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A55086
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Saint Pauls politiques, or, A sermon against neutrality preached at Margarets Westminster on the Lords-Day Decemb. 13, 1644, divers of the Honourable House of Commons being present / by Lawrence Palmer ...
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Palmer, Laurence.
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1644
(1644)
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Wing P250; ESTC R3579
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12,118
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24
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Saint PAULS POLITIQVES OR A Sermon against NEUTRALITY PREACHED At Margarets Westminster on the LORDS-DAY Decemb. 13. 1644. Divers of the Honourable House of Commons being present By Laurence Palmer Rector of the Mediety of Gedling in the County of Nottingham And Captain of a Troop of horse raised for the service of the King and Parliament Exod. 32.26 27. Moses stood in the gate of the Camp and said who is on the Lords side Let him come unto me And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him And he said unto them Thus saith the Lord God of Israel Put every man his sword by his side c. Imprimatur Charles Herle London Printed for Robert White 1644. To the Right Worshipfull Gilbert Millington Esquire one of the Members of the Honourable House of Commons Worthy Sir NExt to the glory of God the maine white at which all actions ought to be levelled I have ever held the care of preserving advancing and promoting the common good the welfare of Church and State is most noble necessary and best beseeming a Christian A thing acknowledged by most but practised by few I had almost said none and if I had the Apostle would have borne me out Phil. 2.21 All seek their own and none the things of Jesus Christ Truly it hath been matter of no small griefe and trouble unto me of late to behold and take notice of the strange declination and degeneration of mens spirits to speake nothing of the Epidemicall disease of cursed Neutrality long since spread through the whole Kingdom the lukewarme heartlesse indifferensie the palpable partiality the grosse dissimulation and hypocrisy of those who pretend wholy the common cause and intend nothing but their private ends discover themselves every where too apparently in these times of the Church and Kingdomes greatest calamity A clearer proofe whereof we cannot have then dayly experience for who sees not how many of those who with much zeal and impetuous violence were all for the publique whilest pay and profit honour and applause good successe and victory attended the cause of God but when it and those were parted how shamefully have they deserted it in the open field The more then certainly to be admired and for ever honoured are those who continue constant in the publique service and will not leave the cause no not when that seemes to leave them and theirs to the mercilesse fury of the enemy Who are so far from cooling by disasters that they are but as the frost in winter to the fire which serve to intend their heat and resolution Of which number Sir the Town and County that chose and sent you hither esteeme you to be Who of all that were chosen throughout the whole County of Nottingham onely stand for the welfare both of it and the whole Kingdom The Lord who hath hitherto graciously kept up your Spirit Will I doubt not blesse and prosper you and at last crowne your faithfullnesse and unwearied constancy It was your request and the importunity of divers Friends caused me to preach this Sermon But the sending of it to publique view was by the earnest sollicitations and undeniable intreaty of many both Friends and Strangers yet not without your consent and approbation And indeed the rather do I full fill their desire and present it to you because it is well known to all that know you that your practise is a lively expression of what I preached which I wish for the imitation and encouragement of others may be as publique as this paper my discourse shewes what in these times should be done your example and practise lets the world see what is and may be done Another necessity also is laid upon me to commit this short and unpolished Sermon to the Presse Divers that heard it preached professed they were much affected with it and told me that it awakned and roused up some that were grown cold and indifferent to zealous resolution to set upon the work of the Lord with more diligence and therefore they concieved that if the preaching much more the printing might be of singular use in these cold declining times Now if I had refused herein to satisfie them My mouth would have been stopt with this Dilemma and unanswerable argument That seeing my Theame and whole discourse tends wholy to invite and urge all sorts within their spheares to be as serviceable as may be for the promoting of the publique If the printing may conduce more to this end then the preaching there would have been a manifest jarre betwixt my preaching and practise if I had denyed Well the blessing of God go with it and make it effectuall for the encouraging of the faithfull and constant the inciting and awakening the drousie and indifferent the shaming of the Neuter and the discovery of the hypocrite Sir This is the prayer of him who in what he is able desires ever To serve you and the publique Laurence Palmer Saint Pauls POLITIQUES Or A Sermon against Neutrality delivered at Margarets Westminster upon PHIL. 2.4 Looke not every one on his own things but every man also on the things of others NOt to tire your patience with any curious division either of the Epistle in generall or of this Chapter in particular nor with any tedious coherence of these words with those which have gone before Be pleased to take notice that the Apostle in this Chapter from the first verse to the 12. doth exhort the Philippians to unity and agreement he layes down the means how to attain it namely by humblenesse of minde after the example of Jesus Christ ver 1.2 3 5 c. Now because my Text is as it were interwoven with this Argument I desire you to observe something from the Apostles method Doct. That pride of Spirit is the ground of strife and contention So far as a man is proud he is contentious It is a Doctrine from the grnerall I will be very briefe in the handling of it It is confirmed Prov. 13.10 Only by pride comes contention Example In the Apostles of Christ Luk. 22.24 When once they began to seek for priority of place by and by they were at ods Vse 1 For information To let us see the true cause of all the contentions in the world either in Church or State either publick or private to arise only from Pride The sin of this age is Pride and the Pride of this age is intolerable These be Saint Pauls Tempora novissima the Winter of the world Wherein pride and contentions do daily meete each other 2 Tim. 3.12 In the Church the pride of sin carries them so far as that they would all be Apostles they would all be Prophets and teachers Docerent antequam didicerunt That Arius may maintaine his damnable errour Anno 358. since revived sayes that God did reveal it to him and Montanus called himself Paracletum or the holy Ghost Here is pride with a witnesse now what contentions did arise from
hence the history of Theodoret and others set forth I suppose it may be truly affirmed that it is nothing but Pride and self conceitedness that make so many become Separatists from whence ariseth so many hot contentions in these dayes In the State or Common-wealth pride is the cause of all Contentions The servant would be as his Master the peasant as the Prince the Cobler as the Courtier Currus sequitur Curiam and hereby all things are brought into confusion What is the ground of disaffection amongst Ministers Dislike and jarring amongst Commanders Falling out amongst souldiers scolding amongst Neighbours but onely pride not having learned this of the Apostle ver 3. Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory but in lowlinesse of minde let each esteeme other better then themselves And therefore I besecch you be perswaded to take heed of this tympany of Pride that contentions may cease God will pull down the mighty from their seate but he will exalt the humble and meek he will feed the hungry with good things but the rich be will send empty away Pride wil have a fal a great pride wil have a greatfal Herod by his Pride fell from a throne of gold to be eaten of Lice a great fall Nebuchadnezzar by his Pride fell from the State of a King to the quality of a beast and became like an Oxe that eateth grasse Adam fell from innocency to mortality And yet see a greater fal then all these By Pride the Angels fell from heaven to hel from felicity to misery are now reserved in chaines under darknes to the judgement of the great day Jude ver 6. And therefore take heed of it And that our contentions the fruits of our Pride may determine 1. Passe by an offence it is a wise mans glory Prov. 19.11 And it is St. Pauls command Col. 3.13 2. Forget an injury Lev. 19.18 It is storied of Phocion in Plutarch that being rail'd upon in the night by a sort of base fellowes he gave his man order to light them home And of Iulius Caesar it is reported that nihil praeter injurias oblivisci solebat he was never wont to forget any thing but injuries 3. Part with some of your right so did Abraham for quietnesse sake when he was to deale with his kinsman Lot Gen. 13.8 9. and Paul with Philemon In that Epistle to Philemon ver 8 9. 4. Be ready to requite good for evil to such as have done us wrong Prov. 25.21 22. and Rom. 12.20 These things might be enlarged but it is a doctrine from the generall I therefore passe it and come more particularly to the words of the Text. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Looke not every one on his c. I may fitly stile my Text St. Pauls Politiques In which we have 1. His little care for his own private Look not c. 2. His great care of the publike But every one c. I know the words will admit of a subdivision but I cannot have time to prosecute these generalls so fully as I can desire The words are very plain not any thing difficult in them unlesse you inquire what it is to looke upon The originall word comes from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Circumspicio whence comes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies Meta Scopus ad quem sagittarii collimant tela sua dirigunt The marke at which Archers aime and direct all their Arrowes So that when the Apostle saith Look not every one c It is all one as if he had said thus My bloved Philippians as you desire to approve your selves followers of Christ and desirous of true Peace It is your duty not so much to propose your own private commodity to your selves in your undertakings at the scope and end of your actions but your care and ayme should be at and for the welfare of others Hence the Doctrine Doct. It is the duty of all Christians to have respect unto and carefully to look after the good of the publike as well yea rather then their own private and particular Care must be had for every mans private for he that doth not take care of his own and especially those of his own house hath denyed the faith 1 Tim. 5.8 and is worse then an Infidell But this care must not justle out the care of the publike Nay rather Cedunt privata publicis But for proofe of the point so 1 Cor. 10.24 Let no man seek his own but every man anothers wealth In 2 Cor. 11.28 29. so a plaine proofe Besides those things that are without that which cometh upon me dayly the care of all Churches v. 29. Who is weake and I am not weake Who is offended and I burne not In which place you may observe how that holy sympathy that Saint Paul had towards the State of the Church of God in generall begate in him a care of all Churches and that in respect of his outward and inward carriage towards them for he saith Beside the things that are without c. It is his command to the Galatians 6.10 Do good unto all Examp. We have divers examples that do clearly illustrate this Faith first Abraham the father of the faithfull Gen. 14.14 Abraham no doubt might have lived in his own house and defended that or he might have complyed with Chedorlaomar and with Amraphel c. Who would have been glad if he would have sate still But Abraham is a man of a more publike spirit he scornes any complyance with such cursed enemies of God and his cause hates neutrality and therefore musters up and marches out with his own hushold servants 318. and doth great service for the Church of God Remember the example of holy Moses You may read what great offers God made him what great good God would do for him in his own particular But when Moses lookes on the misery was likely to come on the people of God by that his preferment he modestly and absolutely refuseth the same at Gods hands You may see it Exod. 32.9 10 11. c. Look on the example of Nehemiah What place of imployment he had in respect of his own particular you may guesse by that Nehe. 1. ver last he was the Kings Cupbearer and yet he is very sad and discontented v. 4. the reason of it is the consideration of the deplored State of the people of God for some had told him that the remnant that were left of the Captivity were in great affliction and reproach the wall of Ierusalem was broken down and the gates thereof were burnt with fire ver 4. upon this see the good mans spirit The King observing his discontent and finding the reason of it gives him a Commission to be Governour of Ierusalem Well when he comes there and hath his power in his hand doth he seek himself too much his own Coffers to prefer his own friends or is his care to advance the publike I wish all Governours and