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A56702
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A sermon preach'd before the Queen at Whitehall, March 1, 1688/9 by Symon Patrick ...
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Patrick, Simon, 1626-1707.
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1689
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Wing P848; ESTC R22949
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15,746
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us and others when our Passions begin to raise a commotion and to make us displeased with the present settlement For it is by the Protection and Favour of the publique Government that we eat and drink and sleep and do all other things in safety Which thought alone is sufficient to quiet us when our Spirits begin to fret and be tumultuous That is to quarrel with our Happiness III. But let us still further make our selves sensible of the far Nobler Benefits which we enjoy by being Christians and be truly thankful to God for them more particularly for his great Grace in calling us to be one body in Christ and thereby calling us unto Peace one with another and to Peace with him the God of Peace who will be with us as I have said while we continue perfectly joyned together in the same Mind and Spirit and then we shall not have the heart to give the least disturbance unto this Blessed Society of the Church of God But with united Affection study to preserve it and to promote the Honour of it by the most ardent Love and kindness tenderness and compassion one towards another especially in that part of it where we live Read the pathetical Exhortation of the Apostle in the Verses foregoing upon which my Text depends and it will be impossible not to have your heart affected with it if you attend unto it and ponder every Word Put on therefore as the Elect of God Holy and Beloved bowels of Mercy kindness humbleness of mind meekness long suffering forbearing one another and forgiving one another if any Man have a quarrel against any Even as Christ forgave you so also do ye And above all these things put on Charity c. What if you did read these Verses deliberately every Morning before you went about any other business It would not take up much of your time nor cost you much pains unless it be in laying them to heart and laying them up in your Hearts But whatsoever Labour you bestow in that it will be abundantly recompensed in the Benefit you and others will receive by it if this small portion of the Word of Christ dwell in you richly as it follows immediately after my Text and dispose you to continue in this Heavenly Temper all the day long And how can you chuse but be so disposed if you consider how much you are bound to God for his inestimable benefits bestowed upon you in making you his Elect Holy and Beloved Ponder these Three Words seriously and look upon your selves as Elect of God that is chosen unto Salvation through Sanctification of the Spirit and Belief of the Truth as he speaks 2 Thes 11. 13. Holy that is separated from the profane World to be his devoted Servants Beloved that is made partakers of the greatest kindness Heaven could do us in sending his Son to save us And then you will not be able to reject the Exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto Children V. Ephes 1 2. Be ye therefore followers of God as dear Children and walk in Love as Christ also hath loved us and hath given himself for us an Offering and a Sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour IV. Especially when we remember that we are not bare Christians but Reformed Christians whose Principles lead to Unity and Peace more than the Principles of any other Christians whatsoever For the very Basis of the Reformed Religion is this that all necessary Truths are not only contained in the Holy Scriptures but evidently and plainly set down there Which single Truth being agreed it is manifest there must needs be an Vnity of opinions among us in all things necessary And as for other things which are not evident in the Holy Scriptures and therefore are not necessary what should hinder but that notwithstanding any different Opinions about them there may be among us an Vnity of Affection Unto which the Holy Scriptures direct and press us as the most necessary duty and as the greatest happiness of which this World is capable For there is nothing the Gospel urges so much as kindness forbearance tender compassion one of another Such kindness as making us look upon one another as Brethren and fellow-Members will not let us break all the bonds of Friendship that are between us For why should there be any breach among those who are agreed in this plain principle That there being Unity of Opinion among them in all things Necessary in things not necessary Unity of Opinion is not necessary but only Unity of Affection Which will make us study and embrace the means of our Common Preservation by mutual condescention to such terms of Agreement as will establish a firm and undisturbed peace among us In which if there should happen any breach the same Spirit of love and goodness will dispose us immediately to make it up by not adhereing too flifly to our own private opinions much less to any worldly interest which must be laid aside by all peaceable-minded men that is by all good Christians Who ought not to engage in fierce oppositions much less in confident censuring and condemning one another but with all humility modesty and calmness endeavour each others information or if that cannot be obtain'd patiently to bear with one anothers infirmities according to the forenamed golden Rule of St. Paul VI. Gal. 2. Bear ye one anothers burdens and so fulfil the Law of Christ The Law of Christ that is his peculiar Law is the Law of Love which he calls a new Commanament XIII Joh. 34. and his Commandment XV. Joh. 12. This is my Commandment that ye love one another as I have loved you Which we then fulfil or perfectly observe when it makes us bear one anothers burdens that is offences whether they be infirmities or sins For as long as there are any hopes of amendment we ought as the Apostle there teaches in the Verse foregoing if any man be overtaken with a fault to restore such a one with the Spirit of meekness considering our selves lest we also be tempted That is we must tenderly admonish such offenders study in the kindest and softest manner to reclaim them which is no small labour and trouble indeed but thereby we in the properest sense take part of their burden upon our selves whilst we seek by such charitable means to rid them of it V. And now if in the last place we make our selves sensible that we are such Reformed Christians as have been lately saved and delivered in a wonderful manner from the hands of those that designed our destruction it will raise our thankfulness to such a heigth that it will surmount all those clouds which overcast our joy in God and in his Salvation For what a blessing is it that we have the liberties of our Holy Religion and meet here together in peace and quietness without the least apprehension of such dangers as not long ago hung over us If we had been deprived of it should we not have accounted the loss to be invaluable What is the matter then that we do not set the greatest price upon the enjoyment Is it Nothing to be delivered from those fears wherewith we were lately surrounded what should we think if God should throw us back again into them But there is a great deal more to be thankful for which is the hopes we have that this blessed Liberty will be continued and secured to us and to our Posterity after us Which will derive a Blessing likewise upon all other Protestant Churches abroad Whose safety lies in our preservation Nay this one single reflection that we have had the happiness to behold a Protestant King and Queen here worshipping God together in this place a sight which if it hath been ever seen in England yet not these Seventy years is enough to transport us with such joy as should make us quite forget all our differences and discontents And let us think of nothing else but what we shall render to the Lord for such benefits as he hath bestowed upon us For which we can never thank him enough and therefore let us thank him continually Evening and Morning and Noon let us give our solemn thanks unto him Yea Let us bless the Lord at all times let his praise be ever in our mouths When we sit in our house as Moses speaks in another case when we walk by the way when we lye down and when we rise up let us be talking of all his wondrous works saying with the Psalmist Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord Who can shew forth all his praise Thy righteousness or goodness O God is very high who hast done great things O God who is like unto thee Thou art great and dost wondrous things Thou art God alone I will praise thee O Lord my God with my whole heart I will Glorifie thy Name for evermore For great is thy Mercy towards me and thou hast delivered my Soul from the lowest Hell i. e. the extreamest Dangers Therefore shall my Tongue speak of thy Righteousness and of thy Praise all the day long I will Praise the Lord with my whole heart secretly among the faithful and in the Congregation For the Works of the Lord are great sought out of all them that have Pleasure therein His Work is Honourable and Glorious And his Righteousness endureth for ever Now the God of all Grace grant unto every Soul of us such truly thankful hearts that we may be always praising him and speaking good of his Name And then the Peace of God will Rule and Govern us unto which we are called in one Body by Christ Jesus To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be Eternal Praises Amen FINIS
A SERMON Preach'd before the QUEEN At WHITEHALL March 1. 1688 / 9. BY SYMON PATRICK D. D. Dean of Peterburgh Published by her Majesty's Special Command LONDON Printed for Richard Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-yard 1689. COLOSS. iii. 15. And let the Peace of God rule in your Hearts to the which also ye are called in one Body and be ye thankful IN these words three things offer themselves to our Consideration First A Duty which is to let the Peace of God rule in our Hearts Secondly The Reason of it which is double 1st We are called to it 2dy We are called to it in one Body Thirdly A Means or Help hereunto and be ye thankful I. In the first of these also there are three things to be considered 1. The Grace it self here commended to us which is Peace 2. The Excellency of this Grace it is the Peace of God. 3. The Authority it ought to exercise over us let it rule in your Hearts For the first of these Peace doth not here signify I. that Quiet and Satisfaction which we have in our Minds and Consciences from a Sense of well-doing and of God's gracious Promise thereunto But one part of well-doing from which that inward Peace and Comfort flows viz. the Grace of Peaceableness Wherein we consult the Quiet of other Men as well as our own and live in an undisturbed Union with them Which is a Grace compounded of several other Graces principally Humility and Kindness Meekness and Patience The two first of which Humility and Kindness dispose us to avoid the giving any Offence to others and the two last Meekness and Patience dispose us to pass by the Offences that others give to us By which means Peace is both made and maintained both in private and publick in Civil and Christian Society For Peace being that Grace which preserves us from variance with our Neighbours and clashing one against another to the great Prejudice of all Society it teaches us as I said to avoid all those things whereby we may offend other Men and to keep our selves in such good temper as not to be too much offended at those things vvhereby they give disgust to us These are the things which cause all Variance and make all the Breaches that are among Neighbours the Offences which are either given or taken Which Peace instructs us equally to shun and is it self instructed by Humility and Kindness to shun the giving any and by Meekness and Patience to shun the taking any Offences when they are given It is ill-natur'd Pride and Insolence which makes Men give Trouble and Disturbance unto those who would live quietly with them and it is too much Passion and Impatience which makes others unable to bear with such Provocation Both must be amended before we can come into the Way of Peace The first by humble Thoughts of our selves and by being kindly affectioned one to another in brotherly Love as the Apostle speaks The second by meek putting up Injuries by Forbearance and patient suffering the insolent Folly of abusive Persons These two put us into the way of Peace and will keep us in it either by preventing Differences or by composing them For Differences there will be and my Text supposes as much as long as Mens Apprehensions of things are very various yet they may be without the breach of Peace Which doth not hinder all manner of Differences but only compose them by an over-ruling hand as you shall hear presently when I have given a short account of the second thing under this Head. Which is the Excellence of this Grace here called II. the Peace of God that is a Divine Quality of which God is the Author who works it in the Hearts of true Christians as a part of his own Image which he dearly loves and wherein he exceedingly delights In all these regards it is the Peace of God because it springs from him and is a Communication of his own Divine Nature which renders us very like him and makes us highly beloved of him who is the most excellent Being and delights in this Name the God of Peace and Love. For in his most blessed Nature there is no discord nor dissension But all the three Persons perfectly agree and intirely accord being externally united in the same Will as well as Essence Unto which Pattern our Lord and Saviour tells his Apostles God intended to form their Minds that they all might be one as he and the Father are one Joh. xvii 21. And the Apostles endeavoured to make the same happy accord among all Christians that they might all speak the same thing and that there might be no divisions among them but that they might be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment 1 Cor. i. 10. And when we are thus joined together in Peace and Love then are we perfect Men in Christ Jesus and in a singular manner beloved of God unto whom nothing is so grateful as this whereby we make the nearest approaches unto his Divine Nature By this small touch I have given upon this Subject which I have not room to prosecute you cannot but see there is the greatest reason that we should not only admit this Heavenly Guest into our Hearts but let them be absolutely govern'd by it Which is the third thing The Authority it ought to have over us Which III. should be so great that it command and have the dominion of all other Affections that stir in our Souls For so the Apostle saith Let the Peace of God rule in your Hearts The word in the Greek for Rule relates to Contests and Controversies in which the Peace of God ought to interpose so powerfully as to quiet them that they give no disturbance to the Christian Society So the words may literally be translated Let the Peace of God be Umpire in you That is when any Disputes arise about which ye cannot agree but are in danger to fall into Parties and break in pieces then refer all unto Peace as you do your Differences to an Arbitrator As much as to say let that be concluded which will make most for Peace Let it determine every Controversy moderate in all Differences be instead of a Judg to decide and settle all things in dispute which will soon be at an end if you do but think with your selves what will make most for the Peace of the Church or the Kingdom where you live and resolve to let that prevail In order unto which we must let it quell all those unruly Passions which upon such Occasions are wont to rise up in our Hearts Anger may begin to boil Pride and Ambition to swell Self-love and Interest to make a bustle and bestir themselves but then the Love of Peace and Quietness ought to get uppermost and bear the greatest sway in our Hearts so as to over-rule and keep down all other Affections which would be troubling us