Selected quad for the lemma: peace_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
peace_n	jerusalem_n	pray_v	prosperity_n	2,298	5	9.5696	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A26356	The care of the peace of the church, the duty of every Christian in a discourse upon Psalm 122, 6, wherein the main pleas, for separation are examined and the true causes thereof shewed ... / by Tho. Adderley ... ; to which is annexed a letter, briefly shewing the great danger and sinfulness of popery, written to a young gentleman (a Roman Catholick) in Warwick-shire.	Adderley, Thomas, b. 1648 or 9.	1679 (1679)	Wing A509; ESTC R20224	39,054	53

do most infest their Bodies So may Christians find out some Portion of the Psalms of David that may Administer some ease and comfort to them under all or most of those many troubles that are incident to Humane Life And hence it is as I suppose that our Church hath so wisely proportioned the Psalms of David that they may be read through once at least in every Month of the year by the constant frequenters and attenders of her Service that so by our frequent reading and observing the same we might readily find out some Psalm either in the whole or at least in the greater part of it applicable to that our present condition That this Psalm wherein my Text is was Pen'd by Holy David is agreed upon by most Expositors And if you would know the time and occasion of his Writing it it is likewise concluded by most to have been composed by him at such time when the Ark of God was most happily restored and brought back by him to Jerusalem If you look into the 2 Sam. 6.2 you will there find that the Ark of God was in the House of Abinadab in Gibeah a High place in the City Baalah of Judah and from thence it was removed and carryed by David into the House of Obed Edom the Gittite who received a Blessing from God together with all his Houshold by reason of the presence of it v. 10.11 of that Chapter But as Noah's Dove when he sent her out of the Ark could find no resting place for the sole of her Feet until the Waters were so abated that the dry ground appeared So neither could the Ark of God find any rest either in the House of Abinadab in Gibeah or in the House of Obed Edom the Gittite or any where else until it was brought into Jerusalem the City of David and there placed Thither it was at length brought by Israel with joy and great gladness with shouting and with the noise of a Trumpet v. 15. of the same Chapter And it is as I told you before the opinion of most Expositors that David composed this Psalm and deliver'd it to be sung at this solemnity This was a time of gladness and great joy amongst them the people at it's approach do as it were unanimously run to bid it welcome And it was no sooner setled amongst them but they do as unanimously desire to enter therein to pay their Thanks and to perform their Devotions They stay not to be invited thither by the Prophet neither was there any need of his Exhortation to them to go for they came on purpose to invite and exhort him to it At which readiness and willingness of theirs the Holy Prophet was so well pleased that he tells us v. 1. of this Psalm that he was glad I was glad sayes he when they said unto me let us go into the House of the Lord. And now that the Holy Prophet might not fear their weariness and inconstancy in the performance of their Devotions that he might not think that this their great zeal would prove like the Morning Dew quickly scatter'd and soon gone that he might be fully assured and perswaded of their perseverance and constancy in it they presently make this firm resolution v. 2. Our feet shall stand in thy Gates O Jerusalem This indeed was a very good way to keep the Ark of Gods Covenant amongst them and to secure it from being again carried away Captive from them For when any Nation or People do once begin to grow negligent and weary in the performance of Religious Duties when once they become so backward and slack as to be indifferent whether they come or not at all unto them though they do not hear that very voice that was heard a little before the Destruction of Jerusalem a voice as some think uttered by the Angels out of the Clouds abeamus hinc let us flit and be gone yet may they very justly fear the dreadful effects and sad consequences of it that God will depart and that he will stay no longer with them that he will take away his Word and his Gospel his Worship and his Service so much slighted and abused and all sense of Religion and bestow it upon a people that will bring forth the Fruits thereof This the Holy Prophet very well understood and therefore how greatly does he rejoyce to hear their resolutions of being constant in their Devotions He could never forget the miseries and troubles the fears and distractions they were constantly in while the Ark of God was under Captivity And therefore seeing that it was now once again most happily restored and setled amongst them so that they might for ever after as happily enjoy the presence of it he puts them in mind that in their Prayers and Devotions they should Pray for the peace of Jerusalem or that they should put up their Petitions unto God for the prosperity and safety of it The words of my Text then in the whole are as you see an Exhortation of Holy David to the people to Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem In which Exhortation you may observe these Three particulars First Here is a plain specification of the thing for which he importunes their care and that is Jerusalem Secondly Here is an indication of the action by which they may evidence their love to it and their care of it and that is by Prayer And Thirdly ult Here is the Blessing which in their Prayers and Petitions they should beg and request of God for it and that is peace Pray for the peace of Jerusalem Before I come to treat of any particular point it will be needful to speak briefly of a very great mistake that is crept into the minds of many ignorant people in reference to duties of this nature Some there are that will tell us that because there is mention made of Jerusalem and of the Ark of Gods covenant and of a Temple and the like being things long since demolished and gone that this Exhortation therefore is of no obligation at all unto them that they are no ways concerned in it and that it reached no further then just to those to whom it was at first made But the Apostle St. Paul hath told us that whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning Rom. 15.4 And again in the 2. Tim. 3.16 That all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for Doctrine for reproof for correction and instruction in righteousness So that although we are not concern'd as to the literal meaning of the words yet as to the inward import of them we are and so far we may conclude that whatsoever was thus spoken unto them was spoken unto us also even to all Christian people that ever were before us or that shall ever come after us that they should pray for the peace and unity and safety of the holy Catholick Church even to the end of the World There is no question

to be made said a Reverend Prelate and Martyr of our Church but that the eye of the Prophet was so clear that he look'd quite through the Temple of Jerusalem which was but a Figure or Shadow of that which was to come and saw Christ his Church and Kingdom at the end of it So that this Psalm hath a great reach and it is of a very large extent it reaches not only to the Jew but also to the Christian not only to the Temple but also to the Church So that we now as well as they then may and must and ought to pray for the peace of our Jerusalem By Jerusalem here is indeed meant as well the State or body of the Kingdom as the body of the Church For after the Ark of God was placed there it became not only the house of Religion or the House of God verse the 1. But also the house of the State or Kingdom because there also is the Seat of Judgment verse the 5. And therefore it is our duty to pray for the peace of both not only for the peace of the Church but also for the peace of the Kingdom But how rare a thing is it to meet with any but what are ready and willing enough to consult the good of the State and the peace and safety of the Kingdom because the estates and lively hood both of them and theirs doth very much depend upon it But alas The thing which most men are most extreamly forgetful of is the peace of the Church they are but little concerned at the rents and breaches that are made in it never considering that if the Church be disquieted and disturbed the State or Kingdom can never be at peace The word here rendred pray is in the Septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies to ask and enquire after to labor and endeavor the good of any thing Some would have it read quaerite seek it and follow hard after it And then the sense of the exhortation will be much agreable with that of the holy Apostle St. Paul Rom. 14.19 Follow after or most zealously attend to those things that make for the peace of Jerusalem or the Church By the word peace is here meant all kind of blessings all manner of prosperity Pacis nomen generaliter accipitur pro loeto foelici statu sayes Molle●●s in his exposition of this Psalm the word peace is generally taken for a joyful and most happy State because this is that which Crowns all other blessings and is above all others the most to be desired by us And now having thus lay'd open to you the meaning of these three terms here used in the Text and thereby shew'd you what is the import of praying for the peace of Jerusalem I shall lay down and prosecute this following observation which is altogether agreable with it viz. Obs That is a duty highly concerning and much incumbent upon all Christians to endeavor the safety and to pray for the peace of the Church I might here give you a large discourse of peace and of the several benefits of it I might shew you at large that peace is absolutely the greatest temporal blessing that any people or nation can possibly partake of It is a thing so good that without it nothing can be good with it says Solomon an handful of hearbs without it an house full of Sacrifices is not good Pro. 17.1 These things which I shall anon lightly touch at I might insist upon at large and thereby engage and perswade you all to this great and important duty of praying for the peace of Jerusalem or for the prosperity and safety of the Church But I question not but that I shall effectually engage you to it and convince you all of the great necessity of endeavoring the safety and of praying for the peace of the Church from these following reasons and considerations As 1st It will appear to be a duty highly concerning and much incumbent upon all Christians to endeavor the safety and to pray for the peace of the Church because of those many enemies which continually lay siege against it endeavoring to disturb it's peace and as much as in them lyes utterly to overthrow it In the 16 Chap. of St. Matthews Gospel and the 18. verse When our Saviour Christ upon St. Peters acknowledgment and confession of his being the true Messias and the son of the living God told him thou art Peter and upon this Rock i. e. upon this confession which thou whose name signifies a Rock or Stone hast made I will build my Church and withal made that promise that the Gates of Hell i.e. all the power and strength wisdom and policy authority and empire in the world no not the grave or Satan himself which proverbially are said to be irresistable should ever prevail against it or destroy it By this promise I say he does insinuate and inform us thus much that those open Gates and Gates of Hell gape not wider for any thing than for it Though the Ark of God was setled in Jerusalem and though the people as you have heard were so resolvedly constant in the performance of their devotions yet the holy Prophet knew that the Philistines those enemies of God and of his Church waited only for an opportunity of taking it again Captive And therefore upon this account or more especially for this reason pray says he for the peace of Jerusalem No sooner had the Apostles planted the Christian Church but the Gnosticks the followers of Simon Magus that first Priests of the Church presently sowed their Tares of discord and dissention in it and raised up the unbelieving Jews in every City and in every place where they might be suffered for to come to disquiet and disturb it And hence were all those pathetick exhortations laid down by the Apostles in their several Epistles to the several Churches of following the things that make for peace of having peace amongst themselves of keeping the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace and the like That they should by no means hearken to any of those Sowers of discord and sedition though they made never so fair a shew and specious pretence of piety and holiness Who came indeed according to our Saviour's prediction in Sheeps cloathing as the true Prophets of old used to do thereby pretending the greatest innocency and meekness that could be but inwardly they are ravenous Wolves they design nothing in the conclusion but devouring and rapacity Saint Paul at that visitation of his Brethren held at Miletum and recorded in the 20. Chap. of the Acts of the Apostles after he had told them of his going up to Jerusalem and of the bonds and afflictions which by the testimony of the holy Ghost in every City should attend him there he commits to them the care of his flock charges them to feed the Church of God which he had purchased with his own blood and to be the more

safety and to pray for the peace of the Church How cautious and careful should we all then be in avoiding all such who endeavor to break the peace of it and to sow division and dissention in it Look upon that exhortation of the Apostle St. Paul which I shall make use of at this time unto you all in the 16. Chap. of his Epistle to the Romans and the 17. verse I beseech you Brethren mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the Doctrine ye have learned and avoid them For verse the 18. They that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ but their own belly and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple And much like unto this is that warning given us by our Saviour Christ Matth. 7.15 Beware of false Prophets which come to you in Sheeps-clothing but inwardly they are ravenous Wolves ye shall know them by their fruits i. e. if you do but observe and weigh the Doctrines which they will endeavor to infuse into you not suddenly but by degrees and as soon as ever they are got into some power and authority with you you may easily discover what they are If they endeavor to infuse into you higher degrees of all kind of piety towards God and charity towards your neighbor you may then resolve that they are sent from God but if their design be to infuse into their followers and seeds of impiety injustice uncleanness uncharitableness sedition rebellion disobedience to Governors and the like be sure then that they are false Prophets such as seek to disturb the peace of the Church and to embroil the Kingdom in trouble And therefore beware of such as these and avoid them And let us not only avoid them but also pray against them as against those that have evil will at our Sion that they may never succeed or prosper in their intended design of breaking and disturbing the peace of our Jerusalem 2. Secondly A second use which we may make of this point may be this is it so that it is a duty so highly concerning and incumbent upon all Christians to endeavor the safety and to pray for the peace of the Church How justly blameable then nay how wretchedly sinful is it in any to be disturbers of it's Peace and Unity and to make it their main business to make the rents and breaches of it wider This Church of ours like the poor Traveller in the Parable that was going down from Jerusalem to Jerico hath had the hard fortune to fall amongst merciless Thieves and Robbers who have not only stript her of her Raiment and left her too naked but they have wounded her too and left her in a manner half dead And too many there are who though professedly her sons are yet so indifferent and cool in their affections towards her that like the Priest and the Levite if they happen to Travel that way where she lyes they may perchance vouchsafe to cast a look at her but then they presently pass by on the other side Though these can never be reckon'd amongst her friends for can any man perswade me that that person is my friend who when he either sees or hears me grosly wronged and abused will only stand and look on as altogether unconcerned for me So that I say although these persons can never be reckon'd amongst her friends yet they are not her worst enemies neither for others there are that are far more unmerciful to her still who instead of having compassion on her instead of coming to her like the good Samaritan in the forenamed parable to bind up her wounds and to pour in Oyle and Wine the most healing and comfortable Medicines seek rather for salt and vinegar the most corroding and fretting ingredients and all on purpose to keep the wound still open and to make the cure the harder That there are too too many such amongst us we find by sad and woful experience But would to God that not only those who pass her by so unconcerned and indifferent would consider how unacceptable and unpleasing such a luke-warm treacherous temper is to God and whether this be any better then to be ashamed of him before men but also those and those especially who do thus endeavor to keep open at least if not to widen her differences also would timely consider not only the manifest folly but also the extream sinfulness and the inexcusable impiety of it As for the folly of it that has been already evinced in that they make way by these breaches for the common enemy to enter in amongst us whom yet they seem the most zealously to hate and fear And then as for the sinfulness of it there is nothing sure that can more easily be made appear For if our Saviour Christ hath promised the greatest blessing to those that are Peace-makers even to be called the sons of God surely then we may from hence most reasonably infer and conclude that no less then the greatest punishment and curse shall be the reward and portion of all such as do promote and encourage discord and dissention And sure I am that there is no punishment for any thing but what is sinful But in regard this is a thing which many men are not so fully convinced of or at least do not so well consider as they should and ought I shall beg leave to enlarge a little further upon it That this sin of dividing the Church is a sin of a very deep dye and of no little guilt cannot well be doubted by any man For why should our Saviour Christ have taken so much care to prevent it had it been but a small matter Why should he have took so much pains as he did with his Apostles to instruct them throughly that so they might not disagree or thwart one another in any thing when they should come to deliver his mind unto the world if it had not been of a dangerous and sinful consequence for them to have fallen out and to have divided one from another He that considers how ardently he prayed for them not long before he left the world that they might be at Unity and Peace amongst themselves will never doubt but that it had been sinful and dangerous for them to have jarr'd and fal'n out John 17.11 Holy Father keep through thine own name those whom thou hast giuen me that they may be one as we are And as our Saviour Christ used the greatest care so the Apostles after him shewed no less diligence and circumspection to prevent it They were earnestly industrious to stop all beginnings of Schism in the Church to heal all breaches and to take away all occasion of Division from amongst their Disciples and followers When the Apostle St. Paul heard of the divisions that were risen in the Church of Corinth he sends a very sharp reproof for it Now in this that I declare unto you I praise you not i. e. I very

the ground were it not for their interest and profit to uphold them And there is as little question to be made but that most of the zealous Preachers in the separated congregations would soon return to that Church which they have causlesly left and forsaken were it not for the profit and advantage they reap by it They find a more fruitful crop as to temporal advantage by sowing in those by-fields and unlawful enclosures then they could expect by laboring in Gods Vineyard where alone they ought to have been true Laborers and work-men Though I will not say that the Disciples and followers of these men do so highly affect them as to pluck out their eyes for their sakes as St. Paul tells us the Galathians once would have done for his yet it is easy to be observed by any that will but a little inquire into it that their liberality and bounty is so great towards them that many of them will almost starve themselves and their families to feed and to cloth their admired teachers they will leave themselves neither scrip nor shooes nor purse rather then not be contributers towards filling the purses of those whom they look upon to be the only soul-saving teachers They make but little conscience to rob their Parish Ministers of their Dues to bestow them upon these House Preachers Like the wicked sons of Athaliah the usurper they take away the dedicated things from the house of God to bestow them upon Baalim 2. Chro. 24.7 And while they find their admirers so bountiful to them it 's no wonder if they continue their separation from the Church and use their utmost endeavors to keep up a faction which it's well known affords more profit to the greater part of them then those livings which the best of them held during the sad times of confusion So long as they can by this craft get such a plentiful livelyhood it 's no wonder if like the Silver-smiths at Ephesus they decry Apostolical Doctrine and Government it's self and cry up their own fancies as the only Diana's to be worshipped But would to God these persons would timely consider what is like to be the issue of this whether this be any better then to make gain their godliness and what it can profit though they should gain the whole world and lose their own souls at least if not the souls of others too thereby at the last Would they would consider how much alike they are to the Priests and Prophets of Israel spoken of by the Prophet Micah Chap. 3.11 Who did teach for hire and Divine for money i. e. they taught such Doctrines as they knew to be most pleasing to their hearers not regarding the truth and that too meerly for the sake of profit And yet will these too as well as they lean upon the Lord and say is not the Lord amongst us None evil can come upon us But let them read the next verse and see what is like to be the issue and event of this Therefore shall Sion for your sakes be plowed like a field and Jerusalem shall become heaps But 3ly ult A third cause or reason of these persons separating from our Church and consequently disturbing the peace and unity of it is a fond and unjustifiable desire of preserving their reputation and credit I do not design hereby to blame any man for using his utmost care to keep a good name because it is a thing so tender that like a glass that is broken and shatter'd in pieces if it be once lost it is very hardly recovered A good name is rather to be chosen then great riches says Solomon It is a pearl of such inestimable value that there is no man that truly weighs it but would with the Merchant in the parable part with all he hath rather then go without it It is not this I say that I do in the least design to speak against But there are a sort of persons in the world that are much to be blamed who having once espoused an opinion having once been patrons of a cause and abettors of a faction and having thereby procured the name of zealous and holy men we may as soon remove mountains as perswade them to renounce that cause though never so much convinced of the unjustifiableness of it and all because as they phrase it they shall thereby give scandal to the world but in plain terms it is because they shall for ever lose that name and reputation they have gotten for it That this is the plain English of the business whatever is pretended to the contrary will most evidently appear if we may but look a little back to what hath heretofore passed Time was when most of our dissenting teachers might have kept their livings upon their conformity This favor was offerr'd to them though but little deserving it by our gracious Prince upon his return to his undoubted rights Upon this how notorious is it that they met together to consult and debate upon it They perswaded the people that they spent their time in fasting and seeking God to direct their consciences but we have more reason to think that they were consulting their own credit and whether upon their conformity the people would not only deride them but hate them too for setting up those things upon deliberation which they before had rashly and unadvisedly pull'd down We can never imagine that they could be strangers to the Government and Discipline of the Church unless we will make them of the number of those who spoke evil of those things they understood not We can never imagine that they could be ignorant of what would be required of them before they could be admitted into it And therefore if it was so plain a business that there consciences would not suffer them to conform why did they not at very first profess it openly and tell the world as much without any more ado and without so many meetings and debates about it No! no! they then thought what some of them have plainly enough declared since that they did not scruple what we do but only they thought it unhandsome i. e. not for their credit for them to do it But surely if it be better for a man that hath been overtaken in a fault to confess it and to do so no more as I suppose they will none of them deny then is it better too for them to renounce those erroneous tenets which occasion'd their former dislike of our Church and to evidence that they were mistaken by their free and open complyance with it And this would be so farr from procuring shame in the thoughts of all sober and considering men that it would be very much their glory Let them call to mind the many examples of this kind that have gone before them Let them but peruse St. Austine's retractations and there they 'l find a copy which I could with they would imitate and write after Let them consider whether