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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A85833	An exhortation to peace: with an intimation of the prime enemies thereof, lately delivered in a sermon, and newly published with some small addition, by Lionell Gatford, B.D. rector of Dinnington in Suffolke, now a prisoner in Ely-house in Holborne.	Gatford, Lionel, d. 1665.	1643 (1643)	Wing G333; Thomason E94_1; ESTC R2004	27,384	44

their voices like Trumpets not to shew the people their transgression and the house of Jacob their sinnes which they have a commission for Isa 58.1 but to sound an alarme and to incite to warre for which I beleeve they have no particular Commission and their generall Commission I am sure is quite contrary they being sent to proclaime and publish and so to incite unto and perswade peace and not warres One he cryes out in Moses words Exod. 32.29 consecrate your selves to day to the Lord even every man upon his sonne and upon his brother c. forgetting that though he be allowed to sit in Moses seat yet the use of Moses sword is denied him much lesse hath he the command thereof besides Moses though he were the supreme Magistrate urged a particular command from God for what he then incited unto v. 27. whereas this Levit excluded all Magistracy cannot shew the least authority so much as from Moses for what he cals for Another makes bold with Davids words 1 Chron. 22.16 Arise and be doing arise and be doing What I beseech him Would he have the people build an house to the Lord For it was to that purpose that David used those words to his son Solomon I am afraid Gods house is not so well beloved of him no rather arise and be pulling downe Gods house orarise and be plundering thy neighbours house this I beleeve comes somewhat neere his meaning I am sure as neere as his does Davids A third ecchoes forth that bitter curse of the Angel of the Lord against Meroz Iudg. 5.23 Curse ye Meroz said the Angel of the Lord curse ye bitterly the Inhabitants thereof because they came not to the help of the Lord to the help of the Lord against the mighty And observe how pertinently and punctually he applies it the case of the Merozits as you may read Iudg. cap 4. and 5. stood thus Iabin King of Canaan with his people the Canaanites farre greater and mightier then Israel had twenty yeers together mightily oppressed Israel then Deborah a Prophetesse in Israel and one that was supreme Iudge in Israel at that time upon a particular expresse command from God besides Gods general command long before given for the utter destroying of the Canaanites making no covenant with them and shewing no mercy to them Deu. 7.1 2. cals to Barak to gather together ten thousand men of the Children of Napthaly and Zebulum the two Tribes that were neeerest him and to encounter with Iabins mighty Host at such a place assuring him that the Lord would deliver that great Host into his hand Now because the Merozites were neere at hand and yet would not come out and shew themselves in the assisting and helping forward this designe thus commanded by the Lord whatsoever cause else there were unrevealed the Angel of the Lord denounced this heavy curse against them saying curse ye Meroz curse ye bitterly the Inhabitants therof c. against them I say the Angel of the Lord denounced this curse and against them onely though sundry other Tribes came not out to this help besides them as Ruben who abode among the sheepefolds and Gilead or Manassch who abode beyond Iordan and Dan who remained in ships and Asher who continued on the sea shore and abode in his breaches Iudg. 5.16.17 None of these came to this help of the Lord and yet they were at the most but reproved or marked for it by the spirit of God not cursed by the Angel of the Lord as the Merozites were Now compare our present case with theirs doth any Idolatrous King and his people farre more mighty and potent then we oppresse our Israel Are he and his people such as are commanded by Gods command to be utterly destroyed and no covenant to be made with them nor mercy shewn them Or is there any expresse particular command from the Lord at this present for the raising an Army against them with an assured promise of victory over them And doth the supreme Iudge in our Israel call to any to put this command in execution Let all these or any of these be shewne and when they are let him blame those that doe not come to the help of the Lord but let him then also take heed of cursing any more of them then the Angel of the Lord commandes him to curse lest the curse fall upon his owne head for cursing Gods owne Israel and perverting Gods Word to the justifying his owne cursing contrary to Gods command A fourth he thunders out that curse Ier. 48.10 Cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood but from what blood doth he meane Doth he meane from the blood of Moabites whose King had formerly hired Balaam to curse Gods Israel Numb 22. and whose daughters had tempted Israel to commit whoredome with them to the great provoking of the Lord against them Numb 25 Doth he mean from the blood of Moabites whose Kings and people both had at sundry times sorely oppressed Israel and are now themselves for those and other their impieties destined to utter ruine by an expresse decree from the Lord Doth he I say meane the blood of such when he rends his throat with roaring out a curse against those that shall keepe back their sword from blood If so he doth in something resemble the Prophet yet 't is not unknowne to a meane Divine that the Prophets are not to be imitated in every thing which they did or said witnesse Elijah's act in calling for fire from Heaven 2 King 1. which when the Disciples of Christ would have imitated Christ severely rebuked them for it Luk. 9.54 55. But alas is it not other blood that this blood-hound hunts after Is it not the blood of Christians Is it not the blood of Protestants Is it not the blood of those that are of the same blood with us Nay I pray God the best blood amongst us the Blood Royall it selfe be not too much hankered after by him I am sure the sword would put but little difference and the bullet lesse betwixt that and other blood in a common battell did not the Lord both of sword bullet and battell in his more then ordinary love and care of such blood guide them all otherwise then bloody men aime and intend them Besides to whom is this charge given not to hold back the sword from blood upon perill of a curse for that 's also worthy our taking notice Is it to the Heathen such as the Babylonians were to whom the Prophet there speakes or as some Expositors would have it who are there brought in by the Prophet as speaking it themselves No 't is to Christians t is to Protestants 't is to English-men that this new Prophet speakes he would have us for whom Christ was made a curse and shed his own most precious blood to reconcile us to God think our selves to be accursed if we should with-hold our swords from that cursed act of shedding

one anothers blood Well then may learned and pious O Ecolampadius his intimation given upon those very words be made our observation Seditiosi hunc versum pro se trahunt sed declarant quod Babylonijs similes sint imo licet dicas inferiores quod nullum habeant mandatum a domino c. Seditious men wrest this verse to serve their owne seditions humors but they herein declare themselves to be like the Babylontans those so much abominated cruell Heathen nay thou maist say farre worse then they for that these have no command to take up those words which the Babylonians had And thus what Ezekiel said of the Prophets of Jerusalem Ezek. 22.25 28. is found by wofull experience too true of too many of the Prophets of this Nation There is a conspiracy of her Prophets in the midst thereof like a roaring lyon ravening the prey they have devoured soules they have taken the treasure and precious things they have made her many widowes in the midst thereof They have dawbed her Princes with untempered morter seeing vanity and divining lies unto them saying thus saith the Lord God when the Lord hath not spoken Or to take up the complaint of the Prophet Jeremiah Cap. 5. v. 30 31. A wonderfull and horrible thing is committed in the Land the Prophets prophesie falsly and the Priests beare rule or as it is in the margin take into their hands by their meanes and my people love to have it so and what will ye doe in the end thereof What will ye doe in the end thereof Nay I leave that to God to dispose and to you to expect Onely for further caution to my selfe and fellow-preachers suffer me in a word more to shew how ill-beseeming and incongruous if not wicked and pernitious it is for us Preachers of the Gospell suppose we did avoid those grosse exorbitances now mentioned to encourage to warres unlesse we have some speciall calling from God thereunto For what hath a Preacher of the Gospell of peace to do with war except it be to preach against it 'T is said that by the Law a Priest should not have his vote in a cause of blood I am sure 't is incongruous to say the least of it that a Minister who is commanded both to pray daily in the Congregation Give peace in our time O Lord and to dismisse the Congregation with a benediction of peace The peace of God which passeth all understanding keepe your hearts c. should have his voice so deepe in blood as to encourage any to the waging of warre wherein the blood not of one or two but of many thousands is often spilt in one battell Tune codem ore quo Christum praedicas bellum laudas cademque tuba Deum canis et satanam Doest thou with one and the same mouth both preach Christ that great Peace-maker that Prince of peace and praise warre What is that but with the same voice to trumpet forth the praise of God and of Satan Whence didst thou learne this Doctrine or what example hadst thou to preach such 'T is certaine neither Christ nor his Apostles for they ever taught and perswaded to peace as might be shewne by multitudes of examples whereof thou canst not be ignorant and yet thou wantest no ignorance Take we heede then we that are Preachers and so I winde up this lesson lest whereas 't is said of the Preachers of the Gospell as you heard once and againe How beautifull are the feet of him that brings glad tidings that publisheth peace the contrary be said of any of us How foul is the very tongue of such or such a Minister that brings sad tidings that incites to warre certainly such a Preacher either mistooke his calling or his commission or both 3 I have but a word more to adde and that is a word of Exhortation for I am unwilling to leave you with a reproof that you would be pleased to suffer your selves to obtaine what is or ought to be most desired by you your owne peace in the peace of our Nation and to that end that you would cast not oyle but water on that fire which now threatens the consumption not of the Cedars of Lebanon alone but the very shrubs and brambles of the Forest at least be perswaded to with-hold what fuell you can from it for feare your selves be suddenly made the fuell of it You both see and heare that unlesse you purchase warre at a very deare rate peace will follow you though you doe not follow it And doe you love blood heding so dearly as that you will freely part with that which at other times drops from you as so much of your blood to help forward the spilling of others blood and your owne too O the blindnesse and madnesse of such a people none so blind as they that will not see and none more mad then they that stop their eares at the voice of the Charmer charme he never so wisely Who hath bewitched you or what people were ever thus besotted I cannot finde in all sacred or prophane history that ever I set eye on any example to parallell this That obstinate sottishnesse of the people of Judah and Jerusalem set forth in a dialogue betwixt God and the Prophet Isaiah Cap. 6.9 10 11 12. comes the neerest this of any that I can remember I pray God it be not brought neerer in the conclusion yet all this resemblance is onely in generals but for particulars I challenge all the encouragers to warre and they will streine hard for an example to match it if they can and 't is a strange obstinacy whereof no record can shew a president nor any false prophet feigne one O my beloved if I may call those beloved that love not the peace of Jerusalem bethink your selves in time lest the Lord bring upon you the fruit of your thoughts Jerem. 6.19 That as now when the sword of the Lord would in all probability be quiet Ier. 476. and put up its self into its scabbard and rest and be still ye will not suffer it v 7. the Lord ere long give it a charge against you not to be quiet till it have devoured at least all those who desire that it may still devour The Husband-men call for peace that they may now in their season beat their swords into plowsheares and their speares into pruning hookes The Merchants and Sea-faring men call for peace that they may now at their accustomed time goe downe to the sea in ships and doe businesse in great waters bringing a rich supply of all sorts of merchandize from all parts of the world The Trades-men they call for peace that they may recover their languishing trading ere the spirits thereof be quite spent Wives and Children cry for peace that they may not sit as widowes and Orphans lamenting the losse of their deare husbands and carefull fathers All that are oppressed and wronged cry for peace that the Judges of our Land like Samuel in the dayes of peace may keepe their constant circuites 1 Sam. 7. v. 14 15 16. and judge their causes in the ●●onted places All the faithfull and loyall hearted Subjects call for peace that they may see their Lord the King delivered from the strivings of the people and brought back again to his house and sit on his throne in safety and honour The King himselfe cals for peace that his subjects may sit under their owne vines and under their owne figgetrees enjoying their wonted happinesse accounted his Nay the King of Kings here in our Text cals upon all these to call and cry to him for peace that all these and many other blessings which accompany peace may once againe returne to us and settle their abode amongst us Let us then in obedience to Gods command if not in the sense of our owne present condition hasten unto with all speed and ply with all importunity that Throne of grace to which we are thus graciously invited and for Zions sake let us not hold our peace and for Jerusalems sake let us not rest untill the righteousnesse and peace thereof goe forth as brightnesse and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth Glory be to God in the highest and on Earth peace good will towards men FINIS

once suppose such a monster as the Poets faigned their Cacus to be whom for his insociable savagenesse they called semi hominem non hominem but halfe a man not a man one cujus regnum dirae speluncae fuerit solitudo whose lonesomenesse in a direfull cave was his Kingdome and whose wickednesse was so beyond other men's that like the Divell he had his name from it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one that tooke pleasure neither in the winning society of a wife nor in the recreating sports of children one that would neither rule over others nor enter conference with them one that would give nothing to any but take from all whatsoever he could and could take whatsoever he pleased yet this horrid monster so abhorring all peace with others does by his very solitarinesse and detestation of all society declare plainly that freedome from all molestation and so peace is the prime scope and aime of all his desires And that I make not a fiction the uppermost step of my gradation suffer me to tell you that the very devils themselves what inveterate implacable cruelty soever they beare against the peace of men amongst themselves they conspire for peace and doe to all admiration conserve it Satan is not divided against satan Marke 3. and a whole legion of devils can dwell together as one in one man Marke 5.9 Nothing therefore is naturally more desirable then peace and there is none that hath all the impressions of nature so defaced in him but that some peace or other is beloved and desired of him how much more desirable then is the peace of Jerusalem as 't is the place of Gods worship and service and the seat of justice and judgment to all those that love either Where there is no peace the publike worship and service of God doth not onely lose its beauty and comlinesse but suffers much in its very essence and being One thing saies David have I desired of the Lord that I will seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord al the dayes of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord visit his temple or enquire in his temple Psal 27.4 but because David was a man of warre and the time of his reigne a time of warre he never could obtaine this his desire in any perfection though he were most zealous and earnest in it David never so much as thought of building an house unto the Lord till he had some respite from warre as appeares 2 Sam. 7.1 2. c. and when he did thinke on it God who knew his thoughts knew also that it was in a manner to no purpose for him upon whom warres were presently to returne to undertake that worke for neither could that worke it selfe be so well effected in such times nor the publike worship of God in that house if it should be built be neer so wel performed as it would be in more peaceable times And therefore observe how the Lord took off David from those thoughts as David himselfe relates it to his sonne Solomon 1 Chron. 22. v. 7.8.9.10 And David said to Solomon my son as for me it was in my mind to build an house unto the Name of the Lord my God but the Word of the Lord came to me saying thou hast shed blood abundantly and hast made great warres thou shalt not build an house unto my name because thou hast shed much blood upon the earch in my sight behold a sonne shall be borne unto thee who shall be a man of rest and I will give him rest from all his enemies round about for his name shall be Solomon and I will give peace and quietnesse to I frael in his dayes he shall build an house for my Name c. Behold David a man of warre though a man after Gods owne heart and his warres no other then what God had approved he was inhibited the building of an house for Gods publike worship and service onely for this reason because he had shed much blood and made great warres whereas the bloody reformers of these times cry up the laying of the foundation of their reformation of Gods publike worship in service in nothing but blood that the blood of those who professe the worshipping and serving of God in that publike manner and way for the sounding and erecting whereof many renowned Mattyres were willing to lose their blood so sarre are their thoughts from Gods thoughts and their wayes from Gods wayes Observe further how God to cleare his owne reason of forbidding David to build him an house that it was therefore therefore onely because he had made great warres and shed much blood at the same time when he inhibited David for that cause he gave commandement to his Sonne Solomon to build him an house for his name and alleadgeth the just contrary reason for that command viz. because he should be a man of peace and rest and one unto whom God promised that he would give rest from his enemies round about and give peace and quietnesse to Israel in his dayes And he indeed undertooke this worke and so prospered in it that he finished it in seven yeeres 1 Kin. 6.38 The inferences from hence are many and various according to the apprehension of severall Expositors but all that I shall urge from hence is but what I have already toucht That God by the very time appointed by him for the building of his Temple the place of his publique worship and service signifies unto us that times of peace are the onely times for his publike worship and service it selfe and that warres though never so just doe not onely hinder it but doe in a manner yea and in a great measure to prophane it and what I say of the times of peace and warre must of necessity reach to the places where peace or warres settle and therefore as the house for Gods publike worship and service was at first built in time of peace so 't was built in a City of peace in Ierusalem which is by interpretation the vision of peace God may I confesse be worshipped and served publikely in some Camps or Leagers yea in the midst of Mars-hill as 't is said Saint Paul once preacht Acts 17.23 But alas the worship and service that is usually performed unto God in such places hath scarce a rag of that beauty and splendor or a spark of that zeale and vigour wherewith it is adorned and inclined in places of peace unlesse they be such places of peace as doe not know what belong to their peace which indeed Ierusalem her selfe sometimes did not Luk. 19.42 How beautifull upon the mountaines saith the Prophet are feete of him that bringeth good tidings that publisheth peace Isa 52.7 The Apostle appplies that saying to the Preachers of the Gospell Fom 10.15 How beautifull are the feet of them that preach the Gospell of peace c. The beauty and excellency of preaching the Gospell is such as