is the cause of all profanenesse in the world that men doe not extend their consideration to behold the goodnesse of God and the beauty of vertue The timbrell pipe and wine are in their feasts saith Esay but they consider not the works of the Lord. Esa 5. But if thou knowest the gift of God saith Christ to the woman of Samaria Ioh. 4. and againe had they known the mystery of the Gospell they would not haue crucified the Lord of glory 1 Cor. 2. yea and for peace Oh if thou hadst knowne saith Christ the things that belong vnto thy peace Luc. 19. for if men did behold Peace in her perfect beauty and consider of what accompt it hath euer beene in the Church they would not breake the peace as they doe that is they would not fall out for trifles nor forsake the vnity of the Church for their owne fancies nor write nor raile nor preach one against another nor spurne against authority as they doe for the holy Apostles strained farre to keepe peace and saluafide became all things to all rather then to breake the peace and in the primitiue Church they professed it lesse hainous to sacrifice to Idols then to breake the peace but now as S. Paul sayd to the Church at Corinth we haue all knowledge and know all things 1 Cor. 8. wee know how to gouerne the Church and wee know how to make combustion and to stirre vp sedition and to set both Church and Common-wealth on fire but no man beholds or knowes how good how pleasant peace is Againe beholding heere is not onely considering but Dauids meaning is to behold it in sense for Ishbofeth and he sought both for a kingdome but they sought it with their swords and so lost peace but now they haue recouered it especially Dauid for his part and to that point he speaks and he speakes it with his finger Ecce Behold in sense how good peace is for indeed to behold it in speculation onely that is to behold it and not to haue it what a beholding call you this yea to behold peace as the beggerly Philosophers did write their politiques speculate of Kingdomes as poore Mathematicians turne heauen and earth about in a globe and then want money to buy a loafe of bread this is a colde contemplation yea thus to behold peace that is to see the goodnesse of it and then to want it oh it is one of the plagues of hell but Behold it saith Dauid that is behold and see how God hath sent it euen as Luc. 10. Blessed are your eyes for they see And this beholding is with thankes which if it be not an onely cause yet ought it to be one vse of our meeting in this kingdome and all the curses of vnthankfulnes shall light vpon vs if thus beholding peace we be not thankfull for it and what cause haue we of thankes I refer it to you Lords Knights and Gentle-men Beloued and Christian brethren of both Kingdomes Two things in this Iland hath bin much long affected one especially by vs English that God would at length combine together the two disagreeing Families of Yorke Lancaster by whose schisme and contention such effusion of blood so many yeeres was made The other that God by some good meanes would reduce and bring together these two great Kingdomes into one The former though done before our dayes yet still we enioy the goodnes pleasure of it but the other these golden daies of ours haue seene the doing of it But oh how many consultations were there before it could bee done It was seene in both Kingdomes for many reasons good that is we beheld it good in speculation and many motions and meanes were made and much endeauour was to doe it but the Diuell who breakes off all good purposes and we our selues still backward enough to better things found means euermore to stand aloofe and to mischieue one another and when truces were taken yet were they but the binding of Sathan for a time for time still vndid what time had done but now it is done and wee behold peace in sight and see peace not as our neigbours the States nor as the Churches in France nor as the poore Churches in Greece who see peace abroad and want it at home and are forced either to stand vpon their guard and to sleepe with their swords vnder their pillowes or to prostitute themselues to slauish conditions but wee haue such a peace as our selues desired and God hath so establisht as onely our selues shall bee able to impeach it and vnlesse as Hierome sayd of his owne time Nisi nostris peccatis Barbari fortes facti vnlesse our sinnes and vnthankfulnesse giue victory to our enemies the gates of hell shall not preuaile against vs And we must so behold our peace as wee see God in it Peace indeede is like a precious oyntment but it is also like the deaw vpon the mountaines the oyntment is powred on by the hand of a man and our peace is well promoted by inferiour meanes but the deaw comes from heauen and it is God that sendeth it and from God in heauen comes this our peace and vnion Who would haue sayd to Abraham that Sarah should haue borne him a sonne Gen. 21. and who of late when he saw in England a King with a sonne and two daughters all like enough to liue and leaue a royall issue who would haue sayd to England that Scotland euen in that age should haue bred and brought them vp a King but God that God by whom Kings raigne hath thus deuolued it for our good and if God haue coupled vs who then shal put asunder what God hath ioyned together yea what man either for his owne or for the common good would haue this vnion sundred while we were diuided into parts that some followed Tibui and some followed Omri that some were for Saul and some for Dauid and one part English and another Scottish we were not strangers only but enemies too and our very names were mutually odious our borders were like the piller which Iacob and Laban pitcht vp as a barre to keepe the one from the other a barre indeede to keepe out peace but what could then debarre vs from mischeeuing one another but God the God of peace hath now sounded a retraite for where before the very ground of one was still a snare to the other our houses now are become mutuall harbours our Colledges are reciprocally conferring their honours yea and our pulpits open each for other ours of late for you and yours now for vs for our Prelates and for our Preachers and for me also now the meanest of ten thousand to commend and plead for peace and let the hugest of these mountaines drop downe vpon his head which openeth his mouth to speake against it Oh you that haue trauelled far seen in your trauels the confines and diuisions of other Countreyes Tell mee did yee euer see in any two Kingdomes so little cause of diuision yea of distinction as in ours There are no huge Pyrenean hils or mountains to diuide vs as betwixt the two Kingdomes of France and Spaine vnlesse pride of heart stand vp as a hill betwixt vs nor are we seuered with wilde forrests or Herculean woods as Bohemia is from Germany vnlesse our selues grow wood-mad with enuy and enuy creepe vp and downe as a wild beast betwixt vs nor are wee walled asunder as China is from Asia vnlesse some Hiel or Bethelite shall arise and build againe the walls of Iericho nor is the confusion of Babel falne vpon vs to make vs different language onely one saith Sibboleth and the other Shiboleth very meane and insensible differences and I hope we shall not be so mad as Ephraim and Gilead to fight a field for these yea if the Diuell doe not put more oddes in our hearts then God hath done in our mouths we shall need no French comment or interpreter to stand betweene vs wee shall with little helpe vnderstand each other we shall speake and talke and conuerse familiarly and loue and liue together Lastly there is no raging Ocean or sea to sunder vs as betwixt vs and the Indies vnlesse we rage in hatred one against another onely there runnes a pleasant Siloam or Kedron betwixt vs you call it Tweade I thinke it came from twayed because by it we are made vnkindly two but when the bridge is finisht Twayed shall then be Tyed and we shall all be one wee are not the sonnes of Hamilcar who swore Hannibal yet a childe that hee should neuer bee at peace with the Romans which oath hee tooke at the altar and kept to the end but wee are not so Popish ignorance of olde time made vs enemies and the Pope who makes warre and peace as best may serue his purpose he I thinke did little good to make vs friends but we haue now shaken of him as the Prince of contention and darknesse and being better instructed we haue done better and better knowledge hath brought forth better fruits and it will euer be spoken in the ages to come that one and the same age hath both freed vs from the tyranny of the Pope knit vs both into one Kingdome A Domino factum est istud this peace is like the deaw and distilled euen from the hand of God Blessed be that God that sent it blessed bee the man that makes it blessed be they all which do embrace it God Almighty makes vs all so to dwel liue together here that we may liue eternally in the Kingdom of Christ Iesus heerafter to whom for our meeting at this time for our ioyfull meeting in this Kingdom for all the blessings seuerally and for the peace now iointly bestowed vpon vs to him I say with the father the holy Ghost be all thanks praise now for euer Amen FINIS
Barwick bridge OR ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND COVPLED In a Sermon tending to peace and vnitie Preached before the King at Saint ANDREWES in SCOTLAND Anno Domini 1617. Iulij 13. By ROBERT WILKINSON Dr. in Diuinitie and Chaplaine to his Maiestie ESAY 19. 23. In that day there shall be a path from Aegypt to Ashur and Ashur shall come into Aegypt and Aegypt into Ashur c. LONDON Printed by EDWARD GRIFFIN for William Aspley 1617. TO THE HIGH AND MIGHTY JAMES BY the grace of God King of great BRITAINE FRANCE and IRELAND c. REnowned and Beloued of God and man As the Wisemen followed the starre in the East so haue wee followed your Maiesty into the North at your appointment wee haue preacht and now at your command I haue put my selfe into the presse To which I might haue answered as one of the sons in the Gospell yea as one of your Presbyterian spirits lately answered you Nolo in flat terms I will not obey you for why should so many men the choise of two famous Churches of so much greater learning of more and more excellent gifts whom you haue heard not with attention only but with admiration too why I say should such and so manie escape the publishing I only to be set vpon the stage yet I aske it not of your Maiestie but of my selfe and I thinke I haue found the reason of it for as Izaak could not but know that Iacob was better then Esau and yet loued Esau for the meat which hee brought him so your Maiesty knoweth that there be in our society who like Rebecca can make better venison of a kid then I haue done of venison yet you haue thus designed on me therfore it was not I but the argument euen the peace I spake of which so affected you especially to heare of peace in Scotland but more especially to heare of peace betwixt England Scotland the very meat vndoubtedly which your soule loueth and therefore while I seeme to publish my Sermon I print vnawares your Maiesties praise and make knowen to the world how highly your Highnes apprizeth peace yea we haue lately seene it with our eies that Iustice Peace are met in you we haue seen you sitting in Parliament ten daies together we are witnesses that once you sat from one at noone to ten at night so much is Iustice beholden to you And we haue hard from your Maiestie nothing here sounding but loue peace you haue in your open Parliament professed your loue to our English Nation you haue proclaimed great punishment on such as should abuse the meanest of our nation you haue been of nothing more carefull then of our entertainment such as haue kindly entertained vs you haue openly thanked you haue knighted honoured them for it that as the Babylonians said of Cyrus The King is become a Iew so your Maiestie at this time hath been whollie English but it is your loue as in England to cherish Scots so in Scotland to tender vs and euerie where to be kinde to strangers it is your wisdom so to loue vs both that your example might worke loue peace in both And since we are returned in peace first with Iacob we set vp a piller of thanks to him who hath kept vs in our iourney next to your Maiestie we giue at least we repay the thankes which you your selfe vouchsafed your owne Subiects in our behalfe for those your Subiects we reioice to thinke that in all this time of our intercourse abode amongst them we haue had no combate but of kindes with them in kindnes we confesse they haue euercome vs yea from the great Lo Chancellor of Scotland to the Colledge hals Burgers houses we are debters prisoners for entertainment of that quality as if anie man shall depraue it he is like those men which raile on the Sun like the dogs which bark at the moone yea if any man shall embase what wee haue found so honourable if hee were partaker of the iourney I say he is wilfully malicious but if he speak by heare-say his heare-say is heresie he is falsly vncharitably credulous yea if Scotland were as barren as some report which haue not seen it we might report it for a wonder that God hath prepared vs a table in the wildernes for euery where we haue found cheerfull welcome willing attendance and of all things such abundance as nothing could bee complained of but excesse or if any thing were worse then that excesse wee our selues brought it with vs it was our owne vnthankfulnes yea if our beasts could speake they would acknowledge fulnes of the crib say out of the Prophet Esay we haue eaten cleane prouander winnowed and fanned and shew themselues more thankfull to their benefactors then many of their owners haue beene to God That God who hath euery where abundantly fed vs who hath kept vs abroad brought vs safely home that God make vs thankfull to himselfe louing to them who haue well deserued of vs and vpon your Maiesty we beseech him so to deriue the peace-makers blessing heere as you may bee called eternally the sonne of God heereafter Your Maiesties euer most obliged and dutifull Chaplaine Robert Wilkinson THE PRAISES OF PEACE A Sermon preached at Saint ANDREWES in Scotland PSAL. 133. 1. Behold how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in one Most Excellent RIght Honourable Right Reuerend Beloued and Christian Brethren we are heere assembled a mixt and great assembly of two great Kingdomes for which cause I haue taken a text of congratulation and we are met among other reasons as I coniecture to giue thankes that wee may thus meet to reioyce in God and to be mutually merry and for that cause I haue chosen a text out of a Psalme yea I haue chosen a text out of a Psalme which as Austin saith is notus nominatus a Psalme well knowen to euery man and much spoken of in euery mouth and he saith of the text that it is sonus ita dulcis so sweet a sound as many which knew not the Psalter yet could sing the verse diuers which could not reade yet had it by rote Ecce quam bonum c. Behold how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together The Psalme was penned by Dauid and at that time as it is thought when after long warre betwixt the two houses of Saul and Dauid some of the Tribes taking one part and some another they all came in at last and swore fealty to Dauid and made him King the sweet sense whereof makes him to write this Psalme and to breake out into this exclamation Behold how good and pleasant it is c. And it is as if he had sayd Compare the time present with the time past and see what a change is made while you had two Kings you had them as two swords reuelling
euen for his enemies and persecutours for so did Stephen euen when the stones and the bloud ranne downe by his eares Acts 7. oh see and behold how good peace is And as there is no Church so no Common-wealth without peace for by peace men multiply into families family fill whole Countreyes and Countreyes build vp Kingdomes but warre kils vp all for where in peace the sonnes commonly bury their fathers the fathers in warre oft bury their sonnes yea war kils vp both Lawes and Iustice When Antigonus entred Asia with a strong and mighty army one salutes him at his entrance with an eloquent oration in praise of Iustice but Antigonus tolde him he was a foole to speake of Iustice to a King with a drawne sword in his hand yea warre and contention kill vp euen conscience it selfe for how many bee there who while they bee not stirred liue like Saints and Angels but being once heated they offend God and man and fall to plots and fowle practises and become foxes and lyons in warre who were lambs in peace euen as Dauid who had hee not smelt too much of the sword could neuer haue conspired against Vriah as he did but that and other things did cleane put him by the building of the Temple yea warre killeth euen humanity it selfe and taketh from many all sense of blood and cruelty for was it not a strange speech of Abner to Ioab Let the yoong men arise and play 2 Sam. 2. and what was their play they went out twelue to twelue and fought so long that all fell down dead but it was a cruell heart which thought killing but a play and it was a miserable play where all were losers This was nought but peace is good Yea peace is not good onely but pleasant too now good and pleasant to concurre is rare for many things are pleasant which are not good euen as Iob 20. wickednesse was sweet in his mouth againe many things are good which are not pleasant yea few things which are good are pleasant In medicines the best are bitter still and affliction which Dauid said was good Psal 119. yet Hebr. 12. is vnpleasant for the time and though it bee more blessed and better to giue then to take Acts 20. yet Lawyers and all trades can tell it is much more pleasant to take then to giue but good and pleasant doe both meet heere Now of pleasure the neerest Iudge to vs is naturall sense but peace is pleasant and delightfull to all the senses As first and for example to the smell for which in this Psalme it is compared to a precious oyntment but that which smelleth sweete euery man draweth neerer to it euen as Cant. 1. Because of the sauor of thy good ointments we wil run after thee So peace hath an attractiue power for though men naturally loue their owne Countrey best yet euery man liketh best to liue and dwell where it is peace Izaak left Gerar when they stroue with him and went to Sitnah for peace and when they stroue with him there he went to Rehoboth and Beersheba for peace Gen. 26. and England can tell and so I think can Scotland too what a conflux of French and Dutch and other strangers hath beene to vs sometime for the shadow of our peace euen for that peace which our friends haue admired our enemies enuied Sathan hath often pusht at but God hath so enlarged as we are become like Nebuchadnezzars tree a shade and refuge for all the beasts and fowles of the field Secondly as peace is pleasant in sent so in sight too Dauid when hee wrote this was not ratling in harnesse nor in the horrid aspect of a souldier for the garrisons were all dissolued and the wars now done but Dauid now was turned reueller and with a troope of gallants thirty thousand pickt and chosen men he marcheth before the arke and singeth and plaieth and danceth and like a Priest putteth on a linnen Ephod 2 Sam. 6. oh it was a glorious sight and the triumph of their new atchieued peace onely Michol scoffed at it as many Schismitiques and ill-affected men do now to see the ornaments and attires of the Church in the time of her peace for when the Church came out of Aegypt whatsoeuer shee wore before and in the daies of her bondage yet then being freed and settled God would haue her put on silke and scarlet and fine twined linnen Exod. 28. and what if Elias and Iohn Baptist liuing in the wildernesse and lamenting the times went vp and downe in haire-cloth and girt with lether girdles must we now do it in the daies of our peace no but as Salomon was Christ and Salomons house the Church of Christ in figure so are wee in verity the seruants of that Salomon and of that Christ whose sitting and order and attire though Michol scoffed at yet a wiser woman the Queene of Sheba admired 1 King 10 and wee wee I say for I keepe not others vine nor meddle with other Churches but wee of the Church of England do serue and minister to God in white yet we neither reuiue the dead rites of the Iewes nor temporize with the popish Churches but we weare white by the Text partly to signifie the purenesse and integrity which should be as Reu. 19. 8 and partly to giue thankes to God and to testifie our reioycing for the peace of the Church which is according to that which is written Eccles 9. 8. Thirdly peace is pleasant to the eares too for define peace and it is but harmony and the best harmony is of high and low and base and meane c. Dauid sayd Psal 101. Hee would sing of mercy and iudgment A strang kinde of skill to put mercy iudgement both iâ— a song but it was in musike Dauid was the sweet singer of Israel 2 Sam. 23. and the best Musician that euer was in the world and as Musique is nothing else but harmony or agreement of disagreeing parts so is peace Peace in the body is a due temperature of contrary humours peace in the minde is a concurrence of affection with reason peace in the man is a body subdued to the soule peace among men is when the superiours gouerne iustly when inferiours obey willingly and equals loue mutually peace in the Church is when there is one God one faith one heart when they whom God hath placed aboue are obeyed as Bishops and they beneath are respected as brethren when one plants and another waters when one preacheth a truth and another comes and confirmes it this is harmony and this is peace but Heretiques and Schismatiques still sing out of tune Fourthly peace is pleasant to the feeling too that is it is profitable for which in this Psalme it is compared to the deaw of Hermon which made the mountaines fruitfull But warre as one compares it is like the Basiliske which scorcheth and poysoneth the very grasse and the ground whereon he goeth