much as in you lies live peaceably with all men To maintain Peace is part of Peace-making for this is to make that Peace which is begun and which we find settled in our hands to continue and flourish in a word to preserve it and according to the old saying Non minor est vertus c. It is as great a Vertue to preserve the good thing which we have purchas'd as to purchase it and while we behave our selves inoffensively unblameably and keep a Conscience void of offence toward God and Man we take the readiest way to live peaceably It 's granted that the most inoffensive Actions nay even Acts of Duty and Devotion may stir up the wrath and fury of cholerick and prejudiced men as we see the Apostles by preaching the Gospel and attempting to reclaim men from their Vices and telling them their Duty rais'd all the World against themselves but this is not our fault as long as we give no just occasion to men to quarrel with us or give no just offence while we are ready to do good offices do by others as we would have others do by us and in our Discourses and Behaviour observe the rules of Modesty Decency Sobriety and Charity if after all men will speak ill of us and be angry because we will not run out with them into excess of riot as it seems those did St. Peter speaks of 1 Pet. IV. 4. We have discharged a good Conscience and may comfort our selves with this That we have given no just occasion to break the Peace 3. And here comes in the stricter signification of the word such as from a sense of Christian Love and Charity endeavour to reconcile disagreeing Persons and Neighbours and their fellow Christians that are at variance And concerning this peace-making St. Paul gives this grave and serious Admonition 1 Cor. VI. 5 6. I speak to your shame Is it so that there is not a wise man among you no not one that is able to judge between his Brethren But Brother goes to Law with Brother And this must needs be his meaning in that other Exhortation Rom. XIV 9. where he bids us follow after the things which make for Peace And indeed where there is true Christian Compassion a man will not only be ready to run to make up differences when he is entreated but of his own accord and before he be entreated especially where either Friendship and a long Acquaintance or some near Relation gives the Invitation It was barbarous language of Cain Gen. IV. 9. Am I my Brother's keeper Such a word must not drop from the Hearts and Mouths of those who are adjured by Bowels of Mercy not to look every one on his own things but every man also on the things of his Neighbours as all Christians are Phil. II. 4. The common laws of humane societies require this Peace-making much more the Laws of Christianity and since we are bound to love our Neighbours as our selves how is it possible to obey that Law without endeavouring to soder and join the clashing and dis-jointed Members of Christ's mystical body in doing so we love our Neighbours as our selves even in endeavouring to keep others from disagreeing as we would keep our selves from being at variance with others How good and how pleasant a thing is it for Brethren to dwell together in Unity it is like the precious ointment that ran down from Aaron's head into his Beard and so on to the skirts of his cloathing saith the Royal Psalmist Psal. CXXXIII 1 2. As Christians we are all Brethren and then it must be our Duty to see the Beauty Order and Harmony of that brotherly society preserved which is impossible to be done without actual and personal endeavours of reconciling those who are at difference and this argument Moses made use of when he saw two Israelites striving together and would have set at one Why do you wrong one to another seeing ye are Brethren Act. VII 26. 4. Such as endeavour to make others like themselves and do instill this Christian Principle of reconciling Persons that quarrel and live in Enmity into others This is still making Peace when we labour to make others enamour'd with this duty of Peace-making which is done either by Exhortation or Entreaty or Representing to others the Nobleness Excellency and Profitableness of this peaceable and peace-making Temper It 's natural for men to endeavour to make others of the same Temper and Principles with ourselves which is the reason that men of all Persuasions do what they can to make Proselytes A truly good man cannot forbear saying with St. Paul I wish that all men were even as my self 1 Cor. VII 7. I mean with respect to the good things the Grace of God hath infused into him And as no man can be sincerely good without endeavouring to unite and reconcile his disagreeing Neighbours so that Goodness will farther prompt him to bespeak those of his Acquaintance in St. Paul's language Brethren be followers together of me and mark them that walk so as you have us for ensamples Philip. III. 17. And from hence it will be an easie matter to give a just answer to the Objection I proposed at first whether all Peace-makers are indifferently concerned in the blessedness of the Text It 's plain from hence that not every one that makes Peace either by force or of necessity or for profit and interest or being tired with a long and tedious War Not every one of these comes into the number of those blessed men All the four Qualifications I have mentioned are requisite to entitle a man to this happiness making Peace with God and our Consciences living peaceably and from a sense of Christian Love and Charity endeavouring to reconcile disagreeing Neighbours and instilling this reconciling Principle into others And having thus laid down the true Characters of these Peace-makers whereby you may examine your selves let 's go on and II. Enquire into the reasons of the supposition or that which is implied here that those who have an aversion from this Peace-making cannot be blessed or happy The reasons are 1. Selfishness is plainly predominant in such persons and that 's no good character of bliss so far from it that the Apostle reckons it among the Plagues of the last days 1 Tim. III. 1 2. This know also that in the last days perillous times shall come for men shall be lovers of themselves It 's true to love our selves is a natural principle but to love our selves so as not to be concerned for the good of others is a sinfull self-self-love which renders us contemptible to God and despicable to rational men He that matters not whether his Neighbours fight or agree whether they live in love or wrath and sees a fire kindled in their Breasts a fire lighted by the Flames of Hell a fire which breaks forth and threatens to lay their Consciences wast and doth not offer his helping hand to quench it
spectacle to see so many of us at war with God This I know will hardly be believed by the guilty and because they do not blaspheme God or do not trouble their heads much about God or Religion they know nothing to the contrary but that they are at peace with God and that they and God are very good Friends This is true stupidity and were the stupidity invincible as it is in Beasts such Men would be safe safe as the wild Ass or the Dromedary in the Wilderness safe I say from the Danger of God's Wrath. But this cannot be the case of any of you that live in a Country where the Gospel is preach'd where you are told that not to love God is to hate him and that not to delight in his ways is to incurr his displeasure that to live in those sins which exclude from the Kingdom of Heaven is to bid defiance to him that to be neglectfull of his Will is to wage war with him that to slight the admonitions and entreaties of his Messengers is to be at enmity with him and that to mind the World more than his Service or to seek to please Men more than him is to provoke him to anger And hath not this been the temper and is not this the complexion of many of you How many years have some of you born Arms against God Your wilfull sins are the Weapons whereby you fight against him and though like the Giants in the Fable you do not heap Mountain upon Mountain to pull him out of his Throne yet by espousing that life which is odious to him you affront his Sovereignty and by living contrary to the Gospel you despise and dishonour him who hath the greatest right to command you And is it not high time to make peace with him If God be not at peace with you here he will never be at peace with you hereafter What peace while the Whoredoms of thy Mother Jezabel and her Witchcrafts are so many said Jehu 2 Kings IX 22. So here what peace can there be betwixt God and you while you continue in that pride and vanity and intemperance and other sins against which the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven Do you think you are at peace with God because you thrive and prosper in the World Do not the wickedest of Men do so and is that an Argument that God is their Friend Will you make his patience a sign of his being reconciled to you when it is only a motive to a reconciliation There is no peace saith my God unto the wicked Isa. LVII 20. Let them be never so potent never so rich never so wealthy their impiety takes away all peace betwixt God and them He hath declared so much and will not you believe him Will you give no credit to his word till with Dives you lift up your Eyes in Hell and see that God is not your friend If you do thrive and prosper in the World cannot those Blessings move you to be at peace with him Do you believe he is kind to you and shall his kindness provoke you to be his Enemies Nothing can settle a peace betwixt God and you till you change your lives and make conscience of your ways and abhorr that which is evil and cleave to that which is good Then indeed were your sins as crimson they shall be as wool were they of a scarlet Dye they shall be as white as snow but till then your sin like that of Judah is written with a pen of Iron and with the point of a Diamond as it is said Jer. XVII 1. and you do as good as say to God with those Desperadoes in Job Chap. XXI 14. Depart from us we desire not the knowledge of thy ways Till then you can never be at peace with your own consciences carnal security you may have but peace of conscience is another thing for this can never be at rest while it hath reason to believe God frowns upon it but being sure of the light of his loving kindness a Man walks in Paradise and dwells in the Garden of God But III. When Christ in the Text professes and declares how pleasing and acceptable a peaceable and peace-making Temper is to God would not one think that every one that believes the Gospel should be ambitious of those qualifications which God not only approves of but promises to reward with the highest Honour and Dignity Yes did Men love God indeed and in truth they would not only be glad to know what is pleasing to him but even run to do it as good natured Children that observe their Father's temper and endeavour to gain his love by a deportment and behaviour they know he delights in Peace among men God delights in peace among Christians especially to whom he hath vouchsafed a higher dispensation Among these no noise no clamour no railing no quarrelling no Swords no Cannon should be heard these profess themselves Disciples of Christ Jesus the Prince of Peace and there is no command that is more strictly or more frequently injoin'd than that of Peace This they are to pursue to follow and to endeavour after by all possible lawfull means This is their livery and the very mark whereby they are to be distinguish'd even their peaceable Behaviour This is the Salt which is to keep them sweet as Christ calls it Mark IX 10. But you all know how contrary to this character the generality of Men live upon the least provocation they break the Peace and all friendship is renounced especially where they have a Purse to maintain the dispute many a Man that was humble and peaceable before when poor no sooner doth he find his Purse swell but his Temper alters and now if his Neighbour doth displease him though there be no malice in the case presently he talks high and big and he cares as little for his Neighbour as his Neighbour doth for him This is the humour of the Age and instead of repenting of their heats and divisions they justify their contentions and oppose the reasons of flesh and blood and the circumstances of their birth and quality of their honour and grandeur to the laws of that Saviour by whose Blood they say they are redeemed Strange Christians these that will be so in despight of Christ though they have nothing of the character in them And let us but consider what trifles they are Men quarrel about and how frivolous the things for which they break forth into flame and fury and break the Peace which they should maintain and keep things which a Philosopher would put by with a smile and a wise Man think below himself to take notice of But what shall we say Till men come to stand in awe of the Gospel more than of the laws of the Land and the threatnings and punishments of the Magistrate thus it will be and when opportunity serves will be carried away with the stream of their passions and sinfull
hath a Soul base and low a poor pitifull Spirit guilty enough to suffer in Hell but alienated from that life which must give him a title to Heaven 2. He that doth not make Peace with God or with his own Conscience and cares not for it robs himself of the greatest comfort and surely that man can never be happy To be at Peace with God is to be at Peace with our Judge with him who hath the same power over us that the Potter hath over his Clay and is able to destroy both Soul and Body into Hell with him whose voice breaks the Cedars divides the Flames of Fire shakes the Wilderness and makes the Mountains tremble and who hath a Prison to tame men in a Prison from whence there is no coming out till they have paid the uttermost Farthing To be at Peace with this Almighty and Sovereign Being must needs be a mighty satisfaction to the Soul that knows what God is and looks beyond this world To enjoy his Friendship to be sure of his Favour to be secured of his good will this establishes the Soul and gives her courage in the time of the greatest Danger He that is indifferent whether he be at Peace with God or not not to mention that he is a Sot and a Fool and understands not his true interest he deprives himself of that which ought to be the greatest stay and staff of his life and therefore whatever his outward Conveniencies and Accommodations may be he is unhappy 3. He that doth not or will not live peaceably with his Neighbours I need not tell you that he is unhappy for he himself finds by sad experience that he is so The Disorders and Tumults he finds within the uneasiness of his condition the danger he is in from without and the vexation and discontent he runs into are sufficient Items that he is as far from being happy as he is from being wise His lusts war within his members as St. James speaks Jam. IV. 1. His Soul is like the troubled Sea when it cannot rest Isa. LVII 20. He is no kin to God for he is the God of Peace Rom. XVI 20. No kin to Angels for they rejoyce in Peace on Earth Luk. II. 14. No kin to good men for they seek Peace and ensue it 1 Pet. III. 11. If he be related to any thing it is to the Prince of Darkness who delights in wrath and envy Rev. XII 17. 4. Such men are no Children of God and therefore cannot be blessed that 's the argument of the Text Blessed are the Peace-makers for they shall be called the Children of God therefore those that have an aversion from this Peace-making are not blessed because no Children of God surely no Children of God when so much of that Spirit reigns in them which rules in the Children of Disobedience He particularly that seeks not to be at Peace or to live peaceably with his Neighbour most certainly doth not love his Brother and he that loves him not is by the Holy Ghost in Scripture put into the number of strange Children for so we read 1 Joh. III. 10. Herein the Children of God are manifest and the Children of the Devil he that works not righteousness is not of God neither he that loves not his Brother Not to love our Brother and to hate him in Scripture are equivalent different expressions for the same sin and if any man say I am in the light and hate his Brother he is in darkness and walks in darkness and knows not whither he goes because the darkness hath blinded his Eyes 1 Joh. II. 11. So that true Blessedness lies altogether in the opposite temper viz. the Peace-makers and of these it is that it 's said They shall be called the Children of God and how and upon what account they shall be called the Children of God is the III. And last particular I am to speak to And here I must premise that in Scripture Language to be called so is very often as much as to be so And thou Child shalt be called the Prophet of the most High i. e. thou shalt be a Prophet Luk. I. 76. and after the same manner That holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God i. e. shall be the Son of God so Matth. I. 23. They shall call his name Emanuel i. e. he shall be so God with us God and Man And after this stile you are to understand the Phrase of the Text They shall be called the Children of God i. e. they are and shall be so Children of God! Why What great blessedness is there in this title beyond what other men enjoy Are not Princes and great Men who are commonly none of the best called the Children of God Psal. LXXXII 6. and is not God the Father of all mankind It is very true but still there is a very great difference between Children and Children All rational creatures both Men and Angels are God's Children as they are the works of his hands and with this respect even Devils come into that number because they owe their Being to an Omnipotent God Princes and great Men particularly are the Children of God upon the account of Power and Grandure and Authority God communicates to them but for all these respects they may be everlastingly miserable To be a Child of God by Regeneration to be born again to be born of God to be begotten again through a lively hope by the Word and Spirit this is it that makes the title truly comfortable and such Children are the Peace-makers commended here To be a Child of God in this sense is more and a greater honour than to be related to all the greatest Princes in the World For 1. Such Children of God have higher marks of favour set upon them They enjoy the Blessings of God's left hand in common with the rest but besides these they have Blessings of the right hand heap'd upon them Besides the Preservation Protection Provision for their bodies and common Deliverances from dangers they participate of with the greater number their Souls are visited by very magnificent Guests For if any man love me he will keep my words and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him saith our Saviour Joh. XIV 23. God governs them by his Spirit and feeds them like a Shepherd gathers the lambs into his arms carries them in his bosom and gently leads those that are with young Isa. XL. 11. They are made partakers of the divine nature love what God loves hate what he hates desire what he desires and aim at the same end God himself aims at to wit the Glory of God blessed for evermore 2. To such Children of God belong the Promises of the everlasting Covenant and there is no condemnation in them They are deliver'd from the wrath to come and Christ intercedes for them in Heaven For them the balm of Gilead