not envying them nor provoking them nor being desirous of vain glory towards them Galat. 5. 26. In respect of those that are of an unquiet disposition to follow Peace and ensue it towards them 1 Pet. 3. 11. and that even so far as it is possible and as much as in us lyeth Rom. 12. 18. to do all things without murmurings and disputings against them in a blamelesse and harmlesse way that they may have no cause to murmure at us or to dispute with us Phil. 2. 14 15. And to this effect to lay aside all malice and all guil and hypocrisie evil speakings and surmisings 1 Pet. 2. 1 2. And lastly in respect of those that are injurious to recompense no evill for evill nor to avenge our selves but to give place unto wrath Rom. 12. 17 19. Not to be overcome with evill but to overcome evil with good Rom. 12. 21. And to that effect with all lowlinesse and meeknesse with long-suffering to forbear them in love Ephes 4. 2. And to forgive them as God in Christ hath forgiven us Ephes 4. 32. Now the originall and immediate cause of this Peaceable disposition of the soul is to suffer the Peace of God whereunto we are called to rule in our hearts Col. 3. 15. for when this by the new Covenant in Christ doth possesse the spirit the soul is quieted within it self because it entreth with Christ into that rest which he hath purchased and prepared for it Hebr. 4. 10 11. And it receiveth the Peace which he hath left with it and given to it so that the heart is not troubled neither is it afraid at any thing which in this world can befall unto it Joh. 14. 27. for the promise of the Lord wherein he hath caused us to hope doth sustain us which saith that he will keep him in perfect Peace whose heart is stayed on him because he trusteth in him Isa 26. 3. But on the other side those that have no interest in the Covenant of Peace which Christ hath made with us can have no rest nor quietnesse within themselves or towards others because my God hath said There is no Peace to the wicked but his heart and his whole course is as the troubled Sea which cannot rest but casteth forth mire and dirt perpetually Isa 57. 20 21. The ends then of these duties shew the perfection whereunto they lead us and their proper works the way by which we attain the same For by the law of love we are taught how to aime at that which is truly good by the law of righteousnesse how to order our way in prosecuting of it and by the law of Peaceablenesse how to attend the delightfull possession of it The first sets our minde upon God the second directs us to him and the third fits us to enjoy him What is proper to a Christian in these duties more then to other men Thus in brief we see what these duties are and whence in a Christian more then in other men they proceed for other men know nothing herein but the principles of Reason and Morality by which they look more upon the materiall outside of the works then upon any thing else because naturall men cannot raise their minds unto the apprehension of spirituall truths which beget in the soul a new life and farre lesse can they act any thing thereby without speciall grace yet if the Intellectuals of a man truly rationall in nature which is not altogether impossible be raised so far by the right use of common illuminations as to perceive the proportion which is between such performances as these are and the principles from whence they flow he will finde no just cause to contradict any thing therin although his heart will not be able thereupon to close with the duties themselves for a true Christian is a spirituall man is not inabled to close heartily with these duties either because he is convicted of the rationalitie thereof or because he doth understand the excellencie and worth of this way above the way of Morality for these are onely preparative inducements inclining his affection thereunto but he closeth therewith onely because his conscience is enlightned by the truth and purified by faith and therein is bound over and given up to walk thus with God in Christ by the covenant of grace for through the law of the spirit of life and love which is in Christ Jesus whereby he is freed from the law of sin and of death he is made conformable unto the image of the Son of God and the righteousnesse of the Law of God through faith and love being fulfilled in him he hath peaceable communion with the Father and with the Son wherein he doth set himself to walk with joy and unspeakable comfort in the light of their countenance by which he is daily transformed from glory to glory as by the Spirit and presence of the Lord. The rule then and the way of a Christian is to walk in these duties towards all men and for these ends not with humane wisdome and the reasonings of his naturall understanding although he doth nothing irrationally but according to the direction and manifestation of the Spirit of grace that is according to the testimony of Jesus revealed unto his spirit which obligeth his conscience to follow affectionately the rules of these duties in all simplicitie and godly sincerity through love to the life of Jesus Christ and the grace of God in him and not for any other obligation or by any other consideration whatsoever and whosoever doth walk after this rule Peace be upon him and upon the Israel of God And because we have not hitherto walked after this rule we have not as yet found the way to Peace for to finde Peace out of this way is as impossible as to misse of it within it How universal they are and inseparable from Christianity And chiefly in leading men and times of greatest need From hence we may observe that these duties have an universall influence upon all the wayes of Christians for as Christians they are essentiall to them in all the works of their severall callings and if they studie not to do all their works by these rules they cannot be said to do them as Christians for as Christians we are commanded to do all our matters with charitie 1 Cor. 16. 14. for we are obliged by the love of God to us as his dear children to be followers of God and to walk in love as Christ also hath loved us Ephes 5. 1 2. And if we walk not thus it is evident that we are none of his children but have renounced his love and are destitute of the life of God in all our undertakings for he that loveth not knoweth not God for God is love 1 Joh. 4. 8. And again as Christians we are bound to serve God and Christ in his kingdom and if we serve him not how can we truly bear his Name Now the kingdom of God wherein
triall from God and to look after and flie unto secondary causes The means therefore to rectifie these is that we should draw nigh unto God for if we do so the promise is that he will draw nigh unto us v. 8. which is our cure For by his drawing nigh unto us we become partaker of his vertue and nature which alters our inclinations Here then the Apostle doth presuppose that when the soul is under the triall of a temptation it doth put it self at a distance from God and that Gods presence is not with it for if he were present with it Satan could neither appear nor prevail against it but now our naturall inclinations being to wander and go astray from him as it is written Hebr. 3. 10. They erre alwayes in their heart and have not known my wayes therefore Satan doth find the soul as a lost sheep out of the way and is readie if God should not restrain him to devour it for whiles we are at a distance from God we neither are nor indeed can we be subject to his wil and consequently cannot with submission accept of his dispensation over us That therefore we may be brought about to submit our wils unto Gods will and by that means resist the devil who dwels in the turbulencie of our envious spirit we are exhorted and instructed to draw nigh unto God in our spirits that he may meet us and draw nigh unto us by his Spirit We draw nigh unto God when we come to Christ in the Spirit of prayer and faith to be reconciled to the Father by the redemption which is in him and to be united to him through the covenant that we may live by his word For Ioh. 146. Christ is the way the truth and the life and because none can come without him therefore all must come to the Father by him and live in him according to his word And God doth draw nigh to us when for Christs sake he doth accept of us graciously and testifieth his acceptance of us by the spirit of Adoption by which he beareth witnesse to our spirits that we are the Sons of God and by which he sheddeth abroad his love in our hearts sealing us up unto himself untill the day of our Redemption To draw nigh therefore unto God is in a word when we want his presence to call upon his name as our Father in Christ knowing that whatsoever we ask in his name shall be granted for Christ hath said that he will do it Ioh. 14. 13. This Communion with God in Christ and nothing but this is able to alter the perversnesse of our inclination which resists the will of God and hardens our hearts from submitting thereunto for being in Christ we become new creatures and the law of the spirit of life which is in him doth free us from the Law of sin and death which is in our nature Rom. 8 2. Gal 5. 16. whereby Satan takes hold of us that we may be inabled to walk after the Spirit and not to fulfill the lusts of the flesh whereby Satan doth work in us and lead us captive after his own will The Remedie of the guilt of sinfulnesse which is Repentance Having two parts And severall Acts answerable to the iniquity of our courses In what sense repentance is said to take away the guilt of sinne The third duty which the Apostle doth offer as a further remedie to this our evill doth tend to free us from the guilt under which we lye by reason of the sinfulnesse of our envious courses for as the perversenesse of our nature hindering us from submitting our wills to the will of God is cured onely by Gods drawing nigh unto us when we draw nigh unto him by calling upon his name that we may be saved in Christ so the guilt of our sinfull wayes which is the maine hinderance of our drawing nigh unto God and the cause of our distance from him is cured onely by the grace of repentance when we entertain it as our duty and that we may so do the Apostle doth lay open to us the parts of this duty which we finde to be two in his words the one relating to our selves the other unto God for as the nature of our guilt doth stand in the iniquity of our course and the dishonour done to God thereby so repentance by which this guilt is to be wiped away must relate unto both these that every thing amisse may be righted in that whence the evill doth proceed and so the causes of our separation in all respects removed Now the iniquity of our course is twofold the one is outward the other inward the outward defilements of the flesh going along with all our naturall actions bring us under the guilt of the Law and to free us from this the Apostle enjoyns us to cleanse our hands from sinfullnesse ver 8. but the inward pollutions are from the heart when it is destitute of Faith and sincerity towards God and man and to remedy this the Apostle enjoyns us to purifie our hearts from double-mindednes ver 8. The dishonour done to God by the iniquity of our course doth make us liable to wrath in respect of the Supream Majesty which by our offence is made void and to free us from this part of the guilt the Apostle enjoynes godly sorrow in the inward affections and a behaviour sutable thereunto in the outward expressions In respect of our inward affections we should be afflicted In respect of our outward expressions we should give way to grief Mourne saith he and weepe and we should abstaine from mirth Let your laughter saith he be turned to mourning and your joy to heavines ver 9. For the sacrifices of God which are accepted from us for sin that we may be freed from guilt are a broken spirit a broken and a contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise saith David Psal 51. 17. The proper effect of guiltines is to keep us back from the presence of God and deprive us of the freedom of spirit without which we cannot draw neer unto him this is by these meanes taken away and we are fitted by the sincerity of true Repentance both to come with boldnesse to the Throne of Heb. 4. 16. Grace and also to obtaine Mercy and finde Grace to help our misery in time of need Not that our acts of Repentance are any satisfaction unto Gods Justice for our sins by-past that is for the uncleanesse practised and the spots contracted upon our souls which is our misery or for the Orders and Rules of righteousnes broken and disturbed by us in his Kingdom which is our rebellion and for the wrongs and dishonour done to the name of God thereby which is our Treason as if he should in consideration of the worth of such performances as done by us remit the guilt which we have incurred and account such actions a compensation for the same No that is not the Apostles
and determine our thoughts in the debate it selfe lest they miscarry and be suffered to wander upon use lesse and by-matters uncertainly as it happeneth unto others in the debates of this and of some other kinds therefore I declare before-hand that my resolution is unalterably to wave every thing which shall be offered that hath no direct or collaterall tendency and subordination towards the discovery of these Rules for to finde out a cleare demonstration of the truth of these is the whole fruit of all this Disquisition The termes of the Question explained Thus having determined the end of the debate let us come to look upon the point of difference which may be between us And here I cannot definitly say wherein others differ from me in a positive opinion I see what the positive difference of their practice is from mine but men oft-times doe more then they think they doe but that they who allow at large which I do not Ministers to meddle in matters of State may judge wherein I doe differ from them I shall follow the method formerly set down and first open my sense of the question and then declare both the agreement and the difference which I conceive to be therein between us The termes of the question I understand thus 1. By the Ministers of the Gospel of Christ I understand certain men who take not upon them at their own hand but are called in an ordinary and orderly way to teach other men the knowledge of Christ to perswade and exhort them to receive him and walk in him by faith and love for the salvation of their own soules and the enlargement of his kingdome towards others in the world to pray for and with them and to oversee their wayes that they may be found conformable to their profession And this I conceive is the whole substance of their imployment 2. By the Gospel of Christ I understand the glad Tidings of Gods free Grace offered to us in the new Covenant made with mankind in Christ that we may entertain it by faith 3. By the Sermons of those Ministers teaching this Gospel I meane their ordinary speeches to their hearers concerning this subject by which they ought to bring them to the obedience of faith 4 By the Magistrates I understand certain men whom God hath exalted and set over the visible Societies of men for their good to over-see their wayes and order them in righteousnesse by power and authority to make them conformable unto his known will 5. By State-affaires which are said to be the employments of the Magistrate I mean all things which concerne either the visible societies or the single persons of men as relating to their outward state and condition of life in the world wherein power and authority can be exercised for the ordering of the same 6. By Power I mean the forcible meanes of constraining through feare those that are in subjection to doe that which their superiors will have them to do This is that which the Apostle calls the Sword Rom. 12. 4. 7. By Authority I meane a right to administer a charge and to beare rule therein over others for the government of their wayes whereunto those that are to be governed owe respect and submission And this is that which the Apostle calls to be subject for conscience sake Rom. 12. 5. These are the things whereof the question doth speak but The thing questioned or the matter of doubt The question it selfe or the thing questioned concerning these things is this Whether yea or no it doth appertain to the calling and charge of those that are employed in the service of Christ for spirituall matters when they are about that service to utter in publick their particular thoughts concerning worldly matters which appertain to the calling and charge of those who are set in power and authority over the Common-wealth To this question whether we should say absolutely Yea or absolutly No or in some respect yea and in some respect no and how farre yea and how farre no in each respect is the matter of doubt which by a friendly conference and debate fitted to search after hidden Truths may be resolved And that we may endeavour this so as to bring the matter to an issue without distractednesse or confusion let us first consider that wherein we agree as a known and determined truth then view that which remaineth yet unknown as an undetermined doubt that by the help of some principles and the right application thereof unto the point of difference we may make a way for our understanding to determine the same The matters of agreement The matters wherein I suppose an agreement will be found are these 1. That the terms of the question as they have been opened are truths viz. That by Ministers and Magistrates and their employments such men such things and such actions are to be understood as were described in the opening of the question and that the point of doubt in generall doth lie there where it is said to lie For if either these termes or any of them be otherwise understood or the point of doubt otherwise placed than hath been now mentioned although in words we may seem to agree upon the stating of the question yet the thing it selfe is not agreed upon therefore this must needs be presupposed to be so before we can proceed to any other points of agreement and then I shall offer this further 2. That Iesus Christ who is now at the right hand of God having all power in heaven and earth hath ordained in this world both these kinds of Officers some to preach the Gospell unto men as Ministers of his Word and Mysteries 1 Cor. 9. 14. and chap. 4. 1. with Tit. 1. 7. and 1 Pet. 4. 10. and some to rule the Societies of men to keep them in good order as Magistrates endued with power to punish the evill and reward the good Rom. 13. vers 1. till 8. and 1 Pet. 2. vers 13. till 18. 3. That the employments of these two Officers although they are coexistent under Christ towards the same men who are to be governed by them and concurrent towards them for his ends upon them yet they are distinguishable the one from the other chiefly in respect of their different objects of their different immediate ends of their different fundamentall rights to their charges and the properties thereof and of their different wayes of administring their charges 4. That the object of the Ministeriall administration is nothing else but the truth and will of God in the Gospel as it is revealed in the Scriptures and that the object of the Magistraticall administration is the Truth and Will of God as in the Principles of right Reason and the Law of Nature it is revealed 5. That the immediate end of the Ministeriall administration of their object is to bring mens soules to have communion with God in Christ by his spirit and that the immediate end of the
to bestow that good which by us is communicable upon men our brethren that beare his image For love seeketh not his own but the good of others And in Christian love the good which is to be sought and the way of seeking and imparting it unto others is no where so discernable as in the example of Christs love unto us for he procured and imparted unto us that which in it selfe was the onely good and to us that whereof we stood in greatest need For nothing it self is good but God and that which advanceth his glory Now we were separate from God and came short of his glory Rom. 3. 23. but Christ brought us neare unto him and received us into his glory Rom. 15. 7. Ephes 2. 13. Whence it is that the Apostle exhorts us to receive one another as Christ also received us to the glory of Goll Rom. 5. 7. The end then and aim of Christian love doth tend to that good alone which makes us partakers of Gods glory for it aimes at the reall perception of Gods kindnesse of his mercy of his truth of his faithfulnesse and of all his goodnesse towards us that all may find it and in the covenant of Grace through Iesus Christ embrace it for this is that glory whereinto Christ did receive us As for the way of seeking and imparting this good unto others we see by Christs example a most excellent property of this love that it doth humble and deny it selfe and forsakes its own interests and conveniencies for the good of others and that even to the utmost For Christ through his love to us though he was in the form of God and thought it no robbery to be equall with God yet made himselfe of no reputation but took the shape of a Servant upon him and became obedient even unto death and laid down his life for us Whence it is also that we are exhorted by the Apostles to have the same mind wich was in Christ Jesus Phil 2. 7. And to lay down our lives for the Brethren 1 John 3. 16. We see then that the naturall properties and proper acts of Christian love tend wholly to engage the heart first to a perfect obedience unto the will of God in all things and then particularly to obey his will in this That we should procure the good of our neighbour even as Jesus Christ did procure for us that which was our good Thus then through love to him to doe to others that which he did to us is the true Being of Christian love Of the duty of Righteousnesse by it selfe As for the nature and proper acts of Righteousnesse all do know First that nothing can be accounted right in Christianity which is not conformable to a Rule Secondly that no such Rule can be accounted absolutely good straight and perfect but Gods will Rom. 12. 2. Thirdly that this Will is revealed in his Word And fourthly that this Will and Word are the way of holinesse wherein we ought to walke with God for without holinesse no man shall see his face Heb. 12. 14. 1 John 4 16. The proper act of righteousnesse therefore is the straightnesse of our will in subordination unto Gods will to walk with him Now as God is Love and he that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God and God in him so it followeth that he that walketh in love walketh with God and God with him Whence it is that the whole Law is fulfilled in the duty of love because all the straightnesse of the spirit of man is the integrity of his love in subordination to the will of God So that as the law of love is found to be the main principle of righteousnesse so all the acts of righteousnesse are nothing else but the fulfilling of this law Whence it is that the proportion which is the measure of the straightnesse of all actions between Man and Man is taken from the naturall principle of love which every one hath to himselfe for by the law we are commanded to love our neighbour as our selves Levit. 19. 18. Matth. 22. 39. And Christ makes the Rule plainer to us when he saith that all things whatsoever we would that men should doe to us we should even likewise doe unto them for this is the Law and the Prophets Matth. 7. 12. And according to this Rule God shall right all things that are out of frame for with what measure we mete unto others it shall be measured unto us again Matth. 7. 2. Now the cause why Love is the root of Righteousnesse is because it engageth the affection to be harmlesse and to pay willingly unto others all things which are due unto them for their good Whence it is also cleare that hatred is the root of all unrighteousnesse because it engageth the affection to the quite contrary motions Now as Righteousnesse is the daughter of Love so it is the mother of Peaceablenesse for by giving to every one his due contentednesse is begotten which preventeth the cause of strife and maintaineth peace So then the end of Righteousnesse is to direct our way to live with God by the uprightnesse of our spirit and actions in conformity to his will As concerning Peaceablenesse the nature and property of it is inwardly that quiet and meek disposition of the mind which is of great price in the sight of God and outwardly that sweetnes 1 Pet. 3. 4. and gentlenes of the carriage towards men which neither taketh nor giveth occasion of offences Of the duty of Peaceablenes The end of Peaceablenesse is to maintain increase and restore the joy which commeth from the enjoyment the augmentation and recovery of that which is good appertaining to us in the way of righteousnes And to gain this end two things are in the life of Christianity to be observed namely what the proper acts of Peaceablenes are in our selves and towards others and whence the disposition of the soul which doth beget them is begotten in us The proper acts of Peaceablenes in our selves are to study to be quiet 1 Thess 4. 11. not to mind high things but to condescend to things of low degree Rom. 12. 16. for of Pride cometh nothing but contention Prov. 13. 10. and to behave and quiet our selves as a child that is weaned from his mother Psa 131. that is to wean our soules from the lusts of the flesh for warres and fightings come from nothing else but from our lusts that warre in our members Jam. 4. 1. if therefore we have Salt within our selves to mortifie these lusts we shall be able to have Peace one with another as Christ commands us Mark 9. 50. The acts of Peaceablenesse towards others are in respect of all men to shew all meeknesse unto all men Tit. 3. 2. in respect of those that are of a quiet disposition to be of the same minde towards them Rom. 12. 16. endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit with them in the bond of Peace Eph. 4. 3.
meaning in prescribing these Duties nor my scope in pressing the practise thereof as a cure to our spirituall distempers but the Apostles meaning and my scope is to shew that by these performances some new qualifications of the soul alterations of the frame of the Spirit are wrought in believers to fit them to the enjoyment of that which doth actually free them from all guilt both in Gods account and in their own Conscience For by these meanes our souls are qualified to become susceptible of the Grace which Christ hath purchased for us for whose sake alone we are delivered from the guilt of wrath in the Fathers account and the frame of our spirit is altered to inable us to perceive the remission of the guilt by the testimony of the Spirit of Adoption by which we cry Abba Father and finde effectually that God is in Christ reconciling us unto himself and not imputing unto us our sins for his sake I say these acts of Repentance and our performance of the same are necessary meanes to take away the guilt of our sinfullnes not as to the Justice of God for that is Christs work through the Redemption in his blood but as to the qualification and frame of our spirit to make it susceptible and sensible of the Redemption which is in the hand of Christ to be applyed unto every one who by the conviction of his Conscience is drawn over and doth yeeld himself obedient unto God in these duties For as long as we are impenitent and hardened in our way through the over-ruling deceitfulnes of sin we remain under the guilt of wrath and can have no confidence in God through Christ because the Promises are made unto none but unto those that repent and believe in the Gospel but when we change our course or are rather changed in our course upon the change of our minde with a new frame of heart towards God then the spirit of bondage which is to fear is removed and the free Spirit of Christ which testifieth unto our spirit our Adoption is given to us for till this be done the spirit of bondage doth stand with a flaming Sword between us and the way of the tree of life in Paradise that is between our soul and the Covenant of life in Christ by the Peace of a good Conscience Now the flaming Sword standing between us and the way to this tree is the evidence of Gods wrath as it is due to sin and of our owne guilt as we are liable to wrath and under sin it is then in this sense and by the dispensation of the grace of Repentance to this effect that the guilt is taken away and rest is given to the wearied soul The Remedy of the punishment of sinfulnes The fourth and last Duty doth tend to a full restitution of our estate by the enjoyment of al things pertaining unto life godlines that we may attaine to the glory and vertue whereunto we are called by the profession of the Gospel And to come to this the Apostle doth shew that our way is to humble our selves in the sight of God which if we do the promise is that he will lift us up To humble our selves is to esteem meanly of our selves and to behave our selves as such as are low and mean in their own sense To humble our selves in the sight of God is in respect of God reflecting upon our selves to acknowledge our selves to be nothing at all and as to other men the least of all To be lift up by God is to be made something by his Grace for to the humble the Lord doth give Grace saith the Apostle ver 6. And those that humble themselves have a promise here that they shall be lift up If we see our want of Vertue and are sensible of it in the presence of God he will graciously supply our wants and exalt us to find what we are in him Now God doth lift up men from a low to a higher condition of Grace in three respects In respect of himself in respect of publick employments and in respect of other men 1. In respect of himself he lifts us up when he admits us unto a higher degree of favour and love with himself which is done by manifesting unto us the Love of Christ and making us sensible of his life For thereby he strengthens us with might in the inward man that we may have more and more Communion with him and he with us in Christ till we be filled with all the fulnes of God Eph. 3. 19. 2. In respect of publick employments he lifts us up when he sets our spirits upon the things that are most excellent to discerne and to affect them when he gives endowments sufficient to go about them and when he makes the undertakings glorious to himself and succesfull to the comfort of his Saints 3. In respect of other men he sets us up when he gives us a due place of love and esteeme in the thoughts of the best of them and makes his vertues by us manifest in the sight of all the rest so that they cannot but see his glory These favours are attainable at Gods hand but the way to attaine them is to become lowly as in the sight of God that is as looking upon God and minding our subordination unto him in all things we should unfeinedly esteeme our selves as of our selves to be nothing whether we reflect upon our state in Grace with reference unto God or upon our undertakings amongst men or upon our abilities to performe the same For in these three things our spirituall naturall pride doth commonly break forth and if herein we receive Grace truly to deny our selves in Gods sight and to be nothing in our selves the promise is that we shall be lift up here then the rule of humility is to be observed As concerning our state in Grace the Rule of Humility is That none think of himself more highly then he ought to think but should think soberly according as God hath dealt to every one the measure of Faith Rom. 12. 3. Now to live by Faith is to live by the Truth of God in his Word Concerning our abilities in reference to our selves the Rule of Humility is Be not wise in your own conceits Rom. 12. 16. and again Let no man glory in men 1 Cor. 3. 21. and concerning our undertakings in reference to men the Rule is Minde not high things but condescend to men of low estate Rom. 12. 16. And such as exercise themselves to walk by these Rules with reverence and godly fear as in the presence of God shall in due time be exalted by him unto the enjoyment of that glory and vertue whereunto they are called and appointed to come Who they are that should apply this cure to the spirit of Envy And what failing there is in the application This is the Cure which the Spirit of God doth offer to be applyed unto the spirit of envy that it
whom should all such evills be imputed Must they not fall to the account of those that do provoke them to the causes thereof and have no thought of mutuall compassion and tendernesse to heale one anothers infirmities Must they not be laid to the charge of those who rather than not to oppose the powers that are over them will renounce the practise of the best and most solemn duties of Christianity onely to shew their disaffecrion unto them Surely it cannot be expected that the obstinate opposition to all orderly courses whereupon all common safety is grounded can be of long continuance without some great Judgement nor that the Supreme powers of any State in the world will suffer themselves alwaies to be openly despised though they may bear it for a while and opposed in things undeniable just and equitable by those that are wholly under their power We may see therefore that in end this can produce nothing but the fruits of bitternesse and grief and where no healing of grievances is at all aimed at but a direct turning of the lame in all things out of the way there all manner of confusion with irreconciliable war and hatred must needs break forth in the minds of a people The Duty of Peaceablenesse with all men Therefore to take away these evils which unavoidably will follow the neglect of this third Duty the Apostle doth adde further two duties which are joint in the Cure but in the application distinctly make up the fourth and fifth part of the Remedy of these publick evils The fourth Duty is to follow Peace with all men And the fifth is to follow in like manner with all men Holinesse without which no man shall see the Lord. Let us briefly see what these things mean To follow Peace is to mind intend and do all things which may procure and keep between our selves and others mutuall quietnesse from hurtfull thoughts and attempts that the Christian good will of being helpefull to each other against common Rom. 12. 18. miseries may not be utterly lost and obstructed amongst us Now this is an endeavour which Christians are bound unalterably to maintain towards all men if it be possible so farre as in them lieth even as Christ Jesus the Prince of Peace did maintaine it towards sinners in the midst of their greatest opposition Matth. 12. 19. 20. and contradiction against himself For in that it is said of him that he did not strive nor cry nor caused any man to heare his voice in the streets his quietnesse is commended and when it is said that the bruised reed he did not breake nor did he quench the smoaking flax his harmlesnesse is set forth and when it is added that by this meanes He should bring forth judgement unto victory and that the Gentiles should trust in his Name His helpfulnesse unto all mankind against their common miseries is declared as the true end and proper effect of that peaceable behaviour This then is the example by which all men but especially the Ministers of the Gospel should walk before others towards every one And if the thoughts of Peace should be thus extended unto all and chiefly by Ministers How will it be warrantable for any or in any respect for these to exclude the powers under which we are set from the same and that by an aime to strive against them in all things though they be things in themselves and for the publick never so good and usefull Christianity doth set a rule to the spirits of men Now if the frame of mens spirits be wholly bent to strive against and oppose some nen in particular continually How will they clear themselves before God whose command is that they should follow Peace with all men ingenerall and that if it be possible as much as in them lieth that is at all times and upon occasions whensoever they have to do with them And because wheresoever the thoughts of Peace and good James 3. 19. will prevaile not but envying and strife rather take place there is alwaies confusion and every evill work which defile the hearts and hands of men before God The Duty of following Holines with all men Therefore unto the endeavours of Peace in respect of men the Apostle doth adde the care of Holinesse in respect of God for this Duty must be made Mark 9. 50. the ground of that else it will never be intended to any good purpose and effectuall Christ saith Have Salt in your selves and have Peace one with another Salt is the grace of the Spirit resisting the corruption of the flesh whereby we are defiled in our selves and pollute one another through the passions of our lust But if the inherent defilements be first clensed by the Spirit of Holinesse then the lusts which in our members beget War with others will certainly cease because the Apostle saith thus We were sometimes foolish disobedient living in malice and envy hatefull aud hating one another but after that the kindnes of God appeared he saved us by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the HolyGhost Tit. 3. 5. and elsewhere thus Theeves Covetous Revilers Extortioners such were some of you but ye are washed but ye are sanctified by the Spirit of our God 1 Cor. 6. 10. 12. It is then the Spirit of sanctification which cleanseth this corruption at the root whence it appears that the Reason why men do not seek Peace and follow after it with all men is because they want Holinesse and seek not after it that is they set not their hearts aright to take hold of Grace whereby they may serve God acceptably with Heb. 2. 28. reverence and godly fear For if this Grace as it is offered were apprehended and in the holinesse of the Spirit of our God his service were above all things heartily set upon and followed it is evident that the spirit of strife would be quenched and the unrighteous motions thereof cease because the promise is made to such as are under grace that sin shall not have dominion over them Rom. 6. 14. Now those are under grace who by faith in the promise of grace walk with God under his ordinances over such sin shall not have dominion neither continually nor against their will because it is said that when we are made free from sin which is done whensoever we take hold of Christ by faith in his blood we become servants Rom. 6. 22. unto God and have our fruit unto holinesse And where-ever this fruit doth grow up effectually there the fruit of malice and hatred will never break forth unto wickednesse For the naturall property of Holinesse as it is originally in God and from him derived unto us doth put an extreme distance between the desires of Saints and those inclinations which beget strife in other men For in God originall Holinesse is a property of his eternall being by which we conceive him to be most gloriously pure in himself and
exalted above all creatures and imaginable qualities infinitely and unconceiveably beautifull in all perfections so that in him and in all his wayes there is hath been and shall be nothing but pure and perfect goodnesse for ever and ever without any shadow of turning This property of the Divine Nature we are made partaker of by Christ for of his fulnesse we receive all and grace for grace and in him the 1 Pet. 1. 15 16 Father doth call upon us to be holy as he is holy Holinesse then in us is the conformity of our spirit and state unto God in this property of his nature whereby we become pure and undefiled set a part unto him from all uncleannesse and exalted above the causes of disorder and lustfulnesse in the creatures that we may have communion with him for without this conformity unto him in his nature there can be no fellowship between him and us for what communion hath purity with uncleannesse or light with darknesse for which cause also the Apostle addes this doctrinall clause to his exhortation that without holinesse no man shall see God both to stir us up the more to follow after it as that which is so absolutely necessarie for our salvation that the want thereof doth inevitably threaten a separation between God and us for ever And also to intimate an implyed promise that if we follow holinesse with all men we shall be made fit to see God as well in his works here in time towards all men as in himself face to face hereafter for ever It is evident then by this that the following of Holines with all men doth make us peaceable towards all men because it takes us off from the occasions of carnall strife and unites us unto God in the puritie of the Divine nature but where the heart is not cleansed and made above all things carefull in serving God acceptably to walk in the sphere of a pure life above the defilements of creature concernments there it cannot attain to a peaceable disposition neither within it self nor towards others And without scruple we may conclude thus that wheresoever men are not raised unto that universall peaceablenesse of spirit which is here required there they come also far short of the duty of Holinesse which is here recommended unto them Let therefore no men deceive themselves and lye against the Truth whosoever do take up a resolution rather to strive and contest with some men about the affairs of this world for their own sake then to follow Peace and Holinesse with all men for Gods sake are not in a case to see God or to serve him acceptably in all things because the passion of lust for themselves which is the cause of all strife between them and others is inconsistent with that reverence and fear which is requisite to serve him acceptably The Negative Duties How to prevent failing of the grace of God and the springing up of the roots of bitternesse Thus we see what the Positive Rules whereby our disorders and distempers may be cured are and how they depend one upon another Concerning the Negative Duties which follow I shall be very brief for if these former be carefully observed there will be no difficulty in the practise of the latter but with ease and safetie they will fall in of themselves For he that followeth holinesse with all men must needs follow it by the Truth which is the ground of that performance Now the Truth which doth beget Holinesse in all those that are sanctified is the Grace of God which hath appeared and bringeth salvation unto all men teaching us to deny ungodlinesse and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in tgis present world looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works The truth of this Doctrine is the Grace which bringeth salvation unto all men and this it doth by teaching them the way to true holinesse in and by Christ Jesus he then that doth follow this namely Holinesse with all men must needs look after that namely Truth in every one lest any fail of it for if the knowledge of this saving Truth should fail and be cast off by any as then he will be taken off from the way of Holinesse so he will be set to follow the imaginations of his own heart which can send forth nothing but seeds of corruption which will beget roots of bitternesse whereby many will be defiled The way therefore to prevent the growing up of these roots is to keep the heart possest with these principles of saving knowledge which are the fundamentals of all Gospel faith and hope for Grace and to do this there is none other direct means but to hold forth the testimony of Jesus so as to commend the truth thereof to the conscience of all men in the sight of God which is done by manifesting the light of life which is in Christ with sound speech that cannot be condemned that he who is of the contrary party may be ashamed having no evill thing to say of us or of our testimony Whence I shall infer this that the way to maintain Religion by the shaken reed of meer humane authority and to beat down the errors of the minde with the club-club-law of corporall punishments which some have endeavoured to do is no part of Gods counsell for that which hath upheld and will uphold the Truth of Religion without yea and against all the might of the world is nothing else but the evidence and the demonstration of the spirit and power and that which hath beaten down and will beat down heresies and errors is nothing else but the armour of Righteousnesse on the right hand and on the left by which all the imaginations of men and strong holds of Satan in them are cast down and every thought is brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ The method then both to prevent and to correct errors is this that we should take care that the faithful word which hath been taught and as it hath been taught by the Apostles and Prophets be held fast and held forth that by the sound doctrine thereof we may be inabled both to exhort those that stand in the Truth that they take heed lest they fall from it and to convince the gainsayers whose mouthes must be stopped by religious dealing and rationall conferences with them If then we should apply our selves to dig up the roots of bitternesse which are sprung up amongst us for to prevent the rising of them is too late we see that the way to be taken is this that on the one hand Catechetecall Truths should be fundamentally taught and according to the form of sound words enlarged upon and opened and on the other hand orderly conferences should be set afoot and