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A14374 A plea for peace: or A sermon preached in St. Pauls Church in London. Iuly 9. 1637. By Henry Vertue, parson of the parish church of Alhollowes Honey-Lane in London Vertue, Henry, d. 1660. 1637 (1637) STC 24691; ESTC S114883 38,111 69

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so mightily oppugned by so foule a fiend and since by all these arguments peace appeareth to be so excellent good cause there is that we study to maintaine it 4 Because of the usefulnesse of peace and unitie it is many wayes profitable and divisions as hurtfull and inconvenient therefore peace and unitie is studiously to be preserved and the contrary as carefully to be avoided 1 In regard of God peace and unity among Christians makes much for his honour and divisions among us tend no lesse to his dishonour Charitas laudat Deum Aug. in Psal 149. saith Saint Austin discordia blasphemat Charity praises God discord blasphemes him As in the family the good agreement of children and servants is an honour to the master of the family but if they shall be alway found quarrelling and contending it will be imputed to want of government as we tender therefore the glory of God which is the end of our creation in the attainment of which we shall provide for our happinesse it stands us in hand according to the point in hand to endeavour to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace 2 In regard of the whole Church and the severall members of it the preservation of peace and unity makes much for safety there is no better meanes of continuing impregnable against all opposition of common foes then is unity and concord among our selves whereas on the other side breaches and divisions tend directly to ruine maintaining unity we shall be ready to take part with and to help one another but falling out among our selves we stand aloofe off one from another suffering our selves to be devoured by the common foe while we look on yea haply we shall be ready to act one against another 2. Chron. 20.23 and so to save the enemy a labour as Moab against Ammon and Ammon against Moab and Edom against both sheathing their swords each in other so that Iehoshaphat and his Iews need not to strike a stroke As Ephraim against Manasseh Isa 9.21 and Manasseh against Ephraim and both against Iudah Saint Paul gives a hint of this If saith he Gal. 5.15 ye bite and devour one another take heed that ye be not consumed one of another Who knows not what a weakning it was to the kingdomes of Israel and Iudah that they were so divided How have the divisions among the Christians made way for and given advantage not a little to the Turke for the making of an inroad upon Christendome Vlysses demonstrates it to Achilles Hem Iliad 1. that the discord betweene him and Agamemnon would in likelihood prove the ruine of the Greeks It is a Dutch devise and a good one to this purpose of two earthen pots swimming on the water with this motto Frangimur si collidimur We are broken all to pieces if we clash one against another If two ships at Sea being consorts shall be scattered by storme each from other how shall the one help the other if yet they fall foule one upon the other how shall they not endanger one another To this purpose is that of Saint Bernard Bern. in Cant. Serm. 29. Quicquid foris blandiri videtur nulla est profectò consolatio si intus quod absit seminarium discordiae germinaverit Though the world seeme never so much to smile on us we can have no comfort if which God forbid we disagree among our selves Mat 12.25 And this is avouched by our blessed Saviour Every kingdome divided against it selfe is brought to desolation and every Citie or house divided against it selfe shall not stand On this ground therefore it is Aug. de 5. haeres c. 6. that Saint Austin gives that advice Simul colligamus ne dividendo perdamus Let us gather together lest by division we lose all But unity makes for safety we shall be insuperabiles if we be inseparabiles Invincible if inseparable Bern. in Cant. Ser. 29. Quid à foris vos conturbare aut contristare posset saith Saint Bernard si intus fraternâ pace gaudeatis What from abroad can either trouble you or make you sad if ye enjoy brotherly peace among your selves Pax vobis à vobis sit quicquid extrinsecus minari videtur non terret quia non nocet Be at peace among your selves and howsoever the world may frowne upon you ye need not feare it because it cannot hurt you Plutar. de garrul And this did Scilurus that Scythian King in Plutarch represent lively to his 80. sonnes when being now ready to dye he commanded a bundle of arrows fast bound together to be brought unto him which so tyed together he gave to his sonnes one after another that they should breake them if they could and when they confessed that they were not able to do it he took them asunder and easily broke them one after another hereby teaching them how discord would undo them but mutuall agreement would make them invincible And thus heathen Scipio as Saint Austin alledges it out of the Oratour calls concord Aug. de Civit. Dei li. 2. c. 21. Optimum in omni Republica vinculum incolumitatis the best bond of safety in every Common-wealth If we then tender the safetie and prosperity of the Church then which nothing should be dearer to us it nearly concernes us to endeavour to keepe the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace 3 In respect of particular Christians the members of the Church our study to maintaine peace and unity will be to them a matter of joy nothing will more cheare them then to see mutuall agreement among them that call on the same Father and worship the same God and professe the same Faith and participate in the same Sacraments and are members of the same Church with themselves this being a sure ground whereupon they wax confident of the safety and impregnable estate of the Church against all opposition of forreine foes then which nothing can give them more content as they desire nothing more then it and nothing will more spight common foes while it puts them out of hope to thrive in their attempts against the Church And on the other side this as much as any thing sads the hearts of Christians to see their fellow-Christians as Ephraim against Manasseh and Manasseh against Ephraim alway biting and snarling one at another this giving them cause to feare the ruine of the Church not to be farre off the very thought of which strikes them into astonishment for thus we know that any ingenuous man takes content in nothing more then to see his common friends living friend-like together and nothing goes more to the heart of him then to finde them alwayes quarrelling and contending Much more will the true members of the Church be so affected with the peace or discord of their fellow-members Mutuis se vulneribus impetentes Christiani Bern. parab de Christo Eccl. inter sermon de diversis saith S.