a faithfull City Isai. 1.26 Fourthly the Benefits of this Peace 1. To our selves they shall prosper that love it God will not onely hear the prayer by giving peace to the Church but by giving prosperity to him that made it Such a prayer is like to Noahs Dove turns back again to him that sent it out with an Olive branch in the mouth Yea if the prayer should be denied as to the body of the people yet such a man should be heard for himself He should be marked for safety Ezek. 9.4 5 14 14. there should be a hideing place provided for him-Isai 62.20 and a book of remembrance should be written for him Mal. 3.16 He shall have peace though the Assyrian be in the land Mich. 5.5 Isai. 43.2 2. To our Brethren Such a Prayer shall be like the Beams of the Sun which diffuseth light and heat upon thousands at once Gods people have publick hearts and aimes look after general and publick interests Moses was offered to be the Father of a great Nation himself Exod. 32.10 f O no not so Lord Lord think upon thy people The afflictions of Ioseph more wound then any such promise can comfort him He dares not so unman so unbrother himself as to look upon his posterity and forget Abrahams 3. To the House of God The conservation and propagation of his holy Doctrine and Worship is so dear to all that are of Davids mind that they are willing not onely to purchase it with their prayers but with their blood I count not my life dear unto me saith the Apostle so I may finish my course with joy and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Iesus And again I am ready not onely to be bound but to die at Ierusalem for the name of the Lord Iesus Acts 20 24.21.13 They preferre Ierusalem above their greatest joy And this is an high honour that God doth confer upon the prayers of his servants that whereas all their good and comfort flows from the house of God the very house of God it self doth reap benefit by their prayers Though it be his Rest the place wherein he delighteth the place which he filleth with his glory yet the glory of his own house shall be bestowed upon it in answer to his servants prayers We have considered the Duty Before we make Application let us consider the Root and Ground of the Duty which is Love They shall prosper that love it The love of the Church is the foundation of all our prayers and endeavours for the prosperity of the Church A man will not very hastily seek the good of those whom he doth not love and therefore when Christ requireth that we should love our Enemies he addeth as a fruit of it that we should pray for them Matth. 5.44 Love made Ionathan intercede with his Father for David even then when he knew his displeasure against him Much more will it move us to intercede with God for his beloved people the Spouse of his own Son 1. Love is a fundamental Passion the Fountain of all the rest Prayer is nothing else but the affection of desire sanctified and presented unto God for the things we need Love natural being the fountain of natural Desires Love sanctifified must consequently be the fountain of Prayers which are Sanctified desires 2. Love is a special Root of obedience Faith worketh by love love hath a constraining vertue is as the sail to the ship the wing to the Bird the spirits to the blood the wheele to the chariot that keeps all in motion The more love the more activity ever the more we love the Church the more sollicitous we shall be for her peace 3. Love hath a very great interest in God it is of him and from him and therefore it can finde the way unto him 1 Iohn 4.7 16. as water which comes from the Sea runs to the Sea the Lord cannot but hear the voice of his own work in us Every one that loves is born of God and a Fathers ear is open to a loving child This is the foundation of prayer that we can call God Father Rom. 8.15 Matth. 6.9 Every one that loves knows God Other things are known by knowledge but God is known by love Come taste and see how gracious the Lord is Experimental comfortable knowledge of God we can have none but in the face of Christ in whom he is all love When Moses desired to see Gods glory he answered him by causing his goodness to pass before him Exod. 33.18 19. The more we love God the more he reveals his goodness to us which knowledge of him is the ground of our calling upon him God is love as things of a nature move to each other Earth to Earth Water to Water so love in us moves to love in God Now as if you binde a piece of wood to steel the Loadstone draws the wood for the sake of the steel to which it is joyned so when our prayer is joyned with love it is thereby drawn up unto God who is love Love is the Key of Heaven As love to the Church made Esthers petition so love to Ester made the Kings answer God will hold out the Scepter of his love to those prayers which proceed from love Love of the Brethren is an evidence of Gods dwelling in us by his Spirit which is a Spirit of Love 2 Tim. 1.7 and the Lords ears are readily open to those prayers which are made by the help of the Spirit of love in us Rom. 8.26 Ioh. 4.24 Lastly where there is love there is confidence towards God and confidence hath free accesse to the throne of grace Heb. 4.16 1 Ioh. 3.21 22. 4. Love hath an excellent vertue in it to season all duties is as salt in the Sacrifice it makes the duty hearty and God loves chearfulness as well in praying as in giving It makes a man urgent and importunate quicquid agit valde agit puts up strong cries It is strong as death whch will take no denial It keeps the minde intent upon prayer Love turned Maries thoughts from a meer civil entertaining of Christ into desires of hearing him Love stirs up Faith to eye and fix on ptomises quae valde volumus facile credimus Love facilitates duty and makes the heart constant in it Ruth loved Naomi and so went thorow with her Weak things by the strength of love will venture on hard things A Hen will fly upon a Dog out of love to her Chickens One man with an engine may move more then ten men with their own strength Love is an Engine makes the soul able to manage hard duties to shoot a prayer as high as Heaven Lastly Love is full of arguments no man will ever want something to plead in behalf of what he loves All the strength of the minde and powers of nature wait upon Love to contrive and cast about for the good of the thing loved How witty was
the love of the woman of Canaan to her daughter who could pick out an Argument out of a Repulse and turn that which seemed a g reproach into a Petition Love is that which commends every service to God the touchstone by which all our duties are to be tried h Martyrdom without love is nothing 1 Cor. 13.1 3. i Truth without love is nothing 2 Thes. 2.10 Prayer without love is nothing Doeg was detained before the Lord but his hatred to David brought a curse upon him for all his prayer 1 Sam. 21.7 The Lord looks not to pretence but to truth and will answer every man according to the love or to the Idols of his own heart Ezek. 14 1-5 A man may pray for the Church of God only out of self Love as the Jews were to pray for Babylon Ier. 29.7 because his own safety is involved in it as the life of the Ivy depends upon the standing of the Oak but true prayer for the Church is that which is grounded upon love of the Church it self upon zeal for Gods truth and worship upon delight in his Oracles and presence because here onely the means of salvation and the word of life is dispensed because in the distresses of the Church Gods name is blasphemed the Blood and Spirit of Christ is injured the glory of the Gospel is eclipsed the Enemies of God are comforted What wilt thou do said Ioshua to thy great name Nehemiah and Esther were great enough themselves but the afflictions of the Church made them mourn and pray And as no duties are acceptable unto God which do not proceed out of Love so no pretence of love is acceptable unto him which doth not put forth it self into duty This was the proof of Davids love I love the Lord I will call upon him Psalm 116.1 2. This the proof of Pauls love My hearts desire and prayer for Israel is that they might be saved Rom. 10.1 when God is angry we find Moses in the gap Psal. 106.23 When Israel flies Ioshua prayes when the plague is amongst the people David is at the Altar 2 Sam. 24.25 When Enemies are in Arms Iehoshaphat and Asa are upon their knees when Rabshekah is railing Hezekiah is intreating the Lord Here is the proof of Love it draws out the soul into all zealous endeavours for the peace of the Church where there is no other ability yet love will pray and as Solomon saith of a poor wise man we may say of a poor praying man that he hath a great hand in delivering the City Eccles. 9.15 The meanest Christian may pray for the peace of the Church But I must apply my Exhortation in the use of this Doctrine unto those who must do more then pray who have hands as well as knees power as well as prayer to put forth for God In how unsetled and discomposed a condition the Church of God is yet amongst us every mans eyes sees and I think every good mans heart doth sorrow to see the holy Ordinances of Christ by multitudes quite forsaken the holy truth of Christ by many corrupted with the leaven of heresie and blasphemy Emissaries walking up and down to draw away credulous and unstable souls into by-paths to follow every ignis fatuus which doth mislead them Multitudes of active and vigilant enemies who know not how to work under a disguise and by good words and fair speeches to deceive the hearts of the simple Multitudes of credulous ductile and unstaid spirits tossed up and down and carried about with every wind of Doctrine by the sleight and cunning craftiness of men who lye in wait to deceive We see how fast these evil weeds have grown what advantages the enemy hath taken in all places to sow his cares and to lay his leaven How greatly his hopes have been raised and his attempts encouraged by the experience which he hath of the lubricity and instability of the vulgar people amongst us As it is said that the Chief Priests moved the people against Christ Mar. 15.11 So the common enemy instills his poison into the people to try if by degrees he can bring things into a flame and commotion like that Act. 19. and then have some crafty Demetrius in a readiness to cry up Diana and you may observe how cunningly the Scene is laid 1. Cry up a boundlesse and universal liberty for every man to teach to publish to insinuate into others whatsoever doctrines he please be the tendency of them never so destructive to truth peace and godliness 2. Cry down the coercive power of the Magistrate in matters of Religion that so there may be no hedge to keep the Wolves out 3. Bring into contempt the faithful and able Ministers of the Gospel as hirelings and seducers that so what ever Arguments they shall produce in defence of the Truth may be wholly enervated and blown over by the prejudice against their persons 4. Decry Learning and the Schools of the Prophets as things rather dangerous then subservient unto Religion that so there may be no Smith in Israel least the Hebrews make them Swords and Spears 1 Sam. 13.19 5. Cry down the maintenance of the Ministry that when that is wholly taken away no man may breed his child to a hungry lean starved profession that so Emissaries who shall have an invisible maintenance from abroad may have the freer entertainment to spread their snares 6. Put Doctrines which in their own proper colours would not be swallowed into a disguise give them a Periwig if I may so speak and another name that they may not be known to be the thing which they are that in the dark and under a vail Leah may go for Rachel and in a mantle the Divel may be Samuel I doubt not but that your eys are open to see the danger I beseeh you let your hearts be awakened to consider of expedients to prevent it k That Magistrates have a care and duty lie upon them to look after the interest of the Church of Christ and to see that that may be preserved from pernicious and destructive evils that the Officers and Members thereof do in their several stations the several duties belonging unto them though I doubt not but you are setled in so wholesome a perswasion give me leave in three words to demonstrate unto you First the Lord did expresly command that Idolaters and Inticers to Idolatry Blasphemers Presumptuous and prophane despisers of Gods Law should be punished He that sacrificeth unto any God save unto the Lord onely he shall be utterly destroyed Exod. 22.20 He that blasphemeth the Name of the Lord shall surely be put to death and all the Congregation shall certainly stone him as well the stranger as he that is born in the Land when he blasphemeth the name of the Lord shall be put to death Levit. 24.16 The soul that doth ought presumptuously whether he be born in the Land or a stranger the same
shall never totally fail But particular Churches and Nations never had a Patent of perpetual preservation Rome boasts of it but the Apostle hath entred a caveat against that boast Rom. 11.20 21. But all Gods promises of not failing us are made to those who keep covenant with him otherwise he also will break with us The Lord saith the Prophet unto Asa is with you while you be with him and if ye seek him he will be found of you but if ye forsake him he will forsake you 2 Chron. 15.2 I said saith the Lord unto Eli That thy house and the house of thy Father should walk before me for ever but now the Lord saith be it farre from me for them that honor me I will honour and they that despise me shall he lightly esteemed 1 Sam. 2.30 The Lord marâ—ied his Church for ever Hos. 2.19 but when she committed adultery he gave her a Bill of divorce Ier. 3.8 He said he would dwell in his Temple for ever Psal. 132.14 yet he threatned to forsake it Ier. 6.8 and accordingly did so Ezek. 10.18 We should consider this and tremble at it as Iosiah did lest our mighty sins unthankfulness unfruitfulness animosities Heresies Blasphemies contempt of the Lords Messengers the sinne for which the Lord departed from Iudah when there was no remedy 2 Chro. 36.16 should provoke him to depart from us to take away his peace as he threatned Ier. 16.5 to shew us the back and not the face Ier. 18.17 And what a case is Gods own heritage in when he forsakes and hates it Ier. 12.7 8. If the way and the joy and the name of the Lord be the strength of his people what strength is left to them when they are gone out of his way and deprived themselves of his joy and cannot lay hold or lean upon his Name As therefore when men see the walls of their houses crack and open they hasten ro repaire them and set up Props and Buttresses to support them so when we see such vicissitudes of distractions war be land and then war at Sea again war at Sea and we know not how soon by Land again shaking shivering convulsion fits in the Church of God many a breach and hiatus in the walls thereof Truth corrupted Unity dissolved the Foundations out of cause it is high time to think of making up breaches repairing the waste places and raising up the Tabernacle of David to beg of God that he will lay our foundations and make our windows and set up our gates remove our fears rebuke our enemies calm our tempests that after so many shakings and concussions the Lord may at last be pleased to speak in a soft still voice unto us Secondly We are to pray for Brotherly Peace in the Church amongst the members thereof that as Christ is one so they may be one John 17.22 knit by Faith to him and by Love to one another as the Curtains of the Tabernacle were by loops and taches that as we are one City Houshold Family Assembly Ephe. 2.19.3.15 Hebr. 12.22 so we may have one heart and one soule Act. 4.32 In the body the head hath not one heart and the hand another the eye hath not one Soul and the foot another but one heart doth warm the whole and one Soul doth quicken the whole So should it be in the Church of God we should have one heart and one way Ier. 32.39 walk by the same rule and mind the same thing Phil. 3.15 gather up the stones remove every thing that offendeth Isai. 62.10 not prefer ends or interests above the publick peace of the Church of God apply our selves in all sweet ways of Christian correspondence and mutual condescension to make up the breaches and to pour oyl into the wounds of the Church of Christ It d cannot be but a joy to our adversaries a blemish to our profession a grief to good men a stumbling block to evil men to see brethren fall out in the way to see the Church crumbled into divisions and subdivisions and like a body which hath the itch to see one member tear and scratch and rub and gaul the rest and must needs give unspeakable advantage to our subtle and vigilant e adversaries both to reproach and to undermine us Thirdly we are to pray for external peace with all men which is as much as in us lies we are to follow walking wisely meekly humbly charitably obligeingly towards every one And in as much as the Church is as the Ark on the Waters Waves and Windes ready still to beat upon it we should pray for it that it may be delivered from the hands of strange children and that the Lord would still the raging of the Sea rebuke the enemy and the avenger the multitude of the Bulls with the Calves of the people and scatter those that delight in War We have tasted of War both domestick and forain but the Lord hath mingled it with much mercy If our eyes had seen the fruits thereof as other people have felt Cities burned with fire Children wallowing in blood Virgins perishing under the lust of Villains Widows mourning for their dead and dying for dareing to mourn Towns turned into heaps a Garden of Eden into a Wilderness no cattle in the Field no Flocks in in the Fold no Heard in the Stalls no Inhabitant in the City no child to the Father no Husband to the Wife no Money to the rich no cloathing to the delicate no Mercy in the Enemy no Liberty in the miserable to bewaile his misery Children howling for bread the honourable imbracing dunghils Death creeping in at Windows overtaking them that flie and finding out those that hide themselves we would learn to prize a recovered peace and to pray for the continuance of it Weighty are the Reasons in the Text to demonstrate and press this Truth upon us First The condition of the Church a City compacted and knit together by many strong bands one Father one Head one Family one Rule one Faith one Love one Baptisme one Spirit one Common salvation No where is peace so natural so amiable as in the Church Secondly The celebrity of Gods Worship which is the glory of a people let the Ark be gone and the glory is departed No so doleful a sight as the desolations of the Temple Psal. 74.3.79.1 Isa. 64.10 11 12. All our foundations and springs are here Psal. 87.1 7. the wells of salvation the Fountain of the Gardens the Graces and Comforts of Gods Spirit which make our souls like a watered Garden Thirdly The Thrones of David the Towers Bulwarks and seats of judgements in which things stand the externall happiness of a Nation Laws and Iudges are the foundations of the Earth Psal. 82.7 When they were corrupted with injustice and violence the Lord threatned that Ierusalem should become heaps Mich. 3.11 12. Great reason therefore to pray for Ierusalem that it may be a City of Righteousness
case of the captivity of Iudah was their despising of the Messengers of God 2 Chron. 36.16.2 Because such sins do more exceedingly divide and unty the bonds of love and amity which Christian truth doth preserve then other more civil differences and so loosen the hearts of men from one another Lastly This Doctrine hath been m by our learned Writers maintained against n Doctors of the Roman Church for they are the men who to maintain Papal Supremacy and to keep all Ecclesiastical power within themselves have shut out the civil Magistrate from it which I onely name that you may consider what hands they are that sow such Doctrines amongst us with a purpose no doubt to make use of a boundless licence to instill corrupt doctrines into as many as they finde fit tinder to catch that fire Since therefore such a charge doth evidently lye upon Magistrates to use their power for the Peace and prosperity of the Church the Lord doth accordingly expect from them the discharge thereof Where he gives talents he will call for accompt But it may be objected Is not this to abridge and annul that liberty which ought to be indulged to the consciences of men I answer First in general and by way of concession God forbid that any should assume dominion over the consciences of men The Apostle himself said We are not Lords over your faith we are but helpers of your joy 2 Cor. 1.24 It would be a high and withall a vain attempt An high attempt for no man can give Law further then he can reward and punish accuse and convince But no man can either search or reward or punish the conscience therefore no man can give Law unto it And upon the same reason it would be a vain attempt for none but a divine eye can see the conscience therefore none but a divine Law can bind it If such words or such writings be blasphemous and subversive to Church or State or both and highly derogatory to the honor of Christ civil restraint can reach them But thoughts it cannot reach they are unsearchable by an humane eye and therefore unreducible to a humane power And again God forbid we should straighten liberty which Christ hath purchased for us Let every man stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made him free whom Christ hath made free cursed be that man who shall go about to intangle him in any such yoke of bondage as is contrary to that freedom Secondly In particular we say 1. Where men agree in the main fundamental Doctrines of truth and godliness in the Substantials of Faith Worship and obedience there ought to be a mutual love toleration and forbearance of one another in differences which are not subversive unto Faith godliness So long as we walk by the same rule and mind the same things wherein in other things we differ we are to wait upon God to reveal even the same unto us Phil. 3.15 2. We say Christ did never either purchase or permit to any man professing himself a Christian a liberty to subvert or endeavour to subvert by blasphemous heretical idolatrous or irreligious and impious Doctrine the foundations of Faith Worship and holy obedience which he hath laid in his Church or to remove if I may so speak the ancient Land-marks of Christian Religion The great Truths of God the great interests of the Gospel ought to be dearer to us then the liberty of any blasphemous or impious tongue or pen 3. Magistrates are wisely and cautelously to didistinguish between weak brethren and wicked malicious disturbers of the doctrines of salvation and peace of the Church as the Apostle doth between the bewitched Galatians and those that bewitched them concerning whom he saith I would they were even cut off that trouble you Gal. 5.12 Which imprecation he would not sure have uttered against them if in sowing their false Doctrines they had onely made use of a lawful liberty o 4. With the word such a lenity and moderation is to be used as first to reprove rebuke exhort them with all long suffering and doctrine 2 Tim. 4.2 to admonish them once and again and when they are found unreclaimable then to reject them Tit. 3.10 5. We are to distinguish between the conscience of the Seducer and the spreading and infection of his Doctrine p It belongeth unto the care of the Magistrate to endeavour the converting and reclaiming of him which though it cannot be effected yet further and principal care must be used to prevent the spreading of infection This was done in the Apostles time by rejecting an heretick refusing to have brotherly communion and society with him So an effectual means may be used to keep the leaven from the lump use what mercy and lenity you judge most consonant unto Christian meekness towards the persons themselves but above all things be zealous for the purity and peace of the Church wherein divisions and subdivisions exceedingly tend to weaken to distract to betray it We have to do with wise and vigilant with subtle and sedulous Enemies who formerly were and no doubt still are intent upon their design to shake this Nation from the true Protestant Religion wherein as the Duke of Roan gravely observed the interest thereof did stand And I believe if the new things which are broached were duly examined you would find in most of them if not legible characters as in the doctrines which deny or diminish Original sin and affirm free Will yet a secret aspect and tendency towards Rome They cry down our Ministers as no Ministers of Christ and so did Champney and Kellison and the Romanists heretofore They cry down our Ordinances as polluted and impure and not to be joyned in and so the Pope forbad the English Papists in Queen Elizabeths time to joyn in the same Worship and Ordinance with Protestants they cry down Learning and Schools of Prophets and what greater advantage can a learned Papist have then to have none but unlearned Adversaries to dispute withall They teach Adoration of Christ in a sinful man at his feet a plain manuduction to adoration of Christ in an hoast They tell you they dare not limit Christs body to Heaven an handsome step towards corporal presence in the Sacrament by Transubstantiation They press to follow a light within secretly intimating imperfection in the Scripture unto which why may not as well Ecclesiastical Traditions be added as an imagininary light They say we must follow the commands of that light a shrewd preparation to any desperate attempt when season and advantage calls for it The Lord give you wisdom to foresee evils they are better prevented then suppressed And for that purpose be pleased To encourage Orthodox godly and learned Ministers and the Schooles of learning vindicate and protect them from reproch and contempt When Alexander the Great sent Ambassadors unto Athens requiring them to deliver up their Orators into his hands Demosthenes in