first Enmity betweene God and Man Sinne. And therefore if we wil quit the Enmity and be made friends the onely way to reconcile us with God and our Cause with his is by Faith and Repentance to banish Sinne. The sooner this is done the sooner we are safe which cannot be till our Cause be one with Gods One and yet when 't is one the preheminence is still with Gods Cause we must not suffer ours to step on before him For our Cause as 't is spirituall and concernes our soules if it be never so good never so close joyned with God's yet God's is to have the precedence For be ours never so good I must beg of your humility to Remember that Gods Grace did both prevent and follow to make it so And therefore we are to put his cause first and to pray chiefly for the maintenance of that which gave worth to ours And for our cause as 't is temporall and concernes this life onely Our safety life and lively-hood Gods cause is to have the precedence of that much more Father and Mother Wife and Children Brethren and Sisters Life and all must be accounted as nothing to Gods Cause S. Luke 14. And it hath ever beene a signe that the soule of a man goes right That a whole People keepe upon Gods path when they seeke first the Kingdome of GOD and the righteousnesse thereof and leave God to minister and maintaine the rest S. Mat. 6. When they are more tenderly affected to the Cause of God and more sensible of the Reproach or Blasphemy of his Name than of any calamities that might or malice can bring upon their persons And yet our giving Gods Cause the precedence in our Love to it and our Prayers for it is no exclusion of our owne Cause Nay the preferring of Gods before our owne And the making of our owne conformable to Gods is the way to make God as jealous of our safety from all extremity as he is to vindicate his owne honour from Reproach and Blasphemy And therefore though the Prophet here as Theodoret observes doth not say Arise O God and maintaine Causam meam my cause but thine owne Yet the same God that will have us prefer his cause will have us pray for our owne likewise And so the Prophet did For though he be here all for Gods cause yet we have him very earnest for his owne too Plead thou my cause O Lord with them that strive with me and fight thou against them that fight against me Psal 35. And defend my cause O God against the ungodly People Psal 43. 1. Well then Thy cause O God and my Cause O God But the Rule of Practise goes here Gods cause must leade that ours may follow it under the protection of God As we have therefore now begun so let us pray on as the Prophet did That God even our Gracious Father will be no longer like unto one that sleepes That he will Arise and blow over these feares from us 'T is but his Breath and he can dry the Cloudes that they drop not Rottennesse upon our Harvest 'T is but his Breath and he can cleare the Ayre of Infection as well all over the Kingdome as he hath beyond admiration done it in our chiefe City And 't is but the same Breath and he can shake our Enemies to peeces in the Sea That God being Arisen and come neare in providence will pleade first and after maintaine his owne Cause His owne in the hand of the King His own in the heart of the Church And his owne in the Holinesse of his Name That he will give this State and Church and every Member of both such grace that our cause may be his and his Maintenance ours That he will remember and that 's enough that if his Cause be ours our Enemies are his That we may so order our lives by his Grace that if these or any Enemies will Blaspheme it may not be Him for our sinnes but Vs for his service That our Enemies and his how-wise soever in other things yet in their plots and practises against us may be written in the Text-Letters FOOLES That we being preserved from them and all other Adversity may take warning in time to mend our lives and so hereafter live to honour and serve him that the world may see he hath beene mercyfull and we labour to be Thankefull That after the maintenance of his and our Cause here we may in our severall times be received up to him in Glory Through Jesus Christ our Lord To whom with the Father c. SERM. VI. Preached on Monday the 17. of March 1628. at Westminster at the opening of the Parliament EPHES. 4. 3. Endeavouring to keepe the Vnity of the Spirit in the bond of peace THIS Chapter is a great Scripture for Unity For here we finde there is but One Lord whom we serve v. 5. But One God and Father whom we worship and obey ver 6. But One Spirit whom we receive while he sanctifies us ver 4. One Lord One God and Father One Spirit Three in One all Three but one God blessed for ever But one Baptisme by which we are cleansed But one Faith by which we beleeve ver 5. But one hope upon which we relye ver 4. But one knowledge by which we are illightned ver 13. But One Body of which we are members ver 4. Different Graces but all tending to One Edification Divers offices but all joynt-Overseers of the same worke Till the Building be One and we One in it ver 11. This Chapter is as pressing a Scripture for Exhortation And the first Exhortation is That men would walk worthy of their calling ver 1. Their calling to be Christians their calling in Christianity And that to shew themselves worthy they would endeavour to keep the Vnity of the Spirit in the bond of peace ver 3. All for Unity And let me tell you We often reade of One in the Scripture but the word Vnity in the abstract is no where read either in Old or New Testament but onely in this Chapter and here 't is twice For we are exhorted to keep it ver 3. But how long why even till we be made perfect ver 13. that is to the end of this life Why but what need was there of this Exhortation at Ephesus what why sure very great need For Saint Anselm tells us Schisma suit there was a Schisme and a rupture there And Charismata the eminent Graces which God had given many of them was made the cause of the Schisme For Corruption at the heart of man breeds pride even out of Gods graces And they which had these gifts despised them which had them not and separated from them This gave occasion to false teachers to enter in and lye in wayt to deceive ver 14. This was the state of the Church of Ephesus
of peace I will not load you with a long discourse of Peace and the benefits it brings It hath the same fate that some other of Gods blessings have It is better knowne by want than use and thought most worth the having by them that have it not Looke therefore not upon your selves in peace but upon a State in blood upon a Church in persecution Aske them which are divided by the sword which are rosting at the flame conceive your case theirs That is the touch-stone which deceives not Then tell me whether it bee not good counsell Rogare pacem to pray for the Peace of both And I doe ill to call it barely Peace Our Prophet calls it the blessing of Peace Psalm 29. And doubtlesse it is to teach the world that all earthly benefits are as it were unblessed till Peace be upon them for till then no injoying of any Now Rogate pacem pray for the peace of Jerusalem seemes but a plaine and a naked Exhortation for Peace I must finde more in it then so and yet offer my Text no violence nor bee busie with any thing above me or out of my profession Observe then When David made this Exhortation to pray for Peace it was Tempus Pacis A time of Peace For he composed the Psalme when hee carried the Arke to Jerusalem and before that hee had smote the Philistims twice and made all at peace 2 Sam. 5. A time of Peace Why then a man should thinke there is least need to pray for it Yea but the Prophet thinkes not so He was pleas'd the State and Church under him should injoy Gods benefits longer And therefore calles for not Peace which they had but continuance of Peace which they could not tell how long they might hold To give thankes to God for the peace he had given ver 4. and to pray for the continuance of it ver 6. And certainly it is one great degree of unworthinesse of a blessing to grow weary of it Why but there is a time for Warre as well as for Peace is there not Yes there is Eccles 3. And this time is in God to fit I make Peace and create evill Esa 45. And in the King to denounce and proclame But it is not Dies Belli the day of warre it selfe that can make voyd this duty Rogandi pacem of praying for Peace For since the eye of nature could see that the end of all just warre is but that men may live in a more just and safe Peace This Rogate pacem pray for Peace must bee in the heart even when the sword is in the hand I will not meddle with the State but there are many times in which God will punish and afflict his Church And may wee then Rogare pacem pray Peace for it Yes wee may nay wee must even then pray for Peace when his will is not to give it For first so much of his will as is revealed is here expressed to pray for Peace And that is a sufficient warrant to us even against that of his will which is not revealed so long till he reveale it For the will of God bindes us no longer nor no farther to Action than it is revealed The secret things belong to the Lord our God but the things revealed belong to us and our children that we may doe them Deut. 29. And againe Saint Augustine disputes it at large that a man may etiam voluntate bona with a will that is good will that which God will not And whatsoever hee may will voluntate bona with a good will that he may pray for so he submit to his will and rest when his will appears Besides who knowes so long as the secret of his will is to himselfe whether it be any more than Rogate pacem pray for Peace and have it For many times that which God will not give without prayer he will give with it And then the cause of Non pax is non rogant no peace because not prayed for And in that case the State and Church have not more misery in that there is not Peace than they have sin in that they might have had Peace for asking and would not pray for it Now this rule varies not We are never to neglect that which God hath revealed which here in our case is to pray for Peace upon any presumption of that which remaines secret Therefore the objection of the Puritan against our Church Letany in which we pray to be delivered from Famine and from Battell And against the prayer which followes it that we may bee hurt by no persecution as if it were an unlawfull prayer because it is somtimes Gods will to punish and afflict his Church is as ignorant as themselves For in the old Testament here is Davids call upon us Rogare pacem to pray for Peace And in the new there is Saint Pauls charge to pray that we may leade a quiet and peaceable life 1 Tim. 2. And hath the Church of England such ill lucke that it cannot doe as David and Saint Paul bids it but it must anger the Puritan Againe while you follow the Prophets exhortation and pray for Peace every kind of false worldly peace will not serve the turne For as Christ was at Pacem do vobis sed meam Peace but it is My peace that I give unto you S. John 14. So David the type of Christ would have you pray for Peace but His peace for Jerusalem And in this relation the words are generall Rogate pray for the peace of Ierusalem of the whole State of the whole Church It must not be broken in any corner of Ierusalem if it may be preserved A sedition or a schisme in a corner in a Conventicle which is the place where they are usually hatched will fier all if it be suffered For the State none doubts this and it is as true for the Church But where peace is truly laboured for and not had there the Apostles limitation Rom. 12. will helpe all Have peace with all men saith the Apostle but it followes si possibile if it be possible and Quantum in vobis as much as lies in you When we therefore pray for peace with all men and cannot get it Heathenisme and Turcisme and Judaisme and Heresie and Superstition and Schisme will not repent and come in we are quit by si possibile if we doe what is possible for their conversion And againe when any of these that have changed the truth of God into a lye would have us come over and make peace with them we are quit though we doe it not by quantum in nobis as much as lies in us For God hath not left it in our power to be at peace against his truth And therefore here is never a rogate no Counsell to pray for that Indeed peace against truth is not Pax Jerusalem a peace fit for the Church The Church of Rome
as he would have others pray so prayes he also for the selfe same thing for which he exhorts others to pray That is for peace Peace be within thee And it is an argument that his exhortation came heartily from him because he falls to it so close himselfe And it is an excellent thing full of honour to God and themselves when Rex Propheta the King and the Prophet goe first in prayer for the States and the Churches peace Now he prayes not for the peace of it alone but for that which followes peace the prosperity of it too He well knew that God hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servants Nor doth he so pray for the temporall peace of the State as that he forgets the spirituall peace of the Church Nor doth he so pray for the externall peace of either but that he preferres the inward and soul-peace of both Not peace without vertue for that is but a painted peace and therefore Saint Hil. will have them together Peace and Vertue Connexa sibi sunt must be knit together in Jerusalem For Vertue is the strength and preservative of Peace And wheresoever Vertue is not there Peace will bee the first that will abuse it selfe Not Peace without Faith For that is but a profane Peace and therefore Saint Hierom tells us it is Dominus Christus our Lord Christ that is the true Peace of both State and Church As if he so long before had foreseen and prayed for in these words Peace be within thee the comming of the Messiah And foresee it no question he did And I will not deny but that he prayed for it since neither Ierusalems peace could nor our peace can be firme without him But then if you aske me why so many States and Churches are divided for and about Christ and so not at peace the cause I must tell you is the sinne of men They divide and tear Christ first and then what wonder if they be divided about him Thirdly here is his prayer for peace and prosperity for Jerusalem for the State for the Church but whereabouts would he have these excellent blessings seated Where Why every where but especially in Muris Palatiis about the Wall and the Palace And they are excellently fitted He would have them spread all over Jerusalem But Loca Dominii the places of their exaltation are these in my Text the Wall and the Palace For Peace that keeps at the wall and so works inward to calme the City But the child of peace Prosperity that is borne after in the Palace and comes outward to inrich to the very Wall The strength of a City is in the Walles In Walles that are fenced and fortified with Turrets as Euthymius renders it therefore if a tempest of warre beate upon the walles of it possesse the strength of it there cannot be peace Therefore the Prayer is fit Sit pax in muris peace be within the walles And Davids prayer is as full as fit For the Church hath the same walls that the State hath It is in my Text. For it is in Muris Jerusalem in the walles of Jerusalem and the Temple stood within it And by reason of the knot which God himselfe hath knit between the bodies which is that the same men which in respect of one Allegiance make the Common-wealth doe in respect of one Faith make the Church the walles of the State cannot be broken but the Church suffers with it nor the walles and fences of the Church trampled upon but the State must be corrupted by it therfore the Prayer is full that Peace may sit upon the Walls that Prosperity may fill all that is within them Now neither the Walles of the State nor the Walles of the Church can keepe or defend themselves or that which they compasse There must be Men and they must keepe both the Wall and the Palace and the Peace Viri-Muri Men-Walles And among these all are not bound to equall care in preserving the Peace But as the greatest strength of the dead Walles is in Turribus in the Towers and Bulwarks so the greatest care in the living Walls lyes in Turribus in the Towers too upon those that are eminent in State and Church Now S. Hierome tells us plainly that for the State the Noble the wise the Valiant men they are the Towers And for the Church Saint Paul tells us the Apostles were the Pillars Gal. 2. And Saint Chrysost that the Priests are Muri Ecclesiae the Walls of the Church Here therefore the Prayer must goe home Davids did Peace be in these walls too For if these shall shake upon their foundations If these knock one against another there can be no firme Peace in either Body A wall-palsie is ever dangerous Fourthly when there is Peace in Muris Palatiis in the Wall and the Palace stayes either the Prayer for it or the benefit of it there No sure The benefit stayes not For the Peace of the Wall and the Palace is very diffusive All Ierusalem is the better for it presently Not the meanest in the body of the State not the lowest in the Body of the Church but they are the better or may be for this Peace And it is implyed in the Text For in Palatiis in the Palaces names indeed the Kings house but under that greater comprehends the lesse And S. Hierome expresseth it so and reades in Domibus prosperity in the Houses For the houses of Subjects cannot be empty of Peace when the Palace of the King is full This for the Benefit and Peace is no niggard of it selfe Then the rule is Where the benefit goes on and multiplies there must not be a stop in the prayer that must goe on too as Davids did Peace be within the walls Fiftly The forme of this prayer Sit pax in muris Peace be within the walls and Prosperity within the Palaces tells us that Jerusalem had both these And no doubt can be made but that Jerusalem that State that Church had both And to this day as little doubt there is of civill States muros habent Palatia they have both Walles and Palaces But for the Church sacrilege in many places makes all the haste it can to frustrate this prayer that there may be nor Palaces nor Walles for Peace or Plenty to be in Doubtlesse this ceremoniall Church will rise in Judgment against the pillage of Christendome For the children of that Church left not their Mother without Walles for defence not without Palaces for honour Ye see it is plaine in my Text. But many Children of the substantiall Church have shewed themselves base and unnaturall Palaces no Cottages are good enough As if it were a part of Religion that Christ and his Priests must have lesse honour in the substance than they had in the ceremony And yet when I consider better I begin to thinke it is fit the Priests house
Kingdome And 't is not Juda onely but all Kingdomes of the Earth are subject to melting The many changes of the world have Preach'd this over and over That whatsoever hath Earth to the foundation is subject to dissolution And the Sermon is still made upon this Text Terra liquefacta est The Earth is dissolved Now usually before melting there goes a Heate And so it was Hos 8. A fire first and then the melting of Israel There neither is nor can be any Kingdome but it hath many Heates These are most felt by them that are at the working of the State But these are all quite above me save to pray for their temper and I will not further meddle with them Heates then there are but all Heates are not by and by a Furnace nor are all Furnaces able to melt and dissolve States No God forbid Not all but yet some there are that can melt any Kingdome especially two The one of these Heates is Sinne great and multiplied sinne For saith S. Augustine delinquere est de liquido fluere To sinne is to melt and drop away from all steddinesse in vertue from all foundation of Justice And here a State melts inward there 's little seen yet The other is Gods punishment for these sinnes For that makes empty cities and a desolate Land And there a State melts outwardly and in view And by this we have found what and who it is that melts great and glorious Kingdomes In the Text there 's no more than liquefacta est the earth is disolved not a word by whom or for what But it is expressed ver 7. that it is by God And it is too well knowne that it is for sinne and for great sinne too For as there goes sin before God heates so there goe great and multiplied sins before God makes his fire so hot as to melt or dissolve a Kingdome The sinnes of the Amorite not yet full therefore not yet cast into the melting pot But so soone as their sinnes were full their State melted The fruit of it from above and the root of it from beneath all destroyed And this was not the Amorites case onely for all Stories are full of it That when States have melted into wanton and lustfull sinnes they have not long after dissolved into desolation For as S. Hierom observes that course God holds with impious and impenitent Kingdomes as well as men absque discretione personaruus without any difference of persons or places Well when 't is Terra liquefacta when a Kingdome dissolves and melts what then What why then no man is in safety till it settle againe not a man For the Text goes on The earth is dissolved and all that dwell therein All men then to seeke what to doe the wisest to seeke and the strongest to seeke All. And it must needs be so For so long as a State is Terra like solide ground men know where to set their footing and it is not every Earth quake that swallowes the place But when it is once Terra liquefacta molten and dissolved there is no footing no foundation then I sticke fast in the myre where no ground is Psal 69. and myre is but terra liquefacta molten and dissolved earth All foule then and no foundation And when a Kingdome melts indeed that is both wayes In sinne and under punishment there 's great reason the inhabitants should melt with it into feare into danger into ruine For God never puts his fire to the melting of a State but for sin and sinne that is never committed by the dead State but by the living For when a fruitfull land is made barren it is for the wickednesse of them that dwell therein And therefore there is great reason when the earth dissolves that the inhabitants should all sweat and melt too When David came to the Crown 't was thus How is it now Why if you take the earth at large for the Kingdomes about you out of question there hath been liquefactio a melting in the earth and many Kingdomes have sweat blood But if you take the earth for the State at home then 't is high time to magnifie God First for the Renowned Religious and peaceable Reigne of our late dread Soveraigne of blessed Memory who for so many yeeers together kept this Kingdome in peace and from melting And secondly that now in the change of Princes which is not the least occasion for a State to melt we live to see a miracle Change without Alteration Another King but the same life-expression of all the Royall and Religious Vertues of his Father and no sinewes shrinking or dissolving in the State If you aske me the cause of this happinesse I can direct you to no other but God and God in mercy For as for the Kingdome that is made of the same Earth with others and is consequently subject to the same dissolution And as for us that dwell therein I doubt our sins have beene as clamorous upon God to heate his fire and make it fall on melting as the sinnes of them that inhabit other Countreys And though I doubt not but God hath the sure mercies of David in store for the King and will never faile him yet if Habitatores in eâ they that dwell in this good and happy soile will burden it and themselves with sinne great sinne multiplied sinne unrepented sinne it will not be in the power or wisdome or courage or piety of a King to keepe the State from melting For David was all these and yet liquefacta est terra the Earth was as good as dissolved for all that And therefore that this Kingdome is not a melting too I can give no firme reason but God and his Mercy For he is content to give longer day for repentance and repentance is able to doe all things with God And the time calls apace for repentance The Heavens they melt into unseasonable weather and the Earth melts and dissolves her Inhabitants into infectious humours and there 's no way to stay these meltings but by melting our selves in and by true repentance Would you then have a setled and a flourishing State Would you have no melting no dissolution in the Church I know you would it is the honourable and religious designe of you all Why but if you would indeed The King must trust and indeere his people The people must honour obey and support their King Both King and Peeres and People must religiously serve and honour God Shut out all Superstition on Gods Name the farther the better but let in no prophanenesse therewhile If this be not done take what care you can God is above all humane wisdome and in some degree or other there will be Liquefactio terrae a melting or a waste both in Church and State And this falls in upon the second generall part of the Text which is The Remedy as it was then with the Jewes the
be known that due may be performed unto it Now the Cause of God meant here though it be proposed as Causa una one cause yet 't is very large and comprehends many particulars under it Some directly concerne God and some onely by reflex But God is so tender of his Iustice and his Honour that nothing can so much as touch upon him but 't is Gods cause presently In as much as ye have done it or not done it to one of these little ones you have done it or not done it to mee S. Matt. 25. And so goes the Text Gods Cause all and but one whether it be directed against him or reflected upon him Whether it be the Reproach which the Sonne of God suffered for us Or the troubles and afflictions which we suffer for him 't is Gods Cause still and accounted as one As one And yet I finde three things agreed upon to be principally contain'd in this Cause of God First the Magistrate and his Power and Justice And resist either of these and ye resist the power and the ordinance of God Rom. 13. There 's Gods cause plaine And the Eye of nature could see Aliquid Divinum somewhat that was divine in the Governours and Orderers of Common-wealths In their very Office In as much as theyare singled out to be the Ministers of divine Providence upon Earth And are expresly called the Officers of Gods Kingdome Sap. 6. And therefore the Schoole concludes that any the least irreverence of a King as to dispute of his Iudgements And whether we ought to follow and obey him Sacrilegium dicitur is justly extended to be called Sacrilege And since all Sacrilege is a violation of some thing that is holy it is evident that the Office and Person of the King is sacred Sacred and therefore cannot be violated by the Hand Tongue or Heart of any Man that is by deed word or thought But 't is Gods cause and he is violated in him And here Kings may learne if they will I am sure 't is fit they should that those Men which are sacrilegious against God and his Church are for the very Neigbourhood of the sin the likeliest men to offer violence to the Honour of Princes first and their Persons after Secondly the cause of the Church in what kind soever it be Be it in the cause of truth or in the cause of unity or in in the cause of Right and meanes 't is Gods cause too And it must needes be so For Christ and his Church are Head and Body Ephes 1. And therefore they must needs have one common cause One cause And you cannot corrupt the Church in her Truth or persecute her for it nor distract her from her Vnity nor impoverish and abuse her in her Meanes but God suffers in the oppression Nay more no man can wilfully corrupt the Church in her doctrine but he would have a falfe God Nor persecute the profession of the Church but he would have no God Nor rent the Church into Sects but he would have many Gods Nor make the Church base but he would pluck GOD as lowe were God as much in his power as the Church is And therefore the Churches Cause is Gods Cause And as Eusebius tells us when by Stephen Bishop of Laodicea the state of that Church was much hazarded it and the meanes of it were mightily upheld by God himselfe And Elias Cretensis goes full upon it in the generall 'T is Gods cause any controversie that he debates against his Enemies Now this ever holds true in whatsoever the Church suffers for the name of God and Christ And therefore if either State or Church will have their cause Gods the State must looke their proceedings be just and the Church must looke their Devotions and Actions be pious Else if the State be all in worme-wood and Injustice if the Church savour of impurity and irreligion If either of these threaten either Body neither can can call upon God then For sinne is their owne and the Devills cause no cause of Gods who punishes sinne ever but never causes it Thirdly 'T is Gods cause which is directly against himselfe when Injustice that he will not or weaknesse that he cannot Arise and Helpe are most unworthily nay blasphemously cast upon him The very Text you see calls it no lesse than blasphemy And as S. Basil tells us 't was audacter effusa most audaciously cast into the face of God But how I pray How why they persecuted the Church of Christ with great extremities and then because God did not alwayes and in all particulars deliver it Deum ut infirmum traducebant they accused God of Impotencie Rabsaches case before Christ in the flesh Which of the Gods have delivered the Nations that serve them that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem 4 Reg. 18. Pilates case to Christ Have not I power to crucifie thee and power to loose thee S. Joh. 19. Julians case after Christ For while he raged against the Christians hee turn'd the contumely upon God And charg'd omnipotence with weakenesse So you see the Cause of God what it is and withall that it is many and but one Many in the circumference of his creatures which fill up the State and the Church and yet but one in the point of that indivisible Center which is himselfe Well we have found Gods cause as 't is tumbled upon the earth But what is it the Prophet would have God doe to it What Why that followes Iudica Pleade it Judge it Maintaine it Lord. For the King and the State For thy Church and Service For thy selfe and thine honours sake Thou hast made their cause thine owne therefore maintaine it as thou doest thine owne Now this God is never wanting to doe nor never will be So farre as Justice and Religion make the cause his he will Plead it first and Maintaine it after But yet he doth not this alwayes with a Judgement that is visible to us Nor with such a one as will make enemies confesse that Gods maintenance is on our part And therefore as Ruffinus thinkes these words are not onely a Prayer that God would Arise and maintaine his cause but that he would so plead it that he would make the Justice and Right of it appeare to Enemies and Opposers and the maintenance evident to friends and defenders of it So maintaine thy Cause is as much in effect as make the world know 't is thine and thou wilt maintaine it That from Gods maintenance the cause may have lafety And from our hope of maintenance we may receive Comfort Why but why should God plead judge and maintaine his owne Cause Is the Prayer of the Prophet just Yes no question For the Cause of God is ever just and therefore ought ever to be maintained Nor is it any partiality in God to his owne Cause that he comes to judge it But he is forced
made the Object of our Prayers Yet this advantage may here be had If ever you may safely prefer the person before the cause and yet be just you may doe it here God before his owne cause And the reason is because God as he can never tender an unjust cause to his People so is he Justice it selfe And ever juster than any cause of his that is without him Therefore whatsoever others doe Arise O God and maintaine thy selfe and thine owne cause Maintaine it even from Heaven there 's no great trust to the Earth for that is full of darknesse and cruel habitations ver 21. Now all this while we have almost forgotten who 't is that makes this Prayer Saint Hierom tels me and he is not alone in the opinion the Psalme was Davids and therefore the Prayer too As a Prophet he foresaw the danger and as a King he went on directly to the highest remedy And though Kings now are not Prophets yet 't is a great blessing upon any Kingdome to have the King a Seer so farre as is possible To have him with both eyes open His right eye open and up to heaven for God to maintaine him And his other eye downwards but open upon his People to take care of them and maintaine them with the same support that he hath received from God And herein above other Nations we are blesed this day I say againe Above other Nations if we can see our blessing and be thankefull For the King keepes his eye as steddy upon God as if he had no helpe below him And yet at the same time as gracious an eye upon his People to relieve their just grievances as if he were more ready to helpe them than to receive helpe from them Let not your hearts be troubled neither feare S. Joh. 14. Here are two Kings at once at Prayer for you David and your owne King They are up and calling upon God to Arise For shame Lagge not behinde God and your King You have been and I hope are a valiant Nation let nothing dead your spirits in Gods and your Countries Service And if any man drop malignant poyson into your Eares powre it back into his owne bosom And Sir as you were first up and summon'd the Church to awake and have sounded an Alarum in the Eares of your People Not that they should Fast and Pray and serve God alone but goe with you into the House of the Lord so goe on to serve your Preserver Your Merit and the Noblenesse of your heart will glew the hearts of your People to you And your Religious care of Gods cause and service will make him I doubt not Arise and haste to the maintenance of your Cause as of his owne Onely in these and all times of difficulty be strong and of a good courage keepe close to the Law of the Lord. Be full of Counsell and then resolute to Act it Else if you shall not be firme to deliberated Counsells they which are bound to serve you may seeke and finde opportunities to serve themselves upon you This doe and God Arise and be with you as he was with Moses Jos 1. This doe and as S. Chrysost speakes Aut non habebis Inimicum aut irridebis eum Either you shall have no Enemy or you shall be able to scorne him the world over The second thing which the Prophet would have God doe when he is risen is that he would Remember how the foolish man blasphemeth him daily The Enemies of Gods Truth and of the peace of his People it seemes doe not onely seek to overthrow his Cause but base and uncivilly irreligious as they are they fly upon his Person too For so you see the Text changes from the Thing to the Person Maintain thy cause but remember the Reproach runs against thy selfe They blaspheme thee And by this you may see how dangerous a thing it is for any Men or any States to become Enemies to the Cause of God For sinne will not stay till it have wrought them farther even into enmity against God himselfe And therefore this sin here a high and a presumptuous sin is not called the presumption of them that hate Gods Cause but of them which hate God himselfe ver 24. Presumption easily falls to Reproach goodnesse it selfe But what Reproach is it these Enemies cast upon God What Why 't was in the highest degree 'T was Blasphemy For so Saint Basil renders my Text. And so 't is called againe Ver. 11. 19 You may be sure the Prophet mistook it not It went not single there were more than one and Theodoret calls them Execrations Cursings and Revilings of God And men of all sorts as well as usurping Enemies had need be watchfull over this sinne For a man may quickly be within the borders â—o it before he be aware especially â—â—he be bold and busie with the Cause of God as it is reserved and secret in himselfe For since all Blasphemy is a Derogation of some Excellencie chiefly in God the Schoole collects and truly That whosoever denies to God any attribute that is due unto him or affirmes any of God that is not agreeable to his Nature is within the Confines of Blasphemy Entred though perhaps not so farre gone But these Enemies it seems stuck at no degree of Blasphemy Spared God himselfe no more than his Cause And what reason can this State of Church have to thinke these Enemies or their like that spared not God nor his Cause will if they have power enough spare them or theirs But I pray who or what manner of Enemy was it that made thus bold with God Who why my Text answers that too Stultus fuit it was the foolish Man And you may know so much by his boldnesse We find Psal 14. There was a Foole that blasphemed God But 't was in his heart Out of his mouth he durst not let it goe not once And this Foole was in the same feare at first For his Blasphemy kept in his heart ver 9. But now he was grown impudent it brake out at his Lipps For as S. Basil and others observe he did Palam maledicere Blaspheme at large The Prophet no question knew these Enemies what they were that they had other names beside Fools But he fits them with their Name of Merit That they deserved that he gives them I told you these Enemies were cunning subtill Enemies And 't is true But Malignity against Gods cause and Blasphemy against his Person will make the greatest Wisdome in the world turne Foole. And Follie dares adventure any thing against Man Nay against God too which is alike true of the Foole at home and the Foole abroad The Prophet pray'd against their Enemies as we doe now against ours O my God make them as a wheele Psal 83. And see in what a wheele they are The worst that ever moved For their Blasphemy
carries their Wisdome round into Folly And their Folly turnes their malice round into higher degrees of Blasphemy Thus is this Enemy no sooner a Blasphemer but a Foole And no sooner a Foole but a greater Blasphemer So Blasphemy is punished with Folly and Folly with Blasphemy There 's the wheele both in the sin and the punishment And I pray observe These Enemies that beset Gods Cause at Jerusalem were a Nation And so some reade here Not the Foolish man but the Foolish People And a powerfull Nation they were were they Babilonians Syrians or Romanes And one of them they were And yet you see the Prophet gives them no other no better name then Fool when they violently persecute Gods Cause Indeed they deserve it And this Sinne is as able to Foole a whole Nation as a particular Man Nay the holy Ghost here speakes of them as of one Man As if Blasphemie could change a whole Nation into one Foole. And surely 't is no hard thing with God to make the wisdome of the whole world foolishnesse 1 Cor. 1. And 't is as easie with him to confound the wisdome of a whole Nation as of one Achitophell And see I beseech you how their sinnes continue Once a Foole in this kinde and an Enemie to Gods Cause and a Blasphemer of his Person ever after without a great deale of mercy And this is noted in the circumstance Tota Die and Quotidie Daily and all the day long at this Blasphemy And 't is usuall this with Enemies All the day For their studdy is upon it And every day For these Enemies were the same in Blasphemy The day of their preparation The day of their Fight and the day of their Victory And Ruffinus observes that this Blasphemy grew in the continuance And either it derided God in his Servants or it menaced men for serving God How it flatter'd it selfe there while against both Man and God is thus farre apparent in the Text That they never durst have beene daily Blaspemers against God if they had not beene Opinators at least that God could never have maintained and made good his cause against them It is too much to see the cause of God opposed To heare the name of GOD Blasphemed were it but once But all the day long and every day is a Tentation almost unsupportable to Christian and religious hearts Yet this we must be Inur'd to heare against King and Church and God himselfe if we take not better course than hitherto we have done to keepe out the Enemy and his Blaspehmy Against this 't was time for the Prophet and 't is time for us to pray The Blasphemy of an Enemie is a very urgent Motive to make Men pray And the Prayer of the Prophet here that God would remember the Blasphemer was very fervent For he begins this Prayer at Remember the Rebuke of the Enemy ver 20. And he ends his Prayer with Remember the Blasphemy of this Fool ver 23. Remember and forget it not ver 24. This was the Prophet's Zeale for Gods Cause and you may learne by it that cold Prayers are not they which remove the Blasphemy of Enemies The Prayers indeed of but one righteous Man doth much but 't is when they are fervent Saint Jaco 5. But you will say What needes all this calling upon God to Remember Is it possible he should forget not possible certainely But then as before Though God cannot sleepe Yet to awaken not him but our poore understanding concerning him the Prayer was Arise O God So here though God cannot forget yet because in his providence he sometimes carries himselfe to our sense and apprehension Ad modum obliviscentis as if he did forget and threatens that he will forget Oblivione obliviscar eorum Ose 1. Forgeting I will forget them Therefore here againe the Prayer runnes after the manner of men Arise O Lord yes and Remember too Why but since here 's Enmity against the Cause of God and Blasphemy against himself why doth the Prophet aske no more of God but that he would Remember this Why why certainly 't is because there 's abundantly enough of that He knew if God did Remember he would punish And as S. Jerome observes hee therefore Remembers that he may confound in Judgement And indeede in Gods Language to Marke and Remember is many times to punish and not to Remember is to forgive sinne If thou Lord shouldest be extreme to marke and observe that is to punish What is done amisse Psal 130. And the Church hath learn'd not onely to speake but to pray of the Prophet For so the Church prayes in the Letany Not punish not but Remember not Lord our offences And therefore the Prophets Prayer was home enough Remember Lord Yes doe but that and we either have or shall have enough and our enemies too We I hope of deliverance and preservation and they of punishment Thus you have heard the Prophets prayer and I hope made your owne that God would Arise and bestir himselfe And what he desired God would doe both for State and Church when he was Risen that is That he would plead and maintaine his owne Cause And Remember that is punish in his owne time the Blasphemy of all them that reproach or detract from it or him One thing yet remaines and 't is fit to be thought upon this day every day all the day long And that is what it it is that makes God a Protector of any King any State any Nationall Church against either in-bred or forraine Enemies Against the Fox at home and the Lion abroad And that certainly is for the State to goe on with Honour and Iustice And for the Church to labour Devotion as much at least if not more then knowledge For else Gods Cause and ours may be two And then God may Arise and maintaine his owne but leave us to the Famine to the Pestilence to the Sword to any other Judgement The onely way to make God Arise as soone as ever we call Nay to prevent our call and come in to helpe before we pray is for both King and People State and Church to weave their Cause and Gods together To incorporate them so that no cunning of the Devil may be able to separate them For then the benefit is apparent God cannot Arise and maintaine his owne cause but he must maintaine ours too because 't is one with his And his owne doubt you not he will maintaine against the proudest Enemy that can come against it And certainly the greatest hope and confidence of Gods Assistance to any Nation to any Man that can precede deliverance it selfe is to make their Cause all one with Gods And that is done by upholding his and conforming theirs Our safety then is when our cause is one with Gods Our danger when they differ But what is it that puts the difference between them What why that which put the
his Church purchased by one bloud to be One Body made more made other than One. And for the Common-Wealth A people is as one City yet such a one saith Saint Augustine cui est periculosa dissentio as to whom all breach of Unity is full of danger For Church and State together It was a grievous Rent among the Jewes when Manasses devoured Ephraim Ephraim Manasses and both fell upon Judah Esay 9. What followed was God pleased with this or were the Tribes in safety that were thus divided No sure For it followes The wrath of the Lord was not turn'd away but his hand was stretched out still Still How long was that How long Why Till Ephraim and Manasses which could not agree at home were with the rest of the ten Tribes carried away into perpetuall captivity And Esay lived to see his Prophecy fulfilled upon them For they were carried away by Salmanasar in the sixt yeere of Hezekiah when Esay flourished This wrath of the Lord was fierce and the people dranke deepe of this Cup. Therefore I goe a farre off both for time and place to fetch this Instance And doe you take care not to bring it neerer home And I pray observe it too The hand of God was stretched out upon Ephraim and Manasses but there 's no mention which was the first or which the greater offender Ephraim or Manasses What 's the Reason 'T is because the breach of unity scarce leaves any Innocent and the hand of God is stretched out upon all I presse Vnity hard upon you pardon me this Zeale O that my thoughts could speak that to you that they doe to God or that my tongue could expresse them but such as they are Or that there were an open passage that you might see them as they pray faster than I can speak for Vnity But what then will any kinde of Vnity serve the turne Surely any will doe much good But the best is fafest and that is the Vnity of the Spirit The learned are not altogether agreed here what is meant by the Vnity of the Spirit For some thinke no more is meant by it than a bare concord and agreement in minde and will Let 's keepe this and both Church and State shall have a great deale of freedome from danger But others take the Vnity of the Spirit to be that spirituall concord which none doth none can worke in the hearts of men but the Holy Ghost And I am apter to follow this sense because if you take it for a bare agreement in judgement Saint Paul had said enough by naming Vnity He needed have made no Addition of the Spirit And because in the Text 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which for the most points out the Holy Spirit And because else Saint Pauls words which Bucer calls Ardentia verba zealous and burning words adde nothing to any even the coldest exhortation of the Heathen to Vnity The Vnity then of the Spirit to which the Apostle exhorts includes both Both concord in minde and affections and love of charitable unity which comes from the Spirit of God and returnes to it And indeede the Grace of Gods Spirit is that alone which makes men truly at peace and unity one with another Ei tribuendum non Nobis To him it is to be attributed not to us saith Saint Augustine T is he that makes men to be of one mind in an house Psal 68. Now one mind in the Church and one mind in the State come from the same fountaine with One mind in an house All from the Spirit And so the Apostle cleerely ver 4. One Body and one Spirit that is One Body by one Spirit For 't is the Spirit that joynes all the members of the Church into one Body And 't is the Church that blesses the State not simply with unity but with that unity with which it selfe is blessed of God A State not Christian may have Vnity in it Yes And so may a State that hath lost all Christianity save the Name But Vnity of the Spirit nor Church nor State can longer hold than they doe in some measure obey the Spirit and love the Vnity This Vnity of the Spirit is closer than any corporall union can be For Spirits meete where bodies cannot and neerer than Bodies can The Reason is given by Saint Chrysostome Because the Soule or Spirit of man is more simple and of one forme And the Soule apter in it selfe to Vnion is made more apt by the Spirit of God which is One and loves nothing but as it tends to One Nay as the Spirit of God is One and cannot dissent from it selfe no more ought they whom the Spirit hath joyn'd in One and the Spirit hath joyn'd the Church in One Therefore he that divides the Unity of the Church practices against the Unity of the Spirit Now this Vnity of the Spirit so called because it proceedes from the Spirit of Grace continues in Obedience to it and in the end brings us to the Spirit that gave it is the cause of all other unity that is good and the want of it the Cause of all defects in Vnity The presence of it is the Cause of all unity that is good Of all within the Church no man doubts But 't is of all without the Church too For no Heathen men or States did ever agree in any good thing whatsoever but their Vnity proceeded from this Spirit and was so far forth at least a unity of the Spirit And for States that are Christian and have mutuall relations to the Church that is in them S. Gregories Rule is true The unity of the State depends much upon the peace and unity of the Church therefore upon the guidance of the same Spirit And as the presence of the Vnity of the Spirit is the Cause of all Vnity that is good So the want of it is the cause of all defects in Vnity For as in the Body of a man the Spirit holds the members together but if the Soule depart the members fall a sunder So 't is in the Church saith Theophilact and so in the State So little unity then in Christendome as is is a great Argument that the Spirit is grieved and hath justly withdrawne much of his influence And how is the Spirit grieved How why sure by our neglect if not contempt of Him as He is One. For as he is the Spirit of fortitude Esay 11. there wee 'l have him he shall defend us in warre And as he is the Spirit of Wisdome there wee 'l have him too he shall governe us in peace But as he is One Spirit and requires that we keepe his Vnity there wee 'l none of him though we know right well that without Vnity peace cannot continue nor warre prosper One unity there is take heed of it 't is a great Enemy to the Vnity of the Spirit both in Church and Common-wealth S. Basil
when they are condemned by it So cleare that no intangled cause can cloud it no corner sinne can avoid it And this way againe no King is capable of Gods Light because that is a thing in communicable as his substance as essentiall as he But Iustice as it is given to a King is but Lucerna but a Candle-Light an imparted Light a Light that is kindled and set up in a materiall substance so darkned with dregs yet even this Light Kings must pray for and it is but need they should for if God give not even this Light it is impossible the King should see how to doe Iustice or that he should discerne how to execute those judgements that God hath given him Therefore the Lighting up of this Candle in the heart of the King the Light of Iustice and Iudgement is a marvellous blessing and God himselfe accounts it so and it appears First because among the many threatnings that he thunders out against rebellions people this is one that he will take from them the Light of a Candle Ier. 25. he wil not leave them so much light and it was so for Gods Iudgement departed away from the King the King lost the Kingdome and the people were lead away in darknesse to captivity So you may see what it is to want this light of judgement in a King Secondly it appeares to be great by the promises of God for among the many professions that he makes to this glorious King David this was one that he had ordained a light for him Psal 132. So then you see by the presence of this light what the benefit is to have it But then still Kings themselves and the people must remember it is but Lucerna but a Candle lighted at that great light the Lampe of God And being but a Candle light it is easily blowne out if God keepe not his light about the King to renew it and if God provide not a fence for this Light of Iustice against the winds of temptation that bluster about it Therefore our old English Translation reads that place in the Psalme happily I have provided saith that Translation not onely a light but a Lanthorn for mine Annointed to carry this Light And this improves the blessing a great deale further For there is no carrying of this Light without the Lanthorne of Gods owne ordaining the temptations that beset the King are so many and so strong that except this Lanthorn defend the light all the light of Iustice and judgment will out And this Lanthorn is so hard to make that God himselfe must ordaine it or else the King cannot have it for who can fence and keepe in Gods blessings but himselfe Therefore David here went very right in his prayer marvellous right both for himselfe and for his Son da Domine Give Lord not the light of thy judgement and justice onely but give the Lanthorne too for thine Anointed that he may be able with honour to carry thorow this Light of Iustice and Iudgement before his people And let me me tell you one thing more that filius regis the Kings Son here is not onely a fit object of his Fathers prayers but of yours too for the peoples prayers as well as the Kings for filius regis is filius regni too the Son of the King is the Son of the Kingdome his Fathers Son by nature but the Kingdomes Son by right all the subjects having equall interest in the Iustice and Iudgement of the Kings Son Therefore while David prayes pray you also that God would give his judgements to the King and his righteousnesse to the Kings Sonne I and where ever there is want for a Kings Son to succeed and inherit his Father surely it is a marke that God is somewhat angry with a people For if God doe not sometime divert the judgements and sometime lessen them when there is not a Son to succeed that judgment nsually is a fore-runner of sorrows of sorrowes sometimes that men can neither see nor prevent I know they may easily foresee that troubles may follow us but of what kinde they shall be to what greatnesse they shall increase how long they shall continue what trembling they may make at the very foundation of a State whether it will please God to give them an issue or not an issue I suppose none can tell but God himselfe Therefore still let the prayer be exprest in what person it will let it be made by the King or by the people or by both all shall goe well so wee pray and give thanks heartily for the King and the Kings Sonne I must break off the rest Thus you have seene David praying for himselfe and his Sonne That it is an excellent thing to find a King at his prayers that his prayers cannot better begin than for himselfe nor better proceed than for his Sonne nor be piously made to any but God nor for a more necessary kingly vertue than justice and judgement nor with more wisdome than for the joyning of Gods judgement to morall justice for that will ever be the setling of the Kings throne and the honour and safety of the King himselfe This day is the day of the Kings crowning many yeares may it sit on his head and crown all his dayes thorow with justice and judgement and this solemnity in observing with prayer and devotion to God the initiall dayes of the Crownes of Kings is old as well as any other For Tertullian tells us that it was a practice long before his time I and even they which serve no true God Infidels themselves were upon such dayes as this at their vows and prayers to such Gods as they had for the happinesse and safety of their Princes and I hope we shall never fall short of Infidels in our prayers to God for the security and happinesse of the King but we shall take up the prayer here as David begins it Give thy judgements to the King O God and thy righteousnesse to the Kings Sonne And it is the best solemnity of this day to pray for the King This is the day of the Kings crowning and yet as I have not already so neither shall I now break out into any large panegyricks and prayses no not of a gracious King But I come hither to preach a kinde of Gospel to you even glad tydings that God in the mercies of Christ whose the Gospell is hath given you a wise and just and religious King a King whom God hath enabled to wind up all his other vertues in patience within himselfe and clemency towards his people A King made by God for so I hope not onely to beare for that he hath done enough already but to master the great difficulties of his time at home and abroad that so his people may not onely be but may live and flourish in peace and plenty This is the day of the Kings crowning and though not just upon this day yet within the