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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
(1689)
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Wing P848; ESTC R22949
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15,746
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40
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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
relates to the preaching of the Gospel by vvhich vve vvere called unto Belief of the Truth 2 Thess ii 13 14. and by that Truth not only taught but required to be at Peace among our selves 1 Thess v. 13. and to keep the Unity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace Ephes iv 3. Nay if it be possible as much as lieth in us to live peaceably with all Men Rom. xii 18. or if they refuse it yet to follow Peace with all Men Heb. xii 14. to seek Peace and ensue it 1 Pet. iii. 11. Finally brethren as St. Paul writes 2 Cor. xiii 11. be perfect i. e. compleat Christians be of good comfort or receive this Word of Exhortation be of one mind live in peace and the God of love and peace shall be with you that is as we desire and hope for the Favour and Love of God and for all the blessed Effects and Fruits thereof we are bound to live in peace For he is the God of peace and love and his Son is the Prince of peace who left Peace with his Church as his last Legacy when he left the World Peace I leave with you my peace I give unto you John XIV 27. And his Gospel is the Gospel of peace the word of reconciliation which instructs us in that Heavenly Wisdom Jam. III. 17. which is first pure then peaceable gentle and easie to be entreated or easily persuaded unto those things which make for peace tho' therein we deny our own Will and particular Interest This is the Genius of that Religion unto which we are called by the preaching of Christ's Gospel 2. And it was the greatest favour and grace that Heaven could bestow upon us to communicate unto us the knowledge of his Will and to make us of this heavenly Spirit for so the word Calling is sometimes used in Scripture for the free Grace and Bounty of God in opposition to any work of ours whereby we could deserve it as in Rom. IX 11. That the purpose of God might stand not of works but of him that called that is mercifully dispensed the benefit according to his own Free-will and good Pleasure We do not understand our own happiness nor the great Grace of God to us if we do not think our selves highly obliged to him in commanding and disposing us by the Gospel of his Grace to be peaceably minded that is to be as I said of an Heavenly Spirit For what other Notion can we frame of the Happiness of those above but that they live in perfect love of God and of one another without any discord or contention which would disturb their Blessed Repose For having all the very same End and Design the very same Affections and Desires which are to do Honour to God and to promote one anothers good there can be no rupture nor so much as quarreling or dissention among them which arise from mens private desires and aims and the cross Interests which they pursue in this present world And therefore the more perfectly we divest our Minds of all selfishness and bend our thoughts to study the common good the nearer we shall approach to their Blessed State and the fitter we shall be for the Company of happy Souls and Spirits by such a sweet Concord and Agreement here as reigns in the Peaceable Society of Heavenly Minds in the other World. And on the contrary while we live in Wrath and Bitterness in Pride and Disdain one of another and thereby are engaged in perpetual Contests and quarrelsome Differences pursuing one another with a deadly hatred we are of the same Nature and Disposition with the Infernal Ghosts the Devil and his Angels And if we go out of the World in this wretched Temper of Mind which cannot be changed in a moment we fall unavoidably into their troublesome Company who could not be quiet even in Heaven it self but there raised such a Faction and Disturbance that they were thrust down from that Blessed Place and condemned to keep one another company in endless Misery and Despair And one great part of their Misery we all apprehend is That they are ever restless and unquiet unalterably bent to trouble and torment themselves by contriving how to make disturbance among others Which shows what a kindness our Blessed Saviour hath done us in calling us unto Peace and thereby redeeming us from the Society of those rancorous Spirits unto whom we are so strongly linkt while we are of a turbulent and untractable Spirit that we must necessarily fall into their Company when we depart from hence if we be not cured of this Disease and have our Natures altered into the peaceable Mind that was in Christ Jesus 3. By which we understand Thirdly the Honour also our Lord hath done us in calling us to be peaceable for this the word Calling implies in Rom. XI 29. The gifts and calling of God are without Repentance Where Calling is the great Preferment God designed for Abraham's Family and to which accordingly he advanced them wherein he intended immutably to have continued them if they had believed on him as Abraham did And indeed we are called to a very high Dignity by being called unto Peace for it intitles us to the Honour of being the Children of the Most High. So our Saviour instructs us in his Sermon upon the Mount Matt. V. 9. Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God. Peace-makers are peaceable minded men For as to make a lie in Scripture Language is to be given to Lying and to make a practice of it So to make peace is to have a strong constant inclination to it and to bend that way upon all occasions Which is a Divine disposition and makes us like to God So like him that we may thereby be known to be his off-spring who are endued with his most excellent Nature and act by his Spirit and therefore shall be partakers of his blessedness This is the sum of the first part of the Reason We do not answer the gracious design of the Gospel and the great kindness and honour Christ hath done us if we do not let the peace of God Rule in our hearts unto which we are called in one body II. That 's the second part of it We are therefore called unto peace because we are called to be one body of which Christ is the Head. When we were made Christians we were not brought into that state to live separately and distinctly every one of us by our selves as our particular Fancies and Affections shall incline us But to be knit together in one Christian Society every Part of which is to seek his own good interest and safety by preserving the Whole in peace and quietness without any rupture in the Body of Christ For by that the Body is destroyed as by union of the Members it is maintained and preserved There is nothing plainer than that no Society can subsist unless they who belong to