knowledge righteousness and holiness of Truth art thou born again of the water and Spirit made a new creature by the Spirit of holiness giving thee a new heart and a new Spirit taking away thy heart of stone to give thee a heart of flesh sensible and yielding Hath the Lord melted thy heart having broken it kindly to cast thee into the mould of his Will and stamp his Image on thy heart by transforming thee in the inner man the Spirit of thy mind and writting his Law on thy inward parts Hast thou beheld with open face in the glass of his Gospel the Glory of the Lord that thou mightest be transformed into the same Image from Glory to Glory by the Spirit the of Lord there is no Peace saith my God to the wicked yet unregenerate abiding in Unbelief 2. The ground thereof must needs be good also the Righteousness of God hoth imputed and implanted 1. The Righteousness of Christ God-Man imputed by God to Man upon the marriage terms of his gracious Covenant whereby the Soul is united to Christ concludes Peace with God Secondly The Righteousness of God implanted in man by sanctification initial and progressive through the Spirit of Christ grounds internal and external Peace by the Improvement and reflexion thereof Is thy Peace thus grounded Hast thou been drawn to Christ upon conjugal terms to receive him and be fiducially acquainted with him for Peace Dost thou strip thy self of thy own righteousness accounting the same but filthy Rags yea as dross and dung that thou mayest know him and be found in him not having thy own righteousness which is by the Law but the righteousness which is of him by saith Dost thou depend on him alone for Wisdom and Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption Hast thou learned thus to know him in the Power of his Resurrection and in the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable to his death Hast thou the reflexion thereof in the witness of a good conscience making thee to rejoyce that in simplicity and godly sincerity thou hast had thy conversation towards God and Man exercising thy self to manifest it in every Relation If not thine own partial polluted Righteousness can give no good Peace 3. The matter is as good if the Peace be good It s Peace in good and not in evil Follow Peace with all men and Holiness it s a holy Peace Is thy Peace so qualified in the matter thereof having still holiness conjoyned Peace as the Athenian said of his Amity is to be extended usque ad Aras as far as is lawfull in all good matters Doth thy Peace converse about good Objects Whatsoever things are holy amiable of good report accompanied with virtue and praise are these thy delight and exercise Peace in sinfull things is war proclaimed against God himself it is rather a conspiration then Peace 4. The Rule of a good Peace must needs be good also The Truth of God is the Rule Adaequate of true Peace Truth and Peace are the lovely inseparable Pair of Gods own twisting They are the Abstract of Gods Mercy and mans duty The Scope of the Law and substance of the Gospel The truth of man conforms all things of man to the mind of God and thence Peace Is thy Peace thus regulated by Truth in the manner and means in the getting keeping and improving thereof Dost thou therefore so love the truth in order to Peace as to give it still its priority and due influence into all thy Peace Is the Scripture-truth of Gods holy word thy study and standard thy golden Rule and measuring line in all the Dimensions of thy Peace Dost thou so love Truth and Peace in their order and conjunction as to love the Truth in Peace and the Peace in Truth Whilst thou art using this Divine pair of Compasses to draw the Lines of thy duty from the Center of gracious Justice to the whole Circumference of thy life doth the foot of Truth stedfastly fix upon the Center to give Being and Proportion whilst the other foot of Peace is carried round to give notion and extent to thy Christian course Are they strongly and surely rivetted in their root and joint to make a clear and perfect figure by the rule of Divine Geometry Doth the foot of Truth incline no further then to give unto the foot of Peace the Rule of its due motion and strength for circular extension Dost thou buy the Truth at any rate and sell it at no rate Peace without Truth is the Peace of Hell dark dead and devilish like that carnal Wisdom mentioned by the Apostle whereas true Peace like the Wisdom from above is first pure then peaceable gentle and easie to be intreated that the fruits of Righteousness may be sown in Peace 5. The End of a good Peace cannot but be very good likewise Finis dat esse bene esse mediis The End and Scope of things gives a Being and Perfection to the means The Glory of God is the ultimate End as of all things else so of this Peace All are from him and must needs therefore be also for him Our Alpha must needs be our Omega the first cannot but be the last The subordinate End thereto is mans Good both personal and Relative the publike with our particular No man is made for himself alone but most for others The God of Nature taught Wise Heathens so much by their glimmering Light The Apostle would have Christians not so much to mind their own as each others things and please their Neighbour by true self-denial for his good and edification Is it so with thy Peace Is Gods Honor the main scope thou drivest at in every thought word and work of thine Dost thou account it the greatest Honor and Happiness to be any way serviceable thereto Dost thou still take off the Crown of thy best Acts from thine own head to cast it at his feet as those noble Worthies triumphantly do in that glorious Representation of the Lords Kingdom Canst thou delight in thy own abasement as David the Apostles yea Christ himself did so that thy God may be exalted Dost thou contribute thy utmost towards it and is it thy great trouble that he reaps no more Honor from thy self and others Dost thou account his dishonor thine own being more zealous in his case then in thine Is thy Spirit so generous and ingenuous as to scorn all sinfull basness that reflects on his name and thy profession upon his score Do his reproaches still fall upon thee as they did on the typical and the true David Is this the Life of thy life the cream and marrow of thy best desires and delights designs and labours to glorifie him in the doing or suffering of his Will And is thy Neighbours good thy subordinate end thereto still Hast thou a publike and magnanimous Spirit that other Spirit so eminently commended and
that wherein God himself delights so far to shew himself active in all kind of Means that it must needs direct oblige and enable them to conform to him after their measure in their several places Every Creature moves after his kind by its proper instinct so doth the New Creature This Bent and Motion being natural is sweet and secret strong and successfull No difficulty can alter the same though it may for a while retard and hinder it The Children of God must needs be like God in the work of Peace as in all things else Nature being vexed gathers all it strength for the overcoming of all Opposition Vexata natura semeâ— mirâ— prodit Antiperistasis and surrounding contra-positions do often drive it into very strange and admirable effects The gracious nature given to Gods people meeting continually with such oppositions both from Earth and Hell is excited the more to recollect vigor out of Christs fulness and to work wonders through his Almighty Spirit for Peace against evil Reason 2. Gods Children have his charge imposed on them as well as his Nature thus put into them Their filial Relation engages them to this as it doth enable to that Having embraced Mercy on conjugal terms they have also engaged to Duty That gracious Covenant that gives them such a priviledge in giving Christ to them doth also afford them his Divine Precepts that they may know and discharge their Part. As he gives up himself to be wholly theirs in a faithful loving relation so doth he require their mutual subjecting of themselves in all loving and faithful Obedience That same Covenant which makes him to be theirs makes them likewise to be wholly His As he becomes their Master they become his Scholars As he becomes their Lord they become his Servants to attend his Will and to do his Work Ye are my friends saith he if ye do what ever I command you and hereby shall men know that ye are my Disciples if ye love one another in the wayes of Peace as I have loved you His Covenant with them is a Covenant of Peace as of Grace by Grace in Grace and for Grace A gracious Peace is the choise Mercy that he gives them and the choise Duty he expects from them This new Commandment is the substance of the new Covenant As his Promise engages him to write it on their heart so his Precept engages them to Copy it out in their life The Transcript of his Will he engraves on them by the hand of his Spirit that they may transcribe it by the hand of Faith in the work of Peace-making They must keep his charge being kept by him he fulfils to them his absolute Promises by enabling and exciting them to the performance of the conditional Ones He cannot abide Loyterers in his house nor Rebels in his Kingdom His Instructions are many and exact often enlarged and inculcated that none be found to neglect this great Work either through ignorance or sloth There is nothing more mannerly then Grace Who should have good breeding if Gods Children should not partake of it Ingenuity will teach all Inferiors to observe the charge of their Superiors though but fellow-Creatures Will it not much more prevail with Gods People to look to his charge who is so far infinitely above all What ever Traytors Enemies and Strangers may do against it yet his near Relations must needs find themselves obliged by all Ties to keep touch therein Encouragements he adds of all sorts in the back of his charge to add more force to its Efficacy His Precepts never want his Presence and Blessing which commends such a dignifying Duty so much the more to all his Children Because they are his his Work must be theirs to honor and bless them in acting like him through him and for him Reason 3. Gods Interest attends the Relation of his Children to him and gives sufficient ground of their being such Peace-makers in a peculiar way All things are his in a general sense by Creation and Providence-right but his Children are his peculiar Stock his Inheritance his Portion and Jewels by Redemption and Salvation-Right Other Sublunaries do serve his designs in a natural and common course of things often against their Will and besides their Knowledge But his Children are made for his Glory to serve his pleasure cordially towards Peace He is singularly concerned in them and they as choisly concerned in h m. His Interest is theirs then must needs his Work and his Peace be theirs This choise Duty faithfully performed glorifies him so much that it cannot but dignifie them much The dishonour of their quarrels and brawls doth cast so much reflection on him that the sence thereof must of necessity work much on them so far as they are his All his Attributes are laid in the dust by the disorders of his dividing People How can the though s thereof be ineffectual upon his own Children They rend his bowels whilst they rend each other Can his People see it and not labour for help In all their sufferings he is afflicted incomparably beyond what they endure as far as his Being and Interest excell theirs That Text in Esay admits such reading in many coppies In all their Affliction there was no Affliction comparable to his or He made it no Affliction to them by the presence of his Angel with them who took all on himself by Divine Sympathie Must it not therefore be their Property to sympathize with him as well for their own as for his Interest Are not Gods Children the Members of Christs Body and can they chuse but feel at their heart those sinful jars that reach his very heart Peace-making must needs be the dignifying Duty of Christians since Christs Interest is so much concerned therein and all his Attributes so much advanced thereby in the magnifying of all Divine Excellencies The Son of God himself made it his great Work in his progress from Humiliation to Exaltation that he might direct excite and enable his Adopted Brethren to the same according to their several Capacities Vse 1. The Application of this Truth offers 1. To our Inspection the ungodliness of our unchristian Divisions How few appear among us to be Gods Children How hard is it to meet with such cordial Peace-makers How unlike to God do Professors shew themselves in such Labyrinths of disorders and discords How much of Satan appears thereby in the most How little of God in the best of men What ungodliness is this Spirit of division come to thus to slight and oppose the Nature the charge and Interest of God! Its bad enough for carnal Persons and wicked Ones to quarrel and break but for Gods Children to wrangle and divide to slash and abuse each other this is ungodliness with a witness How sad is this evil aggravated by all our Professions and Engagements our Relations and Experiences Gods Mercies and Judgements our Dignity and Duty How woful to see our
and stones of offence to discourage Gods People He mis-represents them one to another by Calumniations slanders and mistakes A fair varnish doth he put upon the wayes of discord and disorder to inveigle honest plain-hearted Christians under specious colours of Liberty and Purity Power Profit Pleasure and Credit Many false glosses puts he on Scriptures to wrest them to his Ends by Mis-interpreting and mis-applying them against their genuine scope and sence context and harmony He will often be reformer himself Jesu like and drives on furiously that he may undo all by over-doing whether in Church or State He never wants his Saâ—ballats and Tobias his Samaritan Crue to attempt by Fraud what force could not effect sewing the Foxes tail to the Lyons skin He will build also with Gods Nehemias's and be more forward then the best of them that he may ruin all by undermining and counter-working Emissaries of all modes and sorts he ever entertains among Reformers under various disguises of Souldiers and Scholars Merchants and Trades-men Courtiers and Travellers to scatter his Tares and breed divisions against their Peace and for their ruin Flectere si nequeunt Superos Acheronta movebunt All fair and foul means shall be attempted what ever it cost 5. God himself hath a hand in all this permitting and over-ruling all to his Honour and his Peoples good in the Result He can make straight work with crooked Tools and correct the poison to made it useful in his Providential Confections He thereby discovers to his People their secret corruptions which upon boiling work up like froath to be scummed away His Divine Chymistry knows how to extract good out of the worst dung and vilest kind of Evil. The striking of the steel against the flint will seasonably by his Divine hand bring forth sparks both of Truth and Peace Though there be much noise in the providing of all materials for his house yet will he at last perfect its building in Quiet and Peace Every Grace of his wrought in his People hearts by his holy Spirit he doth hereby furbish and exercise to render them more humble and wise more sincere and self-denying more patient and active more zealous and prudent in the wayes of Peace The noise made at the breaking in of Windows for light will be compensated by the Light come in Our sad Experiences of those sinfull Woes attending disorder and discord will make us all to prize and desire to promote and improve Peace at a better rate Wit so bought will make us wiser for the future then to slight our Peace and to venture it as we have hitherto so foolishly done God will over-shoot Satan in his own Bow and magnifie all his glorious attributes in the creating of Peace for his People Christs coming at night after many storms will be most welcome to his wearied disciples though they did for a while mistake him for a Ghost and mistrust his Peace The chaff of his floor will be winnowed and fanned away by such renewed shakings and after this toil some turning up of his ground his Seed and Planâ—s will take and thrive the better The dross shall be consumed and the Gold refined of his Church and People by those many fires that have been so long kindled among them Fourthly The Demonstration will unfold the Reason wrapped up in the very words of the Text. They are his children and their Relation to him is sufficient ground why such Peace-making should be their dignifying Property That filial relation imports three special Things among many others which strongly engage them to this work of his his Nature his Charge and his Interest Reason 1. His Nature is imparted to them by the Spirit of Grace regenerating them that they may partake of the Divine Nature in quality though not in equality in the likeness though not in the sameness in the similitude though not in the substance The Divine Nature Essentially considered is an infinite unchangeable Being and incommunicable to Creatures as indivisible as incomprehensible Men partake not of that they are not they cannot be deified its absurdity and horrid blasphemy to think or say so The substance of God is one pure entire eternal Act admitting of no parts though it admits of three distinct persons in whom it subsists in a mysterious ineffable manner Yet the Scripture speaks both of the name and nature of God effectively and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to mans capacity to be still understood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a sence becoming such a God He is then said to give his name to men and to call them Gods when he puts an office upon them whereby he is to be represented and served among men in a peculiar way He is likewise said to make them partakers of his Divine nature when he works in them a gracious Resemblance of his perfections according to their created capacity Thus man was at first made after Gods Image in his own likeness and Gods Elect are all in due time created anew after the same Image in Knowledge Righteousness and true Holiness That which is born of the flesh is flesh so that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit Such Heaven-born souls are called new Creatures and must needs be duly qualified in some measure answerable to the God of Peace Their sinful Nature being Satans Off-spring bears still his Image in all the black Lineaments of Hell still indisposed and contrary to Peace still disposed and bent to disorder and discord Gods Holy Spirit uniting them to Christ changes their Nature in their gradual sanctification turning their dung-hill heart into a garden and that unclean Den into a holy Temple for his own habitation So far as the renewing Work goes so far do they learn by this gracious Instinct to move after Peace and against sinfull jars in conformity to the Lord himself They are daily taught by the Spirit of Christ now working in their souls much like as their souls work on their bodies through intermediate Spirits to be of the sume mind that was in Jesus Christ towards all kind of Peace By thus putting his Spirit within them in their adoption he causes them to walk in his Statutes of Peace that they may keep his Judgements and do them So far as the heart of stone is taken away from them so far are their sinfull unpeaceable Spirits mortified and subdued so far as he gives them a new heart of flesh so far are their Spirits made plyable and inclined to all the wayes of Peace Their Sanctification is daily carried on in a gradual manner to the crucifying of sin and vivification of every Grace in them This spiritual growth set forth in Scripture by all sorts of increase in Vegetables and in Sensitives is given to all though not in all alike and must needs render them so far like to him bo h in Dignity and Duty Peace-making is
made throughly sensible of their guilt and shame How far are the best from an exact performance of this great Duty How unlike are we to this dignifying Property of Gods People How short come we of that peaceable Spirit and Carriage that should teâ—tifie ouâ— gracious acquaintance with the Nature Charge and Interest of Christ the great Peace-maker Le ts all be humbled deeply before him at the sight and sence of so much unworthiness Let the conviction of our foolish mistakes and woful miscarriages awaken and shame us Doth the Lord suffer so much in his Cause Credit and Charge through our sinful jars and shall we not mourn Have we been such peevish and perverse Children and not judge our selves Have we so basely slighted such a Father in that which is so dear unto him and shall we not grieve Have we abused our Brethren and Fellow-servants so unworth ly and shall we not express the regret thereof Is not the fault of a child of a near Relation much more provoking then of any stranger Hath not our God used all possible means to teach us manners and press us with all might to Christian Peace-making Are not our wretched distractions much more provoking now to him and to all because of all the great cost and care he hath been at on a better account Have we lost our ingenuity have we forgotten our Duty and Interest so desperately as still to be senceless of our folly and misery herein Hath Satan so far deluded us hath sin prevailed so to the hardening of us that we see not the apparent ruin of all publique and personal Good following close our unnatural divisions our uncivil disorders All our miscarriages reflect on the Lord who will not alwayes bear with our frowardness His dearest people of old were frowned on and chid threatned and smitten very heavily for lesser faults then ours Their renewed Crimes after much indulgence from his fatherly hand forced him to turn them out of doors and disinherit them He bids us all go to his Shiloh where his presence dwelt and learn by the desolations thereof to observe the fruits of disorders and divisions in his Kingdom and Family All his dispensations to them were for Types and Examples to us to shame us all for those many sins wherein we so far exceed them The woful Ruins of so many Churches once so flourishing in each part of the World should prove a powerfull warnning to us all If we be indeed the children of God let it appear by our ingenuous shaming of our selves for our unchristian abusing of him in abusing his Peace his People and our selves so groundlesly and so frequently so sinfully and so wofully Vse 3. This Truth may be improved by way of Discovery Hence may we enquire into our own State and take a Prospect of the Posture of Affairs within and without us Doth this character of Godâ— children dignifie us and others Is it ouâ— eminent property to be Peace makers Do we act herein in a way becoming the children of God This is a needfull and usefull enquiry for all sorts of persons in this self-deceiving and hypocritical Age so full of mistakes and distempers Bring we the case to the Lords own Test measure it by the line of the Sanctuary Do we act about Peace from him and like him for him and through him as becomes his Children 1. Do we act from God about all the matters of his Peace Is he our Principle and source of all spiritual activeness Is he the Supreme efficient of all good in us and to us Are we born again of his gracious Spirit to make us new creatures that we might walk in newness of Life As we have born the Image of the earthly do we now bear the Image of the heavenly Adam Do we receive from Christ the second Adam the Root and seed of spiritual Life as we received from the first Adam the Spawn and Beginnings of natural Life We naturally grow wild as the timber in the Forest as stones in the Pit and rock Hath the Lord hewen and digged us down by the hand of his Spirit with the tools of his Word and Providence to square and polish us for his spiritual Edifice Hath he translated us from death to life that were naturally dead in sins and trespasses Hath he by his Gospel-salve opened our eyes to turn us from darkness unto light and from the power of Satan to God Hath he poured clean waters upon us that we might be effectually cleansed from all our filthiness and from all our dividing Idols A new heart also hath he given us and a new Spirit hath he put within us Hath he taken away the stony heart out of our flesh and given us a new heart of flesh Hath he put his Spirit within us to cause us to walk in his Statutes that we may keep his Judgements and do them Hath he washed us in the Laver of Regeneration through the renewing of the holy Ghost shed on us abundantly according to his gracious Promises Hath the Lord thus begotten us again unto a lively hope through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead that we might enjoy and promote Peace Have we put off the old man which is corrupt after its deceitfull lusts and put on the new man which afâ—er God is created in Righteousness and true holiness Have we learned in his school to strip us of self that we may put on Christ for our Garment Have we received his effectual Call to obey it efficaciously in order to his Peace Hath his Spirit convinced us applicatively of sin of Righteousness and of Judgement Hath he brought us into to the wilderness that he might speak to our hearts therein words of Grace and Peace Hath he given himself in giving us his Son upon conjugal terms by his sanctifying Spirit and have we thereby been enabled to surrender up our selves unto him by a lively faith of his own working Do we through faith partake of those gracious Promises which make us Partakers of the Divine Nature to escape the pollutions that are in the world through lust Doth Christ thus dwell in our heart by faith that being grounded and rooted in him we may thence receive out of his fulness Grace for Grace in order to Peace Doth he draw us so powerfully by the inward cords of his Spirits motions and the outward Bands of his Word and Providence as to make us to run after him and follow him fully in all the wayes of Peace Is he the Load-stone that draws our Iron-hearts by Magnetical virtue into all sutable operations Is he the Treasure the Magazin of all our supplies the Ground and foundation of all our desires delights designs and labors about all kind of Peace Do we thus receive and act all from him not from any Creature within or without us to manifest our selves his Children Secondly Do we act like him in
peace peace when there is no Peace but sudden destruction like the Dreamer in the Prophet that eats and drinks in fancy but is still empty and wretched Thus many dream themselves into a fools Paradise snorting on the Bed of carnal security till they drop into Hell at unaware 3. There is a dead Peace without sense or smart because without life in such who are Spiritually and judicially dead though they seem to live This was the case of many in Sardis All unregenerate Souls are naturally dead in Sins and Trespasses Divers of them after a temporary flash of profession do apostatize and grow worse then before These are the Trees twice dead plucked up by the root Seared consciences that grow past feeling into all Excess Like the dead Sea once a flourishing soil turned now by divine Vengeance for sin into a stinking puddle that Kils every fish and fowl that come but near it Such like the Ranting Crue have stifled and murdered Conscience by frequent Relapses so that they can commit all iniquity with greediness and without remorse They are dead whilst they live like the wanton Widdow The Peace of a rotten Carrion is their perfection wherein they please themselves till conscience revive to hurry them to their final Execution 4. There is a Diabolical Peace a Combination with Satan and for him in the waies of sin Hell it self hath some kind of Union and Order that Kingdom of Darkness if disordered in it self or divided against it self could not possibly stand There is a Belzebub a Prince of Devils the strong man that keeps all in Peace under his Rule As Satanical spirits do conjure together so are too many wicked Wretches combined with them either directly or collaterally Witches and Sorcerers are become Satans slaves by explicite Compact All wicked Persons are his Instruments though many of them more implicitly Conjunction in sin is a conspiracy though often coloured with specious pretences of good fellowship Many are daily found to do the Devils work in plotting mischief and tempting others to sin The best of their Peace is but conjuration in all sinfull associations Whilst they make a Covenant with Hell and find no trouble in Satans drudgery what Peace can they expect There is no Peace saith my God to the wicked All such Peace is but nominal and aequivocal Our Text excludes all such Secondly There is a good Peace Peace in good which is intended here This is the sweet agreement and harmonious Correspondency of things in conformity to Gods Will their Soveraign Principle Rule and End The Creatures esse and Being is given it in order to its operari and working That working is still to be sutable to their Being according to that Rule which the Being of Beings doth by his pleasure appoint thereto for its proper end Whilst things thus move in their respective Sphere Peace is maintained in a mutual accommodation to each other Man is specially concerned in this Peace and that in a treble respect 1. There is an Eternal Peace Peace with God 2. An Internal Peace Peace in man 3. An External Peace Peace with men 1. Peace with God is made in the Court of Heaven in the Regeneration of Gods Elect when the Soul is first united to Christ by the renewing of the Holy Ghost in the first conversion Then is actual application made effectually of Christs all-sufficient oblation upon conjugal terms whereby Reconciliation between God and Man is actually compleated Thus being justified by faith we have Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have access through faith into the Grace wherein we stand The Fathers eternal Purpose and the Sons virtual Purchase is then and not till then effectually fulfilled by the spirits Operation The Elect themselves are by nature before this gracious change alike Children of wrath and enemies to God even as others The sentence of the Law given to mankind in the first Adam abides in force upon all his natural Posterity and upon Gods Elect with the rest till they become by renewing Grace the seed of Christ the second Adam and thereby brought into a state of Reconciliation His Union to Christ that affords communion with him in this as in all other priviledges Thus God wills a change in them positive and Relative though he changes not his will about them His Electing Love of good Will towards them is an immanent eternall Act of his which makes no actual Change in their state till their nature be changed by his sanctifying Grace that his Love of delight may operate about them being a transient Act. The change is not in God but in the Creature wrought upon by such Acts flowing from God Gods Will is indeed but one Intire Act being God himself but the operations manifestations and effects thereof about the Creatures are various many wayes A Traytor is not in Peace with the Prince till actually pardoned and discharged in a legal and orderly way Christ indeed presented an all-sufficent satisfaction to divine Justice whereby Impetration was made of divine Mercy for all Gods Elect but upon the conditions agreed between them to be seasonably and effectually applyed to those Elect of his Till such conditions be fulfilled in them by his sanctifying Spirit they cannot enjoy the actual benefit thereof This divine Peace is the peculiar of the new creature born again by that singular Grace which forms the new man after Gods Image by a supernatural Birth The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the best of the best Man before this spiritual work is enmity against God neither willing nor able to yield subjection towards Peace and Reconciliation But the Soul once married unto Christ and adopted of the Father through the spirits gracious application is made Partaker of true and lasting Peace the debts being paid crimes forgiven and all sins covered with the Wedding Garment of Christs Ri hteousness imputed to him and by Faith received 2. Internal Peace is Peace of conscience flowing from the former by a seasonable and orderly reflexion The Kingdom of God is first Righteousness then Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost Thus to be spiritually minded is Life and Peace The Conscience duly purified through faith in his blood is orderly pacified This Peace admits of a various and variable latitude according to the various degrees and conditions of Gods children In some its not perceived sensibly of a good while after conversion admitting of Clouds and Eclipses as the light of the Sun in nature through earthly and airy Interpositions The due sense thereof requires a special Irradiation of Christs Spirit shining upon his gracious Image wrought in the soul to make a due Reflexion thereof That Holy Spirit must witness with our spirit that we are the children of God and if Children then Heirs yea coheirs with Christ This requires a rational discourse formed in the soul by divine Logick whereof
Scripture yields the Major conscience suggests the Minor and from both premises deduces a comfortable conclusion There is a reflexive Act of Faith necessary hereto called the faith of evidence or assurance to perfect such a gracious Eccho resounding from Earth to Heaven Paul enjoyed such a Peace by a due Improvement of Grace Christians should labour orderly for it by their due progress in spirituall Growth working out their salvation with fear and trembling to make their Calling and Election as sure to themselves as they are sure in themselves Yet many gracious Hearts often want this sight through the many Blasts of external temptations and cloudy vapours of internal Corruptions 3. External Peace with men is answerable to our several Relations both religious and civil 1. There is a Religious Ecclesiastical Peace which is the tuning of Gods People into a due composure and Christian Correspondence in the affairs of his Church and Worship This Peace are we often minded of and pressed to that having Salt in our selves we may have Peace one with another The members of Christs body though different and distant are thus to be at Peace as in the Church mystical Invisible so in the Church Political visible They must study the things that are for Peace wherein they may edifie one another They that agree in the main of Christianity should labour to agree and help one another in the means thereof All the living stones of Christs spiritual house that are duly set on him the foundation should be regularly squared to comply with each other therein Schisms and Convulsions are alwaies bad but worst of all here Though we may not joyn with Gods people in that which appears evil to us yet that difference must not hinder us from closing with them in such things which they and we do account needful and good This Peace includes not Approbation of evil nor doth it exclude due Administration of regular Censures private or publick We are herein to imitate Christ our Head who approves of no evil and still administers all due censures yet is not in the least hindred thereby from bearing with his children and servants in forbearing them as he sees convenient He keeps peace with them whilest he chides and frowns threatens and corrects so should Christians do after his pattern for each others good 2. A civil Peace bears its proportion to our respective stations either political in the State or Oeconomical in the family To this Peace we are all called being bid and bound to seek and follow it hard not only with the gentle but also with the froward As we are men subject to humane frailties and willing to be born with so must we think the like of others No politick fabrick can stand without this The Laws of Nature and of Nations are subordinate to the Laws of Heaven for the cementing and maintaining hereof This Peace includes not any Commission of evil or omission of duty but only that which tends to an orderly accommodation of mutual Relations for good against evil This threefold Peace hitherto explained will appear to be a blessed thing if we do but consult with Scripture and Experience Blessedness is the confluence of all good in the removal of evil opposite to that good Such as the Peace is such is the Blessedness attending it whether spiritual or temporal publick or private Divine Records comprize still all good under this expression either as included in it or joyned to it or flowing from it It s the constant Dialect of Christ and his Apostles in their salutes and fare-wells as it was the Spirits language under the Old Testament whence the New Testament borrows most of its expressions Benedictions and Valedictions run sâ—â—ll on this wise Peace be to you Peace be with you in the Word of God Induction might easily be made by pregnant instances in each particular branch were it needful in so clear a point The experience of all Ages publick and personal verifies it more then sufficiently This Sun-light needs not the help of our Candle 3. The Demonstration and Ground of this truth may be contracted into a threefold Reason from the Author Nature and Adjuncts thereof Reason 1. Peace is a blessed thing because the blessed God is the peculiar Author and Cause thereof considered both essentially and personally 1. God essentially considered is the God of Peace that 's his Title of Honour frequently proclaimed by his Heraulds and Embassadors What 's Peace but the congruity of the workings in each creature to that end whereto the supreme Mover hath appointed their respective Beings All Good must needs be from the first and chief good being ruled by him and leading to him as it comes from him The more of true Peace there is found anywhere the more of God and Blessedness still Gods excellency is shadowed out to us by Divines in a triple Method of exemption eminency and causation Thus God is declared to be infinite unchangeable c. he is most just most wise c. and he is the Cause of Causes who supports governs and supplies all things by a constant Influx of Providence being alwaies the proxime immediate Cause to every action His divine causality runs as a string through all secundary Causes to knit them to their respective operations and effects which he suspends and orders at his will The Correspondency of creatures to his will keeps the Peace and Blessedness so far their breaking of rank and forsaking their appointed station and motion brings the Jar and Woe by breaking that Peace Sin and sorrow come in at such a gap whilest the rational creature loosens this Bond of Peace in any Relation God himself challenges a special interest in this great blessing as the Author and Ruler Supporter and Promoter Restorer and Preserver Proprietor and Disposer thereof 2. God personally considered is the God of Peace which makes it to be such a Blessing In the divine Trinity a perfect Peace shines most gloriously Unity and Order the great Essentials of Peace appear therein by the beams of that eternal Brightness Unity of Essence and Order of Persons hold forth that transcendent Peace in the divine Trin-Unity There are three that bear Record in heaven the Father the Word and the Spirit and these three are one Here is priority not superiority a co-ordination though no subordination These three divine Persons have a distinct as well as a conjunct influence into Peace there are three that bear Record on earth agreeing in one also towards Peace 1. God the Father is the Head-spring and Original Source of Peace to man It flows from him primarily to us thus the Apostle teaches us to expect Grace Mercy and Peace from God the Father 2. God the Son is the grand Treasurer of our Peace which he receives from the Father for us You have him therefore still joyned to the Father in the Magna Charta the great
with fear and trembling because its God that works in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure Strive to enter in at the straight gate and attend still at the posts of wisdoms house all whose waies are pleasantness and all her paths are Peace In your way to Peace mind industriously the Subject and Matter the Ground and End the Rule and Effects hinted at before The Lord gives Peace by the mouth of his servants at his pleasure creating the fruit of the lips Peace Peace all kinds and degrees in all the waies and means of true Peace to him that is near and to him that is far off in healing of them observe his method forbearing what he forbids taking what he gives improve his Promises obey his Precepts follow his directions and be sure to break with sin and Satan as you desire to have Peace with God Conceal no enemy but discover all to your Soveraign that you find plotting Treason within you keep no rebellious arms make no League no Truce with any spiritual Adversaries Be sensibly ashamed and weary of your sinful Peace manifest to all especially to God in his appointed waies that you design and labour through his grace to be wholly and constantly his His Covenant of Peace gives you those Articles of marriage on which you are to embrace his Son conjugally in giving up your self to be wholly his Study the same that you may punctually observe each of them through his Spirits help Take all in Christ and take Christ in all in surrendring up your self unto him so shall you surely enjoy the Peace of God with the God of Peace 2. This Exhortation should also perswade the real Possessors of Peace to make the best improvement thereof Such a blessed Thing should be made use of in every Relation in every Condition in every Occasion according to its worth Men improve their Lands and Estates their Trades and Offices to the best advantage with all diligence Is not this Peace of far greater moment in all Spiritual and Temporal respects Learn to be faithful Stewards of this choice mercy he entrusts you with whom he hath made the subjects of this Peace Keep the Kings Peace that it may keep you in every good thing Observe that Rule and Ground for that end of Peace before signified that the blessed effects of the same may orderly follow Improve with thankfulness and fidelity that Blessed Portion afforded you fcom heaven Beware of every thing that threatens a breach between God and you Keep this Jewel with all watchfulness and industrious care Make much of that which cost Christ so dear Be sure to keep close to the divine Author of your blessed Peace in the due review of its Nature and Adjuncts Peace with God well kept will be of special help to the preserving of Peace in your conscience and both will further your Peace with others too in all the means tending thereto Sin and Satan will be still striving to endanger and disturb the same Keep your eye and heart stedfast on your God in keeping your hand steady on his Work He hath promised to keep in perfect Peace such who thus faithfully rely and trust in him Believe and pray resolve and labour for Peace in all his waies so will the God of Peace give you Peace alwaies and by all means according to his Word The very God of Peace will throughly sanctifie you in soul body and spirit and his Peace shall keep you as with a garrison against all enemies internal and external You must still be receiving help from God that you may still be helpful unto others So shall you be blessed Peace-makers which is the next thing to be considered Propos 2. Peace-makers are blessed Persons This is Christs assertion plainly expressed the sense and truth whereof being made out and made good good Application will be made thereof 1. The sense and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is wrapped up in the words sufficiently cleared when we have but opened how this Peace-making is to be understood The Greek expression 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imports a kind of humane efficiency variously expressed in Scripture dialect God makes Peace as the supreme Agent man as a subordinate Instrument under him God works it as the Primary cause man as a Secundary acted by him in every motion God effects it by over-ruling the minds and hearts of men Man by directing and perswading in offering Reasons and Motives suited to such minds and hearts God can do it without means at his Will but usually by Blessing the means appointed by him Man by the diligent improving of those means whereon the Lord hath promised his Blessing According to the nature of the Peace such is mans way of working towards it 1. With respect to eternal Peace with God Man is said to make his Peace when he follows the Lords directions in order thereto through the efficacious help of Christs renewing Spirit closing with Christ by a lively faith upon Gospel terms receiving of him cleaving to him resting on him and surrendring up himself to him according to the conjugal Articles of his gracious Covenant Thus whilest a man is exercising Faith and Repentance in an obediential love that he may through the Spirit die unto sin and live unto God in Christ he is said to make his Peace with God 2. In regard of internal Peace a man is said to be the maker thereof instrumentally when he observes the Lords instructions through Christs sanctifying Spirit in purging himself from all filthiness of flesh and spirit to perfect holiness in the fear of God Whilest he is thus searching of his heart viewing of his waies and washing his conscience in the blood of Christ often that he may behold therein as in a Crystal Glass the Lords image by due reflexion he is then subordinate unto the holy Spirit in the clearing of Peace in his conscience 3. In relation to external Peace both Civil and Ecclesiastical Man is then a Peace-maker when he is carefully diligent to attend and improve the multiplicious means appointed of God thereto according to the variations of his proper state and opportunities through the supplies of the Spirit of Jesus Christ This Peace-making then is a multiplicious Act of the whole man flowing from a gracious principle within whereby all the powers and parts of soul and body are sâ—t on work to promote this Blessed Peace with all possible diligence and care though such cannot alwaies effectually produce what they sincerely and faithfully labour for Such Peace makers are blessed Persons 2. The Truth of this Proposition in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of it that it is so appears sufficiently from the Word and Providence of God made out to man in all successive Generations The God of Peace by his manifold precepts and promises prefigurations and prophesies doth largely make out the Duty and Dignity of his Peace-makers The friends of God were
your profuse lavishing of all he had bestowed on you Is it not best for you to close with Christs terms for a sure Peace between God and you that you may be advanced in his house and Kingdom among his children to the dignifying property of blessed Peace-makers in every Relation Is there any thing in his Articles of Peace to be stuck at on any consideration Is there any Mercy in his Al-sufficiency that you may not receive in your conjugal entertaining of him Is there any Duty required of you that is not most just and Rational equal and beneficial Is there any Lust in your heart or Life that deserves not to be wholly crucified being so poisonous and so desperate an Enemy to all Good Is there any creature to be compared with or preferred before Christ Is there any part of your Religious self that can in the least satisfie Gods justice avert his wrath or merit his favour Is there any Good Divine or Humane that attends not his Peace Is there any Evil from God or the Creature that accompanies not that sinfull Peace which opposes and undermines Gods Peace Be then perswaded utterly to break with Sin with Self and Satan that you may conclude with God in Christ through his Holy Spirit according to the Tenure of his Gracious Covenant Accept of him so as to resign up your whole self to him freely and fully surely and singularly As he engages for Mercy on his part be engaged also for Duty on your part that his Gracious Covenant may be compleated by such a cordial Reciprocation Receive by Faith what his Spirit gives that you may through his Help return in Duty what you receive in Mercy Improve his Promises to obey his Precepts Yield your heart to him to mend it for you that you may mend your wayes towards him Be you wholly His that you may know him to be wholly ours Let your Peace with him in the Court of Heaven be so well ratified by mutual consent that your Peace within may be thence evidenced by due Reflections in your own conscience through the Irradiations of his renewing Spirit in that Christal Glass washed in his Blood and purified from its defilements Thence attend that noble work of Peace both in Spiritual and Civil Relations which will characterize your Nature and Name among the Children of the God of Peace 2. The Friends of Peace should hence be exhorted to make good their Dignity and Duty as becomes the Sons of the most High Hath any of you concluded Peace with God in Christ by his Spirit upon Gospel-terms Have you thence enjoyed a pacified conscience through the purging Vertue of his Blood and Grace effectually applyed to your Soul by his Spirits saving Operations in his Word and Providence Have you learned in the School of Christ what that good Peace imports in each Society and condition of Men which is such a Blessing and so blesses all those children of God who make it their Business to be Peace-makers Do not all these Bonds twisted by the Lords hand oblige you strongly to attend this Work to the very utmost that you may act therein from him and like him for him and through him Are not the Vows of our Grand Peace-maker upon all His in a special manner engaging his children to demonstrate their Relation to him by the most effectual Improvement of such a Dignifying Property Be we then hence stirred up in earnest to make this our Business and to follow it with all prudent Zeal through the supplies of his Holy Spirit in each Relation and Occasion whether in the Church State or Family The Doors of Gods Sanctuary were made of Olive-Wood the choise Embleme of Peace Le ts believe and pray wait and labor in all fit means appointed of God gill those blessed Gates be opened unto us that the righteous Nation which keeps the Truth may enter thereby into the Rest and Glory of Christs Kingdom Let our Dignity quicken us to Duty and our Duty lead us to Dignity Observe we hence how to carry it towards all Friends Strangers and Enemies 1. Towards Friends in all Expressions of unfained Love and hearty compliance so far as Gods Honour their Good and our Duty will prescribe to us Let all the Friends of Christ be counted and used as our best Friends though some of them may be found weak sickly and froward should not our carriage and mind towards them answer the Lords mind and carriage according to his Word Turks and Jews Heathens and Papists labour to agree shall not Christians agree as far as they can Where Christs Image appears though but small and in a homely dress should it not be owned and cherished among his children What evil we see or suspect in others let it cause us to reflect on our selves and judge our selves for the seed and spawn of the like in us Should not we pitty and bewail their case labouring to help them as becomes the fellow-members of Christs own Body Family and Kingdom Should not those Divine Exhortations so frequently and abundantly pressed on all Christians in his sacred Word prevail mightily with us Should we not study practically with utmost Industry that more excellent way of Christian Love so highly commended so largely described in 1 Cor. 13. chapter throughout in Eph. 4. Phil. 2. Rom. 14. 1 Cor. 14. Gal. 6. Col. 4. 1 Thess 4. 2 Thess 3. c. as likewise in all the Epistles of James and Peter of John and Jude Was not this the great charge which Christ left with his Disciples in his last Sermons so full of his heart whilst he was pouring forth his tenderest Bowels in his loving and lovely expressions so copiously inculcated on them Did not he ratifie the same by the choicest Token of Divine Love in giving up himself to that bitter Passion and accursed death that he might be our Peace and commend Peace to us in the most efficacions manner that Heaven could afford Did not he give us the Seals of his Covenant and all the Blessings and the Means thereof to knit all His into One in himself that they might be orderly preserved in One by the effectual working of the measure of every part to the edifying of the whole in Love Should not we be moved by such an Interest so much concerning our own Advantage in the concernments of Christ and of his people Le ts then study the things that make for Peace wherein we may edifie one another Mind we that Axiom which the Light of Nature discovered to Pagans and the Light of Grace explains unto Christians Concordiâ res parvae crescunt discordiâ maximae dilabuntur the smallest matters flourish thrivingly watered by Concord the greatest things waste miserably blasted by Discord Suppose that we meet with sower crabbed Spirits that slight and oppose the wayes of Peace which we would promote do not we find more cause of caution care and information for compliance usque