should be meane where the Church which is Gods House is let lye so basely For he that hewed Timber afore out of the thicke Trees was known to bring it to an excellent worke but now they have beaten downe all the carved worke thereof with Axes and Hammers Psal 74. So that now I doubt we must vary the Prayer from Sit pax to Sint muri not presume to pray there may be peace and plenty within the Walls but that the very walls themselves may stand But yet I will doe the People right too For as many of them are guilty of inexcusable sinne both by cunning and by violent sacrilege so are too many of us Priests guilty of other as great sinnes as sacrilege can bee for which no doubt we and our possessions lye open to the waste It must needs be so For the hand of sacrilege it selfe though borne a Theefe could never touch Palatia Ecclesiae the Palaces of the Church as long as God kept the wall of it But while our sins make God out of Peace with the Walles while he is at Diruam I will breake the wall thereof Esay 5. it is in vaine to shift off by humane policies for the Palaces cannot stand Sixthly I may not omit that while the Prophet prayes here for the State and the Church and them that pray for both yet his expression is not Pro orantibus but Pro diligentibus not for them that pray for it but for them that love it Let them prosper that love it and wish it good So the prayer as Euthym observes did not comprehend the Jewes onely but as many of other nations too as were Diligentes lovers of Jerusalem And indeede these two to love and to pray for the State and the Church make one in my Text For no man can pray heartily for them but hee that loves them And no man that truly loves them can abstaine from praying for them and the peace of them This is certaine neither love nor prayer can stand with practising against either nor with spoile and rapine upon either Nor is Diligentibus te that love thee an idle or an empty specification in the prayer of the King For as Jerusalem had so hath every State and every Church some false members whose hearts are nearer the enemy than Jerusalem Therefore sit Pax sed diligentibus let there be peace but to them that love thee But if any man have a false heart to Jerusalem let him have no portion in the prosperitie of it Thus you see the Prophets care is for Jerusalem For this State and Church he would have you pray In this prayer he would have you beg for Peace That which he would have others doe he doth himselfe He prayes both for Ierusalem and for them that pray for it That which he also prayes for is peace and prosperity This peace he would have in the Walls and this prosperity in the Palaces From thence he knowes it will diffuse it selfe to meaner houses Yet it seems by the way that that ceremoniall Church had both Walls and Palaces And last of all that this Peace this Prosperity might be the reward onely Diligentium of such as love both State and Church And now there is a little behind For my Text is an Exhortation and preacheth it selfe Rogate Pacem pray for the Peace of Ierusalem Pray for it Why it seemes strange to me that any age should be weary of Peace or need an exhortation to pray for it either in Church or Common-wealth Yet the age in which David lived was such For though the instant time of the composure of this Psame was a time of Peace yet it was but a time picked out in an age that loved not Peace David tells us so himselfe a little before my Text Psal 120. My soule hath long dwelt among them that are enemies unto Peace I labour for Peace but when I speake unto them thereof thy make them ready to battel So there he speakes for peace And in my text he exhorts to pray for Peace And after that himselfe prayes for peace And all this is little enough among them that love not peace Howbeit take this with you They beare not the best mindes Cases of necessity and honourable safety alwayes excepted that desire the waters either of the Church or the Common-wealth should runne troubled that they may have the better fishing And the Historian sets his brand upon them Who are they whom peace cannot please Who Why Quibus pessima est immodica cupiditas They whose desires are worse than naught in their Object and void of all moderation in their pursute This I am sure of since David at the placing of the Arke exhorts all sorts of men Rogare pacem to pray for the peace of Ierusalem he did not intend to leave out the Priest whom it concernes most to preach peace to the people neither the High-Priest nor the rest but they should be most forward in this duty This for the Priesthood then And Christ himselfe when he sent out the Seventy to preach gave them in charge to begin at every house in which they entred with Peace Peace be to this house S. Luk. 10. And he that preacheth not peace or labours not for it must confesse one of these two Namely that he thinkes David was deceived while he calls to pray for peace Or that himselfe is disobedient to his call Calvin is of opinion that he which will order his prayers right must begin not with himselfe but at Dominus Ecclesiae corpus conservet That the Lord would preserve the Body of his Church It is just with the Prophet Peace for Ierusalem For if any man be so addicted to his private that he neglect the common State he is voyd of the sense of piety and wisheth Peace and happinesse to himselfe in vaine For whoever he be he must live in the Body of the Common-wealth and in the Body of the Church and if their joynts be out and in trouble how can he hope to live in Peace This is just as much as if the exterior parts of the body should think they might live healthfull though the stomack be full of sick and swoln humours To conclude then God hath blessed this State and Church with many happy yeers of Peace and plenty To have had peace without plenty had been but a secure possession of misery To have had plenty if it were possible without peace had been a most uncertaine possession of that which men call happinesse without enjoying it To have had both these without truth in Religion and the Churches peace had been to want the true use of both Now to be weary of peace especially peace in Truth is to slight God that hath given us the blessing And to abuse peace and plenty to Luxurie and other sins is to contemn the blessing it selfe And there is neither of these but will call apace for vengeance
Blessing to his People and a Common-wealth happy But the matter is not great with them whether it be a true or a false Religion so it be one But they are here in a miserable errour for since they suppose a Religion necessary as they must my Text will turne all the rest upon them that true Religion is most apt and most able to Blesse and Honour both King and People For first Truth is stronger than falsehood and will so prove it selfe wheresoever it is not prevented or abused and therfore it is more able Next true Religion breeds ever true Faith and true Hope in God which no false Religion can therefore it is more apt Then true Hope and Faith have here the promise of God for the Kings joy and the Peoples Blessings even Quia sperat because he trusts whereas the rest have only his permission Therefore it is both both more apt and more able to blesse King and Commonwealth than any false Religion or superstition is or can be It was but a scoffe of Lucian to describe Christians simple and easie to be abused or if any in his time were such the weakenesse of the men must not be charged upon their Religion for Christ himselfe the founder of Religion though he did un-sting the Serpent in all his charge to his Apostles yet he left his vertue uncheck'd nay he commanded that Be innocent but yet as wise as Serpents Mat. 10. 16. And this Wisedome and Prudence is the most absolute vertue for a Common-wealth So that till Christians forsake Christs rule Lucians scoffe takes no hold of them Thirdly Since Quia sperat the Faith and Religion of a King is that which brings God to give him as a Blessing It must not be forgotten that Trust in God is inter fundamenta Regum amidst the very foundations of Kings And spes is quasi pes Hope saith Isidore is the foote and the resting place Now no building can stand if the foundation be digg'd from under it The Buildings are the Blessings of a State A prime foundation of them is the Kings trust in God Take away the truth of this Hope Faith and Religion and I cannot promise the Blessings to stand for then there is never another Quia or cause in the Text to move God to give But if the cause stand as Theodor. and Euthym. here make it all is well And here it were sacrilege for me and no lesse to passe by his Majesty without thankes both to God and Him To Him for Quia sperat because he trusteth for no Prince hath ever kept more firme to Religion And it is sperans in the present in my Text hee continueth it and will continue it And to God for Quia dedit because in mercy hee hath given Him this Blessing so to Trust and by this trust in him to be this and many other Blessings to us And so I come to the last part of my Text which is the happy Successe which David shall have for trusting in the Lord. It is a Reward and Rewards come last And it is That in this trust he shall not slide he shall not miscary And here to make all parts even are three circumstances too The first of these is the Successe or Reward it selfe and it is a great one Non commovebitur He shall not be moved or at least not removed not miscarry And this is a great Successe To have to doe with the greatest moveables in the world the people and not miscarry So that trust in the Lord makes a King in the midst of a mighty people Petram in mari turbido A Rocke in a working Sea Ebbe and slow and swell yet insolent waves dash themselves in pieces of all sides the Rock and the King is at Non commovebitur He shall not be moved Secondly This great Successe doth not attend on Kings for either their wisdome or their power or any thing else that is simply theirs No we must fall back to spes in Domino their trust in the Lord yea and this trust too is not simply upon the Lord but upon his Mercy And indeed to speak properly Man hath no ground of his Hope but Mercy no stay upon the slippery but Mercy For if he looke upon God and consider him in justice If he looke upon himselfe and weigh his soule by merit it is impossible for a man to Hope or in Hope not to miscarry And therefore the Prophet here though he promise non cōmovebitur that the King shall not miscarry yet he dares promise it no where else than In misericordia in Mercy Thirdly I will not omit the Expression whose Mercy it is that gives successe to Princes and that is Altissimi the mercie of the most high which is one of Gods usuall Names in Scripture Now Sperat non commovebitur The Kings Hope and his Successe doe both meete in the Highest mercy It is true Hope stands below and out of sight For Hope that is seene is no hope Rom. 8. yet as low as it stands it contemplates God qua Altissimus as he is at highest And this shewes the strength of this vertue of Hope For as Hope considered in nature is in men that are warme and spirited so is it also considered as a vertue And therefore give it but due footing which is upon Mercy and in the strength of that it will clime to God were it possible he should be Higher than he is The footing of Hope is low therefore it seekes Mercie and the Kings Hope keepes the foote of the hill Rex humili corde sperat So S. August And the best hope begins lowest not at merit but at mercy But then marke how it soars For the same hope that bears the soule of man company upon earth mounts till it comes ad Altissimum to the most High in heaven Now in this Mercy-seate it is observable three Grandies are met together Blessing Joy and Hope and yet there is no strife for precedencie For Blessing goes first Joy comes after for no man so joyfull as hee that is Blessed and then Hope to supply the defects of both because nor Blessings nor Joy can be perfect in this life And they have chosen to themselves an excellent and safe place in the Mercy of the most High An excellent place and all receive vertue from it For that David is able to be a Blessing to the people that he can joy in the Blessing that his Hope can support him through the cares in ordering the blessing ere he can come to the joy all is frō Mercy And a safe place it is For there are in all times and in all States Conatus impiorum endeavours of wicked men and the labour of these is to turne Blessing it selfe into a curse To overcloud joy with sorrow at least if not Desolation To crush Hope or rather Decollare to behead it No place safe from these attempts but that which is high
challengeth us for breach of this peace in our separation from them But we say and justly the breach was theirs by their separation not onely from disputable but from evident truth Nor are we fallers out of the Church but they fallers off from verity Let them returne to primitive truth and our quarrell is ended In the meane time it is possibile in nobis both possible and in us to pray that God would in his time fill the Church with truth first and then with peace Now rogate pacem pray for peace is a very full circumstance in the Text I cannot leave it yet For when I consider that he that calls so earnestly for peace is David it fills me with wonder For David was a sword-man with a witnesse One of the greatest warriers that ever was 2 Sam. 7. and most victorious Nay though God had anoynted him before to the Kingdome yet the meanes which first made him known to Saul and afterwards famous in Israel was first his conquest of Goliah 1. Reg. 17. and then his sword against the Philistims Therefore if David be come in upon rogate pacem pray for Peace it cannot be accounted onely the Gowne-mans or the weak mans prayer but it is the wise and the stout mans too for David was both And certainly it is not cowardize to pray for peace nor courage to call for troubles That is the spirit of David that can sing before the Arke of God rogate pacem pray for peace But if the Philistims will disturbe Gods peace and his then and not before he will dye them in their owne blood And Rogate pacem pray for peace looks yet another way upon Davids person For at the first David was King onely over the Tribe of Judah where he reigned seven yeeres and six moneths 2 Sam. 5. The other eleven Tribes followed Ishbosheth the sonne of Saul 2 Sam. 2. But he did not compose this Psalme till the carrying of the Arke to Jerusalem at which time he was King over all both Israel and Judah So Rogate pacem pray for peace was not Davids counsell onely when his Territories were lesse Judah and Hebron but after the great accesse of the eleven Tribes too when he was strong when God had divided his enemies before him even as water is divided asunder as himselfe praiseth God and confesseth 2 Sam. 5. And therefore either Davids example is not worth the following or else a King in honour and a King in plenty and a King that hath added Jerusalem to Hebron eleven Tribes to one may make it his high honour Rogare pacem Jerusalem to pray to God and perswade with men for the peace of Christendome And David had good reason to bee at Rogate pacem pray for peace For though hee scarce tooke any warre in hand but with Gods approbation and against Gods enemies yet we finde 1 Chron. 22. that his Battels and his Blood were the cause why God would not suffer him to build his Temple He might sing before the Ark he might serve him in the Tabernacle but no Temple would he have built by hands in blood Solomons hands Hands of peace must doe that What is the reason What Why it may be it is because when the blood and spirits of a man are heated be the Warre never so just yet to say no more aliquid humani intervenit some heated passion strikes where and as it should not And as Saint James hath it The wrath of man doth not accomplish the righteousnesse of God And the Historian tells us they are not a few that are guilty to themselves parum innocenter exactae militiae Againe I cannot bee so unthankfull to God and my Text but that I must fit one circumstance more to Rogate pacem pray for peace And it is Pray for it this day Why this day Why Why David brought up the Arke with this Psalme and would have built the Temple But Gods answer to him was No But behold a sonne is borne unto thee which shall be a man of peace for I will give him rest from all his enemies round about therefore his name is Salomon and I will send peace and quietnesse upon Israel in his dayes 1 Chron. 22. And had not David then great reason to call upon his people even all of all sorts to pray for that Peace which God would give by Salomon And surely we have a Jerusalem a State and a Church to pray for as well as they And this day was our Salomon the very Peace of our Jerusalem borne And though hee were not borne among us yet hee was borne to us and for the good and well-fare of both State and Church And can yee doe other than Rogare pacem pray for peace in the day nay Nativity the very birth-day of both Peace and the Peace-maker Certainly so unnaturall to your Prince so unthankfull to God you cannot be I will leade you the way to pray for Him his Honour and his Peace That this day may returne often and crowne many and happy and blessed yeeres upon him I had now done with Rogate pacem pray for peace but that Jerusalem is come againe in my way But it is a strange Jerusalem Not the old one which is literall in my Text for which David would have prayers nor that which succeeded it Jerusalem of Iew and Gentile converted for which we must pray But a Ierusalem of gold and precious stones as is described Apoc. 21. which shall be bnilt for them againe upon earth in greater gloy than ever it was And this Jerusalem upon earth is that which is called the Heavenly Jerusalem Heb. 12. 22. And the new Jerusalem Apoc. 21. 2 10. So it is not now sufficient that the Jewes shall be in Gods good time converted to the faith of Christ as the Apostle delivers it Rom. 11. But these converted Jewes must meet out of all Nations the ten Tribes as well as the rest and become a distinct and a most flourisbing Nation againe in Jerusalem And all the Kings of the Gentiles shall doe homage to their King Good God what a fine people have we here Men in the Moone I will not trouble you with any long discourse wherein this errour with or parts from the Chiliasts nor is it worth any settled confutation Onely I cannot desire you Rogare pacem to pray for any peace to this Jerusalem It was an old error of the Jewes which denyed Christ come that when their Messias did come they should have a most glorious temporall Kingdome and who but they I cannot say the Author of this vanitie denies Christ come God forbid But this I must say that many places of the old Testament which concerne the Resurrection from the dead and which looke upon Christ in his first or second comming are impiously applyed to this returne of the Jewes which saith he is to them as a Resurrection from the dead And
to right who ever doe not Shall not the Iudge of all the world doe right Yes no question And therefore even Kings themselves and all mighty men of the Earth and Iudges of all sorts have need to looke to their wayes For God is over them with Ego judicabo I will one day call for an accompt I will judge all the Executions of Iustice with which I have trusted them And this is the first Prevention of the melting of a Kingdome the first Remedy when it begins to melt The maintenance and Execution of justice The Second followes and it is the establishing of the Pillars of the Earth I beare up the Pillars of it I saith God and I saith the King Where first it is not amisse to consider what these great Pillars of the earth are The Earth it selfe that hath but one Pillar and that is the poize and aequilibre of the Center And that is borne up by the Word and Ordinance of God Thou commandedst and it stood fast And saith S. Ambrose it needs no other thing to stay it The kingdomes of the Earth they have more Pillars than one This one which is Gods ordinance for Government they have but they have divers Administratours of this ordinance And these Pillars are Kings and Peeres and Judges and Magistrates Not one of these under the nature of a Pillar not one but yet with a great deale of difference For though there be many Pillars yet there is but Vnus Rex one King one great and Center-pillar and all the rest in a kingdome doe but beare up under and about him The Church that is not without Pillars neither No God forbid And it resembles in this the kingdomes among which it sojournes The great Master-pillar Christ he is the Foundation of all the rest and other foundation can no man lay of the Church Next to Christ the Apostles the Disciples are Pillars too and so called Gal. 2. After these their Successours Bishops Priests the Fathers of the Church in their several ages they came to be Pillars and so shall successively continue to the end of the world And so soone as Emperours and Kings were converted to the Faith they presently came into the nature of Pillars to the Church too If any man doubt this truth I le call in the Pope himselfe to witnesse it There are two great Props or Pillars of the Church saith Leo the Kings authority and the Priests both these and the Pope was content then to put the Kings first And Kings saith Saint Augustine are indeed great Pillars of the Church especially if they use their power ad cultum Dei dilatandum to enlarge and support the true religious worship of God You have seene what these Pillars are Will you consider next what they have to doe both in Church and Common-wealth The office of a Pillar is knowne well enough what it is 'T is sustinere to prop and beare up the Earth Quantum est columnarum nihil sustinentium sed in ornamentum tantum I know in luxurient buildings many Pillars stand onely for ornament but beare no weight It is not so with Pillars that are crown'd Honour and ornament they have and they deserve it but they are loaded too Kingdoms and States the greatest the strongest in the world are as mouldring earth as men Juda at this time was Terra liquefacta like a dissolving Body They cannot stand sine Columnis without their pillars to beare them And therefore the King hath ever been accounted and truly columna stare faciens terram the maine pillar and stay of the State And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the King is the pillar the foundation of the people So S. Gregory for he bears subjectorum suorum onera not onely his subjects but their burdens too The office then of the Pillars is to beare but when is there use of them When why continually they can be spared at no time if they leave bearing the State melts presently We reade it foure times repeated in Scripture but upon two great occasions onely Idolatry and Abominable lust that there was no King in Israel Judg. 17. and 19. no King And still there followed a melting and a dissolving of the State Every man did what seem'd good in his owne eyes and the punishment was great At this time David was King of Juda and Ishbosheth would be King of Israel Joab was for the one and Abner with the other The Pillars here in stead of bearing fell a justling What followed Why you see Liquefacta est terra that kingdome melted The Pillars then can never be spared from their worke continuall use of them but yet at one time more need than another And the time of the greatest necessity of these Pillars is when there is any Liquefaction or weakening of the Earth And that is in the Text the Earth dissolving and then by and by recourse to the Pillars To the Pillars and therefore they which weaken the government nay which doe but offer to impaire the honour and reputation of the Governours are dangerous and unworthie members of any Common-wealth For to murmure and make the people beleeve there are I know not what cracks and flawes in the Pillars to disesteeme their strength to undervalue their bearing is to trouble the Earth and Inhabitants of it To make the people feare a melting where there 's none And what office that is you all know Continuall use there is then of the Pillars But what then Can the Pillars beare up the earth in a melting time by their owne strength No sure that they cannot not at any time and therefore least at a melting time But what then Why then here 's Ego and Ego I beare up the Pillars that are about me saith David and I saith God beare up both these and David too And indeed all Pillars are too weake if they be left to themselves There must be one to beare them or else they can never beare the Earth One and it can be none under God Ego confirmavi 't is I that in all times have borne up the Pillars of it And it is per me by me saith God Prov. 8. that Kings reigne And per me by me is not onely by Gods ordination once set and then no more but by his preservation and his supportation too And as S. Augustine observes Quid essent ipsae columnae What could the Pillars themselves doe if they were not borne up by God But when it once comes to Ego confirmavi I beare up the Pillars there 's nothing then to be feared Now these of which we speake are not stony or insensible but living and understanding Pillars understanding therefore they feele Onus terrae the burden of the Earth which lyes upon them when the dull earth feeles not it selfe therefore as they feele so are they able to
compare their strength and the burden and the difference of the burden at severall times therefore while they compare they are sensible of the difference betweene supporting of earth and Terrae liquefactae dissolved or dissolving the earth For this latter is heavier a great deale therefore in the difference they can tell where they are likeliest to shrinke under the burden if God come not in to beare them up And in all these cases and many more the Pillars of the earth must goe to God as fast as the Inhabitants of the earth come to them They must pray for themselves And the Church and the people must pray for them too And the cloze of the prayers must still bee that God would beare up the Pillars that they may be able to beare up the earth And for the honour of Kings and their great assistants marke it God doth not say here I beare up the Earth and the Inhabitants of it though he doth that too and they cannot subsist without him but as if he had quite put them over to the King and the great Governours under him he saith I bear up the pillars and then I look and will require of them that they beare up the State and the people Let me speake a little boldly saith Gr. Naz. Shew your selves gods to your Subjects gods and no lesse Gods why then you must doe Gods worke And Gods work ever since the Creation is to preserve and beare up the world Therefore as God beares up you so you must beare up the Earth and the people God reteins his own power over you but he hath given you his owne power over them Rom. 13. His own power and that is to beare up the people at home and in all just quarrels to force enemies abroad And in all this 't is Gods power still but yet he will exercise it by the Pillars Therefore in the first great leading of his people himselfe went before them in the forme of a pillar Exod. 13. And when he smote the armie of Egypt he looked out of the pillar while he strook it Exod. 14. And because this was an extraordinary pillar and therefore can be no principle for ordinary conclusions Hee makes Moses which was the ordinary pillar not beare onely but strike too He must stretch out his hand upon the Sea Exod. 14. Now this great worke of God in supporting the pillars Kings and mighty Potentates of the Earth is so manifest that no reason can be brought to deny it First in that the wisest and mightiest Kings that ever were have been in their severall times most religious Secondly in that even those kings and great men under them which have not accounted God their strength have yet thought it necessary to beare the world in hand that they did relye upon God to beare them up And this is a full proofe that this principle is naturally printed in the heart of man that God is Basis Columnarum the foundation of the pillars Thirdly in that very many times weaker Governours both for wisdome and courage doe prosper and performe greater workes than some which in themselves had farre greater abilities and a more provident counsell about them A famous instance of this is Pope Julius 2. To ascribe this to Fortune onely worldly wisdome it selfe would condemne for folly To give it to Destinie is to bind up God in chaines unworthy for men For worldly wisdome knows this that God in his workes ad extra must be most free or no God To worldly wisdome it selfe it cannot be ascribed For she hath openly disclaimed many of their Actions which have prospered best Therefore of necessitie it must be ascribed to Gods blessing and protecting them And certainly there 's no true reason can be given of it but this First Ego confirmo I establish and beare up the Pillars For so long the world cannot shake them And secondly Ego apto I make fit the Pillars as Tremel reades it for so long they beare even above their strength And out of doubt there is very much in the fitting of the Pillars 'T is not the great massinesse of a Pillar but the cleane and true working of him that makes him beare the fitting of him in time and to his place And here as for many other so especially for two things we have great cause to blesse and magnifie God First that since he would remove our Royall Pillar which had stood now under the weight of this Government full 22. yeeres yet he would not doe it till he had prepared another and brought him to full strength to beare up this Kingdome to Gods great honour and his owne Secondly that by Gods great blessing and his Royall Fathers prudent education he is and was from the first houre confirmata Columna an established and a setled Pillar And I make no question but aptata Columna too A Pillar every way fitted to the State he beares fitted to the difficulties of the time fitted to the State and fitted to the Church Now the Church no question for the externall support of it hath need great need of Temporall Pillars too At this time a great Pillar of this Church is falne and doubtlesse a great part of the edifice had falne with it if God had not made supply of another and a very able Pillar I finde Gen. 28. that there was an Anoynted Pillar that it was anoynted by Jacob. The place was Bethel the house of God In it the Ladder of heaven by which the Angels goe and come But out of doubt this Pillar is here This Pillar not yet anoynted by the hand of the Priest but anointed already to the inheritance and by the blessing of Jacob. The place where Jacob left him behind is the Church of God and he left him a Pillar for so he rested on him and well he might Old Jacob is gone by the Angels way to heaven but he left the Pillar here behind at Bethel for the house of God And all the blessings of Heaven and Earth be upon him all the dayes of his life The Church in all times of her dissensions when schisme and faction have made great Rents in her buildings hath still had recourse to her Pillars to her Civil her Ecclesiasticall Pillars and she goes right For her Pillars must support her or she cannot be borne up This very time is a time of Church division What follows upon it what why the Church is become Terra liquefacta there 's melting almost in every part of it Christendome through melting in all places but not at the same Fire For in one place Truth melts away from the doctrine of the Church In another devotion and good life melt away from the practice of the Church In a third all externall meanes and necessary supply melts away from the maintenance of the Church And but that I know Hell gates cannot prevail against it it melts so fast
be known that due may be performed unto it Now the Cause of God meant here though it be proposed as Causa una one cause yet 't is very large and comprehends many particulars under it Some directly concerne God and some onely by reflex But God is so tender of his Iustice and his Honour that nothing can so much as touch upon him but 't is Gods cause presently In as much as ye have done it or not done it to one of these little ones you have done it or not done it to mee S. Matt. 25. And so goes the Text Gods Cause all and but one whether it be directed against him or reflected upon him Whether it be the Reproach which the Sonne of God suffered for us Or the troubles and afflictions which we suffer for him 't is Gods Cause still and accounted as one As one And yet I finde three things agreed upon to be principally contain'd in this Cause of God First the Magistrate and his Power and Justice And resist either of these and ye resist the power and the ordinance of God Rom. 13. There 's Gods cause plaine And the Eye of nature could see Aliquid Divinum somewhat that was divine in the Governours and Orderers of Common-wealths In their very Office In as much as theyare singled out to be the Ministers of divine Providence upon Earth And are expresly called the Officers of Gods Kingdome Sap. 6. And therefore the Schoole concludes that any the least irreverence of a King as to dispute of his Iudgements And whether we ought to follow and obey him Sacrilegium dicitur is justly extended to be called Sacrilege And since all Sacrilege is a violation of some thing that is holy it is evident that the Office and Person of the King is sacred Sacred and therefore cannot be violated by the Hand Tongue or Heart of any Man that is by deed word or thought But 't is Gods cause and he is violated in him And here Kings may learne if they will I am sure 't is fit they should that those Men which are sacrilegious against God and his Church are for the very Neigbourhood of the sin the likeliest men to offer violence to the Honour of Princes first and their Persons after Secondly the cause of the Church in what kind soever it be Be it in the cause of truth or in the cause of unity or in in the cause of Right and meanes 't is Gods cause too And it must needes be so For Christ and his Church are Head and Body Ephes 1. And therefore they must needs have one common cause One cause And you cannot corrupt the Church in her Truth or persecute her for it nor distract her from her Vnity nor impoverish and abuse her in her Meanes but God suffers in the oppression Nay more no man can wilfully corrupt the Church in her doctrine but he would have a falfe God Nor persecute the profession of the Church but he would have no God Nor rent the Church into Sects but he would have many Gods Nor make the Church base but he would pluck GOD as lowe were God as much in his power as the Church is And therefore the Churches Cause is Gods Cause And as Eusebius tells us when by Stephen Bishop of Laodicea the state of that Church was much hazarded it and the meanes of it were mightily upheld by God himselfe And Elias Cretensis goes full upon it in the generall 'T is Gods cause any controversie that he debates against his Enemies Now this ever holds true in whatsoever the Church suffers for the name of God and Christ And therefore if either State or Church will have their cause Gods the State must looke their proceedings be just and the Church must looke their Devotions and Actions be pious Else if the State be all in worme-wood and Injustice if the Church savour of impurity and irreligion If either of these threaten either Body neither can can call upon God then For sinne is their owne and the Devills cause no cause of Gods who punishes sinne ever but never causes it Thirdly 'T is Gods cause which is directly against himselfe when Injustice that he will not or weaknesse that he cannot Arise and Helpe are most unworthily nay blasphemously cast upon him The very Text you see calls it no lesse than blasphemy And as S. Basil tells us 't was audacter effusa most audaciously cast into the face of God But how I pray How why they persecuted the Church of Christ with great extremities and then because God did not alwayes and in all particulars deliver it Deum ut infirmum traducebant they accused God of Impotencie Rabsaches case before Christ in the flesh Which of the Gods have delivered the Nations that serve them that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem 4 Reg. 18. Pilates case to Christ Have not I power to crucifie thee and power to loose thee S. Joh. 19. Julians case after Christ For while he raged against the Christians hee turn'd the contumely upon God And charg'd omnipotence with weakenesse So you see the Cause of God what it is and withall that it is many and but one Many in the circumference of his creatures which fill up the State and the Church and yet but one in the point of that indivisible Center which is himselfe Well we have found Gods cause as 't is tumbled upon the earth But what is it the Prophet would have God doe to it What Why that followes Iudica Pleade it Judge it Maintaine it Lord. For the King and the State For thy Church and Service For thy selfe and thine honours sake Thou hast made their cause thine owne therefore maintaine it as thou doest thine owne Now this God is never wanting to doe nor never will be So farre as Justice and Religion make the cause his he will Plead it first and Maintaine it after But yet he doth not this alwayes with a Judgement that is visible to us Nor with such a one as will make enemies confesse that Gods maintenance is on our part And therefore as Ruffinus thinkes these words are not onely a Prayer that God would Arise and maintaine his cause but that he would so plead it that he would make the Justice and Right of it appeare to Enemies and Opposers and the maintenance evident to friends and defenders of it So maintaine thy Cause is as much in effect as make the world know 't is thine and thou wilt maintaine it That from Gods maintenance the cause may have lafety And from our hope of maintenance we may receive Comfort Why but why should God plead judge and maintaine his owne Cause Is the Prayer of the Prophet just Yes no question For the Cause of God is ever just and therefore ought ever to be maintained Nor is it any partiality in God to his owne Cause that he comes to judge it But he is forced
How was it in the Citie and the Common-wealth there while How why the Citie was then a very famous Citie in Ionia a part of Asia the lesse At this time subject to the Romane Empire Their Proconsul and other Deputies were over them Acts 19. But Diana was goddesse there and the Citie heathen Ephesus then was Ethnick No Religion but Paganisme avowed by the state And the City was a stranger to the Church that was in it A Stranger and without as the Apostle speakes 1 Cor. 5. Yet such is the force of Christian Religion that as Herod and Jerusalem were troubled when Christ was borne S. Math. 2. So here Demetrius and Ephesus were troubled when the name and Religion of Christ was borne and nursed up among them For the word of God did no sooner grow and prevaile at Ephesus Acts 19. 20. but by and by there arose no small trouble about it ver 23. The City and the State Heathen yet troubled when Religion came in Therefore A City and a State Christian must needes be more troubled when Religion goes out And the ready way to out Religion is to breake the Vnity of it And the breach of the Vnity of Religion will be sure to trouble the City first and hazard the State after For the State whether Pagan or Christian hath ever smarted more or lesse as the Church hath crumbled into Divisions S. Paul I know wrote this Epistle to the Church of Ephesus not the City And hee called for Vnitie bound up in peace for the Churches good without any expresse mention either of City or State Yet he well knew that the good both of the State and the City would follow upon it For Vnity is a binder up And Vnity of Spirit which is religion's unity is the fastest binder that is And lest it should not bind fast enough it calls in the bond of peace So that no man can exhort unto and endeavour for the Vnity of the Church but at the same time he labours for the good of the State And if it were so at Ephesus where the state was Heathen much more must it needs be so where the state is Christian I shall follow my Text therefore both in it selfe and in the Consequent which followes upon it In it selfe and so 't is for the Vnity of the Church And a maine Text it is saith S. Jerome against Heresie and Schisme In the Consequence it hath And so 't is for the Vnity of the State And a full Consequence it is For Vnity not kept in the Church is lesse kept in the State And the Schismes and divisions of the one are both Mothers and Nurses of all disobedience and dis-joynting in the other So the Apostles Exhortation goes on directly to the Church by Consequent to the State And it will behove both Bodies that all the severall members of each Endeavour to keepe the Vnity of the Spirit in the bond of peace The Text hath six particulars For first here 's the thing it selfe to which the Apostle exhorts That 's Vnity Secondly All Unity will not serve the turne It must be the Vnity of the Spirit Thirdly what 's to be done with this Unity It must be kept Fourthly there will be no keeping of it without a strong Endeavour Fiftly this Endeavour to keepe will be to no purpose if it be not in peace And sixtly Peace it selfe cannot hold it long except it be bound up in Vinculo in the strongest bond that peace hath I beginne with that which is the matter of the Apostles Exhortation 'T is Vnity A very charitable tye but better knowne than loved A thing so good that 't is never broken but by the worst men Nay so good it is that the very worst men pretend best when they breake it 'T is so in the Church Never Heretick yet rent her bowels but he pretended that he raked them for truth 'T is so in the State Seldome any unquiet Spirit divides her Union but he pretends some great abuses which his integrity would remedy O that I were made a Iudge in the Land that every man which hath any Controversie might come to me that I might doe him Justice And yet no worse than David was King when this Cunning was used 2 Sam. 15. Vnity then both in Church and Common-Wealth is so good that none but the worst willingly breake it And even they are so farre ashamed of the breach that they must seeme holyer than the rest that they may be thought to have a just cause to breake it Now to be one here whether in Church or Common-wealth is not properly taken as if all were to be shrunke up into one Body But One is taken here saith Paulinus pro multorum unanimitate for the unanimitie and consent of many in one And the Church and Common-wealth take them severally or together they are they can be no otherwise One than Vnione multorum by the uniting and agreeing of many in one And so S. Luke Acts 4. The Church was a multitude of Beleevers sed Cor unum but they lived as if they had had but one heart among them This Vnity then is so One as that it is the Uniting of more than one yet such a uniting of many as that when the Common Faith is endangered the Church appeares for it as One And when the common safety is doubted or the common peace troubled the State appeares for it as One. As Israel was said to be knit together as one man Jud. 20. And indeed when One Man is not more at Vnity in himselfe for his owne defence than the Church and State are for publike defence then both are justly said to be at Vnity You see what Unity is Will you see what hurt follows where t is broken First Fraction makes uneven reckonings And t is hard very hard for a man that breakes Vnity to give either God or man a good account of so doing Hard to give account but that 's not all For if Vnity be broken if a Division be made the parts must be aequall or unaequall If the parts be aequall neither of them hath more than halfe its strength If they be unaequall one hath not so much And that which hath more usually hath more pride and so lesse will to unite And yet for all this pride far weaker it is than when there was Vnity and altogether Nay in breach of Vnity there is not alwaies safety for the greater against the lesse For in that grievous breach in Israel when the Eleven Tribes came out against Benjamin foure hundred thousand strong and their quarrell good yet they fell twice before them Judg. 20. Nay this is not all not any almost of the hurt which followes in either Church or State when discontents have swallowed up their Vnity For the Church Nothing saith S. Chrysostom doth so provoke God to anger as to see divisam Ecclesiam
calls it Concors Odium unity in hatred to persecute the Church And to this worke there 's unity enough Men take counsell together Psal 2. Saint Augustine calls it unitatem contra unitatem a unity against unity when Pagans Jewes and Hereticks or any prophane crew whatsoever make a league against the Churches unity And about that worke that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance that there may be no Church or no reformed Church Gebal and Ammon and Amaleck the Philistims and they that dwell at Tyre are Confederates together Psal 83. S. Hilary will not vouchsafe to call such union unity Indeed It deserves not the name 'T is not unity saith he be it in Church or be it in State but 't is a Combination And hee gives his Reason For unity is in faith and Obedience but Combination is Consortium factionis no other no better the consenting in a faction And all Faction is a Fraction too and an Enemy to unity even while it combines in one For while it combines but a part it destroyes the unity of the whole Is the Spirit in this Out of question No. For a Faction to compasse it's end I will not say when it sees a theefe it consents to him or that it is alwaies partaker with the Adulterers but this it doth It speaks against its owne Brother and slanders its owne Mothers Sonne Psal 50. Can any man call this the unity of the Spirit or is this the way to Unity And now I cannot but wonder what words S. Paul were he now alive would use to call backe Vnity into dismembred Christendome For my part Death were easier to me than it is to see and consider the face of the Church of Christ scratched and torne till it bleeds in every part as it doth this day And the Coat of Christ which was once spared by Souldiers because it was seamblesse S. Ioh. 19. Rent every way and which is the miserie of it by the hand of the Priest And the Pope which Bellarmine hath put into the Definition of the Church that there might bee one Ministeriall head to keep all in Vnity is as great as any if not the greatest cause of divided Christianity Good God what preposterous thrift is this in men to sowe up every small rent in their owne Coat and not care what rents they not onely suffer but make in the Coat of Christ What is it Is Christ onely thought fit to weare a torne garment Or can we thinke that the Spirit of Vnity which is one with Christ will not depart to seeke warmer cloathing Or if he be not gone already why is there not Vnity which is where ere he is Or if he be but yet gone from other parts of Christendome in any case for the passion and in the bowels of Iesus Christ I beg it make stay of him here in our parts For so the Apostle goes on Keepe the Unity of the Spirit This Exhortation requires two things saith S. Ierome the one that they which have this Unity of the Spirit keep it the other that they which have it not labour to get it And certainly nothing can be more beneficial or more honourable either for Church or State than to get it when they have it not or to keepe it when they have it And this is implyed in the very word which the Apostle uses Keepe For no wise man will advise the treasuring up and keeping of any thing but that which is of use and benefit And the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth not barely signifie to Keepe but Tueri to defend too which is the stoutest keeping Now all wise men are for Vnity And all good men for the Vnity of the Spirit Yes saith S. Isidor Boni servant Good men keepe it Wise and good men keepe it why then none but fooles and bad men breake it Sly and cunning men perhaps may have their hands in Divisions but wise or good men they are not For are they not all without understanding that worke wickednesse Psal 53. And a greater wickednesse men can hardly worke than to dissolve the Vnity of the Spirit in either Church or Common-wealth For they doe as much as in them lies to bring profanenesse into the Church and desolation upon the State Keepe therefore the Vnity of the Spirit Keep Vnity why but what needs that will not unity keepe it selfe T is true unity is very apt to hang together It proceeds from Charity which is the glue of the Spirit not severed without violence Yea but for all this it needs keeping In the Church it needs keeping And therefore the Prophets and Governours of the Church are called Custodes Keepers Watchmen and Overseers Ezek. 3. and Acts 20. And they must watch as well over her Peace as her Truth And yet there are so many that scatter the tares of Schisme and Heresie that her Vnity is not kept In the Common-wealth it needs keeping too For her Governours are Custodes Civitatis Keepers of the City But there also there are not few that trouble the waters for their owne fishing And many times a Common-wealth is in danger to lose her Unity just as Ephesus did Act. 19. At which time all the City was troubled but the greater part knew not why And the true cause of the Division was no more but this Demetrius and his fellowes were afraid they should lose their gaine if Diana and her Temple kept not up their greatnesse Now this noyse at Ephesus doth not onely tell us that unity needs keeping but it informes us farther of the way to keep it The way to keep unity both in Church and State is for the Governors to carry a watchfull eye over all such as are discoverd or feard to have private ends For there 's no private end but in some thing or other it will be lead to run crosse the publique And if gaine come in though it be by making shrines for Diana 't is no matter with them though Ephesus be in an uproare for it And certainly there 's no keeping of Unity in either Church or State unlesse men will be so temperate when it comes to a lump at least as to lay down the private for the publique's sake and perswade others to do the like Else saith Saint Chrysostome Quicquid ducit ad amorem sui dividit unitatem whatsoever leads men to any love of themselves and their owne ends helpes to divide the unity And the Schoole applyes it both to Church and State For in the Church they which seeke their owne and not that which is Christs who is publicum Ecclesiae the publique interest of the Church depart from the Vnity of the Spirit And in an earthly City the unity of that is gone when the Citizens studdy their owne not the publique good Why but when then is Vnity to be kept When why surely at all times if it
of peace I will not load you with a long discourse of Peace and the benefits it brings It hath the same fate that some other of Gods blessings have It is better knowne by want than use and thought most worth the having by them that have it not Looke therefore not upon your selves in peace but upon a State in blood upon a Church in persecution Aske them which are divided by the sword which are rosting at the flame conceive your case theirs That is the touch-stone which deceives not Then tell me whether it bee not good counsell Rogare pacem to pray for the Peace of both And I doe ill to call it barely Peace Our Prophet calls it the blessing of Peace Psalm 29. And doubtlesse it is to teach the world that all earthly benefits are as it were unblessed till Peace be upon them for till then no injoying of any Now Rogate pacem pray for the peace of Jerusalem seemes but a plaine and a naked Exhortation for Peace I must finde more in it then so and yet offer my Text no violence nor bee busie with any thing above me or out of my profession Observe then When David made this Exhortation to pray for Peace it was Tempus Pacis A time of Peace For he composed the Psalme when hee carried the Arke to Jerusalem and before that hee had smote the Philistims twice and made all at peace 2 Sam. 5. A time of Peace Why then a man should thinke there is least need to pray for it Yea but the Prophet thinkes not so He was pleas'd the State and Church under him should injoy Gods benefits longer And therefore calles for not Peace which they had but continuance of Peace which they could not tell how long they might hold To give thankes to God for the peace he had given ver 4. and to pray for the continuance of it ver 6. And certainly it is one great degree of unworthinesse of a blessing to grow weary of it Why but there is a time for Warre as well as for Peace is there not Yes there is Eccles 3. And this time is in God to fit I make Peace and create evill Esa 45. And in the King to denounce and proclame But it is not Dies Belli the day of warre it selfe that can make voyd this duty Rogandi pacem of praying for Peace For since the eye of nature could see that the end of all just warre is but that men may live in a more just and safe Peace This Rogate pacem pray for Peace must bee in the heart even when the sword is in the hand I will not meddle with the State but there are many times in which God will punish and afflict his Church And may wee then Rogare pacem pray Peace for it Yes wee may nay wee must even then pray for Peace when his will is not to give it For first so much of his will as is revealed is here expressed to pray for Peace And that is a sufficient warrant to us even against that of his will which is not revealed so long till he reveale it For the will of God bindes us no longer nor no farther to Action than it is revealed The secret things belong to the Lord our God but the things revealed belong to us and our children that we may doe them Deut. 29. And againe Saint Augustine disputes it at large that a man may etiam voluntate bona with a will that is good will that which God will not And whatsoever hee may will voluntate bona with a good will that he may pray for so he submit to his will and rest when his will appears Besides who knowes so long as the secret of his will is to himselfe whether it be any more than Rogate pacem pray for Peace and have it For many times that which God will not give without prayer he will give with it And then the cause of Non pax is non rogant no peace because not prayed for And in that case the State and Church have not more misery in that there is not Peace than they have sin in that they might have had Peace for asking and would not pray for it Now this rule varies not We are never to neglect that which God hath revealed which here in our case is to pray for Peace upon any presumption of that which remaines secret Therefore the objection of the Puritan against our Church Letany in which we pray to be delivered from Famine and from Battell And against the prayer which followes it that we may bee hurt by no persecution as if it were an unlawfull prayer because it is somtimes Gods will to punish and afflict his Church is as ignorant as themselves For in the old Testament here is Davids call upon us Rogare pacem to pray for Peace And in the new there is Saint Pauls charge to pray that we may leade a quiet and peaceable life 1 Tim. 2. And hath the Church of England such ill lucke that it cannot doe as David and Saint Paul bids it but it must anger the Puritan Againe while you follow the Prophets exhortation and pray for Peace every kind of false worldly peace will not serve the turne For as Christ was at Pacem do vobis sed meam Peace but it is My peace that I give unto you S. John 14. So David the type of Christ would have you pray for Peace but His peace for Jerusalem And in this relation the words are generall Rogate pray for the peace of Ierusalem of the whole State of the whole Church It must not be broken in any corner of Ierusalem if it may be preserved A sedition or a schisme in a corner in a Conventicle which is the place where they are usually hatched will fier all if it be suffered For the State none doubts this and it is as true for the Church But where peace is truly laboured for and not had there the Apostles limitation Rom. 12. will helpe all Have peace with all men saith the Apostle but it followes si possibile if it be possible and Quantum in vobis as much as lies in you When we therefore pray for peace with all men and cannot get it Heathenisme and Turcisme and Judaisme and Heresie and Superstition and Schisme will not repent and come in we are quit by si possibile if we doe what is possible for their conversion And againe when any of these that have changed the truth of God into a lye would have us come over and make peace with them we are quit though we doe it not by quantum in nobis as much as lies in us For God hath not left it in our power to be at peace against his truth And therefore here is never a rogate no Counsell to pray for that Indeed peace against truth is not Pax Jerusalem a peace fit for the Church The Church of Rome