double Act enforced from a double motive an Act of wishing and an Act of seeking The first relates unto the Heart and the Tongue Loquar de Pace tuâ I will pray for thy Peace or I will wish thee Prosperity The second imployes the Braine and the Hand indeed all the members Quaeram bonum tibi I will Study I will seek thy good Corresponding to which double Act we have a double Motive 1. For my Brethren and Companions sake a Motive of Community and Compassion 2. Because of the house of the Lord our God a Motive of Piety and Religion I begin at the double Act which I shall twist together into one discourse and as I am able discover unto you a good King labouring both in Word and Deed for the Peace of Ierusalem I will now say Peace c. I will seek thy Good And here to faciliate the clerenesse of this poynt let us first take a view of the State of the Kingdome in the seasonablenesse of the wish I will Now say Which instant of time though in the strictnesse of King Davids Chronicle it reflect only upon the returning of the Arke unto Ierusalem from the hands of the Philistins yet because his scrutiny and search after Peace was eminent throughout all his persecutions both from Forraigne and domestique Enemies and because this Psalme of Degrees was in lieu of a Te Deum set and tuned for his Harpe to be sung upon every solemne Feast day and at all times whensoever he or his People approached the Courts of the Lord Therefore we shall take leave to runne this Now through each severall trouble of holy Davids Raigne I will Now say Now that you have dranke deep of the dregs of Gods wrath Now that you have seen with horrour and rued with losse the cursed Councells of Ahithophel which yet you hearkned unto as unto the Oracles of God Now that so many Israelites have fallen and perished in the unnaturall Rebellion of Absolon and Sheba Now that the house of David waxeth stronger and stronger and the house of Saul waxeth weaker and weaker Now that the multiplied successes of a rightfull sword might intitle me to a more absolute Dominion and invite me to expect a perfect and full signall Conquest over my Subjects promising a double right to a Throne as well through your Blood as by Samuels Oyle yet Now am I ready to embrace a Treaty of Peace and to evidence unto the World that the prosperity and welfare of Ierusalem is the prime aime of its Soveraigne I will Now say Peace be within thee I will forget how Shimei cursed the Lords Anointed and how my Messengers whom I sent to Hanun with an Olive Branch in their mouthes were villenously entreated by the Princes of the Children of Ammon I will forget all this and I will forgive moreover the Churlishnesse of Nabal and the false suggestions of Ziba my houshold Servants who eat bread from the Kings Table they shall not for all their Apostacy be forced as their Master was to eat the bread of Affliction And though the Ziphites and the Keilites whom I rescued from danger and protected by my presence would secretly have betrayed me into the hands of mine Enemy yet I will passe an Act of Oblivion upon this their treachery I will Now say Peace be within thee Nay were that Arch-Rebell now living who stole the hearts of the men of Israel from me and who under pretence of doing Iustice seiz'd first upon the Iudicature There is no man deputed of the King to doe right and therefore O that I saith he were made Judge in the Land that every man which hath any suit or cause might come to me and I would doe him Iustice 2. Sam. 15. v. 3. 4. And then under a colour of Religion v. 7. seizeth next upon the Militia who went in their simplicity and they knew not any thing v. 11. but afterwards by a continuall increase grew up unto a great Rebellious Army to take away not only the Crowne and Dignity but the very life of their Liege Lord 2. Sam. 17. 2. 4. Yet neither should he be exempted from Repentance and Pardon if he would lay hold of it I would Now say Peace be within thee 'T is true that Peace carries as glorious a presence with it as harmonious a sound as full a traine of Epithites as I think any blessing under Heaven {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} in Aristides Loud expressions all of them yet they all come short of him who fancied a kind of malaciousnesse even in an unjust Peace Injustam Pacem Iustissimo Bello the only place that ever the Terme unjust serv'd to a good sense But still we are too shallow The blessings of Peace are beyond both Greek and Latine Oratory the Gospell and Christs most precious blood must come in to rate them Our Peace Pax nostra Christum valet it cost God no lesse then an Incarnation and a Crucifixion too whereby he atchiev'd the Title and honour not only of being the Author of Peace 1. Thess. 5. 25. but is the Prince of it Esa. 9. Prince of that Peace which is it selfe a Princesse if Saint Paul have any skill in Principalities and Powers who therefore calls upon us for our Allegiance to be Loyall Subjects and to suffer with all thankfulnesse the Peace of God to Rule in our Hearts {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Imperet saith he Coloss. 3. 15 Let it have Dominion over you and therefore at least a Princesse A puissant victorious Princesse Quae Superat omnem intellectum a Wise and valiant Princesse Quae munit custodit corda vestra And the Peace of God a Peace which I am confident David wished to be within Ierusalem as well as an externall Prosperity And the Peace of God which passeth {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} which subdues and Conquers all understanding shall keep {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} which is a military word shall entrench and guard your hearts and minds through Christ Iesus Philip 4. 7. But these however convincing arguments in their own nature and me thinks the Gospell should need no Second no other Spokes man then the Messiah yet when they encounter ours so perverse and stubborne they win but weakly upon our affections The only Masculine Logick now lies in the Sword and we must hast unto the Camp for a true definition of Peace When once we begin to find the sword stealing from a Neighbours Bosome to lighten in our faces and to lodge in our Bowells Then presently we advance into an extasie of Expression blessing those former dayes now forfeited by our sinnes wherein we could call somewhat our Owne our Estates and Fortunes our Owne our Children and Servants our Owne our Owne Bodies yea and our Consciences they were our Owne For even in Religion we can remember the day when we had a Propriety in that
too Then we can say O thrice happy Peace wherein we might see the King and Subject so incorporated each into other as that Salus Populi was not distinguish'd into phrensie or put upon the rack to make an argument for Rebellion Nor yet Praerogativa Regis raised as a step or staire to Tyranny But were both of them like the two eyes in the Body shedding equall light and darting forth a comfortable shine to the head and to the inferiour members Compare these times with what we have lost and our Fathers dayes will run the danger of an Vtopia be deem'd rather the sport of a luxuriant Fancy then any reall truth Then when the King seemd rather a Steward for the people then a Lord over them and when the People were so endear'd into the favour of the Prince as if there had been an holy kind of Anarchy in State and every man had been both a King and a Subject well may we ingeminate the Rapture and Cry O thrice happy O thrice blessed Peace And yet to redeeme those times and to recover that Peace the blessings whereof we have learn'd so throughly from the miserable effects of Warre God knowes how few there be who are contented to spend more then an empty Prayer a little wholsome breath and a cheap wish I will wish thee Prosperity and I will now say Peace be within thee If words could make the purchase should we not all be buyers But I will seek thy good seek it through fire and water engage my Life Fortune for the Peace of Ierusalem I doubt me this will prove a hard Chapter to those who through avarice lazinesse or Cowardice have causelesly resolved before hand we shall be all undone and therefore make it their only shifting study how to fall last in the Field Whereas indeed God may justly challenge the very spring of our Actions and therein is to be invocated and petitioned not only with the Heart and Tongue but likewise with the Hand or what other member we can finde more Active for the procurement of our Peace For otherwise to Pray with the Lipps and unpray with the Hand i. e. to begge Peace at Gods hands and scarce stretch out our Own to take it what is this but to play handy dandy with our maker We would have Peace but not yet Lord or we would have Peace but are loath to Buy it Or if Buy we must will not a little Sweat serve the turne This marketting and chaffering for Gods blessing which was wont to be cheap at the price of Blood is to dally with his mercy and calls assuredly for his Iustice How much better therefore that posture of the men of Iudah whom we find with a Petition in their mouth and a sword in their hand They cryed unto the Lord their God and Fought with their enemies 2. Chron. 13. 14. 14. 11. indeed as the Kings {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} in the last verse of this Psalme signifies a through Seeking a Search with Prayer so at the sixth verse the Peoples {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} is a through Praying a Prayer not without Seeking and in both words we read great endeavours It seems the Peace of Ierusalem was lost as doth appear by Davids seeking for it And he sought it in the Wildernesse at Nob in Gath he sought it at the hands of friends and Strangers nay he saught it most passionately from them who had least reason to deny it And think we he would have parted with his Wives his Ionathan his friends and servants and you know all this he parted with afterwards out of a pure love to Peace would he have fled from the great City to Mahanaim and chang'd the Royall Palace for the Cave Adullam 1. Sam. 22. 2. Where we read that every one that was in distresse to wit for a good conscience sake and every one that was in debt i. e. beggar'd and undone they and their Children by the rage of a prevailing Enemy and every one that was discontented or bitter of soule to wit to see the Lords annoynted so malitiously traduced and persecuted gathered themselves unto him and he became a Captain over them and there were with him about foure hundred men not above foure hundred men at first when he defended himselfe frōAssassines and but six hundred men at first to shield him from the Rebellion of Absolom 2. Sam. 15. 18. And think we he would have endured all this and have set up with a handfull of men against the many thousands of Israel had it not bin by some particular Item and encouragement from Heaven to go in quest for some such rare publique blessing as the good and prosperity of Ierusalem I saith he will seek thy good as if he had said Well I see how bloodily Doeg that Edomite is bent against the Prophets of the Lord I heare of a Trumpet blown by the treacherous Sheba to unite Ephraim and Manasseh against loyall Iudah Ahithophel too who plots how to dry up the Holy Oyle wherewith I was annoynted and so consequently to alter the very Ordinance of God and to bring Confusion upon Ierusalem let him plot and contrive still But marke the end of him And though Ioab and Abner should be so little touchd with the feeling of Gods instant judgements as to sport in Blood Let the young men now arise and Play before us 2. Sam. 2. 14. a strange bloody kind of Play for every man to thrust his sword in his brothers side vers. 16. could they have the heart to hackny out this Kingdome to Husband the present Warre and to spinne out the sword only for their own Profits sake Yet believe mee O Ierusalem and take it upon the word of a King I will seek thy good Nay take it under my Hand Which is the greatest security I can give thee for the present against the disloyall and unsubjectly diffidence of some distrustfull Israelites Who though they slander us with an intention to subvert the Peace of Ierusalem in her Liberty and Religion Yet we say and he would have his Subjects to Remember it we say with a cleer and upright conscience to God Almighty whosoever harbours the least thought in his Breast of ruining or violating the publique Liberty or Religion of this Kingdome let him be Accursed And he shall be no Counsellour of Ours that will not say Amen Now time was when a Kings word and the Hand-writing of a King would have passed without other security I enquire not what they will doe now and whatsoever the King did pleased the People 2. Sam. 3. 36. His bare example was both a Law and a Demonstration Vita Principis censura est the very Life and Conversation of a chast Prince is a good Sermon and Preacheth downright at the Libidinous Subject His yea and nay strikes dumb the Blasphemer and Gods House is still the fuller for the presence of the
be the proper Birthright of every true Subject indeed though David offer us a kindly shelter from the scorching heat under the Branches of his Royall Oake yet he denies us not the shade of our owne Figge tree And then is it not fit that we agen should convey some sap and moisture to the Root of that Oake that so his Branches may still flourish and protect us Is it not fit that we should returne and afford him some shade yea and reach him some Fruit too from our Figtrees Thou canst not be said to rob thy selfe when thou givest Caesar his due Tribute doth no way diminish or undermine Liberty I say Liberty notwithstanding the former Benefit is now armed to cut the Throat of Liberty and made the only stale to bring in Slavery Quidam ut Imperium subvertant Libertatem proferunt si subverterint Ipsam aggredientur The Historian writes as a Prophet of these times Now Liberty it is ill defin'd by Cicero to be Potestas vivendi ut velis to be a Power of doing whatsoever seemeth best in our own eyes without Check or Controule and such a time there was once in Israel but 't was when there was no King there no true Liberty consists in an orderly subjection of the will to Law and Equity It is indeed as the Civilians tell us a Naturall faculty Faciendi quod cuique facere libet but then with this following restriction nisi si quid vi aut Iure prohibeatur And Excepto si quid Masuri Rubrica vetavit so Persius And then as Seneca informes us speaking of the state of Rome in the times of Iulius and Augustus Salva esse Roma non poterat nisi beneficio servitutis So give me leave to construe Servitude into a Subjectly Obedience and I will say that neither can this Island ever be safe but through the benefit of such a Subjection Indeed take away the Boundary of the Lawes what is this but to erect a Tyranny within every breast if that question be rightly put as I conceive it is What is Tyranny but to admit no Rule to Governe by but our own Wills Take away our sub and supra the Power of Dominion the Right of subjection change but Liberty into Licentiousnesse and you open the floodgate to that impetuous Torrent and that now justified and experienced truth which has been twice or thrice Honour'd with the Quotation of a Prince though to the great Dishonour of the Author viz. Lust will be a Law unto it selfe Incest will be a Law and Theft will be a Law and Rapine will be a Law and Murther will be a Law Incest and Theft and Murther are these the wholsome good Lawes which we have so long looked for Yes these are the unlucky the illegitimate brats and spawne of our teeming Rebellion Silent inter Arma Leges Fides Pietasque If at any time 't is now that we may behold the Triumphes of Sedition and Heresy Profanenesse and Blasphemy enthron'd and the High-noon of Violence and Oppression Which since they cannot but fall heavy upon Davids Brethren and Companions therefore is it especially that he so earnestly prayes sues for Peace upon Ierusalem For my Brethren and Companions sake He calls them Brethren who yet was their Father and deignes to be a Companion to those whose Master he was As Majesty doth become the Person of a King so likewise doth Affability The Men of Mexico who dare no longer look their Soveraigne in the Face after the Solemnities of the Inauguration are passed over what do they hereby but Rob the King of his Humanity And those on t'other side who think a little d'offing off the Hat and a Good morrow for all day Respect and Reverence enough for the Lords Annoynted do not they Pillage him of his Divinity Princes are Gods to teach us not to Play with that holy flame which at an awfull distance Warms but Burns upon too neer bold Approaches But Princes they are Men too to teach them from the Humility of their own mould to Compassionate and not to overlook their Brethren Now our Pitty and Compassion is a rich endowment and choyce affection of the Soule becomming us both as Men and Christians and of which the very Beasts are Capable insomuch that if Balaam smite his Asse without a cause the dumb Asse doth not want a Tongue to reprove him of Cruelty How much more then ought we to Compassionate our languishing brethren when we are bound to be mercifull to our fainting Beasts For my Brethren and Companions sake me thinks this verse carries an Especially in it Especially to Pray for Peace because of Them For howbeit that Christian Love be due to all from all men yet is not Grace so thwarting and Crosse to Nature but that it will allow our Affections to settle more upon One then upon another There is an Especially to them of the Houshold of Faith Galat. 6. 10. Especially doe good to them You that sit here to heale up the Wounds and to repaire the Breaches of a Kingdome Yet so farre as it doth not impaire the Honour and safety of the Republique you are to be allowed and cherished in your more singular Care and Affections for the Peace of your own particular Counties We may be very Loyall Subjects and yet be very Loving Neighbours even Christ who was a most indulgent and tender Master to All his Disciples had yet his Beloved Iohn nor doth his Bosome lye open for every one to leane upon If at any time you find him Bemoaning the Vnthankfulnesse of Corazin and Capernaum yet you shall see Him downright to Weep over the Ingratitude of Ierusalem We are bound by the Badge of our Christian Profession to Compassionate the miseries of Gasping Germany Wee have Brethren there whose sad and wofull estate implores and Commands our Pitty and our Prayers for them And yet That hindered not but that we might ere while have advanced our Compassion over the miserable Condition of Bleeding Ireland Nor doth This hinder but that we are still to keep a Choyce Reserve of Teares and Prayers for the Peace of our distressed Mother England England at this day you may behold her weeping for her Father and her Sonnes for her Head that is crownd with Thornes for her Two eyes the Vniversities of this Land which grow dimme darkish God keep them from being quite put out for her Hands the Courts of Iustice which are Palsy-shaken and scarce able to hold the Scales and the Sword for her Feet viz. the Cōmon People who are carried away like Sheep without a Sheepheard Non quâ eundum sed quâ Itur wandring up and downe in the By-paths of Ignorance and disobedience O ye that passe by All yee that beare good will unto Zion Come and lend us here your Teares and your Prayers For your Brethren and Companions sake O Pray for the Peace of this Ierusalem 1. For my Brethrens sake
unjustly laboured to Alienate unto Themselves might yet be Alienated from the Church And agen should submit to a Reformation not such an one as would Feed all the Lampes of the Sanctuary with Oyle alike making no distinction between a Torch and a Taper between the Golden Candlesticks and the Brazen ones But such an one as takes Order that every Lamp may have proportionably its Oyle and Light in due Measure and in due Season Great talke has been of Abuses and of Reformation But Woe unto such who make Beams of our Moates who call every spot in the Moon a totall Eclipse and cry up every Peccadillo in a private Member for no lesse then Capitall to the whole Body But then agen much more We unto such who fancy find Abuses where there are none Who being well read in the Florentine accuse the Church for no other end but to get her Meanes Let them take heed that the Iewes doe not rise up in Iudgement against the men of this Generation for They only Bought Sold in the Porch of the Temple they did not Buy and Sell the Porch the Temple too It is not for me to plead in this Place that we are the Kings Subjects as well as Gods Ministers And that the Lawes of the Land have not the spread-Eagles two necks nor Ianus his two Faces to look East upon the Rising Laity and to reflect a Westernly Glance upon the declining Clergy No The Great Charter of England casts an equall Eye and gives a just Protection to us Both Though with humblenesse and in all submission be it spoken Iacobs Right hand seemes to be laid though some as once Ioseph did call to him to remove it thence upon the younger Child viz. the Church the Church is they younger Child Ecclesia est in Republicâ non Respublica in Ecclesiâ is Optatus And Nature first calls us Men ere Faith speaks us Christians And the first blessing in the very first lines there is Deo Ecclesiae We have Granted to God and by this our present Charter have confirmed for us and our Heires for Ever more that the Church of England shall be Free and shall have all her whole Rights and Liberties inviolable But proofes of this Nature come not so properly perhaps within my spheare My chiefe businesse therefore shall be to Remember you that not without the Great hand of Providence these Houses of the Prophets as in diverse former Parliaments so now especially have been miraculously Reserved for You. Now how can you look upon the Houses of the Prophets and Forget the Sons of the Prophets They that sit and Consult in Naioth cannot they cannot but Remember Bethel And when the Master is pleased to come into the Harvest field surely it is not to Rob the Labourers but to Remunerate them For otherwise should you goe about as God forbid I should dare to think so to barter away the Glory of Gods House to buy the Peace of your Own should you seek to destroy with a Breath a worke of sixteen hundred years And endeavour to appease Simeon Levi with the Thraldome of Iacob the Rage of your Brethren with the Ruine of our Fathers bringing their Gray Heads with sorrow unto the Grave How Cheap soever at first you might think your Bargain I am afraid to tell you how dear at last you would find the Covenant Iudgement you may beginne it at the House of God but then it will never Rest till it have over run the Common-wealth A Parity in the Church will usher in an Anarchy in the State and the Multitude that innovating unseltled inconstant Creature will find in time as little use of a Peerage as of a Prelacy Yea and what if they should Aske you as once they did Where was the Gentleman when Adam eat his Bread in the sweat of his Browes I feare me this Knot if they should tye it once would cost you all the drawing of your Swords to Cut it For my part when I cosider how Moses upon his Death-bed Blessed the substance of the Tribe of Levi in bestowing a Curse even the Curse of the Sword upon its Enemies I cannot forbeare but I must make this Application and think That therefore God now suffers us to endure the longer banishment by means of the Sword from our Own Houses because when time was we were so cold and feeble in defending His {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} a Kyrke or Church the very name of the House speaks the Lord and Master of it Which since it is a name too imposed saith Eusebius not by man but by Himselfe who is Lord over all methinks we should never mention nor never look upon a Church but with joy and Reverence we should be mindfull of the Owner David's Companions did but name it unto him and presently it puts him upon a Iubilee I was Glad I was glad when they said unto mee wee will goe into the House of the Lord vers. 1. It was joy enough one would have thought for him to see his Brethren so at Vnity among Themselves but to find them thus at amity with their God too This makes him Tune his Harpe unto a higher Key ' {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} I was exceeding Glad at this Indeed it is the House of the Lord and our meeting here which makes the name of Brother and Companion sweet unto us In a word You see how that Gods House was an especiall motive unto David both to Pray and Seek for Ierusalems Peace And you see agen how this House of God has been made by some a black Incentive for a most unnaturall Warre Are there not those who cruelly goe about to dye the Churches white Garments in the Gore Blood of her Sonnes And God put it into your Hearts that when this Warre is at an end she may never find cause to wash them in her own Teares unlesse they be in Teares of Ioy and Thanksgiving Are there not such who think it a mean Sacriledge to steale Flesh only from the Altar And therefore have they not in diverse Places ravished thence the Priest too O Let it be your Pious and Worthy Care to restore them Both Methinks I see here so many men almost so many Obed-edoms Be ye therefore like that good Obed edom Do but receive Gods House into Yours God shall one day receive Your House into His Do but ye admit Christ and his Disciples to come under Your Roofe and he shall receive you and your Brethren into His Ioy Every day shall wait upon you with glad Tydings And Domitians Dreame of a Golden-head arising behind upon his shoulders shall be unridled in the Peacefull and Golden times which will succeed this Bloody and Iron Age Be we but content to wait Gods leasure without murmuring and distrust here in his Own House we shall behold the Buckler of the North and Sword of the West meet and concenter Triumphantly in the East and there make up a Wreath of Bayes and a Chaplet of Roses for that Head which has so long been Crownd with Thornes Yea and he will Crowne us All with his Mercy and Compassion here in his House Militant and with Glory and everlasting Peace in his House Triumphant AMEN FINIS 1. Sam. 13. 20. Esa. 2. 4. Mic. 4. 3. 2. Sam. 16. 23. 2. Sam. 3. 1. 2. Sam. 16. 2. Sam. 10. 1. Sam. 25â— 2. Sam. 16. 1. Sam. 13. 1. Sam. 22. 2. Sam. 20. 2. Sam. 17. â— 23. His Majesties answer to a RemoÌ„strance or Declaration May 26. 1642. pag. 7. The Covenant as is preteÌ„ded of both Kingdoms Nehem. 4. 17 Upon occasion of their Petition which was made known in the Church and accordingly the Charity of the Congregation implored In Paradox L. libertas F. de stat hom 2. Sam. 15. 23. Vers 21. Preface to King Iames before his Book against Sacriledge Arch-bishop of Câ—nt in his Sermon upon Psal. 122. 6. Injunct 53. Daniel in the life of King Stephen Preface before the true Subject to the Rebell Gen. 48. 17. Compare this with the Kings Oath throughout taken at His Coronation as it is cited out of the Records of the Exchequer by His most sacred Maiesty Himselfe in his Ansvver to the fore-quoted Declaration Deut. 33. 11.