be its and ours and if they will be of one piece with us their Security In the Name of GOD therefore let us devoutly hold to it It will approve Us and our Religion to God and Men. And again In private let us imitate the Primitive Christians of our own accord and without any Remembrancer recommending our King his Person Government Family and Affairs for so we have seen they did to the Protection and Guidance of the Almighty If after all I have said I thought any thing wanting to press this Exhortation I could add what me thinks would put every one of us on our knees in this behalf as frequently before God as might be desired namely that we can take no more effectual course than this to secure the Government of our King to be according to the Will of God A thing we pretend so much to desire Prov. xxi 1. The Heart of the King is in the Hand of the Lord as the Rivers of Waters he turneth it whithersoever he will If we were all to have our wishes in the behalf of the Kingdoms there could no greater Blessing befall us than to have our King a person after Gods own Heart There is no way in the world to make him so like our ardent and constant Prayers to God for him Surely a King of so many Prayers cannot miscarry I will therefore conclude all with a second Exhortation and that a little more limited to this present Day I am sure there are few or none of us who will not this Day before we sleep perhaps several times be praying or at least say God bless the King Now that our Prayers may be effectual this Day I will exhort only that we keep our selves all in such a Temper as to be able devoutly and in a true Christian Temper to pray so when we go to bed I do not forbid eating our Meat or drinking our Drink with Gladness and singleness of Heart and wishing well to our King his Subjects and one another in so doing But I caution all against Intemperance and Madness Is it Sense or Loyalty to be drunk for the King Or if the KING should see it would He thank or commend or think the better of any man for it For shame Good Christian People beware of such unreasonableness such Barbarity At the setting of David upon the Throne on the Holy Hill of Sion the Holy Ghost commands Serve the Lord with Gladness and rejoyce with Trembling Psalm II. 11. I do not press so much as that comes to Do but rejoyce with Sobriety Rejoyce so as not to provoke God Rejoyce so as that you may have Joy in the latter end His Sacred Majesty God be blessed is far from approving and all men say even from conniving at Debauchery As we cannot therefore thereby please Him so it is certain we are thereby sure to displease God Let us therefore study not only this Day but all our Days to maintain an holy devout serious Temper being always fit and resolved by all Prayers and Supplication with Thanksgiving to make our Request known unto God And the Peace of God which passeth all Understanding shall keep our Hearts and Minds through Christ Jesus To whom with his Blessed Father and the Eternal Spirit be all Honour Glory c. FINIS THE WAY TO PEACE AND Publick Safety As it was Delivered in a SERMON In Christs Church in the City of Cork and elsewhere in the heat of the late Rebellions of Argile and Monmouth By Edward Lord Bishop of Cork and Rosse Dublin Printed by A. Crook and S. Helshaem for William Norman Samuel Helsham and Eliphal Dobson Booksellers 1686. Advertisement Touching the Following SERMON IN the Address of the Clergy of the Diocess of Cork and Ross March 1684 5. which I had the Honour to pen there was made this sacred Promise That as our Lives were not dear to us in comparison of our Religion and Loyalty so we would not fail though with the peril of our Lives by the strictest ties of our Religion which abhors all Resistance or Unfaithfulness towards our Prince to endeadour the securing to His Majesty our peoples as well as our own Loyalty and Obedience Pursuant to these Vows I have ample proofs of my Brethrens Sedulity generally And as to my self as I had not been formerly remiss so when about the 20th of May following Argiles Rebellion in Scotland alarm'd us which though God be blessed both suddenly and happily supprest was seconded with that of the late Duke of Monmouth in the West of England I thought it was time to ply my Duty with ingeminated Diligence and to do my utmost by all Instance and Importunity to confirm and keep steddy in their Loyalty as far as in me lay the whole body of my Charge I therefore went abroad several Sundays to the most populous Congregations of my Diocess and in my Circuit I preached this same Sermon I confess three several times first in the City of Cork then at the Town of Kinsale and lastly at the Town of Bandon all of them very great Auditories The iteration of it was not from Idleness but because I could devise nothing else more close and apposite to the conjuncture Yet is its Subject matter such that it is not I conceive still unseasonable and I fear as long as the world stands is not like to be For as long as there are vices and lusts amongst men there will be violations of Peace in one kind or other Now this Sermon consists wholly of Counsels and Directions for securing and maintaining Peace in all its several branches and kinds It might easily have been dilated into a far larger bulk but few Readers or indeed Hearers now adays complain much of Brevity And in the present case I hope it will be esteemed no fault at all because what I have said on each Point is large enough I think not to be obscure and I hope the whole not much more defective than an hours Discourse on so copious a Subject must needs prove THE WAY to PEACE AND Publick Safety As it was delivered in a SERMON in Christs Church in Cork and elsewhere in the heat of the late REBELLION of Argile and Monmouth The TEXT 1 Pet. III. 11. Seek Peace and ensue it THe body of this Epistle for the main consists of Exhortations and Motives to several Christian Duties in the disposing of which Exhortations or assigning to each their place the Holy Ghost seems to have proceeded wholly arbitrarily and to have observed no other Laws or Reasons of their Order than meer good Pleasure In the eighth Verse of this Chapter begins as I compute the eighth Exhortation and it is to Vnity in Judgment and Affection but especially in Affection and then to the proper Product hereof Sweetness in Conversation Finally be ye all of one mind having compassion one of another love as Brethren be pitiful Some of the original terms are more emphatical than our English What we
with us the God of Jacob is our Refuge Selah THere is nothing that could have mitigated or rendred so much as tolerable that Grief which we had conceived and with which we are still affected for the Loss of our late Most Gracious Sovereign but thâ— quiet and peaceable Succession of his Brother our present Sovereign to the Crown We cannot indeed but still retain a tender sense of so great a Loss and whether we will or no intermix Sighs with our Acclamations and drop Tears amidst our Joys There appears most evidently do what we can a strange conflict of Affections in the most of us not unlike to that which was in those Priests and Levites when the Foundations of the new Temple were laying some remembring the first Temple wept with a loud voice and others shouted for joy that they were now founding a second so that the noise of the shout of joy could scarce be discerned from the noise of them that wept Ezr. iii. 12 13. We may not dissemble it some such odd disorders we are in Yet when we consider that notwithstanding all our fears and others malice James the Second the Dear and Faithful Brother of Charles the Second of blessed memory the Son of Charles the First that glorious Martyr for his Religion and the Laws the Grandson of the great and happy King James the First in whom the three Crowns were happily united â—as succeeded and that without any Stir Tumults or Blood-shed but with the â—reatest Peace and Ease imaginable unto â—he Throne of his Royal Father and may we long hold it so may these days of â—eace long continue to Him and us when â—e consider this I say we ought to cheer â—ur selves and endeavour the tempeâ—ating our Griefs and composing our Minds Further when we add to the former â—onsideration that his present Majesty has â—raciously declared to the world and given â—is Royal Word that he will govern according â—o the Laws established that He will mainâ—ain our Religion and the Government of Church and State as they now stand that he â—ill imitate his blessed Brother and most espeâ—ially in his great Clemency and Tenderness to â—is People and that as he hath often hereâ—ofore ventur'd his Life in Defence of the Naâ—ion so he will still do his utmost to â—reâ—erve us in our just Rights and Libeâ—ties of all which we have this day a full and publick assurance When we add this I â—ay we ought to banish Grief from our hearts in our Souls to rejoyce to fall down before God and bless him concluding we have Charles the Second still after a sort alive and entire in Jameâ—â—he Second whom God long preserve Yet because it is impossible on a suddain to rid the world of Fears Jealousies and the like uneasie Affections because also there are to be found abroad though I hope not amongst us many unquiet and tumultuous Spirits who delight in Troubles and would fain be embroyling all again because also what I have said may not haply be by all believed or my self be deemed too credulous it may not be amiss or unseasonable to entertain you upon occasion of this Solemnity with some thoughts on this calming passage of the Royal Psalmist Be still and know that I am God I will be exalted amongst the Heathen I will be exalted in the Earth In what particular Crisis of the Jewish affairs or on what occasion this Psalm was first penned I have not found any so bold as peremptorily to ascertain By the Inscription of it it is directed to the Sons of Corah those famous Masters of Musick when the Jewish Choir was in its most slourishing state and so probably composed about Solomons Succession to the Throne Sure it is by its Contents its true date must be in very perillous or esse in tumultuous times Such Days and Affairs all those high expressions in it do most certainly import and the Affections that the holy Penman professes bespeak no less ver 1 2 3. God is our Refuge and Strength sings he a very present help in time of trouble Therefore will we not fear though the Earth be moved and though the Mountains be cast into the midst of the Sea Though the Waters thereof roar and be troubled though the Mountains shake with the swelling thereof The removing of the Earth the roaring of Sea and Waters the shaking of the Mountains and their being thrown into the midst of the Sea are all but lofty Poetical ways of speaking design'd to express great Commotions in the State the unsettling or removing Foundations of Government All which when he had thus nobly sung he falls not in the other part but sweetly proceeds There is a River the streams whereof make glad the City of our God the holy places of the Tabernacles of the most High Jerusalem had not the advantage of any such mighty River as are those which have made great and wealthy divers Cities But there was the Brook Kidron which as 't is described above Jerusalem Eastward imparted a clear and gentle Stream for the watering of the lower City And there were besides the Waters of Siloah which augmented by a small Stream from the Fountain Gihon passed softly Isai viii 6. into Sion and in a manner close up to the foot of the Temple To which soever of these two our Royal Poet alludes either of them aptly resembles those secret and soft Refreshments which at all times relieve and bear up the Spirits of the true Israel They have not ever perhaps an irresistible Torrent of all the worldly Power Security and Interests that some could wish running strongly for them but in their most forlorn circumstances that their enemies can imagine them in they have easie secret and spiritual Comforts in a way of humble affiance in God and committing themselves and their affairs to his Gracious Conduct And sometimes when God thinks good in his Providence to appear for them more visibly as he has of old and more lately in a glorious sort for our establish'd Church the Emanations of his Power Wisdom and Goodness are in no cases more conspicuous than in their Protection God is in the midst of her she shall not be removed God shall help her and that right early ver 5. This he avows and that more loftily than any thing hitherto if possible This I say he avows v. 6. ever has does and will appear maugre all the Rage of some and the Combinations of other Enemies Let the Heathen rage and the Kingdoms be moved 't is but Gods uttering his Voice and the Earth melts away And now why should his Church at any time droop in Spirit or be dejected This Lord of Hosts is with us this God of Jacob is our Refuge to which he puts a Selah that is sing this Strain in your highest and fullest Musick Let the Earth ring of it And having thus far proceeded our sacred Authors Breast was now full enough of God to publish a kind of
render having compassion one of another if we take compassion strictly cannot be better rendred but then by compassion we must understand sympathising or being of like affection one with another as in Rom. xii 15. Rejoycing with them that rejoyce and weeping with them that weep He goes on Love as Brethren 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Be ye lovers of the Brethren Be pitiful 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of easie bowels i. e. be tender hearted so the self same word is more exactly rendred Ephes iv 32. Then as to the outward Product of such inward Temper it follows Be courieous and ver 9. Not rendring Evil for Evil or Railing for Railing but contrariwise Blessing knowing that thereunto are ye called that ye should inherit a Blessing Now to back or further enforce the latter part of this Exhortation he brings in as a proof of what he had last said namely that peaceable and sweet tempered men should inherit a Blessing two or three Verses out of the Old Testament Psal xxxiv 13. directing such Life and Temper as the true way to Blessedness part of which citation is our present Text Seek Peace and ensue it By which account thus given of the connexion of the Words it appears that amongst the several Christian Duties which concern us in order to present and future Happiness in order to inheriting the Blessing the study of Peace is one of principal note Seek Peace say both the blessed Psalmist and the Apostle and in them both Old Testament and New if you would inherit the Blessing promised in either The Words are not obscure but yet emphatical Seek Peace If either Peace or the ways and methods to it should be obscure or do not readily offer themselves make it your business by diligent and assiduous search to find out both one and the other And not only seek it but ensue or pursue it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The word properly imports the following hard after that which flies As if he had said Though Peace should at any time seem upon the wing to be gone out of the Countrey or out of the World yet pursue her still Desist not from your endeavours to retrieve her and if you cease not to pursue you shall infallibly reach her here or in a better world To this passage of David and of St. Peter it were easie to annex divers others as express to the same purpose out of other parts of Holy Writ Hear our Lord himself Mat. v 9. Blessed are the Peacemakers for day shall be called the children of God And if you remark it most of the foregoing Beatitudes Blessed be the poor in spirit that is the humble and lowly minded Blessed be thee meek blessed the merciful c. are accommodable to the peaceable Spirit which has a most intimate kindred with Meekness Mercifulness Humility and other like Christian Graces Again hear the Apostle St. Paul Rom. xii 18. If it be possible as much as in you lies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on your side or as far as concerns you live peaceably with all men If any will not be at peace with you let it be their fault not yours Yet again Hebr. xii 14. Follow peace the same word as in the Text pursue peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. But why do I spend time in repeating what all know and have daily in their mouths To be short the Commands are so explicit and plain and have such Promises annexed to them and withal so often repeated in the Old Testament and in the New by our Lord himself by the Apostle of the Circumcision in the Text by the Apostle of the Gentiles in the places mentioned and by others elsewhere that we must need account the Endeavour of Peace to be a Duty which the Holy Ghost has laid the greatest weight upon nor can he style himself a Christian who employs not this way his utmost power The rest of my Discourse therefore shall be taken up in recommending Directions for the more successful Practice of this Duty And these shall be proportionate to the several sorts of Peace and as neerly attemperated to the present publick Circumstances and Necessities as I can Now in our setting forth it will be meet to remember that Peace may be opposed to Discontent as well as to Strife and War Those who have inward Grudging and Dissatisfactions are as far from some sort of Peace as those who are engaged in actual or open Quarrels And a both regards Peace is either publick private or secret And the publick Peace â—gain is either Civil or Ecclesiastical First then as to Publick Civil Peace By Gods great Blessing we enjoy this here while our Neighbors every where on the other sides of the Water are embroiled For ever blessed be our good God who has singled us out as the peculiar Objects of this his Mercy at present yet let us study Peace also that is endeavour to keep it And to this purpose I can give no better directions than these following 1. Maintain entire and unspotted Loyalty I hope I shall not need much to press this Advice especially in this place The Commands for Subjection and Loyalty are as express in Scripture as are these for Peace but just now mentioned only it would divert us too much from our present purpose to alledge them now And I must tell you it is the peculiar Glory of the Reformation of the Church of England that as it was made by an happy Consent and Union of the Royal and Ecclesiastical Power of the Realm so the Professors of it can never be taxed in any points either of resisting or descrting their Prince In all the Wars since the Reformation in all the Plots old and new not one true Church of England-man to be found all along before any fell into such designs they were either leavened with Fanaticism and secretly fallen off from the Principles and Unity of our Church or open Apostates from her else they were never of us This might be proved by particulars but such proof is not for this Office or place only from what I have said I will infer if there should be any person here staggering in his Loyalty much more if a Desertor of it though yet but secretly that such person is neither Christian nor Protestant whatever he pretends He 's fallen off from his Christianity which commands Subjection and loyal Adhesion And he 's as much fallen off from the establisht reformed Church which ever taught and practised both Loyalty and Non-resistance witness our Book of Homilies and our Canons But I will quit this head as hoping it to be needless here long to be insisted on 2. In order to keeping and maintaining the publick Peace let every one be diligent in his own business and keep within the bounds of his own Calling This also is an express Command in Scripture 1 Cor. vii 20. Let every one abide in the same Calling
upon a strict Examination a little arrogantly thus expostulates with him viz. Knowest thou not that I have power to crucifie thee and have power to release thee Jesus answered thou couldest have no power over me except it were given thee from above John xix 10 11. In which words if we consider who Pilate was namely the Roman Governour sent to them by Cesar the Supreme we have a most plain Testimony that however wicked Supreme Powers may be or however wickedly they may use their Power yet is their Power given them by God and none may invade it or take upon him to exercise it but as they shall impart or delegate it The Power of the Sword therefore or of Life and Death is by God committed only to the Supreme Magistrate that is as I presume none here will scruple within these Kingdoms to his Majesty Thirdly From hence it necessarily follows that No one of himself can be Lord of his own Life For he is no more to execute the power of the Sword upon himself than upon another because he as well as others is a Subject I know the contrary practice namely dispatching a mans self out of life has been celebrated as an heroically virtuous act by divers Heathens and some great persons amongst them have been admired and commended for it extremely But of all Examples Heathen mens are surely least to be drawn into Rules for the Authorising of doubtful Actions There is a Book also writ by a Christian Doctor of our Church which is rather slandred than truly reported to maintain the Lawfulness of Self-slaughter But those who have read and understand that Book know the Authors design therein was but to move men to more charitable Judgment than usually is put on such who lay violent hands upon themselves and that he perswades amongst others by this great Argument that the Act does not ever preclude Repentance but that 't is possible the very Attrition which some such persons may be thought to have in articulo mortis in the very expiring their Souls may be interpreted by God as a sincere Sorrow Now his supposing this act pardonable upon Repentance admits it to be a Sin and then being by us known or even but strongly conceived to be so it will be damnable For he that doubteth is damned if he act because he acteth not of Faith Rom. xiv ult To be short the instances we find of it in Scripture are only of wicked and desperate men and that when they have been rejected by God forsaken by his Spirit and an evil Spirit has seised them Thus as to Saul long before that desperate act of falling on his own Sword 1 Sam. xxxi 5. The Spirit of God had departed from him and an evil Spirit from the Lord troubled him chap. xvi 14. that is he was in a sort permitted to the Devil to be actuated by him So as to Judas after the Sop Satan entred into him John xiii 27 and then he quickly sold and betrayed his Master and went and hanged himself Laqueo Traditor periit Laqueum talibus dereliquit says St. Austin ad Petilianum The Traytor dyed by the Halter and left the Halter only to such as himself The like deplorable and dreadful condition as to his spiritual concerns at least may we reasonably conclude that Devilish Counsellor Achitophel to have been in when being enraged that Absolon would not take his hellish Advice he also went home and hanged himself Besides these three I remember no instance in Canonical Scripture of any who directly slew themselves Sampson indeed as in case of other Miracles done by him so by immediate and extraordinary impulse of the Spirit of God that is by Divine Warrantie and Command pull'd down the Philistines great Hall of Judgment upon them and himself amongst them But this is only parallel to a great Soldiers going on certain death to defeat the Enemy when duly commissioned so to do and therefore must not come into account here There is besides in the Apocryphal Books an instance of one who acted most barbarous violence on himself first falling on his own Sword and then pulling out his very own Bowels and throwing them amongst his Enemies rather than he would fall into their hand to dye by them and he is there commended for that inhumane act which is stiled dying manfully 2 Maccab xiv 42 c. But as that Book according to what the Author of it himself in the two last verses confesses in effect was not written by Divine Inspiration so were there nothing else in it to prove it Apocryphal this alone that it commends what is so much against Nature both for the matter and manner of the Action were abundantly sufficient But besides it is most true what was well said in another case by an old Bishop of Carlisle in Richard the Seconds time We are not to live by examples but by Laws The Law of God runs indefinitely and so because there is no ground for a Restriction as to this case universally thou shalt not murder that is neither another nor thy self Which Interpretation must indeed of necessity be admitted here for that our Lord himself makes the Love which we bear to our selves to be the measure or standard of the Love we owe to others Thou shalt love thy Neighbour saith he as thy self Which extending to all the Precepts of the second Table will as to this run thus thou shalt no more murder thy Neighbour than thy self that is first of all thou shalt not murder thy self And though there be not in the Law of God any Precept more particular or more expresly prohibitive as to this act as neither is there upon very grounds against several other most unnatural Sins that might be named yet is there all Reason in the world against it For let us faithfully examine Is the Root whence this act proceeds such from whence good Fruit may be expected Is its true cause at any time good or truly praise-worthy Was there ever person yet who laid violent hands upon himself who did it not either out of Pride Cowardice Rashness or mad Despair Out of Pride I say because either he would not crouch to his betters or else see his equals become his superiors or out of Cowardice as afraid to suffer what his Enemies might put him to now in both these cases is it not more brave to dare to live or out of Rashness and Madness or Despair as impatient of present evils and hoping in this Life no better state And if out of any of these is it at all commendable True Philosophy it self taught better and forbad Injussu Imperatoris id est Pythagoras teste Cicene in Cat. Maj. Dei de Praesidio statione vitae decedere The true Christian like a good Soldier must not forsake his post except the great Emperor of the world the Almighty God by his Law or Providence command him thence * L. Cum autem 23. §.