designs These things look plausible and may beguile some but they are no establishment for Peace They rather unhinge what is Establish'd they leave every petulent Man to his own distinct Will and his own distinct Interest And that 's the spring of Wars and Confusions A man by
any Rebellion or Undutifulness against their Governors by their grievous Sufferings but still for Conscience sake to bear what Laws and Providence had impos'd upon them and still to be faithful and peaceable Subjects There are no other Terms of peace with Magistrates but either to obey the Laws or to undergo the penalty of their Transgression So that where their duty to God kept them from Active Obedience there the Apostle would have them so to dissent from their Rulers as not to trouble the Order and the Tranquillity of the place where they Liv'd That is as he tells them plainly in the following Chapter Rom. 13. absolutely to be Subject and never to Resist under the pain of Damnation That they might be acquitted from any Stubbornness or Pride or Rebellious Principles by their free Obedience in all that was lawful and their humble patience under all sinful Injunctions By this 't was to be manifest that they were disposed to render every Man his due to give Cesar the things that were Cesar's to be Friends to all Men and to live peaceably with them as long as it engaged them in no Rebellion against God Answerable to this was ever the Behaviour of Primitive Christians under those tedious and cruel Persecutions they endur'd for Three Hundred Years And had the Temper and Principles of such as pretend to be the best of Christians in these latter Times been the same we should have had more peace And those Excellent Laws under which we Live and which oblige us to Fear and Worship God and to Honour the King and to be Just and Charitable to all Men these would have been better obey'd I wonder for my part how they can so delude the People as to get the names of Godly and good Patriots who under such an equitable and gracious Government as is here Establish'd yet are Discontented and Restless and Clamorous and always dissatisfied with publick Constitutions And very busie sometimes very fierce against those Laws which keep us in peace and make us very happy if we knew our own Happiness When besides our present Interest our whole Religion the very Spirit of Christianity is so directly contrary to all Murmuring and Faction and Unpeaceableness 't is very strange they should take such good Names that do things so ill and so very mischievous But no more can be done from this place than to shew People their Duty That the Laws are the Measure of our publick Peace and the Foundation of it That they are most peaceable who make those Laws in things lawful the Rules of their Actions and who by their Power and their Interest in the World maintain their just Authority And that if a good Man should live under such wicked Laws as should be contrary to his Christian Duty there he must be patient and suffer for his Allegiance to God expecting a reward from him that hath bound him to be Subject still preserving the Reverence and Submission due to his Governors and shewing himself desirous of peace and ready to embrace it upon any terms that are not an offence against God In these a Man must shew his peaceable Disposition if he be really a professor of the Gospel of Peace As also in receding from his Right in lesser matters in making allowance for Humane Infirmities in being Gentle and Charitable as well as Just to every Man These are apt to win Men and to prevent or compose Contentions Or however publick Peace which may be called Peace with all Men is secured by yielding to Authority and being subject to those Laws which are the common Bonds and standing Conditions of peace As certainly Christians as that we must one day give an account for what we do here upon Earth it will be one of the great Enquiries when we shall all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ and there receive according to our Works whether or no we preserved that Order and Subordination which God appointed amongst Men whether we mov'd in our own Spheres and minded the proper Duties of our several places And sad will be their Doom that were here Contentious and caus'd Murmurings and Confusions in the World There all such workers of Iniquity who by their power or Hypocrisie escaped here the hands of Justice shall meet with a severe Vengeance and have their portion for ever with those proud and rebellious Spirits who would not be content with that station wherein God had plac'd them None but Meek and Just Loyal and Peaceable Men shall be numbred among the Saints of God and enjoy for ever that Rest he hath prepared for his People We are all going to the Grave where we must be quiet After all the Bustle and Hurry and Clamurs and Contentions of this World we must dwell in Silence and one by one go to receive that Irreversible Sentence upon which depends an eternity of Bliss or Misery Let us then becalm our Passions and compose our Spirits and by Lowliness and Humility and Obedience to God and Subjection to those that Reign by him secure a lasting peace to our Immortal Souls Fear and Terrors seize upon evil Minds There is is no peace to the Wicked They that disturb the World and are mischievous to Mankind are themselves like the troubled Sea when it cannot rest they live in a perpetual Storm Where Envying and Strife is there is Confusion and every evil Work But blessed be the Peace-makers for they are the Children of God Peace and Felicity shall be their portion for ever There is no need I should Tire you further with laying before you the many Obligations which Nature and Reason and Religion have laid upon us thus to endeavour after Peace And how much our prosperity in this World and our happiness in the next are concern'd in this our Duty We cannot look into our Consciences nor into our Bibles but we find declarations of this We all know it to be true I pray God we may find it seriously and practise accordingly That he that came to teach us to deny our selves to mortifie our Pride and our stubborn Humours and so make a Reconciliation betwixt God and us and Unite us together that he may now so guide our Feet into the ways of Peace that we may here enjoy that blessed Legacy he left his Servants as an earnest of that Eternal peace which makes the Bliss of Saints above and the earnest desire and endeavour of good Men here below Amen Peace upon Earth Glory to God on High FINIS
The TERMS of PEACE and RECONCILIATION Betwixt all Divided Parties A SERMON PREACH'D at the ASSIZES HELD FOR THE COUNTY of BVCKINGHAM AT THE TOWN of WICOMB JVLY the 1. 1684. By LVKE BEAVLIEV Divinity-Reader of His Majesties Chappel-Royal at Windsor and Chaplain to the Right Honourable Sir George Jeffreys Lord Chief Justice of the Kings Bench. LONDON Printed for Charles Brome at the Gun at the West-end of St. Pauls Church-Yard 1684. A PREFACE TO THE READER 'T Was the desire of Sir Denys Hampson High Sheriff of the County of Buckingham that I should Preach and Print the ensuing Sermon wherein I very plainly acquainted the Honourable Audience that heard it with my thoughts of a Sacred Text and a Christian Duty Likely that worthy Gentleman judg'd it might be somewhat useful to promote in others that affectionate Loyalty wherein he is so Eminent and so Exemplary And I design it should being fully convinc'd that an humble Obedience and a hearty Love to the King is under our duty to God the best and strongest Link to joyn us together in that Peace I here recommend Recommend it indeed I may Curats of Souls can do no more the honour of the Success is due to the Divine Grace and to the Care and Vigilance of Civil Magistrates They are the true and the most persuasive Preachers of the Publick Peace for their Words have a strong efficacy by that Power and Interest which they have in the World And now as the Case lies People want more to be Govern'd than to be Instructed for what concerns their faithfulness and submission to their Rulers More hath been said for Loyalty within these last Hundred Years by the Clergy of this Church than can be found in all former Ages united together The Jesuites and the Sectaries made it necessary by all sorts of Arguments and Reasons to assert and press that Duty which Natural and Christian Religion had fully taught our Fore-fathers Now the matter is Exhausted and where Demonstration and Exhortations can't prevail Authority must work They that will not be persuaded to be peaceable and good Subjects must be Chastis'd and restrained by Laws and Magistrates If they that are trusted with the administration of Publick Justice have courage and honesty enough to be Impartial we see thanks be to God that they can better work on turbulent Spirits then the best of Books or Sermons which are neither heard nor heeded by them that love and abett Contentions True Religion alone makes them Obedient and Peaceable that are the true Sons of the Church Others must be dealt with by Fear and Government Such Magistrates as have so stout and strong a Zeal for their Prince and Country as to encourage Loyalty and to proceed as far as the Law goeth against ungovernable and seditious Spirits will make more Proselytes than all our Discourses and Persuasions can do So that I say under the Divine Providence the success of all endeavours for Peace is due to them that are in places of Authority and earnestly use their power for reducing all Men to Peace and Obedience Not that I would make Clergymen give over exhorting the People to live in Peace and Christian Subjection 't is their indispensable Duty and part of their Office as Saint Paul appointed Tit. 3.1 Put them in mind to be subject to Principalities and Powers to obey Magistrates to be ready to every good Work to speak evil of no Man to be no brawlers but gentle shewing all meekness unto all men Neither do I count their labour in this to be vain and to no purpose Though scoffers and prophane and foolish men deride Religion yet it will ever have a very great influence upon the Affairs of this World There is by our very Nature a Sense of it imprest upon the minds of men and they are often led even to desperate attempts by the meer shew or the pretence of it So we found it by woful experience in the late Rebellion And since the last Critical times made it too manifest that Clamours about Religion could soon enflame the Multitude By them our Schismatical Guides had dispos'd their party ready once more to fight out the Lords Battels and the major part of the People might have been hurried on to very unchristian and mischievous Enterprizes had our Clergy either incited them or but let them alone without restraining them with the sense of the fear of God and other proper Arguments 'T is true the same Clergy were more earnest in preaching against Popery after the sudden affrightment which the news of a Popish Plot brought upon the Nation But that was no derogation to their Peaceableness and their most faithful Allegiance and it became them so to do persuaded as they are that dangerous Innovations and Errors have been brought by the Church of Rome in the Christian Doctrine and Worship Knowing withal that the Bishop of that Church claims a Jurisdiction over all Kings and all Christians and hath condemn'd them as Rebels that will not submit to his Yoke This makes it their duty at some times to instruct their Charge in the principal points of the Controversie and to alledg their reasons why the Communion of our Church is much to be prefer'd to that of Rome And the discovery of a Popish design for our Ruine attested as it was by the highest Authority of this Realm made it seasonable and very requisit no be more earnest at that time against Roman Errors and Encroachments We know that all the Dissenters who make us Popishly affected would blast our Credit with the People And then the duties of Loyal and quiet subjection and of asserting the just Descent of the Crown in that order which God and Nature and our Fundamental Laws have prescribed these would never have been heeded nor received from us had we not then declar'd our real aversion to Papal Superstitions and Vsurpations The same desires of Peace and of Obedience to the King and the Laws under which we live engage us equally against Papists and Dissenters 'T is not their private Opinions however absurd in themselves that are to be chiefly feared but the tendency of their Principles and endeavours to alter the frame of our Government and to bring our Sovereign under Presbyterian Synods or Pontifical Chairs Our constant Loyalty and peaceable disposition oblige us to oppose either of them most earnestly who most presseth upon the State and is most formidable and dangerous for the present Our truly Primitive and Christian Religion doth all possible ways oblige and engage us to be true affectionate and subject to those great Officers whom God hath appointed to be his Vicegerents to preserve the peace of the World we have in our publick Prayers frequent Mementoes and Endearments of this Duty in our most solemn and devout Addresses to the Throne of Grace And a true Member of this Church can never be an ill Subject Therefore as duty and interest oblige Ministers of Religion to
2. That where they were free they should so condescend and comply with each other as to endeavour to prevent Fewds and Contentions First I say to live peaceably with all men includes the careful observance of those Laws which secure the just rights of every man and provide a supply for their Necessities Owe no man any thing but to love one another discharge all Obligations with Care and Conscience It is the violation of Justice the not giving to others what is theirs that begets Clamours and Contests and all the consequent Mischiefs Render to all their dues Tribute to whom Tribute is due Custome to whom Custome Fear to whom Fear Honour to whom Honour This is a good foundation for a solid peace for a man thus diligently to acquit himself with others to deprive them of nothing to which they have a good Title When they have no ground to challenge any thing from you it will go a great way to secure you from their Molestations And if with this you have a due regard to the duties of Charity to do men Kindnesses and to relieve their Wants as far as lies in your power By your Prayers your good Advice your Credit in the World or your bountiful Alms to promote here their well-being and their Eternal Happiness then you are come up to those terms on which depends the Amity and fair Correspondence of Men making thus the dictates of Reason and Religion the measure of your Entercourse with others you may be said to live peaceably with all Men. Only add this further which I said might be included in this Apostolick Precept that where Men are free and left to themselves they should condescend and comply Very manny Quarrels proceed from inconsiderable Trifles things of no moment but as they are much stood upon by perverse and unreasonable Passions the foolishness of a proud an angry or a stubborn Spirit a little Prudence or Humility or Charity would prevent such Disputes and the spirit and temper of true Christian Religion would soon compose and make an end of them If where Men are not tied by Laws and Duties they would be willing to recede from their Right not always to consult the utmost of what is lawful but also what is expedient every man to please his Neighbour for good to Edification go as far with others as they can without Sin condesend to their innocent Weaknesses and Humours And shew forth out of a good Conversation their works with meekness of Wisdom as St. James speaks That Wisdom which is from above and is pure and peaceable gentle easie to be entreated full of Mercy and good Fruits This no doubt would prevent or at least terminate many of our Wranglings and Contentions And he that will live peaceably must also resolve upon this where it will interfer with no other Duty to yield for Peace sake what others cannot claim as due and to forgive and forbear as well as to do Justice The doing of this is properly the living peaceably with all Men. He that seriously resolves and sincerely endeavours to observe what God and Nature require in order to Mutual Quietness hath done his part Of his side he is ready to embrace others on those terms to which he is tied by Duty to go as far to meet with them as lawfully he may he entertains no dividing Principles he is at peace with all the World as far as in him lies A man can do no more and this is the Duty of the Text. Not actually to have peace with every man though never so unreasonable or unjust that 's impossible But to be of this peaceable disposition to own and discharge those Obligations which lie upon all Men in order to Mutual Agreement And this makes the resolution of the last Enquiry very plain and easie How far it lies in a Christian to live peaceably with all Men He cannot force them to what he would nor to what they should He may not part with God's Right nor any mans Right to comply with them He can only do his Duty and offer them peace upon the Terms of his obedience to the Laws of God and the lawful Commands of his Superiors For those Laws must not be infring'd to please Men. I may abridg my self of my Liberty and even put up some Wrongs and where I alone am concern'd I ought to do so in many Cases But where I am tied by a just Authority I must not break the bonds of my Subjection to please my Fellow Subjects I may not any ways disobey God to buy peace with Men. Where St. Paul saith If it be possible live peaceably with all Men he means Morally possible Possumus quod jure possumus Where we may without transgressing our Duty without prejudice to our Obligations to God and man there 't is in our power and we must do what we can to have Peace Indeed that may not procure it When we have done our best and all that lawfully we may still Divisions and Quarrels may remain The word Peace is a Relative and implies a Mutual Correspondency that there are fixt and known and standing Terms in which Men of all Sides should agree So that where so many are concern'd one alone can no more make Peace and Union than one single Note of Musick can make an Harmony But 't is not our fault if others will not comply with those Laws of Mutual Agreement prescribed by Reason and Religion Actual Peace is a Blessing and a great Felicity but not a Duty 't is too Divine an enjoyment for this state of Imperfection It is reserv'd to Crown our thirst and pursuits after it Here our Obligation is only to peaceableness to be just and ready to do good to induce others what we can to joyn with us in the Methods and the Measures of Peace to oppose and mortifie those Inclinations in us which are Selfish and Partial and provoking to others Thus to rule our Conversation and to dispose our Hearts is the Duty of the Text. And is as much as lies in a Christian to do that he may live peaceably with all men Now these three Queries satisfied and the Text thus far explained we may ground upon what hath been said these three Propositions to be briefly Stated and Discours'd upon for the further pressing of this Exhortation to do as much as possibly we can to live peaceably with all Men. 1. That Publick Laws are the true Terms of peace amongst Men. 2. That they are the peaceable Men who Maintain and Obey those Laws And 3. That if the Laws command what is sinful there a good man must suffer meekly and still preserve Peace 1. That Publick Laws are the Terms of peace amongst Men. The Laws of Nature and of Nations amongst Mankind in general and the Laws of each Kingdom amongst the Subjects of it And to this last I restrain my Discourse Were there not publick standards for Weights and Measures the entercourse of Trading
Nature may be unactive and seem very quiet yet if he holds or abets Dividing Principles if he lessens the Reverence of the Authority of Laws he doth weaken the bonds of our Common Union and he really disturbs the Publick Peace If we should see Officers of Justice pursue a Criminal break up Doors and ransack Houses whilst the guilty Wretch lurks silent and without motion if when he is taken and they hale him before a Magistrate we should hear him declare how he desires to be quiet if they would but let him alone charge them with being Rude and Violent and with disturbing Persons that meddle not with them This might be thought specious enough and the Malefactor outwardly would appear more liker a Man of peace than those that seize and arrest him Yet all this while 't is most certain that they are the Preservers of the common Tranquillity and he the Disturber of it notwithstanding his soft Language So that I say 'T is not the outward shew nor the Complaints of such as break the Laws but the Dispositions and the Principles of the Mind that make good Men to be truly peaceable If a Christian hath enough of Humility and of Gods fear upon his Heart to make him deny his own conceits and his own desires to submit to Authority and square himself not by his own Humour but by that Rule which is prescribed to all then he hath in him the true principles of Peace And by his Obedience he joyns with his fellow Subjects in the same Laws and Orders when perhaps by his own Will and private Judgment he might be at unity and peace with no Man And this gives us the Character as of a peaceable so of a moderate Man truly so called That it is not he that halts betwixt two and pretends friendship to the Law and to the Transgressors of it and would not oppose nor disoblige any man in vindication of his Superiors nor endanger himself to assert the Justice of their Cause when it is like to be opprest He that goeth half way with the Government to shew he is not so stubborn as some and then stops and goeth no further to shew he is not so rigid and high-flown as others He that complies so far with his Rule as to hold as fair correspondence with the Conforming Side and so far complies with those that Dissent as to have their Friendship also such a one is by some esteem'd a quiet and moderate Man who would be in neither Extreme But I say it appears clearly that Moderation consists rather in Submitting our selves to those whom God hath placed over us For the Lords sake and for Conscience sake as the Scripture commands to obey every Ordinance of Man And in all things that are not against God to yield meekly to their Determinations There is naturally so much of Pride in every Man that he would be glad to be uppermost And who would not rather have his own Will if he might without Sin than be over-rul'd by a Superior Command I know not how 't is with others but for my part I should count it a fine thing to depend upon no Body to do what I list my self And amongst all the Rules and Prescriptions of Government to pick and chuse what I like best But certainly there is more of Self-denyal and Moderation to act contrary perhaps to my own Wisdom and Desires in yielding Reverence and Obedience to Laws and Magistrates and restraining my own Inclinations to chuse the Injunctions of my Governors for the rule of my Actions But that it should be call'd Moderation for a Subject to Obey but by halves and to do his Duty very untowardly to make it a matter of Commendation that a man hath no great regard to the Laws nor no great affection to his Prince To say that a Child is moderate in his concerns for his Parents and in doing what they bid him this is an odd way of speaking That a man transported with passion when any ways injur'd fierce and troublesome before Humane Tribunals for a few Pence of his That such a one should be call'd Moderate because he cares not whether the Government sinks or swims and he will not engage himself to vindicate and defend it I say this is an odd way of speaking and begets in the Minds of men a strange notion of a Christian Vertue It is in their private concerns in bearing and forbearing out of Charity to others in shewing a contented Spirit in receding from their Rights and their Opinions to buy peace It is in these that good men may approve their Moderation Submit your selves one to another and be clothed with Humility This submitting our selves to our Equals where no Law requires it is indeed one part of Moderation But then no doubt the other is Submission to our Superiors The making our own Interest and our own Passions stoop to the Laws of those Higher Powers under which we live the appearing in defence of their Rights and their Persons and espousing their Quarrels with more Zeal than our own This shews that a Man is concern'd for his Duty more than for his own Will And this gives a much better account of the vertue of Moderation than the being but coldly affected towards our Governors and the being partial and defective in our Obedience to their Laws He certainly is the great Peace-maker who by his Example and Persuasion and Power and Interest in the World brings others as much as he can to the known and standing terms of Publick peace That is to comply with the Laws A good Man that hath Prudence and Temper may compose some little Differences in the Neighbourhood and 't is very well so to do But he prevents greater Mischiefs and is a more publick Benefactor that endeavours to Unite a Nation by bringing them to make the Laws the Rule of their Actions In order to make things even and fit to be joyned 't is not to bend the Rule according to the Obliquity of each one that would leave-them as they are as crooked and as unfit for Union But 't is the bending the things themselves and bringing them to the streightness of the Rule So the Laws which are the publick measure of Actions must not be made to yield to every one whose Will or Opinion makes him dissent from them that would make no Agreement nor no Settlement that would leave all things loose and uncertain as contrary to each other as mens Tempers or Notions are Whereas making Men yield themselves and fit their Actions to the prescript Rule and so far deny their own Will as to order their outward deportment by the publick Standard That makes Uniformity and Order in things material and of publick Interest and in others Men must govern themselves by Discretion and Charity A due regard indeed is to be had to our Brothers to be tender and Compassionate towards them to give them and to forgive them of our own