1. Because God is as much provoked by the one as by the other 2. Because such sins do more exceedingly divide and unty the bonds of Love and Amity then other Civil differences do and so loosen the hearts of men from one another The Instances wherein He would have the Magistrate exsert his power are these Page 32 33. To encourage Orthodox Ministers and the Schools of Learning To take care that all who own Christian Religion amongst us be required to attend upon the Ministry To endeavour to reconcile dissenting brethren that we may unite against the Common Adversary To secure Fundamental Doctrines and for that purpose to take care for Catechising c. I thought fit to give thee this Intimation that if thou think'st my answers not full enough to those Objections which the streights of time would not give leave for in the Pulpit thou may'st know whither to have recourse as I said for thy better satisfaction I shall conclude with the same profession as that Reverend Author does Page 34. that I have not pressed this Doctrine of the Peace of the Church to the straightning or grieving of any who love our Lord Jesus in sincerity Only I wish that they who made the earliest departure from the English Church in these late times would as He does for many of them reflect upon themselves and apply that of Hazael whether they could some years since have been perswaded to believe that they should have lived to see such a trail of opinions and mischiefs break in upon Church and State upon the advantage of their perhaps at first not ill-meaning discontents And let thee and me and every honest English-man pray for the Peace of our Jerusalem in His Paraphrase Page 8. That God would protect his Ordinances and maintain his Truth that he would prosper Fundamental Laws the beauty and stability of Religious Government c. that the Tabernacle and the Tribunals Religion and Policy may jointly flourish they being the foundations of publick happiness and which usually stand and fall together PSAL. CXXII Vers. 8. For my Brethren and Companions sakes I will now say Peace be within thee THE Occasion upon which this sacred Ode was penn'd a Reverend Person in his Annotations tells us he believes was Davids return to Ierusalem to the Publick Service of God again at the Temple after Absalon's defeat Calvin is of opinion that David made it at the time when the Ark was setled upon Mount Sion and the building of the Temple designed for the uniform Exercise of the National Religion Upon either account it will very well suit with our Meridian The whole Psalm is an Elogy or Panegyrick Description of the Metropolis of Iudea the City of Ierusalem and that not only nor so much upon the Civil account that there are set Thrones of Iudgment the Thrones of the House of David Vers. 5. That 't was the Imperial City where the King kept Court whence Laws were issued and Authority derived for the Government of the rest of the people There sate the Sanhedrin the great Council of the Nation and there the supream Courts of Judicature which received Appeals from all inferior Districts But also and much more upon the Ecclesiastical account this City being the Residence of the great King the Lord himself who had set his Name there and chose the Temple for his dwelling-place Whither the tribes go up the tribes of the Lord unto the testimony of Israel or more exactly to the Original according to the testimony for Israel to give thanks unto the Name of the Lord. This City then was the appointed place of Gods publick and solemn Worship whither all the people of that Country were thrice a year at the three great Festivals obliged to come up to present themselves before the Lord in the Temple according to the testimony of Israel i e. by a perpetual Statute and standing Ordinance to that people the Laws of God being usually in Scripture-language styled Testimonies Now that there was by this Testimony or Statute for the Tribes coming up to Ierusalem designed a strict Uniformity in that peoples Exercise of their Religion is of it self clear in the very History for the Tribes did not every one bring up a several Form of Worship along with them but all as one man made a solemn appearance together at the Temple in one joynt acknowledgment and regular Service And Mr. Calvin tells us as much that God appointed one Temple and one Altar on purpose for the whole Nations use nè populus in varias superstitiones difflueret that the people might not by being left to their own liberty in the Worship of God run loose into a world of wild opinions and practices about matters of Religion And that further by Ierusalem whose Peace we are here to pray for is to be understood the Church as it is the appointed place of Gods publick Worship appears by the very context of the Psalm it self which begins and ends with this Notion vers 1. I was glad when they said unto me let us go into the house of the Lord and then in order to this 't is said vers 2. Our feet shall stand within thy gates O Ierusalem that being the ready way to the Temple and in the last verse again he concludes Because of the house of the Lord our God I will seek thy good i.e. the good of Ierusalem in its Ecclesiastical State as the House of God the Temple the place of solemn Assembly belonged to it And thus Calvin expounds that of the third verse Ierusalem is built as a City that is compact together or as the common Translation has it As a City that is at unity in it self not for the uniformity of the building but says he propter civium consensum for the unanimity and mutual agreement of its Citizens in the Worship of God and in the Exercise of Religion And that the people should all thus joyn their affectionate good wishes and most earnest endeavours for the Peace of Ierusalem thus considered to seek the prosperity and to promote the welfare of the Church in a fair compliance with publick Order and in a quiet regular Exercise of the National Religion the Psalmist here in the close of the Psalm bring no less than three Arguments 1. From every mans personal concern in the Churches safety Pray for the peace of Ierusalem they shall prosper or they shall be quiet and at ease that love thee i.e. God will bless such persons with a quiet and a happy life that love the Church and wish her well and pay a regular obedience to her Orders and Government And this upon a meer Natural Principle of self-love implanted in every mans breast and of that charity which we use to say begins at home the parts being all safe in the preservation of the whole every private mans Cabin secure while the Ship of Government steers right whereas those that by wilful disobedience contrive publick
to your purpose in Psal. 127. he tells you Except the Lord build your houses they labour in vain that build them If God be not the Master-builder the great Undertaker of the Work you do but aedificare in ruinam build up your ruines to farther ruines And then too unless he keep the City when 't is built the watchman waketh but in vain May he build your houses for you to be habitations of peace and preserve your City make it beautiful for situation and the joy of the whole Land may God be well known in her Palaces for a Refuge may he love her Gates and may the most High establish her and raise up his own Tabernacle in the midst of her may he make it the City of God and the Mountain of his Holiness God does that I may with reverence speak it by the very inclinations of his own nature peculiarly affect man and then further he that said It is not good for man to be alone he has a more then ordinary care and regard for societies of men Well govern'd Cities and well order'd States are the special objects of Almighty Gods singular providence And as he has this care for our good in community so it must be our care to keep up his honour in publick since which is our next 2. The setting up Gods honour amongst us in publick is the only means of procuring and ascertaining his favour The condition of his covenant with all Nations as well as his own people is I will be their God and they shall be my People when we cease to be his people we must not hope that he will continue to be our God All just governments are influenced and supported by him but if we abuse those influences and neglect those supports 't is just for him in displeasure to withdraw the light of his countenance and the saving strength of his right hand and to leave us in the dark to the weakness of our own counsels and undertakings He will honour them that honour him 't was a pitiful request of Saul to desire to be honour'd before the people when he himself had dishonour'd God before them When Governours are like God and act all to his glory as he himself does then blessings are showr'd down upon them and from them to the whole community This was Christ's own case Thou lovest righteousness and hatest wickedness therefore God thy God hath anointed thee with the oyl of gladness above thy fellows Psalm 45. 7. 'T is not the Crown and Scepter the Purple and the Mace that distinguish the Magistrate from a common man but the oil of gladness the divine benediction upon his doing righteous things Then all his Garments smell of Myrrhe Aloes and Cassia out of his ivory palaces when the fragrancy of publick example commands at once the veneration and imitation of all that are about them whereas upon wicked Nations that forget God and such families as call not upon his name he pours out his severest indignation This the very Poet could observe to his Countrymen the Romans Dîs te minorem quòd geris imperas Says he that they ow'd their success to their piety and were made commanders of the world for their obedience to their Gods Nor is it strange that God should even in false Religions bless people with outward prosperity and temporal success for that honour they did him under wrong names and mis-apprehensions since at bottom of all their vain conceits and idolatrous practises there lay metus numinis the awe and reverence of a supreme infinite power wherein the notion of Religion in general consists And he goes on and tells them that all their miscarriages and all the calamities that had of late befaln that City and State were to be imputed to their neglect of Religion How much more happy should we be that have the truth of Religion amongst us if we would but be true to it our selves And if a pretended zeal for God's honour has in our remembrance made Vsurpation thrive and heap'd Palms and Laurels upon an unrighteous Cause what advantage would real devotion do to the establishing of a just Government And on the other hand how much more miserable and improsperous must we expect to be then any wicked Heathens or backsliding pretenders if we having such advantages and such reasons both of advancing God's honour amongst us fail in our duty and do not as we ought to do for our brethren and companions sake with one common consent and mutual agreement praise God for his mercies and fear him for his judgments which he hath shewn in the midst of us That 's the last thing of this head 3. That our agreement in God's service is the only way of keeping-up his publick honour amongst us When Cities and Societies here below look like the Sedes beatorum the blessed company of Saints and Angels above wherewith the Heavenly Throne is inviron'd all serving God the same way in perfect harmony of worship This is doing that the Apostle bids us having our conversation in Heaven by bringing Heaven down to us and being all of one mind as we shall be there For brethren thus to dwell together in the unity of profession and practice is as the Psalmist compares it like the consecrating oyl upon Aaron 's head that ran down to the skirts of his garment that is all over from the head to the foot the meanest person of the Nation equally sharing with the highest in the advantages of the Priesthood and one common service This is that dew of Sion the Church where God commanded the blessing the blessing of peace and plenty A Church as ours now is without this unanimity is but like the Ship where Ionas was toss'd and tumbled with winds of doctrine and waves of faction till at the upshot of all when they all apply themselves to their several gods in their several ways of Worship the Ionas the only true Religion amongst them is to be flung over-board God is a God of order and peace and accounts himself highly dishonoured by our confusions 'T was Baal that delighted to be served with loud crys and furious slashings It was the Devil with his forked foot first brought in Heresie and Schism that by multiplying Religions he might make the world believe there was no such thing and if there were that people might not trouble themselves about a thing where it would be so difficult not to mistake in the choice Thus when this enemy of God and man saw that the crucifying Christ would not be sufficient for the disgracing of Religion he fell presently even in the Apostles times to divide him for the puzzling of it It has been observed that Travellers that have been abroad and seen Religion in its various dresses and forms in the several Countries where they have been and in what different manners they serve God are apt at last to turn Scepticks arrive at a quiet indifference and think it a
matter of no great concern what Religion they are of or whether they be of any at all But alas we have now in this Church that disadvantage without travelling for it Our people stay at home and see fashions and some as Travellers use to put on the habit and garb of each Country they go through have appeared in all shapes taken up all Opinions and Forms and done exercise in them all till at last they have taken the degree of Doctors in the Scorners Chair and have turned profest Atheists How do the Romanists triumph in our dissensions make Bonfires out of our flames and daily get ground of the Protestant Cause whilst we Protestants our selves do their work for them by unnatural quarrels destroying our common Mother the Church How do prophane persons make themselves merry at the miscarriages of the Church and harden themselves in their Atheistical Reasonings against God himself when they see so much ado made such zeal and heat shown on all sides about Forms of Worship and the Circumstances of Religion when the mean while the great Duties of Christianity wherein the life and power of Religion lyes are by most of us of all perswasions neglected and how can they chuse but think Religion it self a trifle if that be it that makes us so earnest about trifles and yet so regardless in those things which the worst of Atheists themselves confess are necessary for the preservation of men whether singly in their own persons or joyntly in Society such as are Iustice Temperance Charity and the like What can Neighbour-States and Churches abroad think of us that after God had so wonderfully restored us to the astonishment of the world we have so strangely and with no less astonishment to the dishonour of God and our own shame lost the Miracle and let it fall to the ground and given up the Cause in a manner to which God by his extraordinary Providences and his Anointed our late Soveraign the blessed Martyr by his unparallel'd sufferings gave such testimony And at last what can we our selves look for now that God will yet work more Miracles for our preservation who have by our divisions in his Worship and our Spiritual fornications not only forfeited his protection but procured his displeasure and at once both disobliged his mercy and provoked his Justice To me to speak what I apprehend freely it appears in the posture we now stand in a very shrewd symptom and a dangerous indication that God himself and Religion and all are now about to take their solemn leave of the Country together with the Churches peace And then what will become of our brethren and companions for whose sake we are to endeavour the Churches peace when God has once forsaken the Land And thus I have done with the first Argument The second is that the peace of the Church in the uniform Worship of God is a necessary expedient to make Religion the happy instrument of Government by securing that influence it has upon the minds of men in awing Subjects to obedience and uniting our brethren and companions in love without which obedience and love 't is impossible that any people should hold together and prosper since where discontents and divisions prevail a Society must needs of it self naturally tend to dissolution A House a City a Kingdom divided against it self cannot stand is a State-Aphorism we have from the mouth of Truth it self So then whether 't were fear or love was the Principle which gathered mankind into Nations and Common-wealths and brought them to live in Community under the same Laws and Priviledges we find them both in Religion Whereupon 't is the remark of a Roman Historian that as Romulus founded the City by Arms so Numa setled it by Religion and then came Ancus and found leisure to adorn it with Temples and publick Buildings Thus Religion secured the acquists of the Sword on one hand and prepared the design for the Truel on the other And till Religion be in a better condition amongst you then for ought I see 't is now in I cannot not tell what you may think of your Building 'T is true it seems to me in our present divisions that much what like the Iews after their return we rebuild our City with a Sword in one hand and a Truel in the other but so as if that Sword were to be used against our selves not against an Enemy as theirs was I wish heartily that the peace of the Church may be so setled amongst us and the rubbish of our late ruines there removed that you may lay your Foundations upon fair even ground and raise the Superstructures with comfort and honour that when you have built up your Walls and your Palaces Peace may be within your walls and plenteousness within your palaces which would then most certainly be when as you are obliged to an Vniformity of building the City so the Citizens themselves would joyn all in an uniform Exercise of Religion whose first Character it is that 1. It aws the consciences of men and binds them up to their good behaviour in a strict attendance upon the duties of every one in his place and a careful obedience to the Law in common And thus Machiavil himself tutours his Prince that he will put on the shew at least of Religion to make his Government dreadful though he hold it dangerous to his interest to be bigotted into it and would have him take up no more of it then will serve his turn But if the mask and vizard the bare appearance of Religion be in the esteem of carnal worldly Policy so considerable a help to Government how serene and awful would it be in its genuine native countenance with what rays of Divinity would the truth and power of it cloath the Magistrate that the people would behold him as an Angel of God For since all Government derives its power from God the more of God it shews the more powerful it must needs be Wherefore if once Religion grow mean amongst a people no wonder if they grow familiar and sawcy with the Government and having got the reins of conscience upon their neck run away with their Rider and 't is well if not dismount him too When men are suffered to set their mouths wide open against Heaven to blaspheme God and deny him in a breath and to droll in Scripture-language and jeer at sacred things how can it be expected that earthly Majesty should preserve its reverence with the people but that God will suffer some to be as bold with their Governors as they have suffered others to be with him that by way of Reprisal he may recover his lost Honour and those that have slighted him may be meanly esteemed For as God subdues the people under their lawful Prince so it must be the Princes care to subdue the people to God by keeping up the aw and port of Religion And this is done in the uniform and unanimous
like zeal for Gods House and the cause of Religion we may say as he did Arcem perdimus dum castella defendimus We have lost the main sort of our happiness the Churches Peace while we take care of the out-works things less considerable Pardon me 'T is not flattery will uphold a Government I speak it out of hearty affection to my Countrey and a due respect to this famous City My heart bleeds within me and my bowels earn to think in what a posture our Ierusalem now stands You are very now building in the Flames they have seiz'd your Suburbs and are got within your Gates and are smothering in the midst of your Ruines Let us do as is usual when a Fire breaks out every one bring his Bucket and help to quench unless such a Stupor and unactive astonishment hath overtaken us as did in the late Conflagration and we tamely give up all to the Fury of the Merciless Element And this sure is the far more deplorable Fire of the two as laying wast the Consciences of men and burning up our main strengths and greatest ornaments and laying us open to dismal expectations I pray read the 28. of Deuteronomy and apply it to our case that if they did not observe the Commandments and Statutes God appointed them to walk in by which was not meant the Moral Law alone for that has an equal obligation upon all mankind but those National rules and institutions by which they were made a People and a Church they should be cursed in the City and cursed in the Field they should build Houses and not dwell in them they should be pursu'd with Plagues and at last given up to the insolence of Forreiners and pluckt off from the Laud of their Nativity What then can we look for at last after so many methods God has lost upon us after so many praeludia of his displeasure but some determining exterminating Judgment But God forbid I have some hopes still of Gods mercy to this our Ierusalem and his pity to her as she lies in her dust Nor is the thing it self I am perswaded past remedy were it apply'd to and we would take Saint Iude's advice Iude 19 20 21 22 23. verses where he tells us of those that separate themselves that for all their pretences have not the Spirit But ye Beloved says he building up your selves on your most holy Faith praying in the Holy Ghost which may most certainly be done in the publick wholsome forms of Church-Devotion Keep your selves in the love of God looking for the mercy of our Lord Iesus Christ unto eternal life And of some have compassion making a difference and others save with fear his meaning iâ— by rugged means pulling them out of the Fire This Schism then and Separation is a Fire in the Apostles Language and some are to be pull'd out of it by force The ingenuous will be sham'd the meek will be convinc'd the considering will be reason'd out of it but some there are it seems must be roughly dealt with and aw'd by Authority Let us like Brethren and Companions take up the business between our selves Come We are Men. 'T is the priviledge of the blessed Angels to be free from errour but the infirmity of humane nature to commit mistakes to persist in errours though even to publick mischief is the character of the Devil's pride and malice but to return and repent is the glory of the Saints of God Why should any one of us be asham'd of that which is his glory and will be his Eternal comfort We are Brethren and Friends we live under the same Laws and profess the same Gospel of Peace why should we disagree and fall out in our greatest concern and quarrel one another into common Ruine Ierusalem is the mother of us all let not us by our Divisions make her a Samaria a Seminary of Sects and Factions let us not make our Mother a harlot What have we to do with the Statutes of Omri and Ahab and the sin of usurping Ieroboam which he caused Israel to sin They are dead and gone and let their Statutes dye with them You are Citizens of London a People of great Credit and Reputation all the World over for your Prudence and good Government for your vast Trade and Dealings and you are allied to most of the considerable Families of the Kingdom let it not be said of you that you are grown weak and mean a fluttering and unsteady People that you have quit your establishments and are perpetually to seek for your Religion and are ready like Children in your streets to be caught up by every Spirit and to run after any one that pretends to be a Guide London an Ancient and Noble Mart long talkt of in the world before ever there was Dam or Dike in Holland let it not truckle under Amsterdam and be made a Magazine of Opinions and new fangled Religions For shame do not justifie that advantage the Enemies of our Church have taken from 666. to clap the name of Babylon upon your City but wipe off the reproach and fling it back into the face of them as they deserve it by uniting all as one man in the service and worship of God and in the common defence of the Protestant cause And then when you are thus agreed when your minds are as uniform as your buildings are like to be then shall ye be blessed in the City and blessed shall ye be in the Field blessed shall be your Basket and your Store then the Lord shall establish you a holy people unto himself and all people shall see that ye are call'd by his name and they shall be afraid of you Then the Lord shall open unto you his good treasure and shall make you plenteous in goods and he shall command the blessing upon you in your Store-houses and in all that you set your hands unto And then when your Example has prevail'd with the rest of the Nation as it will in a very short time that having our hearts united in God's fear and laying aside all animosities and unnecessary quarrels we may serve him with one heart and with one shoulder and with one voice confess his holy name and his word and being like-minded we may unanimously seek those things which tend to publick peace and to the good of community Then when we are thus united all other disorders will easily be regulated all grievances redrest and all scandals remov'd to the honour of the Government and the welfare of the People Then shall the Earth bring forth her increase and God even our own God shall give us his blessing Then shall we see both Church and State once more in a flourishing condition when God shall make all our Officers righteousness and with his favour shall encompass us as with a shield Then shall this floating Island be setled upon sure and lasting grounds Then shall Albion again be the praise and terrour of the Nations nor shall her white cliffs or her wooden walls or the embraces of her beloved Ocean so much secure her as the Divine protection and agreement of her Inhabitants Which God in his good time of his Infinite Mercy grant for his Churches and for our Brethren and Companions sake Amen Amen ERRATA PAge 3. Line 13. read of community p. 13. l. 18. will r. would p. 20. l. 18. form r. forms p. 22. l. 22. r. of the Land in Civil affairs and leave out in Civil affairs in the next line p. 25. l. 12. r. persecution p. 27. l. 31. indispensible r. indispensable p. 28. l. 38. sunk r. slunk p. 30. l. 7. â—ok r. look FINIS