or Christ many of them yet what should that do here in the midst of other Duties pertaining to Man Christ being not named Therefore I will speak of it in that sense which in my Conscience I take it was ment m. Be ye thankful Be not unkind and ungrateful to those that have deserved well at your hands Q. What is the thankfulness that is here required R. It may be described a willing acknowledging and readiness to requite Benefits and good Turns received I did not say a Requital for many times there is no Power or Means so to do but at least there is Readiness to do it and Mind of the good Turn if either of these fail there is a Defect in Thankfulness The occasion of Thankfulness is a Benefit received the greater Benefit calls more Thanks which hath diversity from the Person 1. Sometimes we are wholly prevented in receiving before we have shewed any occasion 2. Sometimes again we are first in some Office but are exceeded in the answering the same 3. Sometimes the Persons are Superiors or Equals of such quality I mean as there is no great odds between the Donor and Receiver To the First and Second of each Thankfulness is the more to be shewed I mean we are more beholding inasmuch as there is less desert on our part and in the one nothing at all I would speak plainly 1. To our Parents Ministers and Masters in Learning there is no Office we could shew to deserve Kindness therefore to them we must be more bound to be thankful So to a Stranger that shall first upon some acquaintance no expectation of Requital bestow only upon us in the same measure of Beneficence our Debt is more than to one that we have or may be helpful or shew duty to again 2. To our Superiour being kind we owe more gratitude than to our Equal as Ishbosheth David 2 Sam. 19. 30. 28. 3. Even the Value of the Benefit adds some degree unto our Debt of Thankfulness most our selves as Paul writes to Philemon v. 19. Albeit I do not say unto thee how thou owest unto me even thine own self besides 4. And the Speediness sometimes adds to our Debt especially if it be at the first knowledge of our Want or Desire and perhaps expects not our moving the Matter or if at our Suit be given undelaiedly Beneficium qui cito dat bis dat He gives twice that gives speedily 5. But most of our debt of Thankfulness comes from the Mind of the Donor as proceeding from greater Love though there be by reason of want of power less worth in the good Turn We are then to be taught here Doctr. That to all those that have been Instruments of God's Providence to procure good unto us we are to owe Thankfulness they are so many Blessings of God to us That which the Queen of Sheba once affirmed before Solomon is very true The Instruments of God's Blessings are the Arguments of his Love to us Because the Lord loved Israel for War therefore made he the King to do Judgment and Justice 1 Kings 10. 9. 1. The first duty of Thankfulness that under God we owe is to our Parents which is so necessary that the Apostle would not have the Widows to be chosen to the service of the Church that had Children to maintain them and perform duty to them Let them saith he recompence their Ancestors So the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies For that is good and acceptable before God 1 Tim. 5. 4. The Greek Elegantly expresseth this by a Metaphor taken from the Stock 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ‑ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which feedeth her aged Parents and carries them upon her shoulders and in that regard in the Hebrew Tongue is called Chasida that is pious and merciful Let all Children hear this and as they will have the blessing of their Parents and of God that is tender of their honour learn it and fail not to praise it as Joseph did Gen. 45. 10. There will I nourish thee when he sent for his aged Father from the famished Land of Canaan to come into Goshen the most fertile Soil in all the Land of Egypt 2. So we are to be thankful to the Ministers of the Gospel to whom God hath committed the word of reconciliation that break the bread of life unto us that have the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven committed to their trust that administer unto us the Seals of the Covenant of Grace according to Christ's Institution that watch over our Souls as they that must give account that they may do it with joy and not with grief as the Apostle speaks Heb. 13. 17. 3. To our Teachers and Masters as Philemon owned himself to Paul v. 19. To our Benefactors to our Friends to all that are loving and kind to us David sent a Present of Thankfulness of the Spoyl of the Enemies of the Lord to all those places where David himself and his men were wont to lament in his Exile 1 Sam 30. 26. 3. He makes diligent inquiry Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul that I may shew him kindness for Jonathon's sake whose love to him was wonderful passing the love of women to their Husbands or Children 2 Sam. 9. 1. His thankfulness to the Living for the Dead's sake to the Child for his Fathers sake is again recorded Then said David I will shew kindness to Hanun the son of Nachash as his father shewed kindness unto me and David sent to comfort him by the hand of his servants for his father 2 Sam. 10. 2. What this kindness was the Scripture mentions not nor when it was shewed for David in his flight from Saul fled first to Achish King of Gath then to the King of Moab And he said unto the King of Moab Let my father and mother I pray thee come forth and be with you till I know what God will do for me and he brought them before the King of Moab and they dwelt with him all the while that David was in the hold He durst not trust them to Saul's mercy in Bethlehem that had exercised such barbarous cruelty upon the Priests of the Lord and to the City of No◠without any just cause 1 Sam. 22. 17. 20. Possibly the King of Moab might shew some such kindness to David out of his hatred of Saul that had given him a great Overthrow 1 Sam. 11. 11. But whatsoever the matter was that had obliged David he was not unmindful of it but studied to requite it to his Son Hanun though ill entertained and misinterpreted to his destruction and his Countries The first Ambassadors that David sent after the Solemnity of his Coronation was over is thus recorded And David sent Messengers to the men of Jabesh Gilead and said unto them Blessed be ye of the Lord that you have shewed the kindness to your Lord even unto Saul and have buried him and now the Lord shew
kindness and truth unto you and I also will requite you this kindness because you have done this thing 2 Sam. 2. 5 6 7. Here is kindness upon kindness requited to the Living for the Dead's sake The valiant men of Jabesh Gilead hazarded their lives in the midst of the victorious Philistines like those three valiant Captains that broke through the Host of the Philistines and drew Wrter out of the Well of Bethlehem when the Philistine's Garison was in it to satisfie David's longing when he said O that one would give me drink of the water of the Well of Bethlehem that is at the gate 1 Chron. 11. 16 17 18. to rescue the dead bodies of Saul and his sons that had rescued their lives from the bloody Articles of Nahash the Ammorite that would make no Covenant with them but upon this condition That I may thrust out all your right Eyes and lay it for a reproach upon all Israel 1 Sam. 11. 2. Now as one good turn requires another so King David requites their Valour with Honour and Advantage How thankful was he to good old Barzillai the Gileadite that had provided the King of Sustenance while he lay at Mahanaim when he fled from Absolom for he was a very great man and the King said unto Barzillai Come thou over with me and I will feed thee with me in Jerusalem 2 Sam. 19. 32 33. and v. 38. And the King answered Chimham shall go over with me and I will do to him that which shall seem good unto thee and whatsoever thou shalt require of me that will I do for thee David even upon his Death-Bed was not unmindful of the Courtesies he had received of one of the Nobles of Israel in his extremity but when he was making his last Will and Testament and resigning his Kingdom to his Son Solomon and putting all into his hand and his sole Executor he speaks thus after his Item for Joab and Shiâ—ei for their base carriage towards him a sad Legacy But shew kindness to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite as he desired and I promised and let them be of those that eat at thy Table for so they came to me when I fled before Absalom thy brother 1 Kings 2. 6. And the Hebrew Doctors say That the habitation of Chimham near Bethlehem mentioned in the 41st Chapter of Jeremiah v. 17. was part of David's own Patrimony which he conferred upon him to be a perpetual Memorial of his Gratitude to that Loyal Family that stuck to him when so many forsook him as he complains to God Psalm 3. I have been the larger in this Point because it is a Vice than which none is more Enemy to Humane Society Ingratitude is reckoned by the Apostle as one of the predominant Sins of the perillous times that shall come in the last Days unthankful unholy are joyned together 2 Tim. 3. 2. It draws with it sometimes and so all Vices as Xenophon speaks The wisest of the Heathens have detested it extreamly the Persians accounted it the greatest Dishonour in the World Darius dying having had a little Water from a Souldier esteemed it his greatest misery that he could not live to requite so great a Benefit but recommends it to Alexander his Conqueror saith Curtius The Spaniards count it now the most renroachful word a man may be called by to say Ingrate si ingratum dixeris omnia an old Saying among the Heathen Ingratitude was the Ruine of the Apostate Angels that left their own habitation saith Jude v. 6. he hath reserved in everlasting Chains under darkness unto the Judgment of the great Day Of our first Parents in Paradise of the Gentiles because when they knew God they glorified him not as God neither were they thankful but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkned Rom. 1. v. 21. of the Israelites that God had done so great things for above all Generations of the World Am. 3. 3. and of the Jews that Crucified the Lord of Glory and are under God's Wrath to this day For the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost saith the Apostle 1 Thess 2. v. 16. Obs It is God's will we should not be so unjust as to take all and repay nothing therefore the Palmist asks this question of Angels and Men What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me Psal 16. 12. we ought rather as Cyrus was wont to make his Prayer so to make our wish to exceed our Friends in beneficence and kindness which Sylla as it is said caused to be set on his Tomb that he had done as Plutarch writes of him It becomes upright Men to be thankful saith the Man after God's own heart Psal 33. v. 1. There be two parts of Ingratitude the first not to acknowledge benefits but to forget them Deut. 32. 18. as is recorded of Pharcah's Butler to his Disgrace concerning Joseph the Interpreter of the Dream that advanced him to his former place and dignity at Court yet did not the chief Butler remember Joseph but forgot him saith Moses Gen. 40. v. 23. The second part of Ingratitude is the worst To requite Evil for Good the Prophet Jeremiah crys out against this with a grievous cry and a bitter Shall evil be recompenced for good Jer. 18. 20. as a monstrous piece of Ingratitude Who so rewards evil for good saith Solomon evil shall not depart from his house Prov. 17. 13. The Psalmist says They rewarded me evil for good to the spoiling of my Soul yea they hated me without a cause Psal 35. 12. 19. and again They also that render evil for good are mine Adversaries because I follow the thing that good is Psal 38. 20. Not only Saul but the Men of Keila were guilty of this sin in a high degree who after David had rescued them from the Philistines that were plundering and robbing their very threshing Floors yet upon the first summons were resolved to deliver up David and his Men into the Hands of Saul to be destroyed by him as you read 1 Sam. 23. 1. 12. Gideon made the Men of Succoth and Penuel smart soundly for their ingratitude to their Deliverer that refused to give a morsel of Bread to his conquering Army that were still in pursuit of the flying Kings Zeba and Zalmunna and the party that was with them he tore the flesh of 72 Ringleaders of the Men of Succoth and taught them better manners and beat down the Tower of Penuel and slew the Men of the City Judg. 8. 6 7 8 9 16 17. David expresses his deep Sense of this sin of Ingratitude as a lively type of our Saviour in this particular and in many more when he says For my love they are my Adversaries but I give my self unto Prayer and they have rewarded me evil for good and hatred for my good will Psal 109. 4 5. This sin is sorely laid to the charge of the Men of Sechem and set home
nor to make him ashamed that he had parted so suddenly from him without his Knowledge and Consent Therefore they entred into Covenant together of perpetual amity and parted in Peace and Love and were never injurious to one another no more than Esau was to Jacob that fled from him for fear of his Life yet was at meeting embraced by him with high Expressions of Love and they buried their aged Father Isaac in Peace Gen. 35. 29. Set your Hearts saith Moses unto all the words which I testifie among you this day and he gives this reason for it in the words following For it is not a vain thing for you because it is your Life and through this thing ye shall prolong your days Deut. 32. 46 47. O that thou hadst hearkned to my Commandments saith the Lord by the Prophet Isaiah then had thy Peace been as a River and thy Righteousness as the Waves of the Sea thy Seed also had been as the Sand and the ofspring of thy Boweâ— like the Gravel thereof his Name shoulâ— not have been cut off nor destroyed from â—â—fore me Isa 48. 18 19. But if we 〈◊〉 go on to make the Precepts of God of none effect by their unlucky Neighbourhood with the Precepts of Men The Book of God will be unawares snatch'd out of your Hands as the Ark of God was from the Shoulders of Hophni and Phinehas by the Philistines 1 Sam. 4. 11. and a black Book put into our Hands written within and without Lamentation and Mourning and Woe Ezek. 2. 10. For thus saith the Lord enter not into the House of Mourning neither go to lament nor bemoan them for I have taken away my Peace from this People saith the Lord even loving kindness and Mercies Jer. 16. 5. from which Judgment the Lord deliver us that we may enter iuto Peace and rest in our Beds every one walking in his Uprightness Isa 57. 2. Now for a particular Application of his Doctrin to all Relations and Orders of Men High and Low Rich and Poor c. 1. To Magistrates and Subjects IF the Peace of God rule in the Hearts of Rulers then they will seek the Glory of God and the Peace and Good of their Subjects above all Earthly things to the fulfilling of that Evangelical Promise of Isaiah And Kings shall be thy Nursing Fathers and their Queens thy Nursing Mothers Isa 49. 23. The God of Israel said the Rock of Israel spake to me He that ruleth over Men must be just ruling in the fear of God is the Instruction that the Man after God's own Heart received immediately from God touching his Ruling and Governing the People of God And an excellent President we have from Theodosius Junior the Emperor recorded by Socrates l. 7. 22 who tells us that when in a severe Winter that did threaten and portend a great scarcity of Victual the Year ensuing it being not very plentiful at that time he gave way to the Peoples desire of the usual Games and Shews that were acted in the Circe which when it was full of People and Spectators there fell suddenly a most vehement Tempest upon them Then the Emperor plainly declared I set it down as Socrates relates it how he was affected towards God his People for by his Heralds he made Proclamation among the People saying Is it not much better for us to leave these vain Shews and Sports and with one Mouth all of us to pray to God to preserve us safe from this horrible Storm that is falling upon us Scarely were these words uttered when all the People with unanimous Consent and Alacrity began to pray to God then the whole City saith he in that respect was turned into a Temple the Emperor himself walking as a private Person began the Psalms of Praise neither indeed did his Hope fail him saith Socrates for immediately there was a great Calm and Screnity and by the Bountifulness of God there was great Plenty of all Provision the next year At another time also as he sate beholding the Shews he received a Message that one John that tyrannously had Invaded the Western Empire was miraculously overthrown and slain by his Forces As soon as he had read the Letter he said go too if ye please let us leave these Toys and go to Church and offer Prayers and Thanks to God who hath slain the Tyrant as it were with his own Hand he and all the People went immediately thro' the middle of the Hippodrome to the Temple of God and spent the whole day in Psalms and Praises to God Socrat. l. 7. 25. Sozomen tells us that the Subjects looking upon the good Examples that Arcadius and Honorius the Emperors and Sons of Theodosius set before them the Pagans were the more easily Converted to Christianity and the Hercticks joyned to the Catholick Church Soz. l. 8. 1. When such Kings come to be sick and dye they may say with Hezekiah Remember Lord I beseech thee how I have walked before thee in Truth and with a perfect Heart and have done that which was good in thy sight Isa 38. 3. and they shall hear Euge. 2. If the Peace of God rule in the Hearts of the Subjects they will not curse the ruler of God's people Exod. 22. 28 they will not curse the King no not in their Thoughts for a Bird of the Air will carry the Voice and that which hath Wings shall utter the Matter saith King Solomon Eccles 10. 20. They will esteem their good King worth Ten Thousand of themselves as the Israelites told David their King when they would not suffer his Royal Person to be hazarded amongst them in the Battle against Absalom 2 Sam. 18. 3. They will esteem it the highest Wickedness to stretch out their Hand against the Lord 's Anointed 1 Sam. 26. 9. as David speaks when he had Saul his greatest Enemy at his Mercy they will account him The Breath of our Nostrils Lam. 4. 20. love honour and obey him in all things just and honest as the Roman Legions said to Jovinian that chose him to succeed Julian the Apostate in the Empire who said unto the Electors I will not rule over you for I am a Christian and you are Pagans and Idolaters the Apostate had corrupted them Do thou rule over us said they and we will be all Christians Regis ad exemplum is an old and true saying There is therefore great necessity to pray for such as be Rulers that they may be Subordinate to God and have Grace to their Power Pity to others that God may cloath their Enemies with shame but on himself shall his Crown flourish as God promised to David Psal 132. 18. that they may give God a fair Account of their Stewardship at the great Day in observing and practising what he hath commanded 2. To Ministers and People IF the Peace of God rule in the Hearts of the Ministers of the Gospel of Peace unless the things that belong to their Peace
unto them Ye take too much upon you seeing all the congregation are saints every one of them and the Lord is among them wherefore then lift ye up your selves above the congregation of the Lord Num. 16. 3. 32. The earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up c. Pilate had rather released Jesus than Barabbas for he knew that for Envy they had delivered him Matth. 27. 18. And the Contention was so sharp saith Luke between Paul and Barnabas Acts 15 39. that they departed asunder the one from the other men that had had hazarded their lives often for the Name of the Lord Jesus as all the first Synod at Jerusalem testifie to the Gentiles under their hands v. 26. Two Apostolick men of whom the Holy Ghost said Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them and when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them they sent them away Acts 13. 2 3. I find Strife and envying always joyned together as Rom. 13. 13. Let us walk honestly as in the day not in strife and envying 1 Cor. 3. 3. For are ye not carnal whereas there is among you envying and strife and divisions or factions are ye not carnal and walk as men And James â—aith That where envying and strife is there is confusion and every evil work Or as the Original bears it Tumult and unquietness Jam. 3. 16. Thus I have briefly searched into the inward Reasons of Dissentions according as the Holy Ghost in the Scriptures hath laid them before us 2. The outward Reasons of them are 1. Satan the old Serpent that kept not his first station Jude 6. but brake his own peace with God in Heaven and ours with our God in Paradise and ever since with one another that slips no occasion to sow the Tares of dissention in the Lord's field and persecutes the Woman that brought forth the Man-child Rev. 12. 13. 17. as hotly as ever because he knoweth that he hath but a short time between him and the Lake spoken of Rev. 20. 14. to break the peace and hinder her prosperity By making war with the remnant of her seed which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ the things that shall come upon him and his followers make haste Deut. 32. 35. Secondly Wicked men set on by Satan to set us together by the ears that they may weaken us by our own powers The Church had sometimes rest from her Paganish Enemies and Persecutors but never from her own Children that she had nourished and brought up yet they rebelled asainst her Isa 1. 2. That came to her in Sheeps-clothing but inwardly they were Ravening Wolves as our Lord describes them Matth. 7. 15. Such were the Arians of old whose Divisions and Cruelties exceeded the Paganish as much as the Popish exceed all that were before them in Malice Hatred and Cruelty towards God's People of which the Apostle gave warning to the Elders of the Church of Ephesus saying For I know that after my departing shall grievous Wolves enter in among you not sparing the flock and also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away Disciples after them Acts 20. 29 30. And again he would have Timothy to know that in the last days perilous times should come which he describes so exactly as if he had lived in our days to behold them 2 Tim. 3. verse 1 2 3 4 c. The next Observation from these words is this Obs 2. That the Peace of God ruling in the hearts of Believers is the only remedy against all Dissentions inward and outward which is here called God's peace for these Reasons Reas 1. For indeed he and he alone it is that makes men to be of one mind together Rom. 15. 5. 2 Cor. 13. 11. the work of godly union is the Prerogative of God according to the Name that Gideon gave to the Altar that he built in Ophrah when he was made Captain General against the Midianites he called it Jehovah Shalem that is the God of peace or the Lord send peace which he did grant his people for forty years after the defeat of their invading and presumptuous Enemies by the Sword of the Lord and the Sword of Gideon Judg. 6. 24. and Chap. 8. 28. Reas 2. Because it is God alone that makes the Enemies to be at peace together with those that he loves as Solomon speaks Prov. 16. 8. When a man's ways please the Lord he maketh even his Enemies to be at peace with him I make peace saith the Lord by the Prophet Isaiah Chap. 47. 7. 3. He is termed by the Name of The God of peace Prov. 15. 15. Not only in respect of the giving spiritual peace of Conscience which is a continual Feast but this inward peace of Affections and outward carriage towards others as our Apostle concludes his Second Epistle to the Corinthians among whom there had been many Dissentions and Contentions 1 Cor. 1. 11. Finally my brethren farewel be of good comfort be of one mind live in peace and the God of love and peace shall be with you 2 Cor. 13. 11. 4. Lastly he is called The God of peace not only essentially but also personally Obs 3. God in the unity of Essence and Trinity of Persons is the God of peace there is a most blessed and eternal peace between them 1. God in the unity of Essence is the God of peace the Apostle concludes the 15th Chapter of the Epistle to the Romans thus Now the God of peace be with you all Amen and to the Philippians he writes thus The things which ye have both learned and received and heard and seen in me do and the God of peace shall be with you Phil. 4. v. 9. 2. God the Father the first Person in order of the glorious Trinity is styled the God of peace as the Fountain and first Author of it and who in that he is our Father in Christ loves us and will not see us want any good thing Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights saith St. James 1. 17. and our Apostle concludes his Epistle to the Hebrews with this Prayer Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ the great Shepherd of the sheep by the blood of the everlasting covenant make you perfect in every good work to do his will working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be glory for ever and ever Amen Heb. 13. 20 21. 3. God the Son the second Person in the blessed Trinity is also styled the God of peace as the Deserver of all that is to be given us and Bestower who by Office and Authority is able to dispence from the Father unto us his Subjects such things as we have need of whereof Grace and Peace are the chief Jewels as verse 2.