of the first Chapter The Syriack reads this Text thus Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts He is our peace saith the Prophet Micah 5. 5. and this man shall be the peace when the Assyrian shall tread in our land The Prophet Isaiah calls him the Prince of peace Isa 9. 6. as typified by Melchisedeck King of Shalem the true King of peace as the Apostle renders his Royal Titles first beng by interpretation King of righteousness and after that also King of Salem which is King of peace Heb. 7. 2. and well may he deserve that honourable Title For he is our peace saith the Apostle to the Ephesians Ephes 2. 14. Who hath made both one and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us between Jews and Gentiles and between our God and us having made peace through the blood of his Cross saith he in the First Chapter of his Epistle and 20th verse He is our Peace-maker with God Being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ Rom. 5. 1. At his Birth all the Militia of Heaven sang this joyful Ditty in a Proclamation of Peace Glory to God in the highest peace on earth good will towards men Luke 2 14. At his Death he left us a Legacy of peace My peace I leave with you my peace I give unto you not as the world giveth I give unto you John 14. 27. 4. God the Holy Ghost the third Person of the glorious Trinity is the God of peace the Spirit of peace and love And the very God of peace sanctifie you wholly the conclusion of the First Epistle to the Thessalonians ch 5. ver 23. He is the Sanctifier of all the Elect people of God The excellent fruits of this God of peace are set down by the Apostle to the Galatians But the fruits of the Spirit are love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance against such there is no law Gal. 5. 22. And because the God head and Consubstantiality of the Son with the Father is by all this discourse approved and that also of the Holy Ghost I will conclude this Point after the phrase of the Athanasian Creed The Father is the God of peace the Son is the God of peace and the Holy Ghost is the God of peace and yet they are not three Gods of peace but one God of peace And with that Prayer wherewith the Apostle concludes his Second Epistle to the Thessalonians which includes all this Now the Lord of peace himself give you peace always by all means the Lord be with you all 2 Thess 3. v. 16. Observ 4. In the brief Application of this Point before I proceed any further let us observe for our Instruction That this is a close Argument to perswade the more to permit this Peace to hold the Mastery in us because it is God's and so indeed God shall rule in our hearts by his peace The name of the King's Peace is of no small weight as to repress the Outrage of the Unruly It ought to be at least when the Officer cries I charge you in the King's Name to keep the King's Peace God's Sacred Name is greater that is King of Kings and Lord of Lords the greater their Sin that break his Peace at once offending God and the King Exhort Let us not say then we will not have his Peace rule in our hearts as those Ill-bred Citizens that hated their Noble Lord and sent a Message after him saying We will not have this man to rule over us Luke 19. 14. but rather as the men of Israel said to Gideon Rule thou over us both thou and thy son and thy son's son also for thou hast delivered us from the hand of Midian Judg. 8. 22. And hath made peace in our borders as the Psalmist sings Psalm 147. 14. Let every one of us say with him again and again I will hearken what God the Lord will speak for he will speak peace unto his people c. Psal 85. 8. To the which also ye are called in one body Now to the Apostle's Reasons why this Peace of God should rule in our hearts which are two First God's calling Ye are called to peace For the meaning whereof it is as much as to say As God when he severe you from the World would lay this task upon you to have peace rule in you for this was the Prophecy of Isaiah concerning the times of the Gospel that cruel and savage Beasts should lay down their fierceness Lions Wolves Serpents learn other manners and become at unity with Lambs Oxen Children c. This purpose of God you must become Instruments to bring to pass The Wolf also shall dwell with the Lamb and the Leopard shall lye down with the Kid the Calf and the young Lion and the Fatling together and a little Child shall lead them and the Cow and the Bear shall feed their young ones shall lye down together and the Lion shall eat Straw like the Ox and the sucking Child shall play on the hole of the Asp and the weaned child shall put his hand on the Cookatrice den they shall not hunt nor destroy in all my holy mountain For the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea Isa 11. 6 7 8. A great shame for a Minister of outward peace to break the peace A Justice who is the Conservator of the Peace or a Constable who is sworn to see the Peace kent to be a Fighter or maker of Frays Penal it is in a high degree when a man is bound to the Peace to be a Striker So it is surely a shame and a just cause of shame when a Christian who by his Calling is bound to the Peace to be a Quarreller Make-bate Ranter c. Christianus contentiosus was one of the greatest Paradoxes and Scandals in the Primitive Church The Apostle Paul in the Sixth Chapter of his First Epistle to the Corinths reproves the Corinthians for their breach of God's Peace that ought to rule in their hearts for Lawing one with another before Heathen Judges when there was not so much as a Christian Constable in the World which Fault having very sharply reproved and told them of another course by Arbitrement even of the meanest of the Church if there were no other wise or able man amongthem He presseth so far as to say They ought rather to suffer wrong whereas they wronged their Brethren whereupon endeavouring to remedy this matter in the root he appeals to their knowledge if Injustice as many other Sins did not exclude from the inheritance of the Kingdom of Heaven yes he avouches it and so falling off into a more gentle manner he tells them roundly what they were sometimes but now by the Grace of God otherwise he leaves it to be esteemed then that to those things they ought not to return again that are inconsistent with this Evangelical
end and largely doth he garnish this Similitude in the place I named right now pressing it to divers Duties which shortly to name because they serve to the maintenance of Peace in her Soveraignty are these 1. To rejoyce each at others good If one member be honoured all the members rejoyce with it 1 Cor. 12. 26. 2. To suffer Compassionately each with other And whether one member suffer all the members suffer with it ibid. 3. To have Care each of another That there should be no schism in the body but that the members should have the same care one of another v. 25. to nourish and cherish them 4. The more weak and base to be compassed with Honour with the more comely Nay much more those members of the body that seem more feeble are necessary and those members of the body which we think to be base upon those we bestow more abundant honour and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness verse 22 23. 5. The worthier not to think they may be without the baser nor the baser think they are not in any place or reckoning because not the worthiest And the Eye cannot say to the Hand I have no need of thee nor again the Hand to the Foot I have no need of you v. 2. 6. If the Foot shall say because I am not the Hand I am not of the body is it therefore not of the body And if the Ear shall say because I am not the Eye I am not of the body is it therefore not of the body v. 15. 26. Thus far the Apostle in his excellent Parallel between the Members of the Natural Body and the Members of the Body Mystical These Opinions and Practices befit such as would keep peace such as are Members of one Body which very Consideration that they are found in the Natural Body should draw us into the practice of them in the Spiritual and Mystical Christ our Lord flows into us by his Spirit of Peace and Love and gives us Grace so to do and this will enable us to obey the Apostle in the words before this Text. And above all things put on charity which is the bond of perfectness This word Bond is taken sometimes for the Sinews and Ligaments of the Joynts as Chap. 2. v. 19. Sometimes for the Band that tieth a thing composed of a great many small parts into one as a Sheaf or Faggot so I think Peace is called Ephes 4. 3. endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace And this Perfectness may be taken 1. For the perfectness of every man in the Gifts of the Spirit which are dissolved and fall one from another without Love Or 2ly For the whole Body of the Church which is dissolved and falls asunder without love of which in the two places last named I will include herein both inward perfectness in private Christians and publick in the body of the Church So the Church Christ's Body it is capable of a kind of perfection even when it is most imperfect in the Eyes of the World as now it was and when the Apostle wrote that Ephesians 4. v. 3. Observat The thing that makes the Perfection of the Church is Love He therefore that loves not is imperfect in Christianity A Child in Grace if he have any yet is Carnal not Spiritual a Babe not a Man as the Apostle concludes of the Corinthians from hence 1 Cor. 3. 1. 3. And those that take no care to maintain Love with their even Christians they do as much as they may maim lame and make imperfect the Body of Christ laying aside his new Commandment That ye love one another as I have loved you John 13. 34. Let Papists and such as rejoyce in bitterness against their Brethren think on this Let us learn by all means to maintain Peace and Love the untimely breaking of some Truth is not worth so much as to break Love As the curing of some Disease not worth the pain of the Cure as of some Wens and Warts c. worth the cutting c. and this is to be followed of us It is more than seasonable that we were put in mind of this Point for we are faulty in it much Now if one be more scrupulous than another in Ceremonies and Matters indifferent Minister or other one sort there is that presently abate their love Again if another take a little liberty in such things the other side bears not that hearty affection which should be unto him Though thus either think of the other they are men that intend to do vertuously yet there is not this equal Communication of the Offices of Kindness which this Form Above all things put on love would require What if men dissent from us in sundry Points of Judgment or of Affection as both may be and justly yet let the Consideration that they are Members of the same Body with us Men reclaimed to God Men which according to that which they know endeavour to Serve and Worship God makes us to strive so much the more that it might not seem to come through our Default that any Strangers should be between us or Differences grow to greater Extremities we shall have the better in the handling of the Cause to say nothing of the Truth whether we have it on our side or no. I would to God that we could be content in Matters of no great Consequence when many Differences be among us to comprise them with that of the Apostle If any man think otherwise the Lord shall reveal this also unto you Phil. 3. 15. And in the mean space in our Speeches Countenances Gestures Writings be mindful of this standing Rule That Love belongs to all the Saints as the Apostle describes these Colossians by their Faith in Jesus Christ and their Love to all the Saints Chap. 1. 4. So by letting go vain Clamours we shall find more Truth than we do as being better disposed to seek it which indeed no passionate man is and sure I am we should have more peace and comfort and be freed from much foolish Suspicions among our selves and many slanderous and foul Imputations from our common Enemies God give us Grace to see our Faults put a Remedy thereto in time before by our Dissentions we have weakened our selves that both together we be not matchable to our third and worst Adversary see Psalm 133. And be ye thankful The second Duty we are exhorted unto in this Scripture is the duty of thankfulness what variety is between these two Words Amiable and Thankful every man may at the first view easily conceive But our latest Translation of the Word is the best that for Amiable puts in Thankful whereunto the propriety of the Word and Authority of other Interpreters doth so lead me as Ephes 5. 4. but rather giving of thanks and 1 Thessal 5. 18. In every thing give thanks And although they 〈◊〉 Chrysost Bruno Osiandor refer it to God
she that is your Enemy may see it and shame may cover her Mic. 7. 10. That she may be removed that nothing of her be left amo 〈…〉 of her Idolatry and Superstition 〈…〉 your selves in array against Fren 〈…〉 abylon round about all ye that tred the bow shoot at her spare no Arrows for she hath sinned against the Lord saith the Prophet Jer. 50. 14. Some rubbish that escaped our first Reformers was left in the fall of so ancient and great a Building which remains yet untaken away but incumbers the Ground which in the Prayers that we are commanded to use in our Monthly Fasts run thus namely in the Prayer for the High Court of Parliament That all things may be so ordered and settled by their endeavours upon the best and surest foundations that Peace and Happiness Truth and Justice Religion and Piety may be established among us from all Generations Now another Foundation of Peace and Happiness can no Man lay than Christ and his Word We need not send to Rome nor any where else for any thing that concerns Religion The word is nigh thee even in thy mouth and in thy heart saith the Apostle Rom. 10. 8. and we are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone Eph. 2. 20. In the Prayer for the reformed Churches Purge all thy Churches from their Dreggs and make them meet for a glorious Deliverance that all the World may see that Salvation belongs to our God In the last Prayer Give us Grace Lord seriously to lay to heart the great dangers we are in by our unhappy Divisions take away all hatred and prejudice and whatsoever may hinder us from Godly Union and Concord that as these is but one Body and one Spirit and one Hope of our Calling one Lord one Faith one Baptism one God and Father of us all so we may henceforth be all of one Heart and of one Soul united in one Holy Body of Truth and Peace of Faith and Charity and may with one Mind and one Mouth glorifie thee O God through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen The like Expressions are in the Prayer for the whole State of Christ's Church Militant here on Earth Let us deal plainly with God and our own Consciences and those to whom these Prayers are recommended unless we think to please God and Men with a few fair words of Devotion when our Heart is far from him and the performance of these things we pray for as the East is from the West Be not deceived saith the Apostle God will not be mocked Gal. 6. 6. however we may deceive Men with words smoother than butter but war is in the heart with words softer than oyl yet are they drawn swords Psal 55. 21. Is not this a casting of God's words behind us and taking his name in vain That lays us open to that surprizing expression of our Lord ex ore tuo est have ye not reason to fear the Lords Censure of the Elders of Israel that came and sate before Ezekiel in Babylon concerning whom the word of the Lord came unto him saying Son of man these men have set up their Idols in their hearts and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face should I be enquired of at all by them Exek 14. 3. And that of the Prophet Jeremiah that from the Prophets of Jerusalem hypocrisie is gone out into all the land Jer. 23. 15. If we build continually by our practice that which wont seem to destroy so solemnly by our Prayer what do we make of our selves in the Eyes of the World but Transgressors Gal. 2. 18. Children in whom is no faith Deut. 32. 20. What then are these Dreggs we desire God to deliver us from Are they not the remainder of our natural Corruption and the sin which doth so easily beset us within and of Popery without that have been a snare to us and removed our Souls far from Peace that we may be delivered from them as well as other reformed Churches Again What are these great dangers that we are in by our unhappy Division for the laying of which seriously to Heart we beg God's Grace Are they about matters of no value that in the ballance of the Sanctuary have Tekel written on them as being altogether higher than Vanity Are we like the Man lying in a ditch praying Lord have mercy upon me and yet will not stir Hand nor Foot to help himself out If we will not prevent these dangers when we know what the late attempt to remove the occasion of them cost these Nations that were sore afflicted and sorely tossed with the tempest of a long bloody War and not fully comforted to this day Again Take away all Hatred and Prejudice and whatsoever else may hinder us from Godly Union and Concord And we will part with nothing by our good Will that may please many good people and can never tend to the real damage of any but add more fuel still to the old hatred and prejudice until that be taken out of the way by which the offence cometh that may kindle a fire that will never be quenched and feed a worm that shall never die Mar. 9. 46. from which Judgment the Lord deliver us Lastly All the terms of Union of Peace and Love in Heaven and Earth are mustred up together one Lord one Faith one Baptism one God c. many Vanities that we may with one Mouth and one Mind glorifie God c. Here a Man would think If there be any consolation in Christ if any comfort in love if any fellowship of the Spirit if any bowels or mercies if any truth in men Phil. 2. 1. that we are resolved now to fill the Evangelical Prophecy of Zephany to serve the Lord with a pure lip and with one shoulder Zeph. 3. 9. with Uniformity of Doctrine Worship and Discipline that there may be one Lord and his name one according to that of the Prophet Zach. 14. 9. Lord put this heart in those that have commanded us to put up those sweet words to God in truth and simplicity of Heart Amen That we may not be said to have a form of godliness 2 Tim. 3. 5. is an outward delineation of piety of peace and unity denying the power and practise of it as the Apostle speaks or as Jeremiah They have healed the hurt of the Daughter of the my people slighted saying peace peace when there was no peace Jer. 6. 14. and those that are required to make their Addresses to God in these words say Hast thou utterly rejected Judah hath thy soul loathed Zion why hast thou smitten us and there is no healing for us we looked for peace and there is no good and for a time of healing and behold trouble Jer. 14. 19. Then said I ah Lord God surely thou hast greatly deceivid this people and Jerusalem saying ye shall have peace whereas the sword reacheth unto
be hid from their Eyes Luk. 19. 42. they will not only follow Peace with one another but with all Men Assenters and Dissenters as much as in them lies and Holiness without which no Man shall see the Lord Heb. 12. 14. That they may see the travel of their Soul and be satisfied that the work of the Lord is carried along prosperously in their hand Is 53. 11. They will be gentle to their People as another Paul we were gentle among you even as a Nurse cherâ—sheth her Children Ye are Witnesses and God also how holily and justly and unblameably we behaved our selves among you that believe And ye know how we exhorted comforted and charged every one of you as a Father doth his Children 1 Thess 2. 10 11. Exhorting them as Fathers Mothers Children Brethren 1 Tim. 5. 1 2. as St. Paul instructs Timothy avoiding Non-residence especially in this State and Time when they are making a Captain to return to Egypt Numb 14. 4. that it may not be said of us That they that lead thy People caused them to err and they that are led by them are destroyed Isa 3. 12. and they that rule over them make them to howl Isa 52. 5. I doubt not but the Prudence and Moderation of the Wise and Learned Men will silence all Controversies Eusebius tells us in the Life of Constantine that he said in the Synod of Nice that the Dissentions of Church-Men among themselves was an Evil beyond all Calamities and any Foreign Wars whatsoever Surely they will not shed the Blood of War in Peace as Joab did that put the Blood of War upon the Girdle that was about his Loins and upon his Shooes that were upon his Feet for which David left him a Bloody Legacy Let not his hoary Head go down to the Grave in Peace 1 Kin. 1. 5. Under Valens the Emperor saith Socrates l. 4. c. 29. by occasion of one Godly Man a grievous and dangerous War that was undertaken against the Roman Empire was extinct The Saracens had made defection from Roman Empire and under the Conduct of their Queen Mavia began an Offensive War and that on a most Advantageous Opportunity when the Goths were wasting all Thracia and therefore all the Roman Provinces towards the East they are the words of Socrates had been over-run and wasted by the Saracens The occasion was this one Moses a Saracen by Nation lived a Solitary Life in a Desert who for his eminent Piety Constancy Faith and Miracles was very famous Mavia the Queen of the Saracens desires the Romans to design this Godly Man for their Bishop and promiseth to lay down her Arms to disband her Forces and to be at Peace with the Romans Dictum factum 't is done immediately and so by the Peace of God ruling in the Heart of this Godly Man and of his Queen a great Fire is suddenly quenched Sozomon tells us l. 7. c. 3. That under Theodosius the Great the People of Antioch had dejected the Statues of the Emperor and Empress and most ignominiously dragg'd them with a Rope through the Streets of the City adding most contumelious and disgraceful words no doubt by the instigation of the Devil Theodosius hearing of this Affront and Disgrace was highly displeased and resolved to be avenged on them for this Insolency whereof the People of Antioch being aware began to relent to leave off their Fury and to repent and to beg with Sighs and Groans Favour of God to turn his Heart that they might not be suddenly destroyed They composed certain mournful Ditties and Funeral Songs which they used in their solemn Prayers at the Throne of Grace and they sent their Bishop Flavianus to the Empâ—ror to appease his Wrath towards them the which that he might effectuate he perswaded and prevailed with the young Men that used to sing at the Emperors Table to sing those mournful Songs by which the Men of Antioch had made their Supplications to God in their fear and dangerous Condition with which the Emperor was so taken and surprized that a Flood of Tears gusht from his Eyes immediately and wet the Cup that was in his Hand and understanding the matter he calls Flavianus and laid aside his Anger and frankly forgave the City Thus ye see how the Peace of God ruled in the Heart of this Prudent and Godly Bishop and his Emperor Theodosius to prevent the Ruin of the great City of Antioch where the Disciples were called Christians first Act. 11. 26. Now If the Son of Peace be in your Houses or Parishes Luk. 10. 6. that is any Men capable of that Blessing and disposed to receive the Doctrin of Peace which you Preach your Peace shall rest upon it then doubtless ye my keep the Unity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace Eph. 4. 3. you may follow Peace with them that call on the Lord out of a pure Heart 2 Tim. 2. 22. tho' dissenting from you in a few small Matters Thus shall we procure the love of our Heavenly Father for if Earthly Parents take Comfort to see their Children kind peaceful and helpful to one another it cannot be but he that hath all perfections that are in us in the highest degree shall likewise both approve in this World and reward in that to come our love to and Peace with one another and say Euge serve bone c. Pâ—ssid in vita August c. 17. and upon their Death-Bed say with Ambrose non sic vixi ut me pudeat inter vos vivere sed non mori timeo quia bonum dominum habemus that I have not so lived as to be ashamed to live any longer among you but neither am I afraid to die because we have a good Lord and that of St. Paul I have fought a good fight I have finished my Course I have kept the Faith henceforth is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the Righteous Judge shall give me at that day and not to me only but to them also that love his appearing 2 Tim. 4. 7 8. 2. If the Peace of God rule in the Hearts of our Hearers they will account the Elders that rule well worthy of double honour especially they that labour in the Word and Doctrin as the Apostle speaks 1 Tim. 5. 17. They will remember them that hath the rule over them who have spoken unto them the word of God whose Faith they follow considering the end of their Conversation and a little after Obey them that have the rule over you and submit your selves for they watch for your Souls as they that must give account that they may do it with joy and not with grief for that is unprofitable for you saith the same Apostle Heb. 13. â—7 17. 1. Let them hold such Dear for their Master's sake Now then saith the Apostle we are Ambassadours for Christ as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christ's stead be ye reconciled to God 2 Cor.