relates to the preaching of the Gospel by vvhich vve vvere called unto Belief of the Truth 2 Thess ii 13 14. and by that Truth not only taught but required to be at Peace among our selves 1 Thess v. 13. and to keep the Unity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace Ephes iv 3. Nay if it be possible as much as lieth in us to live peaceably with all Men Rom. xii 18. or if they refuse it yet to follow Peace with all Men Heb. xii 14. to seek Peace and ensue it 1 Pet. iii. 11. Finally brethren as St. Paul writes 2 Cor. xiii 11. be perfect i. e. compleat Christians be of good comfort or receive this Word of Exhortation be of one mind live in peace and the God of love and peace shall be with you that is as we desire and hope for the Favour and Love of God and for all the blessed Effects and Fruits thereof we are bound to live in peace For he is the God of peace and love and his Son is the Prince of peace who left Peace with his Church as his last Legacy when he left the World Peace I leave with you my peace I give unto you John XIV 27. And his Gospel is the Gospel of peace the word of reconciliation which instructs us in that Heavenly Wisdom Jam. III. 17. which is first pure then peaceable gentle and easie to be entreated or easily persuaded unto those things which make for peace tho' therein we deny our own Will and particular Interest This is the Genius of that Religion unto which we are called by the preaching of Christ's Gospel 2. And it was the greatest favour and grace that Heaven could bestow upon us to communicate unto us the knowledge of his Will and to make us of this heavenly Spirit for so the word Calling is sometimes used in Scripture for the free Grace and Bounty of God in opposition to any work of ours whereby we could deserve it as in Rom. IX 11. That the purpose of God might stand not of works but of him that called that is mercifully dispensed the benefit according to his own Free-will and good Pleasure We do not understand our own happiness nor the great Grace of God to us if we do not think our selves highly obliged to him in commanding and disposing us by the Gospel of his Grace to be peaceably minded that is to be as I said of an Heavenly Spirit For what other Notion can we frame of the Happiness of those above but that they live in perfect love of God and of one another without any discord or contention which would disturb their Blessed Repose For having all the very same End and Design the very same Affections and Desires which are to do Honour to God and to promote one anothers good there can be no rupture nor so much as quarreling or dissention among them which arise from mens private desires and aims and the cross Interests which they pursue in this present world And therefore the more perfectly we divest our Minds of all selfishness and bend our thoughts to study the common good the nearer we shall approach to their Blessed State and the fitter we shall be for the Company of happy Souls and Spirits by such a sweet Concord and Agreement here as reigns in the Peaceable Society of Heavenly Minds in the other World. And on the contrary while we live in Wrath and Bitterness in Pride and Disdain one of another and thereby are engaged in perpetual Contests and quarrelsome Differences pursuing one another with a deadly hatred we are of the same Nature and Disposition with the Infernal Ghosts the Devil and his Angels And if we go out of the World in this wretched Temper of Mind which cannot be changed in a moment we fall unavoidably into their troublesome Company who could not be quiet even in Heaven it self but there raised such a Faction and Disturbance that they were thrust down from that Blessed Place and condemned to keep one another company in endless Misery and Despair And one great part of their Misery we all apprehend is That they are ever restless and unquiet unalterably bent to trouble and torment themselves by contriving how to make disturbance among others Which shows what a kindness our Blessed Saviour hath done us in calling us unto Peace and thereby redeeming us from the Society of those rancorous Spirits unto whom we are so strongly linkt while we are of a turbulent and untractable Spirit that we must necessarily fall into their Company when we depart from hence if we be not cured of this Disease and have our Natures altered into the peaceable Mind that was in Christ Jesus 3. By which we understand Thirdly the Honour also our Lord hath done us in calling us to be peaceable for this the word Calling implies in Rom. XI 29. The gifts and calling of God are without Repentance Where Calling is the great Preferment God designed for Abraham's Family and to which accordingly he advanced them wherein he intended immutably to have continued them if they had believed on him as Abraham did And indeed we are called to a very high Dignity by being called unto Peace for it intitles us to the Honour of being the Children of the Most High. So our Saviour instructs us in his Sermon upon the Mount Matt. V. 9. Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God. Peace-makers are peaceable minded men For as to make a lie in Scripture Language is to be given to Lying and to make a practice of it So to make peace is to have a strong constant inclination to it and to bend that way upon all occasions Which is a Divine disposition and makes us like to God So like him that we may thereby be known to be his off-spring who are endued with his most excellent Nature and act by his Spirit and therefore shall be partakers of his blessedness This is the sum of the first part of the Reason We do not answer the gracious design of the Gospel and the great kindness and honour Christ hath done us if we do not let the peace of God Rule in our hearts unto which we are called in one body II. That 's the second part of it We are therefore called unto peace because we are called to be one body of which Christ is the Head. When we were made Christians we were not brought into that state to live separately and distinctly every one of us by our selves as our particular Fancies and Affections shall incline us But to be knit together in one Christian Society every Part of which is to seek his own good interest and safety by preserving the Whole in peace and quietness without any rupture in the Body of Christ For by that the Body is destroyed as by union of the Members it is maintained and preserved There is nothing plainer than that no Society can subsist unless they who belong to
us and others when our Passions begin to raise a commotion and to make us displeased with the present settlement For it is by the Protection and Favour of the publique Government that we eat and drink and sleep and do all other things in safety Which thought alone is sufficient to quiet us when our Spirits begin to fret and be tumultuous That is to quarrel with our Happiness III. But let us still further make our selves sensible of the far Nobler Benefits which we enjoy by being Christians and be truly thankful to God for them more particularly for his great Grace in calling us to be one body in Christ and thereby calling us unto Peace one with another and to Peace with him the God of Peace who will be with us as I have said while we continue perfectly joyned together in the same Mind and Spirit and then we shall not have the heart to give the least disturbance unto this Blessed Society of the Church of God But with united Affection study to preserve it and to promote the Honour of it by the most ardent Love and kindness tenderness and compassion one towards another especially in that part of it where we live Read the pathetical Exhortation of the Apostle in the Verses foregoing upon which my Text depends and it will be impossible not to have your heart affected with it if you attend unto it and ponder every Word Put on therefore as the Elect of God Holy and Beloved bowels of Mercy kindness humbleness of mind meekness long suffering forbearing one another and forgiving one another if any Man have a quarrel against any Even as Christ forgave you so also do ye And above all these things put on Charity c. What if you did read these Verses deliberately every Morning before you went about any other business It would not take up much of your time nor cost you much pains unless it be in laying them to heart and laying them up in your Hearts But whatsoever Labour you bestow in that it will be abundantly recompensed in the Benefit you and others will receive by it if this small portion of the Word of Christ dwell in you richly as it follows immediately after my Text and dispose you to continue in this Heavenly Temper all the day long And how can you chuse but be so disposed if you consider how much you are bound to God for his inestimable benefits bestowed upon you in making you his Elect Holy and Beloved Ponder these Three Words seriously and look upon your selves as Elect of God that is chosen unto Salvation through Sanctification of the Spirit and Belief of the Truth as he speaks 2 Thes 11. 13. Holy that is separated from the profane World to be his devoted Servants Beloved that is made partakers of the greatest kindness Heaven could do us in sending his Son to save us And then you will not be able to reject the Exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto Children V. Ephes 1 2. Be ye therefore followers of God as dear Children and walk in Love as Christ also hath loved us and hath given himself for us an Offering and a Sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour IV. Especially when we remember that we are not bare Christians but Reformed Christians whose Principles lead to Unity and Peace more than the Principles of any other Christians whatsoever For the very Basis of the Reformed Religion is this that all necessary Truths are not only contained in the Holy Scriptures but evidently and plainly set down there Which single Truth being agreed it is manifest there must needs be an Vnity of opinions among us in all things necessary And as for other things which are not evident in the Holy Scriptures and therefore are not necessary what should hinder but that notwithstanding any different Opinions about them there may be among us an Vnity of Affection Unto which the Holy Scriptures direct and press us as the most necessary duty and as the greatest happiness of which this World is capable For there is nothing the Gospel urges so much as kindness forbearance tender compassion one of another Such kindness as making us look upon one another as Brethren and fellow-Members will not let us break all the bonds of Friendship that are between us For why should there be any breach among those who are agreed in this plain principle That there being Unity of Opinion among them in all things Necessary in things not necessary Unity of Opinion is not necessary but only Unity of Affection Which will make us study and embrace the means of our Common Preservation by mutual condescention to such terms of Agreement as will establish a firm and undisturbed peace among us In which if there should happen any breach the same Spirit of love and goodness will dispose us immediately to make it up by not adhereing too flifly to our own private opinions much less to any worldly interest which must be laid aside by all peaceable-minded men that is by all good Christians Who ought not to engage in fierce oppositions much less in confident censuring and condemning one another but with all humility modesty and calmness endeavour each others information or if that cannot be obtain'd patiently to bear with one anothers infirmities according to the forenamed golden Rule of St. Paul VI. Gal. 2. Bear ye one anothers burdens and so fulfil the Law of Christ The Law of Christ that is his peculiar Law is the Law of Love which he calls a new Commanament XIII Joh. 34. and his Commandment XV. Joh. 12. This is my Commandment that ye love one another as I have loved you Which we then fulfil or perfectly observe when it makes us bear one anothers burdens that is offences whether they be infirmities or sins For as long as there are any hopes of amendment we ought as the Apostle there teaches in the Verse foregoing if any man be overtaken with a fault to restore such a one with the Spirit of meekness considering our selves lest we also be tempted That is we must tenderly admonish such offenders study in the kindest and softest manner to reclaim them which is no small labour and trouble indeed but thereby we in the properest sense take part of their burden upon our selves whilst we seek by such charitable means to rid them of it V. And now if in the last place we make our selves sensible that we are such Reformed Christians as have been lately saved and delivered in a wonderful manner from the hands of those that designed our destruction it will raise our thankfulness to such a heigth that it will surmount all those clouds which overcast our joy in God and in his Salvation For what a blessing is it that we have the liberties of our Holy Religion and meet here together in peace and quietness without the least apprehension of such dangers as not long ago hung over us If we had been deprived of it should we not have accounted the loss to be invaluable What is the matter then that we do not set the greatest price upon the enjoyment Is it Nothing to be delivered from those fears wherewith we were lately surrounded what should we think if God should throw us back again into them But there is a great deal more to be thankful for which is the hopes we have that this blessed Liberty will be continued and secured to us and to our Posterity after us Which will derive a Blessing likewise upon all other Protestant Churches abroad Whose safety lies in our preservation Nay this one single reflection that we have had the happiness to behold a Protestant King and Queen here worshipping God together in this place a sight which if it hath been ever seen in England yet not these Seventy years is enough to transport us with such joy as should make us quite forget all our differences and discontents And let us think of nothing else but what we shall render to the Lord for such benefits as he hath bestowed upon us For which we can never thank him enough and therefore let us thank him continually Evening and Morning and Noon let us give our solemn thanks unto him Yea Let us bless the Lord at all times let his praise be ever in our mouths When we sit in our house as Moses speaks in another case when we walk by the way when we lye down and when we rise up let us be talking of all his wondrous works saying with the Psalmist Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord Who can shew forth all his praise Thy righteousness or goodness O God is very high who hast done great things O God who is like unto thee Thou art great and dost wondrous things Thou art God alone I will praise thee O Lord my God with my whole heart I will Glorifie thy Name for evermore For great is thy Mercy towards me and thou hast delivered my Soul from the lowest Hell i. e. the extreamest Dangers Therefore shall my Tongue speak of thy Righteousness and of thy Praise all the day long I will Praise the Lord with my whole heart secretly among the faithful and in the Congregation For the Works of the Lord are great sought out of all them that have Pleasure therein His Work is Honourable and Glorious And his Righteousness endureth for ever Now the God of all Grace grant unto every Soul of us such truly thankful hearts that we may be always praising him and speaking good of his Name And then the Peace of God will Rule and Govern us unto which we are called in one Body by Christ Jesus To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be Eternal Praises Amen FINIS
and others This is the Apostle's meaning and thus the Holy Men of God understood him who were content to sacrifice any thing but the Christian Faith to Peace and Quietness Concerning which there is an excellent Discourse in the Ppistle of Clemens one of the Apostles immediate Successors to the Church of Corinth Where he shows that those Contentions which began in St. Paul's days and could not it seems be suppressed by the Apostolical Authority alone would have immediately been subdued and quasht by the Peace of God if it had been grafted and born Rule in their Hearts Who is there saith he that is of a generous Spirit among you Who is there that hath any Bowels of Compassion Who that is full of Charity Let him say If this Sedition be for my sake if this Contention these Schisms be upon my Account I am gone I depart whither you please There is nothing that shall be enjoin'd me but I will do it Only let the Flock of Christ be in Peace with the Elders that are set over it Thus they who live that Life which is never to be repented of have done and will do For we have known many who to be the Authors of Liberty to others have thrown themselves into Bonds and many have left their own Cities that there might be no Strife and Contention about them And what he saith Godly Men would do hereafter according as others had done before them for Peace-sake was fulfilled as we find in the Monuments of the Church Where there are Examples of such Self-denial as made them desire to use the words of one of them to be thrown into the Sea like Jonas rather than have the Tempests which was raised upon their account continue to disturb the Church Thus I could show some have done since in later Ages And if we had the same humble the same tender-hearted charitable and truly generous Spirit we should think it the greatest Glory to submit all our particular Concerns to the Government of Peace and not let them prevail to the making any publick Disturbance no nor private Quarrels with our Neighbours Unto which we are now so prone that we fall out even about a trifling Opinion wherein we differ one from another The reason is because we are too full of our selves and too void of Charity and the Peace of God Which if it did possess our Hearts we should not be so much wedded as we are to our own Opinions much less indulge our Passions but resign them all to be ruled and ordered by this Grace which teaches us to be of a yielding Spirit as far as Piety will permit Nay if our Passion and our Pride were kept under we should not be impatient to be contradicted nor think our selves bound to ingage in the Defence of every thing that we judg to be true nor to rise up against every thing that we judg to be false But endure without disturbance the contrary Opinions of others which may seem untrue to us if they do no great hurt to the World. Were we possessed with this desire alone to make others better we should not trouble our selves about every Error and Mistake if the Remedy will prove worse than the Disease that is breed Quarrels and break the Peace by endless Disputes and Jarrings about it Our blessed Saviour himself the Prince of Peace did not undertake to free Men from every Error whatsoever but those only which concerned the means of their Salvation And in such matters when we are constrained to declare our Dissent from others who are we apprehend in dangerous Errors the Peace of God teaches us to do it in such sweet and gentle manner that they may see we aim only at their good And they may not by our rough treating them take occasion of disgust not only unto us but to the Truth also which we defend For we oftentimes give distaste to others and make them irreconcilable not so much by our contrary Opinion as by a fierce insolent presumptious and disdainful way of proposing our own Opinion and opposing theirs But it is far worse when we come to terms of Contempt and Reproach which are commonly observed to make such Breaches as are never to be repaired The Peace of God teaches us quite another Lesson and constrains us to compassionate the Weaknesses of our Brethren to treat them with Tenderness as well as Humanity and when they are peevish and passionate and prone to quarel even then to bear with them and meekly reduce them to a better Temper For the Weaknesses of our Brethren make them Objects of our Pity not of our Anger And they are never more to be pitied than when they cannot be cured by our charitable Compassion and Forbearance of them Unto which we shall be the more inclin'd if we consider that we are Men also and may possibly fall into the same Error and commit the same Faults and then what we tolerate in them it will be their turn to bear withal in us But especially if we consider that we are Christians who lie under this Law Bear ye one anothers Bardens and so fulfil the Law of Christ Gal. vi 2. Which Lavv of Charity and Peace being not fulfilled is the cause of all the Vexatious Disturbances that are in the World. We do not mind this Christian Obligation to bear one anothers Burdens We have other Inclinations than to obey the Will of our blessed Lord. We seek our selves our ovvn Glory our ovvn Pleasure our ovvn Interest and Satisfaction in every thing and are not satisfied vvith this that God is glorified our Saviour honoured Piety promoted the Church edified by our Patience by our Peaceableness by our Forbearance one of another and by our studying the good of our Neighbours as the greatest Contentment to our selves Thus I have explain'd the first part of my Text the Duty vvhich I have pressed the more earnestly because Strife and Contention vvill spoil all the Fastings and Humilitations of this season nay utterly defeat our very Prayers and Supplications Which then vvill obtain of the God of all Mercy that perfect Remission and Forgiveness vvhich vve beg of him vvhen they dispose us to be merciful as our Heavenly Father is merciful to be kind one to another as the Apostle speaks Ephes v. 32. tender-hearted forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven us Come vve novv to the second part vvhich is the Reason vvhereby the Apostle urges this Duty II. And that is double as you heard First vve are called to it Secondly vve are called to it in one Body For the first of these it suggests to us three Obligations I. vvhereby vve are bound to be peaceable First by the preaching of the Gospel to us Secondly by the Special Favour vvhich God has done us therein Thirdly by the high Honour he hath also conferred upon us in making us partakers of his Heavenly Calling 1. First I say Calling is a vvord vvhich