And after we have quenched and put out the trouble of our hearts vexation of our soules caused by the fire of sinne when wee shall have scattered those flames that destroy and devoure that union and concord which God hath so strictly commanded us to keepe then shall wee be called to that heavenly Ierusalem which is the Citie of peace and there shall wee enter into the possession of the inheritance promised to adopted children in Iesus Christ our Lord wee shall partake with him eternall blessednesse hee shall be our head in those divine sessions and we shall be his members wee shall shine as the Sun the holy Ghost shall enlighten us and the God of peace shall be for ever with us Amen O Soveraigne Monarch of heaven and earth that governest all things by thy providence which to us is altogether incomprehensible we thy most humble Subjects calling unto thee from the bottome of our soules beseech thee by the greatnesse of thy compassions that it may please thee to plant in our hearts a holy and perfect justice which taking deepe rootes therein may bring forth fruites of peace and concord which thou straightly recommendest unto us in thy holy word Make us perfectly just that we may love peace perfectly as being the daughter of justice enkindle O good God the fire of thy love in our hearts and soules that we may love our brethren even as thou hast loved us give us a spirit of gentlenes meekenes that we may fly eschew quarrels contentions not only in our selues but also when we shal see them kindled among our brethren make us knowe O good Saviour that those enmities and dissentions are the devils daughters who loves nothing but noyse and disorder and that peace and mildnesse are the daughters of divine justice which thou lovest dearely which wee must embrace and practise if we will be honoured with the title of thy children and not onely be called so but also to be indeed children of God and heires of eternall and blessed life to the which the Father Sonne and holy Ghost bring us Amen The fourth way to Sion 1. PETER 2. 17. Feare God and honour the King AS rayes or Sunne-beames follow and beare observance to the Sunne As all rivers runne to the Sea and as many lines end and terminate in their center so there are many wayes to bring us to the Paradise of God to Ierusalem above which is our heavenly and happy Country Neverthelesse wee must herein use the Maxime of the Mathematicians who hold that the shortest line â—s still the rightest also in all these different wayes of new Sion the shortest is the best and surest When God gave his Law to Moses upon the Mountaine of Sinay he divided it into ten commandements which are so many perfect wayes to conduct and bring us to heaven for IESVS CHRIST the sweet Saviour of our soules being himselfe descended from Heaven to shew and point us out this way hee drew a short Compendium and Abridgement of all these Ten Commandements of the Law and reduced them to two as wee shall finde it written in the 22. Chapter of St. Mathew where wee see him disputing against a Doctor of the Law who demanded of him which was the first and greatest Commaundement and Iesus answered him Thou shalt love God with all thy heart with all thy soule and with all thy minde which is the first and greatest commandement and the second is like unto it which is Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy selfe and of these two Commaundements depend the whole Law and the Prophets as our Apostle Saint Peter in the imitation of his blessed Master Christ after hee had instructed and admonished his faithfull flocke in all their duties in the precedent verses of our Text hee drawes an abridgement of all which concerned their saluation when he said Feare God and honour the King 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In these words we have all the instructions which we must practise in our soules and bodies concerning those divine and humane duties which wee must convert and reduce into practise which wordes naturally divide themselues into two severall branches or heads to wit 1. the feare which wee ought to beare unto God and 2. The honour which wee must obserue and give to the King The sweetest and most pleasingst sacrifice which we can offer up unto the Lord Almighty is a heart replenished and fraughted with the feare of his holy name a minde trembling before his sacred Majestie and a soule terrified with the sublimity and greatnesse of his fearefull judgements as the royall Prophet affirmeth in Psal 2.11 Serue the Lord with feare and reioyce with trembling And againe Psal 2.7 I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy and in thy feare will I worship towards thy holy Temple We can offer up no sacrifice so pleasing nor performe no action or duty so acceptable to God as when wee adore him in all feare and reverence him in all astonishment trembling which lively depaynteth and prefigureth his Greatnesse and Magnificence perfectly demonstrateth us our Duties and witnesseth our humility and obedience which is exceeding delightfull and pleasing to him That Romane Emperour perspicuously expressed and deciphered the excellent power and effects of this feare when he caried for his Motto and Devise Oderint dum metuant Let those hate me that will so they feare me shewing thereby what small account and esteeme hee made of the hatred and how dearely he prised and respected the feare which hee would have given and borne to him Morall Philosophers affirme and say That Love and feare are two fister germanes because the one is conjoyned to the other and both linked together produce one the same effects for still the Lover is in care and feare of the thing beloved whereas wee never feare to lose that which wee hate but that Which wee love dearely and cherish tenderly and both of these together produce the conseruation of their object But this distinction takes no place but here on earth among creatures and doth neither regard nor looke up towards Heaven to God the Creator For God is all Love but he can never be capable of alteration or defect as is that feare which he hath left and given unto man for his portion and inheritance So he which is possessed with a perfect feare to offend his God or to lose his favour he is linked and joyned to God with the Gordian knots of his love which are then wholly made indivisible and inseparable and the Love of God conjoyned with the feare of man cause the conservation of the soule and this it is where the Apostle Saint Peter tells us in our text Feare God By which word feare wee must not understand a cowardize a pusillanimity or any irregular passion which freezeth our blood in our veines which causeth our hearts to pant and beat with an incessant motion which calls and attracts
Church is naturally denoted and figured unto us By the holy place whereunto came onely the Levites and those which ministred at the Sacrifices are signified unto us the Ministers of the word of God who are chosen and put a part in his Church to be Heraulds and Embassadours of his holy will offering the ordinary Sacrifices of prayer and thanksgiving which are his delectable and well accepted service By the Sanctum Sanctorum or the most holy place is truly figured unto us Heaven for as the high Priest entred not into that place before he had first purified washed himselfe according to the Divine ordinance so the faithfull cannot enter into heaven untill hee hath first divested sinne and be covered with the cloake of Iustice holinesse and innocencie therfore Iesus Christ himselfe declareth the same thing unto us with his owne sacred mouth saying Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see GOD. The Prophet David expresseth exceeding well the same words in the 15. Psalme saying Lord who shall abide in thy Tabernacle who shall dwell in thy holy hill he that walketh uprightly and worketh righteousnesse and speaketh the truth in his heart And in the 24. Psalme Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord and who shall stand in his holy place hee that hath cleane hands and a pure heart who hath not lifted up his soule unto vanity nor sworne deceitfully Hee shall receive the blessing from the Lord and righteousnesse from the God of his salvation And in the 33. Chap. of Isaiah ver 14. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire who amongst us shall dwell with everlasting burnings He that walketh righteously and speaketh uprightly he that despiseth the gaine of oppressions that shaketh his hands from receiving of bribes that stoppeth his eares from hearing of blood and shutteth his eyes from seeing evill He shall dwell on high his place of defence shall be the munitions of rockes bread shall be given him his waters shall be sure His eyes shall see the King in his beauty they shall behold the land that is very farre off O what admirable places how many faire and rare promises doe all these Prophets make to the faithfull who shall keepe his heart from sinne and his hands from iniquity and Iesus Christ himselfe commeth after to confirme their testimonie and to ratifie their words saying in this place Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see GOD. Words very energetically and significant as if hee had said Dearely beloved the onely and perfect way to possesse all happinesse all pleasures and all the advantages that you can wish and in a word to enjoy eternall felicity to contemplate face to face Gods divine Majestie wherein consisteth the fulnesse of happinesse and all contentment following the serpents example to cast off the olde skinne that is to pull off the olde coate of sinne infected with the leprosie of iniquity to fly and eschew evill to embrace good to hate vice and perfectly to love vertue which is the true way to heaven to the possession of heavenly graces and in a word to the fulnesse and perfection of all true happinesse Blessed are then the pure in heart for they shall see God Now to enter into a more particular explication of these words we will divide them into two principall parts and will consider 1. who are the pure in heart And secondly the cause why they are blessed The royall Prophet David in the 15. Psalme describeth perfectly unto us those that are pure in heart They are those saith hee that lye not and who live uprightly they who backbite not with their tongues nor doe evill to their neighbours and in whose eyes a vile person is contemned but they honour them that feare the Lord they that sweare to their owne hurt and change not they that put not out their money to usurie nor take bribes or reward against the innocent This is a very faire true and ample description of the Righteous man who hath a pure heart that is who hath his conscience pure and just and who lives in integrity justice and innocencie For this word heart is not here to be understood or taken for the materiall carnall heart placed in our breasts which is the fountaine and beginning of life the first living the last dying in man but for the soule that keepeth there her ordinary Sessions as we commonly say that is corne by showing onely the sacks that hold it there is the Kings Treasure by shewing onely the Exchequer Chamber where it is kept the place containing being called and taken by the name of the thing contained so must we understand a pure heart to bee taken for the conscience which therein makes her residence Where at the first sight we finde a thing very remarkable and worthy our consideration that to wit that sinne being as it were a black and venomous Inke or an infect d and corrupted poyson as soone as it comes neare our hearts the seate of our soules it defileth infecteth and makes them so stinking that God cannot endure them before his face so much abhorreth he the very sent and smell of sin and so much the very object of iniquity is noysome and troublesome to him Now Iesus Christ knowing that man brought into the world from his mothers wombe with life the cause of death that is originall sinne cursed sinne a disastrous blade or stalke which like the wilde and evill plants casteth continually forth so many young sprigges which doth so people and store the field of our soules that in the end in stead of a Garden of Eden where God tooke pleasure to walke in stead of a delightfull River where the Angels bathed it be comes a hideous and dreadfull wildernesse where the devils and wicked spirits keepe their Sabaths and criminall Assises and Sessions a filthy sinke where wicked and impious men like Hogges continually wallowe And therefore Iesus Christ I say to bring his Apostles to perfection and to put them and all the faithfull in the way to heaven he exhorts them to keepe their hearts pure cleane and naked from all sinne filthinesse and iniquity to extirpate the thistles bryers from the fields of their soules to plow and till it carefully with the share and harrow of contrition and repentance for their sinnes In a word to make it aground fit and fruitfull to receive the holy seed of the word of life and to make it beare fruites to immortality and eternall life As men would bee curious to sweepe and cleanse a house wherein a King resolues for a while to be resident and may justly accuse him of imprudence and impudence who having advice and notice of his comming would not make hast to perfume it to adorne and enrich it with the fairest furniture to embellish it with all the rarities and most pretious jewels they could recover So alas the hearts of the faithfull are nothing else but the house of God
the glorious throne of his beloved Sonne and the tabernacle which the holy Ghost hath chosen for his habitation where is then that heart of stone that soule so base and obstinately resolved to bee lost that knowing the happy and most honourable arrivall of the great King of Kings of the three divine persons of the ineffable and incomprehensible Trinity and trine-unity doth not sweepe and cleanse the house of his heart and doth not purifie it from all dirt and filthinesse who I say will not adorne it with the richest treasures and with the rich ornaments that holinesse justice and innocencie abundantly affords purposely to receive with honour and reverence so magnificent a King who promiseth us to come unto us when hee saith in the 14. Chap. of Saint Iohn If a man love me he will keepe my words and my Father will love him and we will come in unto him and make our abode with him Our good Master Jesus Christ the Saviour of our soules teacheth us in the 22. Chap. of Sai t Mathew how much and how dearely purenesse is acceptaâ—le before him saying That the Kingdome of heaven is like a certaine King which made a marriage for his sonne and having invited many the banquetting roome was filled and the King himselfe being come in to see the guests hee there sawe a man which had not a wedding garment and said unto him Friend how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment And hee was speechlesse Then said the King to the servants bind him hand and foote and cast him into utter darknesse where shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth for many are called but fewe are chosen Can we desire a more lively representation or an example more formall to shew us that God delighteth in the sincerity and purenesse of our soules and contrariwise that he abhorreth and detesteth the filthinesse of sinne the inke and coales of iniquiry which blacks and defiles our consciences for it is impossible ever to tast of the dainty and delicious Viands served at the Lambs wedding at the sumptuous and magnificent feast of the onely Sonne of the great King of Kings before we have left off our working dayes cloathes the infected and stinking coate or our naturall corruption to put on the white roabe of holinesse purity and amendment of life and to use the very words of Scripture Colos 3. Wee must cast off the old man with his deedes and put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him And Ephes 4. concerning the former conversation Cast off the old man which is corrupted according to the deceitfull lusts of his heart and be renewed in the spirit of your minde and put on the new man which like unto God is created in righteousnesse and true holinesse And in Rom. 6.6 Our old man is crucified with Christ that the body of sinne might be destroyed that henceforth wee should serue sinne no more but walke before him in renovation and newnesse of life The clearest waters are alwayes the best and therefore commonly see that the excellentest springs are derived from the rockes and fetch'd from the highest hills because that the water distilling through many narrow passages and strait places the farther it goes the more it is purified the most subtill and clearest springs seeke the highest places as approaching nearer to the nature of the ayre whose nature and propriety is still to ascend And contrariwise you may observe and marke that the thick and heavie waters are alwayes filthy and stinking and are conserved in pitts and deepe sinkes as participating of the nature of the earth and therefore are fit for nothing but to breed serpents and Frogges whereof some kill us by their mortall venome and the other trouble us with their unsufferable croaking These cleare and pure waters doe lively prefigure and set forth unto us the faithfull servant of the Lord who hath purified and as it were distilled himselfe at the fire of the love of God thereby to leave off what was earthly ponderous and troublesome in him as hatred ambition sensuality and vaine glory purposely to soare aloft and to elevate himselfe to the holy mountaine of Syon towards heaven which is the center whither the circumference of his desires designes and thoughts tendeth These black and muddy waters may expresse and set forth hell unto us where there is nothing but horrible darknesse and fearefull obscurity where that old serpent is iustly banished for his deserts and where the damned gastly and frightfull soules doe nothing else but vexe themselves and curse But to apply it to the subject of our text these stinking and corrupted waters may very fitly be compared to the wicked and to the men of this world who have Woolfes or Lyons hearts under the shape and forme of men who wallowe like Hogges in the mire and dirt of carnall security who runne not after pietie and vertue but remaine fast chained and bound to sensualitie and vice casting all their affections on the earth whereof their body is made and composed never ayming nor levelling their thoughts at heaven whence their soule had their originall True serpents in malice hatred and envie that with mortall venome infect the Lillies and Roses of the best consciences Frogges in prating and slandering that never open their mouthes but to utter unsufferable blasphemies oathes lyes and detractions Take yet this farther conceit upon the purity of the heart to wit that as the eyes ore-vayled with clowds or with cataracts and webbs cannot clearely discerne the objects or colours which are exposed before them because their faculty is prevented and hindered by the interposition of these obstacles which are placed betweene the object and the sight whereas contrariwise good sound and well disposed eyes as are these of Eagles who though soaring in the highest clowds doe neverthelesse see very plainely in the thickest bushes in the remotest furrowes of the farre distant fields and which is most admirable is that her sight is so strong and powerfull that contrary to the nature and practise of other living creatures she can steddily behold and contemplate the Sunne without winking at all yea when shee is nearest him and standing on the highest branch of a tree planted on the top of the loftiest mountaine Now to appropriate this to our matter wee say That hee whose heart is incombred with the things of this world whose soule is ore-vayled with ambition with the clowds of vanity and vaine glory whose conscience is obscured and darkned with hatred envie and malice can never contemplate God nor see his face which is all the consolation all the joy and in a word the true center of our happinesse the fulnesse of all our felicity and the greatest delights which the faithfull can wish or desire But those that shall be carefull and diligent to keepe their soules pure and cleane from the filthinesse of sinne those like Eagles indeede alwaves soaring
were the Royall Pallaces and honourable company which hee had in heaven among the Angels He was swadled in clowts and laid in a Manger for want of a Cradle to keepe him from the injuries of the weather were those the delights of his Paradise He was fugitive here and there to shunne the envie and furious rage of Herod who sought to kill him In a word considering diligently all the course of his life from the moment of his birth to the last period of his death wee shall finde all his actions framed in humility and guided by meekenesse and simplicity This example and no more he did not goe chuse within the Pallaces of Kings the goodliest and gallantest Courtiers hee did not elect the sonnes of Princes to be his Apostles but went to the receipt of custome to the Cottages and Boats of Fishermen to call that honourable company of his twelue Apostles who like well instructed Disciples followed the steps of their loving Lord and Master so well did they imitate and follow his examples and especially that of his simplicity that they may be patterns of it themselues as the History of their life sufficiently sheweth and as the duty of their place required for men being deepely plunged in malice presumption and arrogancie there was no way to vanquish them but wholy by contrary weapons to them unknowne that they might the more easily be subdued and vanquished To their arrogancie they opposed meekenesse to their pompe and vaine glory humility and simplicity ever remembring the command of their good Master Be ye simple as Doves Now it is remarkable that the faithfull and such as walke uprightly before God are called by the wicked and by the children of the God of this world Poore and simple people because they addict not themselves to fraud and deceit so spake Iobs wife to her husband being yet in affliction upon his dunghill Doest thou still retaine thine integrity But Iesus Christ to shew us that hee approoveth those whom the world rejecteth speakes as if he had said See you those simple and base people they shall see God So Christ gives them hopes of the blessed vision of God as if hee had promised light to the blinde knowledge to the ignorant and wisedome to fooles for so this wicked world calleth those that will not drinke the cop of his malice nor tread in his pathes full of sinne and iniquity Blessed then are the pure in heart c. He doeth not onely say they shall be blessed but he speaketh in the present tense saying they are already blessed for God having given them that holinesse which they possesse and upon all occasions practise hath also given them two strong and well feathered wings to soare and flie aloft to heaven whereof the one is faith by the which the just trusting and reposing himselfe wholy in the promises of Christ takes his flight towards Paradise to have a tast of them for it is the nature of faith as appeareth by her definition to know how to assure it selfe how to aske the grace of God promised in his word how to embrace salvation offered by Iesus Christ and during this life how to possesse in part that eternall and blessed life And because faith beginneth here to tast the delights of the vision of God she is yet upheld and fortified by Hope which is the second wing that makes her expect heaven and promiseth her absolutely to fill her abundantly with those sweet pleasures whereof she hath shee yet had but a tast and to make her perfectly know that which now she seeth but obscurely and like a shadow Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see GOD. Vpon these words there is an objection to be resolved why Christ saith here the pure in heart seeing the Scripture in many places is directly opposite to this justice to this purity to this cleanenesse as we read Prou. 20.9 Who can say I have made my heart cleane I am pure from my sinne And in the first booke of Kings the 8. Chap. There is no man that sinneth not And in the 1. Epist of Saint Iohn 1. Chap. If we say that we have no sinne we deceive our selues and the truth is not in us And in the 25. Chap. of Iob How can man be justified with God or how can he be cleane that is borne of a woman Although these places and many more that we purposely leave to avoyd prolixity seeme to be opposite to our Text notwithstanding we will reconcile them together For when the Spirit of God calleth heere those that live justly and holily pure in heart we must not understand it so as if they were totally and absolutely cleane from the filthinesse of sinne for in that sence the royall Prophet David saith There is none just no not one But we must understand here those that strive to walke in the sacred pathes of Gods commandements that live holily before God and without reproach before men that have beene purified like gold tried seaven times in the fire and that fire is the word of God that enters and penetrates to the most secret thoughts there to consume the wood and chaffe of our wicked inclinations This cleansing and purification is clearely set forth unto us in the 15. Chap. of Saint Iohn in these words of Christ Now ye are cleane through the word which I have spoken And in the 13. Chap. ver 10. of the same Gospell Hee that is washed needeth not save to wash his feete but is cleane every whit and ye are cleave but not all In a word the faithfull that live holily may be called just and pure in heart Secundum quid non simpliciter Iust in that degree of Iustice that may fall on man whilest he is here below fighting against flesh and blood his domesticall enemies that often overcome him and would quite keepe him downe if hee were not upheld and fortified by the spirit of grace and by the Almighty hand of God that raiseth and delivereth him The faithfull servant of the Lord is againe called pure in heart because hee is such in part already and that besides the great disposition that is in him to tend to his perfection hee already here begins to tast the excellent sweetnes of that delicate fruit whereof he shall hereafter be fully and perfectly satisfied and satiated in Gods Paradise Blessed then are the pure in heart for they shall see God Wee have another circumstance here very pregnant and remarkable to wit that Christ exhorteth us here to be pure in heart and not of our head or hands because that the heart being the seate of the soule sinne is most busie to vitiate and infect it with his foule and filthy corruption which it doth not in the other parts of the body and therefore you see that God doth so strictly command us to keepe our hearts for his part and behoofe saying My sonne give mee thy heart Now to omit or let passe nothing
us light this torch of truth that all that suffer themselues to be carried away by wrath that gape after revenge and hatred are uncleane before God and unworthy to be offered to him in sacrifice If thou bring thy gift to the Altar and there remembrest that thy brother hath ought against thee Leave there thy gift before the Altar and goe thy way be reconciled to thy brother saith our Saviour Math. 5.23 And the royall Prophet sayes Bloodie men are abomination to the Lord Psal 5.7 Hitherto wee have seene the horrour and mischiefes of warre with some of the fruits she commonly beareth to wit cruelty eldest daughter of this terrible monster now let us contemplate a while the picture of peace her contrary and let us tast with delectation the sweetnesse and excellencie of the inestimable fruites which she beareth propagates in the hearts of peacemakers which are so great that St. August saith Tantum est pacis bonū ut in rebus terrenis nihil gratius soleat audiri nihil desiderabilius concupisci nihil postremo possit melius inveniri Peace is so great a good upon the earth that no pleasanter thing can be heard nothing more delightfull desired and nothing better found Saint Bernard in the 9. Serm. on the Lords Supper speaketh thus of it The peace of this world is in the which whilest we dwell we vanquish our enemies wee love one another and judge not of those things that are hidden from us that peace which shall bee in the world to come shall be when wee shall raigne without enemies where one shall not be of contrary aduice to the other in a word where all things shall bee knowne and open to every one and endeth thus Iesus Christ is this true peace because hee hath reconciled us to God his Father by the inestimable price of his blood Saint Augustine in the Sermon of the word of the Lord speaketh thus of it Pax est serenitas mentis tranquillitas animi simplicitas cordis vinculum amoris consortium charitatis haec est quae simultates tollit bella compescit iras comprimit superbos calcat humiles amat discordes cedat inimicos concordat cunctis est placida nescit extolli nescit inflari hanc qui acceperit teneat qui perdiderit repetat qui amiserit exquirat quoniam qui in eadem non erit inventus a patre abdicatur a Filio exhaeredatur à Spiritu Sancto alienus efficitus nec ad haereditatem Domini poterit venire qui testimonium pacis noluerit observare These be golden words deserving well to be knowne and to be exactly obserued Peace saith hee is a calmenesse of the understanding a tranquillity of the minde a simplicity of the heart the bond of peace the practise of charity it is peace that taketh away quarels endeth warres appeaseth wrath treadeth the proud under foote loves the humble paci fieth the quarel some agreeth the enemies which is gracious to all which is not high minded nor proud which whosoever hath received let him conserue it who so hath lost it let him seeke and recover it for hee that shall not be found in it is disclaimed by the Father disinherited by the Sonne alienated from the Holy Ghost nor shall hee ever attaine to the Lords inheritance that would not obserue the bonds and testimonie of peace Now we haue heard these two pillars of the Church of God let us hearken to himselfe speaking by the mouth of his chosen vessell Coloss 3.15 Let the peace of God rule in your hearts to the which also ye are called in one body and be ye thankfull And Philip. 4.7 The peace of God which passeth all understanding keepe your hearts and mindes through Iesus Christ And that which should most bind us to love this Peace is the soring or head fountaine from whence it floweth for as the warre of sinne proceedeth from the wicked one so the peace of our consciences commeth from the Father of eternity from the King of mercy as wee read 1. Thessal 5.23 The very God of peace sanctifie you wholly This peace of conscience is a marke and an effect of our iustification by faith as wee reade Rom. 5.1 Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Iesus Christ All these place should induced and incite us to the practise of peace since the recompence promised to it is so excellent In a word let us shut the gate of peace with that saying of Xenophon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Peace is the greatest good can happen to men and warre the greatest hurt Blessed are the peacemakers for the shall be called the children of God This word peacemaker is diversly interpreted by Authors for some hold that those are they which live justly and who by their actions never provoke the divine Iustice Others as August hold that those are meant which possesse a very peaceable conscience that is that are not agitated by the troubles of sinne Others beleeve that those are they that are not Authors of quarrels and dissentions Others understand it of those that forgive freely the injuries and wrongs done unto them as Hilarius The last and most likely to be the best opinion of the which number are Chrisostome Euthymius and Theophylacte is that the true peace-makers makers are those that are themselues and in themselues peaceable and pacified and that besides that try their uttermost endevours and power to compound differences and to introduce peace where dissention disorder raigne And this interpretation commeth nearer to the Greeke word of our Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quasi pacem facientes aut conciliantes Those that compound quarrels and this interpretation is also very convenient to the charge and duty which was enjoyned the Apostles to who Iesus Christ spake these words who were to keepe maximes altogether contrary to those which the word practiseth who doth esteeme farre more those that fight valiantly and that continue obstinately in combat then those that make peace and pacifie all things now this maxime was to be practised by the Apostles as being to fight and overcome the world not by force of Armes but by gentlenesse and mildnesse as we read Saint Luke 10. chap. ver 5. Into whatsoever house ye enter first say Peace be to this house Besides the Apostles were to imitate the Prince of the Apostles Iesus Christ the true and perfect representation of meekenesse humility and mildnesse as we may understand and know if we runne over all the actions of his life untill his ascension up to heaven now this meekenesse proceeded from him both by inclination for he was the Lamb of God and by imitation for he was like his Father that is not a God of confusion but a God of peace as the Apostle saith in the 1. to the Cor. 14.33 And Rom. 16.20 The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feete shortly And 2. Cor. 11. Brethren live in peace and the God of love