exceeding evil It is to be imputed in great part to the Corruption of Christian Doctrine and the Imposition of new Articles of Faith or to the over zealous espousal of such Opinions as are no essential parts of it whereby mens minds have been diverted from the study of serious Piety and Vertue about which most of the Heats and Quarrels in Christendom have arose and not about the Substance of Christianity it self But it is to be hoped that the time is coming apace when Christianity will end as it began in abundance of Truth and Peace by a right understanding of the Will of God and an hearty Submission thereunto in zealous Love unto God our Saviour and unto one another Or to speak in the Prophets Language the Earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord in the highest and largest sense of those words as the Waters cover the Sea. I have not room to lay before you the grounds of this Hope out of the holy Oracles but that wonderful Work which God hath wrought in our days and before our Eyes by that great Prince whose Spirit he hath stirred up to undertake our Deliverance from Popish Tyranny and whose Proceedings he hath blessed with amazing Success may well awaken the minds of considering Persons to expect greater things he is about to do in the World which groaneth as the Apostle says the whole Creation did in their days to be delivered into the glorious Liberty of the Children of God. Here at least in these Kingdoms and Churches it would be very strange if we should defeat the design of Gods gracious Providence by continuing our old differences and enmities our unchristian roughness and severities frowardly refusing to close together in such an happy settlement as may give security to our Religion and safety to all our other concerns This would set an Eternal brand of infamy upon us if having all agreed so far with a common consent as once more to shake off the Roman Yoke which was about to be put upon our Necks and to preserve the liberty of our Country and of our Religion in its purity and simplicity we should now fall out about other matters And suffer the few things wherein we differ to have a greater power to divide us than the many nay the most things wherein we agree have to unite us God forbid we should prove so ungrateful unto Him and unto the blessed Instrument of his Providence Which hath given us a New opportunity after our shameful abuse of a former to make our selves happy by being like minded having the same love being of one accord of one mind Not looking every Man on his own things but every Man also on the things of others as the Apostle Writes II Philip. 2. 4. Unto this let every one who loves the Lord Jesus in sincerity who hath any love to his Religion and its Honour or loves his country that is his own ease and safety and the wellfare of his Posterity bend his serious study and most earnest endeavours Let every Soul of us do his part that the place where he lives may be in peace And not only wish but labour that the blessed times which we look for when our Lord shall take to himself his great power and shall Reign XI Rev. 17. may begin here in these Churches and Kingdoms Where there never was greater need nor greater reason for Unity than at this present Princes and Governours should study this by making just reasonable and merciful Laws and the people should study it by a humble submission to them and careful observance of them The Ministers of the Gospel should seek this by being the Embassadors of Peace and Love by speaking all the same thing that is Preaching only the undoubted Truths of the Gospel That so they may be one according to Christ's Prayer for his Apostles even as the Father and our Saviour were one and thereby perswade Men more effectually of the certainty of their Doctrine And all their hearers should study to Adorn this Gospel of Peace by learning of them in humility and receiving the ingrafted Word with meekness By setting themselves to the serious practice of plain and unquestionable Precepts and not quarrelling about Doctrines that are uncertain and obscure They who are in Office should indeavour this by faithful execution of the known Laws by maintaining good Order by taking up petty differences among Neighbours which should be the Work of every honest Man as far as it lies in his power The Great and the Rich should labour to bring on these happy days by countenancing True Piety by comforting the poor and indigent by all other Acts of Mercy and kindness unto those who are below them that they may not be tempted to envy their prosperity or murmur at their fullness and abundance but be the better contented in their poor condition In like manner all other Estates and Conditions of Men are obliged to discharge their several Duties conscientiously that they may contribute to the peace and quietness the Prosperity and Happiness of the Society whereof they are Members For as there is no greater Scandal than this among Christians nothing more destructive to Religion among our selves or a greater hindrance to its propagation among Strangers than the perpetual differences and feuds hatreds and enmities of which Christians themselves are the Authors So there is nothing more pernicious and deadly unto those who are embroiled in them If they have no greater respect to the credit of their Religion than to continue still such animosities they shall have this just punishment from God that they shall thereby make one another so much the more miserable For when Religion according to its Nature and design doth not unite and bind Men fast together it makes them so much the sorer enemies one to another No differences so sharp as those among Men of the same profession None so cruel and outragious as those whom Religion sets a quarrelling And therefore let us heartily apply our selves to the diligent study of that Universal Christian Piety which will make us as innocent as Lambs as gentle as the young Kids as humble void of Malice Covetousness ambition or worldly designs as the little sucking Children For this is the very intention of it The Kingdom of God i. e. the Christian Religion is not meat and drink doth not consist in those things about which Men quarrel but Righteousness and Peace and joy in the Holy Ghost And therefore let us as the Apostle there exhorts XIV Rom. 17 19. follow after the things which make for Peace and things wherewith one may edifie another Unto which give me leave to propound a few Motives not of my own but out of one of the Greek Fathers who presses this upon the people of Constantinople when miserably divided Greg. Nazianz O. rat 12. p. 108. c. with equal Zeal and Eloquence First says he look up unto Almighty God the highest and most
help assistance and comfort And so the meaning of the Prophet is that such persons as were so full of hatred before our Saviour's coming that they did not only contend and quarrel but also worry and devour one another should in the days of Christ become new Creatures and laying aside their Enmities and Oppositions their Variance and Emulation their Bloody Strife and Contention live in such Love and Peace together as they are wont to do who dwell in the same House that is as Brethren and Sisters or who lie in the same Bed that is as Husband and Wife between whom there is the strongest and dearest league of Friendship This I doubt not is the general sense of the words If there be any particular rank of persons designed by these several sorts of Creatures I can make no more of them than this That by Lions in the better sense of the word as in the Blessing of Judah may be meant Princely persons as Epiphanius himself interprets that place * Haeres 77. numb 33. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and by the Fatlings their Wealthy and Happy Subjects by the Wolf and the Leopard the Strong and the Mighty and by the Lambs and Kids the Weak and Infirm by the Bear such as are fierce rough and warlike and by the Cow the gentle tame and peaceable People and lastly by the Asp and the Cockatrice which are mentioned in the Verses following my Text the angry and envenomed Spirits and by the sucking Children all meek and good-natur'd persons And so the meaning may be that Christ shall come to make the World so happy that Princes and People the mighty and the meaner sort the violent and they that have no power or no will to resist the Soldier and the peaceable Country-man the Waspish people and they that are of a sweet Disposition shall all be brought under the same Discipline and submit to the same Laws not to hurt or molest one another but to promote the Common Good of the whole body to which they belong For they shall be conducted by the most tender-hearted peaceable and gentle Guides who perhaps are meant in the latter end of my Text and a little child shall lead them By this name of his Children our Lord calls his Apostles whom he sent to gather and feed his Flock and both they and their Successors are called in the Holy Language 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Leaders of his People to Guide and Conduct them into the way of truth and peace Thus far none can make any difficulty to yield their Assent but will easily grant this Prophecy sets forth the happy days under Christ's Kingdom and Government in such words as the very Heathen Poets or Prophets as they called them 1. Tit. 12. were wont to use when they would represent the like peace and prosperity under their Kings and Princes For Virgil congratulates to Pollio the Birth of his Son and pretends to presage the Happiness which should be in his time in words as like to these of Isaiah as if he had borrow'd them from his Writings And to ingratiate himself with Augustus he speaks in the same Stile concerning Julius Caesar as all know who are acquainted with his Poems †Erlog IV. V. The Greatest Difficulty will be to show the Truth of what the Prophet here writes and to make his Words applicable to our Blessed Saviour For when were there such Happy Times may some say Did we ever yet see the Enmities of Mankind laid aside or so much as laid asleep Hath not even the Christian World been ever full of Strife and Contention of Hatred and bitter Opposition of Violence and Oppression nay of Wars and Bloodshed which besmears the Face of Christ's Flock as well as other people Do not our Eyes still see men devouring and destroying one another Are not our Ears filled with the doleful Complaints and Lamentations of miserable wretches The Mighty in many places even in neighbouring Countries not far off from us roaring like Lions for their prey and poor harmless people trembling before them like so many Lambs that have no helper Nay are not the meaner sort engaged in perpetual brawls and endless janglings Are they not fraught with envy wrath and malice Do they not sting one another and perhaps their betters with bitter words as if the poison of Asps were under their lips And more than this are they not ready to sheath their Swords in one another's Bowels with such a furious zeal as if to kill their opposites were to do our Lord good service How can all this be denied and if it cannot what appearance of truth is there that Jesus is that Christ under whose Government the Prophet saith there shall be a most blessed accord I answer all this is true and yet it is as true that our Lord Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and the Saviour of the World. Which is the Second and the principal part of my Discourse wherein I undertook to demonstrate That this Prophecy was exactly fulfilled in him as will be confessed if I make good these three things II. First That it was the apparent design of our Saviour's coming to make such an happy accord among men as the Prophet here describes Secondly That the nature of his Religion is such as is apt to produce this effect which he designed Thirdly That this effect was actually produced in those that heartily embraced his Religion I. The first of these is so unquestionable that I may be excused if I wholly omit it for fear of being tedious Or it may be sufficient to say that as he was called by this Prophet ch IX v. 6. the Prince of peace long before he was born so at his birth the Angels tell us plainly enough what his business was when they welcom'd him into the World with this joyful Hymn Glory be to God in the highest and on earth peace good-will towards or among men Luke II. 14. And when he was to enter upon his Office John Baptist was sent before him to prepare his way by turning the hearts of the fathers to the children so the same Angel describes his Commission i. e. to make them all of one mind and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just Luke I. 17. Which Wisdom you know is pure and peaceable gentle and easy to be intreated full of mercy and good fruits without partiality without hypocrisie as it is described by one of the Apostles of our Lord Jam. III. 17. Whose whole Conversation in the world was such a rare Pattern of meekness and peacebleness that he did not strive nor cry neither did any man hear his voice in the streets as St. Matthew observes ch XII 19. out of this Prophet that is he would not contend with those that opposed and provoked him nor make a clamorous noise when he was abused nor move the smallest disturbance how ill soever he was treated No not so much as break
only put you in mind which is the last thing under this Head that this Faith and these Duties our Lord hath bound upon us by such strong Obligations of his exceeding great and precious Promises and of his most dreadful Threatnings which were confirm'd also after a wonderful manner that if we laid them to heart they could not fail to draw us as irresistibly to the Belief of his Doctrine and to the observation of his Precepts as our Obedience to them it is certain would make us all more happy than either these words of the Prophet or any other can express Herein chiefly his Doctrine excels that of the best Philosophers who taught many excellent Lessons but could not inforce them with such an assured hope of Immortal Life or fear of Eternal Death as our Saviour and his Apostles have done who thunder this in our Ears Follow Peace with all men and Holiness without which no man shall see the Lord Hebr. XII 14. To be where our Lord is and behold his Glory is the great Hope of Christians John XVII 24. It is the very Joy that is set before them But they are out of the way to that high and holy place where our Lord is and shall never come thither who do not study to be pure and undefiled and whose Purity doth not make them peaceable nay Followers of Peace and that with all men This is as sure as that Christ is in Heaven and we have as good security of that as can be given us by the coming of the Holy Ghost from thence in wonderful plenty of miraculous Gifts which declared him to have all Power in Heaven and in Earth and puts it out of all doubt that he is able to give to all them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for Glory and Honour and Immortality eternal Life But to them that are contentious and do not obey the Truth but obey Unrighteousness Indignation and Wrath Tribulation and Anguish upon every Soul of man that doth evil Rom. II. 7 8. And now I hope no man will question the Application of this Prophecy to our Saviour meerly because he doth not behold such happy days as are here described since things are so ordered I have demonstrated that we may see them if we will. It is senseless to think that God intended to force Mankind to agree together and to be quiet as if they were indeed a company of such Beasts as the Prophet here mentions and not meerly induced with such qualities The Prophet explains his own meaning when in the Conclusion of this Description of the peaceable Reign of Christ he assigns this cause of it v. 9. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy Mountain for the Earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the Waters cover the Sea. This Felicity was to be the effect of abundance of Divine Knowledge which in its own Nature is apt to produce it But as no Knowledge can be acquired without diligent Studies so when we have it it can do us no service unless we will be governed by it And therefore if men either will not entertain this heavenly Wisdom or having entertain'd it do imprison and smother it they deprive themselves of the Blessing of Peace But they cannot make this Word of God of none effect because he never intended to bestow this Happiness upon the Ignorant and the Negligent but upon those who receive and improve the Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ So much the sober Jews themselves confess particularly Maimonides * More Nevoch Par. III. c. XI in these remarkable words The Evils which men create one to another flow from their different Opinions Perswasions Affections Wills and Studies and all these spring from Ignorance and want of Wisdom As a blind man not only stumbles himself but runs upon others because he sees not his way so in every Sect of men they who are wedded to it do one another a world of Mischiefs by reason of their blind Ignorance All which would be remedied if they had Wisdom which is to a man's Soul what the faculty of Seeing is to his Body When the Truth is known then Hatred Envy Contention whereby men tear one another in pieces is at an end which God himself teaches us by his Prophet who after he had first said The Wolf shall dwell with the Lamb c. then subjoyns the cause which should take awaythis Enmity and that is the Knowledge of God the Creator wherein men ought to be instructed They shall not hurt nor destroy c. for the Earth shall be full of the Knowledge of the Lord c. But the time calls me to hasten to the third and last General Head which is this III. That the knowledge of our Lord was so fitted and so sufficient to make men thus happy that there was actually to be seen such brotherly Love and Peace as is here foretold among the first Converts to his Religion who embrac'd each other with such an hearty and servent Affection that what one shall rarely find an instance of between two single persons might have been beheld in some thousands of Men and Women who had but one Heart and one Soul in so many several Bodies Act. IV. 37. that is were perfect Friends who had their Possessions so common that no man called ought of the things he had his own And if we list by these wild Creatures in my Text to understand the Gentiles it is evident they were in a little time brought to live in such Unity Love and Peace with the Jews that they maintain'd the Communion of the Saints in the most proper sense thereof For they communicated their Goods to them most freely and liberally when they were reduced to great straits in Judea contributing to the Relief of their Necessities not only to their Power but in some places beyond their Power praying St. Paul with much intreaty that he would receive their Gift and take upon him the Fellowship of ministring to the Saints 2 Cor. VIII 3 4. Many Instances might be given of their frankness in their Hospitality to Strangers whom they readily entertain'd though they had never seen them before meerly because they belonged to the same Body of Christ with themselves and they look'd upon them as their Brethren But I should transgress my bounds if I should pursue such like things any further which deserve a Discourse by themselves And I have said enough to my present Purpose which was to shew how compleatly this Prophecy was fulfilled in the actual effecting of that which our Saviour designed and for the producing of which he employed the most proper means From all which it would not be hard to find had I time to make the Enquiry Why those happy days in the beginning of our Religion WHen the multitude of them that believed were of one Heart and of one Soul were of so short continuance and the days are long ago become
under the care of one and the same God and of the same Mediator and were become one Corporation by submitting to the same Laws They were all both Jews and Gentiles indifferently endued with one and the same Spirit This St. Paul frequently inculcates especially in the forenamed Epistle to the Ephesians where you read presently after the words now mentioned v. 18. that through Christ they both had access by one Spirit unto the Father And again v. 22. Ye also are built together in him for an Habitation of God through the Spirit The Holy Ghost that is falling down in great variety of wonderful Gifts upon the Gentiles as well as the Jews was an undoubted Testimony of the same Divine Favour towards them both alike an evident Token that the same Divine Presence was among the Gentiles which had been among his ancient People and was likewise the Bond of Union whereby they were knit together without any distinction between them unto one God in the same Religion of Jesus Christ So the Apostle tells them Chap. iv where he requires them v. 3 4. to keep the Unity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace because there is one Body and one Spirit They were all made Members that is of the same Society and one Spirit moved and wrought in them all which could not but dispose and incline them unto Love and Kindness unto Peaceableness and the stricctest Friendship imaginable Of this alone it would not be hard to make an entire Discourse and to show withal that by the Power of this Spirit only and not by armed Force and Violence his Religion was propagated and advanced in the World in a very quiet and peaceable manner But my design is meerly to represent what effectual means our Lord imployed had they been observed and pursued to bring about his end and to fulfil this Prophecy Which will further appear if you cast your Eyes a while upon his Precepts which is the second thing I propounded to be considered under this Head. I will briefly mention some of them for that will be sufficient to make you sensible of their Efficacy if they were heartily obeyed First Exact Justice all the Duties of which he hath comprised in so few but very forcible words that as in an instant they enter into our Minds and gain our Assent and recommend themselves to our best Affections so they are easily remembred and preserved in Mind For all things whatsoever ye would that Men should do unto you do ye even so to them Mat. vii 12. is a Rule so pregnant that it comprehends in it the Wisdom of all Laws and so equitable that it makes every Man's own Desires to be the measure of his Actions towards others and so powerful that this alone were it observed would turn the whole Earth into a Paradise in which the Lions should be as tame as Lambs and no body destroy or hurt or so much as molest others any more 2. For this Rule comprehends in it Mercy also which is another Lesson our Saviour hath taught us no less than Justice Which if Men would exercise as they desire it should be shown to them in their Necessities they would not merely cease to be hurtful to their Neighbours but become helpful and beneficial and that in an extraordinary measure for our Lord hath raised this Vertue to the sublimest pitch by requiring all his Disciples to be merciful as their Heavenly Father is merciful 3. But suppose some to be so far from doing Good that they do nothing but Mischief and continue to be as unruly as the Bears and as spiteful as the Asps of which the Prophet speaks in the next Verses In this Case our Lord hath taught us Meekness and Patience and would have us to suppress those angry and furious Motions which are apt on such Occasions to rise and boil up in our Hearts So that notwithstanding the brutish Nature of some if the rest were generally possessed with the Christian Spirit the World might see more happy Days than now it doth 4. For he requires us also not only to pass by and forgive those Wrongs and Affronts we receive from our Enemies but to bless them and to do them Good. Which hath a strange Power in it to charm and conquer even the most fierce and barbarous Natures and to reconcile them to the Love of that Vertue which makes Men requite Injuries with Courtesies even when it is in their Power to take a terrible Revenge 5. Nay further he would have us contented with such things as we have which evidently destroys that envy emulation and ambition from whence no small stirs and confusions arise in the World. 6. In questions also and disputes about matters of Liberty he charges those that are satisfied not to despise such as are not and those that are not satisfied he commands not to judge those that are Rom. XIV 3. 7. Nay in all manner of differences which are apt to arise among us he would have the peace of God rule in our hearts Coll. III. 16. so that this having the Umpire there and all being referred to its judgment we should rest in the determination of what will make most for peace 8. He instructs likewise our behaviour in our several Relations teaching Husbands and Wives Parents and Children Masters and Servants Pastors and People to demean themselves so to their mutual satisfaction as to take away the cause of all discord not only in Families and Parishes but in the larger Societies of Church and State. When the Flock for instance know those which labour among them as St. Paul discourses 1 Thess V. 12. that is have a great respect to their Spiritual Pastors and Instructors whose faithful discharge of their Office in labouring among their Flock presiding over them in the Lord and admonishing them procures a great regard to them and inclines the People to esteem them very highly in love for their works-sake they cannot well miss of that Blessing which there immediately follows to be at peace among themselves For from wise and faithful Instructions on the one hand and affectionate Regard to holy Counsels on the other there cannot but issue such an Accord as will make them no less happy than by their Divisions they make themselves unquiet and miserable For lastly the Root and Foundation of all these our Lord hath laid in much Humility and Charity which as they are the very Soul and Spirit of Christianity and utterly destroy that Selfishness which is the great Make-bate among men so they are of such a sweet and obliging Nature that did they universally prevail there would be an end of all Impatience and Wrath Jars and Contentions Injustice and Violence Cruelty and hard Dealing all Factions in the State and all Schisms in the Church would either be prevented or presently quasht and gently healed I need not distrust the evidence of these things so much as to add one word more about them Let me