Selected quad for the lemma: england_n
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A40680
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Perfection and peace delivered in a sermon / by Tho. Fuller.
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Fuller, Thomas, 1608-1661.
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1653
(1653)
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Wing F2453; ESTC R29917
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11,114
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34
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clear and quiet conscience and finished hereafter in the Haven of endless happiness When the man in my Text becomes perfectly perfect he shall then become perfectly peaceable However we may see that sometimes I say not alwayes God sets a signal character of his favour on some of his servants enjoying at their end a generall calm and universal tranquillity towards all to whom they are related Amongst the many priviledges of Saints reckoned up Iob 5. none more remarkable then that verse 23. For the Stones of the field shall be at league with thee and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee Have we here a Dichotomy of all wicked men or a sorting of them all into two sides Some are Stones like Nabal 1 Sam. 25. 37. stupid sottish senseless no Rhetorick with its expanded hand no Logick with its contracted fist no Scripture no reason no practice no precedent can make any impression upon them so that the best of men may even despair to get their good will Well the way to do it and procure a perfect peace with them is to please God Others are beasts like the Cretians Tit. 1. 12. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} so fierce so furious so crafty so cruel no medling with them without danger As the former could not conceive so these will not abide any rational debate with them The former were too low and silly too much beneath these high and haughty too much above perswasion to peace mention but the name thereof and they psal. 112. prepare themselves to battel The art then to make these friends with a man is only this to endeavour to please the high God of heaven and then Solomons words will come to pass Prov. 16. 7. When a mans wayes please the Lord he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him It once came to pass in England and but once it came to pass in England namely when * Sir Thomas Moor was Lord Chancellor that the Cryer in Chancery being commanded to call the next cause returned this answer there were no more causes to be heard Not that there was no more on the file for that day which is ordinary and usual but which is strange that then there was no more sutes depending in the whole Court of Chancery but that all ripened for Trial were decided Then was Ianus his Temple shut clean throughout England in Cases betwixt Plaintiff and Defendant relating to equity and conscience Whether this proceeded from the peaceableness of people in that age not so quarrelsome and litigious as in ours or from the goodness of the Judge either happy privately to compound differences without any sute or dextrous publickly to decide them with all expedition But when some good man hath lyen on his death bed though having many sutes in his life all then are ended and composed Call the sute betwixt this man and his God long since it is attoned and both made friends in Christ Cal the sute betwixt this man and his conscience it is compremised and both of them fully agreed Cal the sute betwixt this man and his enemies Stones and Beasts it is compounded and they at peace with him Call the sute betwixt this man and all other Creatures it is taken up and he and they fully reconciled Thus I say sometimes not alwayes God graceth some of his servants that they depart in an universal peace a personal favour indulged to some select Saints But generally and universally all the true servants of God whatever their outward condition be go from peace to peace from the first fruits of peace in their conscience to the full fruition thereof in heaven Mark the perfect behold the upright for the end of that man is peace Come we now to the direction of the Living Mark the Perfect behold the Vpright It is not said Gaze on the Perfect Stare on the Vpright this men of themselves are too prone to do without any bidding nay contrary to Gods positive command Heb. 10. 33. Whilest ye were made a gazing stock by reproaches and afflictions And David in the person of Christ complains Psal. 22. 17. they look and stare upon me partly with eyes of wonder as on so many Monsters and Prodigies 1 Pet. 4. 4. Wherein they think it strange that you run not with them to the same excess of Riot partly with the eyes of scorn as on so many miserable wretches Indeed God and wicked men agree in this point that good men are not worthy to live here But upon different yea contrary accounts God esteems them too good to live here Heb. 11. 38. Of whom the world was not worthy Wicked men conceive them too bad to live here Act. 22. 22. Away with such a fellow from off the earth for it is not fit that he should live Which makes them to behold the perfect and upright with scorn and contempt However mark the Iust behold the Vpright do it solemnly do it seriously not with a cursory look fix thy sight and for some time let it dwell on so eminent an Object Mark the perfect as a Schollar marks his copie to write after it Then will it come to pass with thee as with Moses Exod. 34. 29. He so long had seen the back-parts or Suburbs of Gods glory that the skin of his face shone guilded with the reflexion thereof So those who mark the Perfect and behold the Vpright not only with a fore-cast but chiefly with a reflexed look cannot but be gainers thereby For the godly who as S. Paul saith Phil. 2. 15. shine as lights among a crooked and perverse Nation in the world will make such as effectually mark them become like unto them and shine accordingly We see that such who look on Bleer-eyes have their own sight infected therewith and those who diligently mark and stedfastly fasten the eyes of their souls on the perfect and upright man will in process of time partake of their perfection Vse 1. It serveth to confute such who though living long in this world and conversing with varietie of persons yet mark and observe nothing at all If a privy inspection might be made into the Diaries and Journals of such mens lives how would they be found filled with empty cyphers whose total sum amounts to just nothing When Messengers and Trumpeters come into the Castles and Garrisons of their enemies commonly they are brought blindfolded that they may make no dangerous discoveries to report to their Party at their return What out of Policie is done to them that many out of idleness and ignorance do to themselves mask and hood-wink their souls do take notice of nothing in their passage through this world Others mark but only such things which are not remarkable Dina marks but what Gen. 34. 1. The fancie-ful fashions of the daughters of Canaan and we may generally observe that all observations follow the humour of the Observers so that what vice or vertue in him