aequipollent to an universall Then generall it must be and that in regard both of persons times and places for all persons at all times and in all places must pray as they be here exhorted First I say this duty belongs to all persons for though all cannot fast or give alms or weep or watch or bear arms or fight c. yet all may pray Though thou be as poor as Lazarus as impotent as Mephibosheth Luk. 16 20 2 Sam. 4 4. Mar. 10 46 Luk. 1.20 as blinde as Bartimeus as dumb as Zachary yet thou may'st pray and thou must pray in charity for though thou must have Faith for thy self and hence thou say'st I beleeve in God yet must thou pray for others also and therefore when we pray our Lord teacheth us to say Our Father c. And whilest every one prayes for the whole the whole prayes for every one Secondly it is a duty seasonable at all times for whether it be a time of mirth or mourning health or sicknesse prosperity or affliction peace or warre earely or late or at noone-tide prayer never comes amisse so it be applyed to the opportunity as our Church prescribes in the Lyturgy where wee have set prayers for all occasions Thirdly this is a duty proper for all places and for this cause Saint Paul wills us every where to pray in the 2. Chapter of the first Epistle to Timothy 3 Tim. 2.8 Be a man at home or abroad in the City or Country in his family or in the Temple he may pray to good purpose For as the Prophet Daniel prayed three times a day privately in his house Dan. 6.10 so S. Peter Acts 3.1 and Saint John went up together into the Temple at the houre of prayer And though prayer be good in any place yet there is a more speciall blessing promised to the publike prayers of the Church Vis unita fortior When all meete together in the beauty of holinesse and where there is a generall consent the musicke must needs be sweet Many instruments make the fuller consort God can hardly deny the harmonious prayers of a devout multitude Then much to blame are such Sectaries as seldome or never come to the publike prayers appointed by the Church no not upon the Lords own day and that by the way shews that it is not the word but the man that they come to hear and therin these precisians practize that popish position pressed by Stapleton in the 10 of his Quodlibets Non quid loquitur sed quis à bono Catholico est atteÌ„denduÌ„ when though they will flock to such preachers as they like yet they flye the Common-prayers as a thing which they loath But I would to God that they would take notice that this their peevishnesse and recusancy is not only punishable by censures ecclesiasticall and civill but also that herein they both neglect the right sanctification of the Sabboth publike prayer being a principall duty of this day and a speciall meanes appointed by God for the sanctifying of the same And also forget what our Saviour saith in the 21. Chapter of Saint Matthew My house shall be called the house of prayer but ye have made it a denne of theeves Mat. 21.13 Which is thus farre true in all professed adversaries of publicke prayer that they doe what in them lies to steal this speciall part of Gods worship and service quite out of his house The second circumstance implied in the manner is that you must pray fervently and this is insinuated in this particle O! O pray c. This O is sometimes an interjection of sorrowing â— Saâ— 8.13 as wheu King David bewayling the untimely death of his sonne Absalom in the 18. Chapter of the 2. of Samuel cryed out O Absalom my sonne my sonne Absalom would to God I had died for thee O Absalom my sonne my sonne But here this O is an adverbe of wishing and exhorting and it is added and used the better to presse and perswade you to pray with zeale and ardency of affection Martin Luther calls prayer the gun-shot of the soule and why so but to shew that like a gunne it will not off without fire The prayer of a righteous man prevails much saith Saint James if it be fervent Mark the condition Iam. 5.16 if it be fervent for it prevailes not further then it pierceth and it pierces not at all without fire A bullet as you know flyes no further then it is driven by the strength of the powder nor will your prayers pierce the clouds unlesse they be sent up with a powder they must be fervent And fervent they will not be unlesse they flow from the sence of our spirituall wants and from a broken and bleeding heart There is no musick sounds so sweete in Gods eares as that which is made on broken instruments for a broken heart and a contrite spirit saith David in the 51 Psalme Thou O Lord wilt not despise Non musica cordula sed cor non vox sed votum Whosoever then doth pray with hope to be heard graciously he must see that he pray not more magis quam amore he must not pray faintly but fervently even with a flaming affection ascending up to God in the hearty grones sighes and strong desires of his soule and spirit The third thing implyed in the manner is that you must pray forthwith The verbe in the text is in the Present Tence and so denotes that you must fall presently to your prayers Semper nocuit differre paratis Delay may breed danger Now is the day of salvation saith the Apostle now is the acceptable time And hoc nunc nullum habet crastinum saith Saint Augustine And as Saint Paul stirres up the Romanes to arise from sleep Rom. 13. â—1 by putting them in minde of the season in the 13. to the Romanes so may I justly excite and incite you to fall close to your prayers for publike peace upon the consideration of this very season For if we looke well about us we shall finde that wee never had more cause to pray then at this present when as the publike peace is secretly undermined by false brethren at home and openly impugned by the Irish Rebells abroad There the superstitious Papist seeking to supplant and heere the irreligious Atheist labouring with might in his hand and malice in his heart utterly to roote it out And therefore as the skilfull Pilot at sea seeing a slaw or a storme a comming presently puts into some harbor where he may be safe untill the danger be over So Saint James sends us all to prayer as the onely sure haven in time of distresse where he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Is any man afflicted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let him pray as if he had said Iam. 5.13 is any man in any manner of affliction why the sole remedy of all our miseries and mischiefes is prayer Then if we now finde that
my solitary aim in this Sermon is to direct you both in your prayers and practice how to salve up our sores and to heal our wounds and if in any thing that serves to so good an end I seem too bold or bitter let your grave experience make this Apologie for me viz. That a mortall wound must be thorowly searched ere it can be soundly healed and that no purgative Medicine can bring health without some bitternes I would not wittingly give any man any manner of offence and yet if in the faithfull discharge of my duty I should I hope that they among you which are moderate will confesse That wholesome meat must not be altogether debarred the table though by accident it may possibly disgust some aguish Palate I will conclude with that of S. Paul to the Romanes Ro. 16.17 Now I beseech you brethren mark them which cause divisions contrary to the Doctrine which you have learned and avoid them For they that are such serve not our LORD JESUS CHRIST but their own belly and by good words and fair speeches they deceive the hearts of the simple For your obedience is come abroad unto all men I am glad therefore on your behalf But yet I would have you wise unto that which is good and harmlesse concerning evill And the God of Peace shall bruise Satan under you feet shortly The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all Amen So sayeth and so prayeth Your Worships most affectionate servant in the Lord MATTH GRIFFITH A. Patheticall Perswasion to pray for Publike-Peace PSALM 122.6 O pray for the peace of Jerusalem THough the whole Scripture be given by divine inspiration yet this book of Psalms seems to challenge some kinde of priviledge and preheminence 2 Tim. 9.16 because the Pen-man hereof was not onely a King and a Prophet 1 Sam. 13.14 but a man according to GODS heart and a lively figure of Christ yea he was saith Euthymius Primiregis â—or lingua calamus The heart tongue and pen of the king of Kings and lord of Lords Apoc 17.14 King Alfred whom our English Chronicle so much extolls was wont to have the PSALTER alwayes with him as Saint Hierome advis'd his Friend Rusticus to make it his Vade-mecum John Cosmus that holy Bishop of Constantinople being forced to flye from that City took no part of his treasures with him save Davids Psalms which to him were both pro prae divitiis Our blessed Lord and his Apostles cite no lesse then Sixty Testimonies out of this book which is more frequently read and sung both in the Jewish Synagogues and also in our Christian Congregations then any other parcell of holy Writ Yea the Turks themselves swear as solemnly by the Psalms of David as by Mahomets Alcoran And whereas all other parts of Scripture have their severall bounds and limits as it were some of them consisting chiefly of matter of Prophesie others of History some serving for instruction some for reprehension some for consolation the short is that this book of Psalms comprehends all being indeed a common Store-house of good things out of which all persons of what calling or condition soever may fit and furnish themselves according to their exigents and occasions For which very reason Saint Basil calls this book a divine Treasury Saint Agustine stiles it a spiriituall Library Saint Ambrose terms it a Map of holy Writ Saint Chrysostome calls it a Panoply or whole Armour Gregory the great held it the Register of the whole Scripture and I may truly say of it what S. Paul doth of the whole 2 Tim. 3. â—6 that it is profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousnesse And as for this particular Psalm of which my Text is a considerable part it is the generall consent in a manner of all Divines That it was compos'd and compil'd by the sweet-Singer of Israel upon occasion of the bringing of the Ark into Jerusalem and applyed and left for the use of the Church that so oft as the Israelites should appear before the Lord at their solemn feasts it might be sung in publick the better to stir them up to a just gratulation and thanksgiving to God for two extraordinary Benefits whereof the one was the establishing of the Church and Religion in the City of David the other was the stating of the Kingdom and succession upon the house of David And to the end that both the Church of God and the Religion thereof and eke the Kingdom of David and the succession thereof might the better flourish and continue The Psalmist in these words of my Text combines them together calling both by one name viz. Jerusalem and calling upon us as one man with one minde and mouth to pray for the peace of this Jerusalem O pray for the peace of Jerusalem In which words of the princely Prophet we may observe three considerable parts viz. First what it is whereunto he exhorts us viz. Prayer O pray Secondly for what it is he thus exhorts us to pray viz. for Peace O pray for peace Thirdly for whose peace it is that we are thus exhorted to pray viz. for the peace of Jerusalem O pray for the peace of Jerusalem The first viz. Prayer is the only ordinary means by which we do obtain of God all such good things as we stand in need of for what Saint Paul speaks of godlinesse in the fourth Chapter of the first Epistle to Timothy Pietas ad omnia utilis 1 Tim. 4 8. is no lesse true of Prayer This is profitable to all things having both bona proposita and eke bona reposita the promises of this life and of that which is to come And therefore O pray The second viz. Peace is the principall pillar both of Church and Common-wealth and by an usuall Hebraism it signifies all happinesse and perfection and therefore O pray for Peace Gal. 4.26 Exod. 20. The third viz. Jerusalem is from above it is the mother of us all And as children are bound in duty to pray for and procure their Naturall mothers good so is each true childe of God bound by a stronger tye to wish and work the welfare of his holy Mother The Church and therefore O pray for the Peace of Jerusalem The first word in the Text is Pray This is the Act to which we are here exhorted and it sets forth unto us the necessity of Prayer O pray The second word is Peace This is the Object of our Prayers and it sets forth unto us the commodity of Peace O pray for Peace The third and last word in the Text is Jerusalem This is the Subject whose peace and prosperity we are all to pray for and it insinuates unto us The Unity and Charity of the Church which as the Heathen spake of the Country omnes omnium charitates in se complectitur Then since Jerusalem is so highly to be respected and Peace is a
A Patheticall PERSWASION To pray for Publick PEACE PROPOUNDED In a Sermon preached in the Cathedrall Church of Saint PAUL Octob. 2. 1642. By MATTHEW GRIFFITH Rector of S. Mary Magdalens neer Old-Fishstreet LONDON 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gravia Acarchia aâ— ambitione â—oâ—ulum invasit made irritae sunt praesectorum hortationes nemo studet auscultare sed quisque imperare ob fastum ex inscitia natum Nuâ—quid tacâ—bo igitur Non â—ut licet alii suplantant alii insultant laâ—so alli plaudunt Qui alitâ—r fâ—at Dâ—est charitas hinâ— implacabiles amari erratorum examinatores sedent iniqui malevoli â—ecte factorum Iudâ—ces ut etiam brutis â—imus brutiores Illa in suum genus quiela at nobis atrocissimum bellum erga domesticos Nunquid tacâ—bo igitur Charitas non patitur Pucri Babilonii non defuâ—rant officio licet tres tantum Cum talem â—abemus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 protectorem ac patronum non silebo D. Basilius de spiritu sancto cap. 30. scil ultimo The people through ambition are fallen into grievous Anarchy Whence it comes to passe that all the Exhortations of their Rulers are in vain No man will submit but all would reign being puffed up with pride flowing from ignorance Shall I then keep silence I may not Though some supplant others insult over me being down and the rest applaud them that do insult How can it be otherwise since Charity is decayed Hence some sit no lesse implacable and bitter examiners of things amisse then unjust and malevolent Iudges of things well done so that we are become more brutish then the very Beasts for they are quiet among themselves but we vvage cruell War against each other Shall I then hold my peace Charity vvill not suffer me The children in Babylon discharged their duty though they vvere but three Having God for my Patron and Protectour I le not be silent saith Saint Basil in his last Chapter De spiritu sancto London Printed for Richard Royston 1642. To the Right Worshipfull The Citizens of LONDON Grace and Peace Sirs AS this Mother City is our Jerusalem and you are the free Denizens of the same who by Gods blessing have hitherto lived in Peace and Plenty So by all kinde of rights this Sermon touching the Peace of Jerusalem ought to be dedicated to you as being prepared for you and preached to you and that by one of you for I received my life at first as being born and my livelyhood ever since as being beneficed among you And therefore as in Reason you cannot but conceive that I wish you as well as my self seeing my well-fare depends upon yours So in Religion you cannot but receive this patheticall perswasion to pray for the publike Peace seeing it is pressed upon you by that man according to Gods own heart 1 Sam 3.14 David himself the plain Song is his mine is but the descant The words are his mine but his Eccho and being such you can expect from me but broken and imperfect repetitions and expressions yet true as the Eccho alwayes doth The great States-man Tacitus confesseth that it is a most miserable thing to fall into such times in which men must both speak what they think not and also do what they approve not and it appears by many mens words and actions that this is such a time as he complained of But however others may temporize Psal 7 9. yet I ingenuously professe and he that is the searcher of the heart can bear me witnesse That in what I now present unto you I have no sinister ends Neither hope of preferment nor fear of punishment shall force me to speak or do any thing against the conviction of mine own conscience which I shall ever labour to keep rightly informed as knowing and I could wish it were generally believed That it is not enough to have conscience lead us unlesse truth lead our conscience Galat 4.78 I gladly grant that many of you are zealously affected and it were well if some of you were not a little infected by certain creatures of your own setting up I mean Lay-Levites if I may so call them who stretch your purses and straiten your consciences against the Doctrine and Discipline established by Law among us by sowing the seeds of schism in the Church Iude 8.1 Ioh. 4 1. and sedition in the Common-wealth under pretence of I know not what extraordinary Illumination and Revelations which those Dreamers dream of But it is S. John's advice Believe not every spirit but trie the spirits whether they are of God And if you bring them to the Touch-stone of Gods Word for tryall you will finde some of them whom you took for currant to be but counterfeit and like so many Glow-worms which though in the dark they sparkle like a Diamond yet in truth they are but Vermine It is hard to say as the case now stands whether some by their factious activity or others by their unseasonable taciturnity do most mischief Let Politicians having learnt of Paterculus That Benè facere odium est malè facere gratià nihil facere tutum est count it good sleeping in a whole skin yet we that are Pastors and to give an account for our flocks must cry aloud and spare not telling Judah of her sins Heb 13.17 Isa 58.1 and Israel of her transgressions Ezek. 3. â—â— or God will require the blood of them that perish through our default at our hands And for my particular I professe my self ready with the great Doctor of the Gentiles both to spend 2 Cor. 12.15 and to be spent for the Cause of Christ and the peace of my Country rather then I will betray either by conniving for company I need not tell you that some there be which kindle the coles of dissention among us and more make it all their work to blow them being so unhappily kindled and it is much to be feared That these kindle-coles will never give over untill they have set all in a combustion and consumed us and themselves in their own flame which is a consideration worthy our prayers and our tears if not our blood to quench it Every man in this case should lend an helping hand and be as cordially forward to cure our distractions as the devill and his Incendiaries have been to cause them You do well in time of peace to provide for War so your provision be but for prevention which Machiavil calls is the life of Policy yet it is so in us no further then it will stand with piety They onely are safe and sure Eph 6.11 in cases doubtfull and times of danger that put on the whole Armour of God having his Word for their Warrant in all their undertakings Remember you are Citizens properly and not souldiers Then take heed lest if you put off your Gowns to take up Arms you scatter in War what in peace you gathered God knows that
That this spirit may make them all like Jethro's Magistrate men of courage fearing God and dealing truly so shall all their deliberations and determinations tend to the glory of God the reall honour and happinesse of His sacred Majesty and the peace and prosperity both of Church and Common-wealth To which I doubt not but all true Protestants will say Amen And thus having shewed first what you are here exhorted to do viz. to Pray and next for what you are exhorted to pray viz. for Peace It now onely remains that I acquaint you for whose peace it is that you are exhorted thus to pray viz. for the peace of Jerusalem for so stands the Text O pray for the peace of Jerusalem Jerusalem signifies the vision of peace It was the Metropolis of Palestina and it was so denominated from two parts in it one of which was call'd Jebus the Mount on which God commanded Abraham to offer up his son Isaac otherwise call'd Mount Moriah or Sion on which afterwards the Temple was built and Davids tower The other part was call'd Shalom and it was erected at first by Melchisedech King of Righteousnesse as Lyra notes in his Glosse on the 28 Chapter of Genesis And now if you put the two words expressing the two parts together it makes Jebushalom and for Euphonies sake Jerusalem And by this very name the holy Catholike Church is often set forth in Scripture as in the 41 Chapter of Isaiah Isa 4â— 27 where God promiseth by his Prophet that he will give to Jerusalem one that brings good tidings that is a Saviour to the Church as Oleaster and others expound it And in the 4 Chapter to the Galathians Galat. 14.26 the Apostle saith that Jerusalem which is above is free which is the mother of us all Upon which words Hugo Cardinalis glosseth thus In hoc quod dicitur sursum notatur altitudo quod Jerusalem pacis multitudo quod libera libertatis amplitudo quod mater omnium charitas foecunditas that is In this that the Church is call'd Jerusalem is intimated multitude of peace that she 's said to be above denotes altitude of place that she is free shews her ample liberty and that she is the Mother of us all sets forth her charity and foecundity Jerusalem then is here a type of Christs Church for whose peace and prosperity we are bound in duty to pray continually Now the reasons why the Church of God is stil'd Jerusalem are many give me leave onely with a light pensil to touch some few of the chief For First as Jerusalem was the Metropolis of Palestina and all the Jews esteem'd it as their Mother so the Church is Mater credentium The Mother of all true beleevers as Saint Cyprian speaks Illius foetu nascimur saith he illius lacte nutrimur spiritu ejus animamur c. And so truly is she our Mother in a qualified sense that the same Saint Cyprian and after him Saint Augustine affirm peremptorily Non potest habere Deum patrem qui non habet ecclesiam matrem He cannot possibly have God to his Father who hath not the Church to his Mother And therefore no marvell though our present Sectaries which renouncing the Communion of the Church will have none of her to their Mother cannot endure to use the Lords prayer in which they must say Our Father Secondly as the Israelites were enjoyn'd by God at least three times every yeer to come Exod. 23.4 and appear before him in Jerusalem Even so are we all bound to meet in the Church which is the Congregation of all Christians and herein all true Christians do meet together in the unity of judgement and affection When God in the first Chapter of Genesis had gather'd together the waters unto one place Gen. 1.10 it is said that he saw that it was good And thereupon Saint Basil excellently notes that if the gathering together of the elementary waters was good then the gathering together of Gods people Apo. 17 15. who are the mysticall waters spoken of in the 17 of the Apocalypse must needs be very good yea if the one was good the other must needs be better And therefore I may truly say to such Sectaries as out of an affectation of singular holinesse separate themselves from the Church as sometimes Mr. Calvin himself did to the Anabaptists When under colour of perfection you can endure no imperfection neither in the body nor yet in the cloaths of the Church you must be admonish'd that this your seperation is caus'd by the devil who puffs you up with pride and seduceth you with hypocrisie Thirdly as Ierusalem was the chief seat both of the priesthood 1 King 9.10 and Kingdom for Salomon built the Temple and the Pallace together So in the Church there is both the Kingdom and Priesthood of Christ whereby both as a King he raigns over and as a Priest he instructs all the true Subjects and Citizens of the same Yea in the first Chapter of the Apocalyps Apoc. 16 he makes all the living members of his Church Kings and Priests in a qualified fence Or as St. Peter calls them 1. Pet. 2.9 a Royall priesthood Quid enim tam regium saith Leo quam subditum Deo animum corporis sui esse rectorem Quid tam sacerdotalâ— quam immaculaâ—as piotaris â—astias de altari cordis offerne Psal 76.2 Fourthly Jerusalem was the onely place in which God was known and worshipped His Temple was built there there he spake unto them both with his own mouth and by the mouth of his holy Prophets there was the Oracle between the Cherubins there was the chair of Moses and there the law was both duely propounded and eke truly expounded unto the people 1 Tim 3.15 And in the Church God is known and worship'd aright for this is the Pillar and Ground of Truth saith the Apostle That is The Church serves to the truth for those speciall ends and uses which pillars do to men For One use of pillars is to preserve the remembrance of things past to posterity to which end Absolom rear'd his pillar and thus doth the Church keep the truth of God as it were upon perpetuall record A second use of pillars is to expose to open view such things as are fastned upon them as in our Cathedralls the Arms Scutchions and Epitaphs of worthies deceas'd are hung upon pillars and such a kind of pillar is the Church to the truth for it exposeth all the Canonicall Books to the People of God A third use of pillars is for the supportation of the fabrick which is built upon them and such a pillar is the Church to the truth Gods true Religion and all truth necessary to salvation is to be had in the Church which doth indeed support the Common-wealth and therefore they which with Sampson in the 16th chapter of Judges thrust as this pillar with all their might will ere they be
aware bring the whole fabrick about their eares to the certain ruine of themselves and others Lastly as Jerusalem was built and compacted together a City at Unity within it self as we finde at the third verse Psal 122 3 Even so all the true Members of the Church do and will endeavour to keep the Unity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace Ephes 4 3 as being all washed from their sins in the same Laver of Regeneration all tyed together by the Sinews and Ligaments of the same Christian Profession all fed and nourish'd by the sincere milk of the same Word all feasted at the Table of the same Lord all assumed by the Spirit of Adoption Ephes 4 6. to be Heires of the same Kingdom In a word Since there is but one God and Father of all Gal. 4.26 and but one Church the Mother of all and all are but the Members of one Mysticall Body Rom. 12.4 Gal. 5 12. and there is but one Spirit whereby this one Body is animated and informed and the fruits of this one Spirit are love joy peace c. Oh do but lay it to heart what a foul stain and shame it must needs prove to the Protestant Profession if we should not be like Jerusalem a City at Unity within our selves And thus it appears that Jerusalem here is a Type of the Church for whose peace and prosperity we are all exhorted to pray Now upon what tearms the Peace of Christs Church stands at this day I am not able to declare yet what man of sound judgement and integrity doth not see and grieve to see it so shaken and shatter'd as it is St. Basil in his last Chapter de spiritu sancto taking into serious consideration the state of the Church in his time cries out Cui comparabibus c. To what shall we liken the present state of the Church And he answers Praelio navali quod ex veteri odio conflatum adeo processit ut ira sit immedicabilis utraque pars ruinam meditetur It 's like saith he to a Sea-fight which being caus'd by an old grudge is gone so far that their wrath cannot be appeas'd and either side meditates nothing but ruine Pone simul saith the same Father quod densa caligo turbo vehemens procella immensa hostium amicorum nullam discrimen symbola ignota quam seditionem invidia ambitio fecerunt Adde saith he that there is withall a grosse mist a vehement whirl-winde an huge storm no discerning between friends and foes the Colours cannot be distinguished which sedition was raised by envy and ambition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fundamentum doctrinae munimentum disciplinae convulsum est All the bounds of our fore-fathers are transgressed The foundation of Doctrine and fortification of Discipline is plucked up Per excessum aâ—t defectum as he goes on rectum pietatis dogma transiliunt alii ad JudaismuÌ„ alii ad Paganismum Nec divina Scriptura nec Apostolica traditio litem dirimit Unus amicitiae modus ad gratiaÌ„ loqui inimicitiae sufficiens causa opinionibus dissentire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hinc rerum novatoribus multa copia ad seditionem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. that is By excesse or defect the right determination of Piety is skip'd over by some to Judaism by others to Paganism Neither the Scripture which is Divine nor Apostolicall Tradition can end the strife The onely means of friendship is to speak placentia and it is a sufficient cause of enmity to differ in opinions Every one is a Divine and hence Innovators have matter enough of sedition And they take upon them the over-sight of the Church who never had any other Imposition of hands but what they laid upon themselves c. This is the History which Saint Basil who lived within lesse then 400 yeers after the Incarnation of our Lord writes of the state of the Church in his time and whether it be not a Prophesie and that Prophesie fulfilled in our times I leave it in you to judge And if any man desire to see the Picture of the Church of God drawn to the life at this day let him conceive that he saw a silly poor maiden sitting alone in a Wildernesse and beleaguer'd on all sides with Bulls of Bashan devouring Wolves Herodian Foxes foaming Boars greedy Bears grinning Dogs fiery Serpents corroding Vipers stinging Scorpions I mean such men-beasts as Saint Paul fought with at Ephesus in the 15 Chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians 1 Cor. 15 32. men in shape beasts in condition yea and worse then beasts saith S. Ambrose Nam omni bestia bestialior est homo rationem habens non secundum rationem vivens She is fiercely assaulted on the one side by unbelievers on the other side by mis-believers on the right hand by the contentious oppositions of Schismaticks on the left by the blasphemous propositions of Hereticks openly wrong'd by persecuting Tyrants and secretly wring'd by backbiting Hypocrites So many and many are the enemies of the Churches Peace But though they be never so many and mighty yet there be but two sorts at this day which do especially infect and infest her viz. The Schismatick and the Papist The one doth disrumpere charitatis vincula untying the Bond of Peace the other doth corrumpere fidei dogmata undoing the Unity of the Spirit The Schismatick is different even in things of their own nature indifferent and had rather lose the substance viz. Grace and Peace then yield never so little into Ceremony He is no friend to Charity The Papist is almost indifferent in things of their own nature different not caring what becomes of Truth to compasse his own ends He is no friend to Verity And Both of them spurn at the Peace of the Church as at a common foot-ball Judg. 15.4 being herein like Sampsons Foxes sever'd in their heads but tyed together by the tayls with firebrands between them No marvell then though without the Church the coÌ„mon enemy beards and braves the poor Christian despising our little number and yet in truth much lesse then we seem through so many in-bred Sects and Schisms when as even within the Pale of the Church and among those that professe Christianity we see on the one side our irreconciliable adversaries the Papists still plotting and practising the ruine of the Church Reformed among us And on the other side so many sons of Thunder whetting their tongues in Pulpits with cursed and bitter worâ—s preaching common invectives against the Lawfull Governours and Government both of Church and State and animating the giddy multitude to take up Arms as if the Protestant Faith could not be supported but by their Faction and the power of true Religion could stand with Rebellion So that if ever the Church had cause to pray for peace sure now is the time when the enemy springs out of her own sides and bowells But
pray for the peace of Ierusalem Secondly let us all like so many good children be prodigall not only of our time and estates but even of our dearest blood in our holy Mother the Churches cause for which Christ gave himself both an offering and a Sacrifice As an offering in his life so Ephes 5 2. a sacrifice in his death There was never any Citie on earth more bravely defended against a forraign Enemy then was Ierusalem against Titus and Vespatian and only upon a conceit that this City was eternall and should never be destroyed But they erred not knowing the Scriptures Mat. 23.37 for the truth is that all the promises of Ierusalems perpetuity and continuance were not made to that Ierusalem which was built with materiall walls for that Ierusalem kill'd the Prophets and ston'd the men of God which were sent unto her and so brought the guilt of innocent blood upon her Gal. â— 25 and is therefore in bondage with her children even unto this day but to the Church of God 1 Pet. 2.4 that Ierusalem which as St. Peter speaks is compacted of living stones cemented with Christs blood built by faith and consisting in the fellowship of the Saints whose maker and builder is God Mat. 16.18 and against this the spirit of truth assures us that neither men nor devills shall ever be able to prevail For as Socrates said of his Accusers Necare possunt nocere non possunt So may I say of the enemies of the Church that they may kill us if God permit but they cannot conquer us Rom. 8 37 For like Sampson we shall be victorious even in death it self at which time Iudges 16.30 with the Proto-martyr St. Steephen we shall see the heavens open Acts 7.56 and the Sonne of man standing at the right hand of God Rom. 8.31 and if we stand for him and he stand for us then who can withstand us And yet as in Ierusalem there were factions by which as Iosephus reports more of the natives and Citizens were slaine within the walls then by the common enemy without so it is most true that there ever have been and that there ever will be factions in the Church though I must tell you that no one age that ever I read of did so abound with them as doth the present Oh what herds swarms and sholes of Sectaries have been seen of late These are dangerous and if not prevented in time they will be deadly enemies to the peace of the Protestant Church established by Law among us And to each of these God our Father and the Church our Mother will say hereafter as the Romane Fulvius did to his revolting son heretofore Non ego te Catilinae genui adversus patriam sed patriae adversus Catilinam Which with some small variation of the words may be rendered thus I begat not thee to assist the Sectaries in their sedition but the true Protestants in their subjection Rom. 13.1 to God for his own sake and to his anointed over us for Gods sake who saith peremptorily in the 13th Chapter to the Romans Let every soule be subject to the higher powers Marke Every one must be subject without excepting or exempting any one Thirdly and lastly let us Oh let us all labour to heal the breaches of the Church as once the Israelites did to build up the wals of their Jerusalem See in the 2d of Nehemiah how carefully he procur'd means from Artaxerxes to reaedify Jerusalem and how couragiously and unanimously the people of God went about it in the midst of so great dangers that they were faign to work with tooles in one hand and swords in the other And thus if we would approve our selves to be true Israelites must we all do our utmost endeavour to build up the Church of God or at least to be repairers of the breaches that are made in the same And this we must do the rather because the Romish Sanballats on the one side and the Rammish Sectaries on the other strive so eagerly at this day to set up their Babell it may be properly so call'd and to pull down our Ierusalem as of old Tertullian complain'd of the Hereticks Nostra suffodiunt ut sua â—dificent Yea the truth is that these our profess'd adversaries on both sides laugh at and jeer us to our faces as Sanballat and Tobiah then did and yet let us be so far from being discourag'd from so religious an enterprize that let us go on in our prayers to God and honest endeavours with men untill we have brought it to perfection Not doubting but what Nehemiah then promis'd Neh 2.20 will in due time be made good unto us The God of heaven will prosper us therefore let us arise and gobnild And that our building in this kinde may go the better forward let us all minde and speak the same things Phil. 2.2 for if in the building of Babell division of tongues hindered the work Gene. 11 8 how much then in that of our Ierusalem Then for conclusion of all let me say unto you with the Apostle in the 13. Chapter of the 2d Epistle to the Corinthians Be ye all of one minde live in peace and the God of peace shall be with you And with you after a speciall manner viz. 2. Cor. 13.11 by blessing your prayers and practise in this kinde with peace all kinds of peace viz. Peace of body in a well-ordered temperature of the severall parts peace of the sensitive soul in a just restraining of the appetite peace of the reasonable soul in the sweet Harmony between action and speculation peace both of body and soul in a sober course of life peace between God and man by faith and obedience peace between man and man by a mutuall entercourse of love politicall peace by the subjection of every soule to the higher powers Ecclesiasticall peace by our joynt prayers for Ierusalem and universall peace by the tending of every creature to that very end for which God made it temporall peace here and eternall peace hereafter And this he grant us who is the God and Father of Peace and that for his dear Son sake who is the Prince of Peace To both whom with the Holy Ghost the blessed spirit of peace three persons and one invisible indivisible and incomprehensibly glorious Lord God be ascribed all Glory Power and Praise now and for evermore Amen FINIS