A SERMON Preached at the PUBLIQUE FAST the ninth day of Aug. 1644. At St Maries OXFORD BEFORE The honorable Members of the two Houses of PARLIAMENT There Assembled By PAUL GOSNOLD Master of Arts And published by Authority OXFORD Printed by Henry Hall PSAL. 122. 6. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem TO tell ye that my text is pertinent were to distrust your sense for there are but three words in it and the first concernes the day the second the times the third the state Prayer a principall end of Fasting is proper to the day Peace is seasonable in these divided times Jerusalem brings in the State But three words I say in the Originall {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} but they are all three Verba Trojana pregnant words every one containes a catalogue Pray all duties in one Peace all blessings in one Ierusalem all Cities and States in one Pray c. Every word playing his part will divide the Text into a single act and a double object or into an Act an Object and a Subject the Act or duty Pray the Object of prayer Peace the Subject of Peace and yet the Object of Prayer too Ierusalem But I will invert the order of the words and because the Object in nature is before the Act and the Subject before them both I will first speake of Ierusalem next of Peace and conclude with Prayer These words were written for our instruction and therefore though Ierusalem be only nam'd all Cities and States are meant David for Ierusalem We for great Britaine every man intercede for his Country and Christ for us all Pray for Ierusalem for these reasons 1. Homo est animal politicum Man is a creature naturally both needing and desiring society therefore it is not good for man to be alone nor were it safe for men to be together but in Ierusalem under some forme and frame of government for homo homini lupus nothing is more wild and cruell then man if he be not tam'd by authority out late confusion and violations of Politicall order have made England like the sea about it where one fish hunts and preyes upon another Vncontrolled licentiousnesse though to the grosse conceited vulgar it seemes to be liberty yet wee find by dismall experience that it produceth nothing but disorder injustice rapine and insupportable slavery for now violence and the sword beare sway every man does what he can and the strongest takes all wherefore it was well and wisely spoken of Calvin Politie or government is of no lesse necessity and of farre greater dignity then bread and water I may adde then the ayre we breath in or the Sun that gives us hight for indeed there is no living without it at least men would be driven to live solitary in woods and caves like beasts and salvages Therefore it is a fundamentall duty to pray for Ierusalem 2. We see in the great world how all parts of it dispense with their particular affections to their proper Elements when their generall duty to the Vniverse requires it Stones would forsake the earth the place of their private repose mount as high as Heaven to fill a vacuitie to heale a wound in Nature So also in the Microcosme the little world of man's body if the heart the mother of life be distressed presently the spirits and bloud flock and flow from all parts to relieve her Now if as learned Hooker observeth those voluntary actions are most agreeable to reason which doe most resemble the necessary workes of nature then as it is in the naturall so in the politick body it ought to be every part should have a maine eare of the whole Therefore it is our naturall duty to pray for Ierusalem 3. If the Sunne should draw the Ocean dry or the Ocean swell to quench the Sunne if Heaven put out his lights or Earth keepe in her fruits the Winds hold their breath and the Clouds stop their Bottles what would become of the world and if the world should perish what would become of them So if we the particular members of Ierusalem for what is Ierusalem but our selves incorporate should withdraw our duty she could not subsist and if she doe not neither can we if the whole be ruin'd the parts must suffer if the tree fall the branches wither if the Kingdome be over-run who sees not who feeles not that the substance lives and liberties of private men must needs go to wrack Therefore though we have no care of the Publick but referre all things to our selves and our domestick commodities yet because these are inclosed in the happinesse of the Vniversality it is our necessary duty to pray for Ierusalem 4. Prayer is the expression of desire the object of desire is Good the greater good is to be preferr'd before the lesse the publick good is incomparably greater and worthyer then the private by how much a whole Societie is more worth then one man Therefore it is our principall duty to pray for Ierusalem 5. To these reasons I will adde Gods commandement which we cannot disobey unlesse first we will be unreasonable Honour thy father and mother if the parents of our flesh the authors of our generation and being ought to be honoured then our King and Country to whom we owe our preservation and well-being are worthy of double honour for it is better to be well or happy then simply to be as it is worse to be miserable then not to be at all Honour thy father and mother Ierusalem is the mother of us all c. Our Country saith the Orator is major altera parens our Grand-mother wherefore we must do all we can to honour her inwardly with our judgements and affections outwardly with our endeavours and devotions the least we can do is to pray for her Therefore it is our bounden duty to pray for Ierusalem But because Ierusalem without peace were no right Ierusalem that is the Scene of peace or where peace is to be seene but rather a very Babylon a Citie of confusion Therefore in the second place pray for peace the peace of Ierusalem 1. Many are of the minde that though men had persisted in their primogeneal integritie there should have beene dominion and government amongst them yet as profound Hooker noteth if Adam had not fallen there is no impossibility in nature but they might have liv'd without it But all agree in this our fall and corruption made it necessary For when there were but foure persons in the world but foure that we reade of howsoever no great multitude one brother murdred the other and as their number so their malice and mischiefes increased for restraint whereof there was no way but to come to composition and by common consent to authorize one or more to superintend the quiet and safety of the rest to defend them who were not able to defend themselves to curb the unruly to distribute to every one his due and so preserve the
God be the authour of peace warre and discord can have no authour but Gods adversary the Devill and they that are the stirrers up and fomenters of it must needs be his instruments whosoever they be If the peace-makers be blessed for they shall be called the sonnes of God then cursed are the warre-makers cursed to the pit of hell for they shall be called you know what if there be any devils upon earth these are they as like their father as if they had beene spit out of his mouth who was a lyar and a murderer from the beginning Therefore we need not make any scruple of praying against such against those Sanctimonious Incendiaries who have fetched fire from heaven to set their Country in combustion have pretended Religion to raise and maintaine a most wicked rebellion against those Nero's who have ripped up the wombe of the mother that bare them and wounded the breasts that gave them sucke against those Cannibal's who feed upon the flesh and are drunke with the bloud of their own brethren against those Catiline's who seeke their private ends in the publicke disturbance and have set the Kingdome on fire to rost their owne egges against those tempests of the State those restlesse spirits who can no longer live then be stickling and medling who are stung with a perpetuall itch of changing and innovating transforming our old Hierarchy into a new Presbytery and this againe into a newer Independency and our well-temperd Monarchy into a mad kinde of Kakistocracy Good Lord what wild irregular courses have these men runne since the reines have layen loose upon them I am afraid they will never leave chopping and changing plotting and practising till in conclusion they bring all to confusion all to an Anarchy or savage Ataxie Prayer Peace Ierusalem and all Therefore it is no breach of charity to pray against these men How long Lord how long holy and just shall our bloud and wrongs be unreveng'd upon them how long shall the Devill and his instruments have place and power to deface and defile thy Temples to profane thy service to persecute thy ministers to pursue the life and honour of thine Anointed and to seduce the silly people like sheepe to the slaughter How long shall they blaspheme thy Name and Religion by making it an instrument of such hellish practises How long Lord how long holy and just Thus have I runne through the parts of my Text I have shewed ye that our chiefest care should be for Ierusalem that the greatest blessing we can wish Ierusalem is peace that the most effectuall meanes to procure peace is prayer Therefore pray for the peace of Ierusalem Let naturall-hearted men that wish the conservation of the world Let loyall Subjects that are tender of the safety and reputation of their Prince Let true Patriots that regard the flourishing condition of their Country Let devour Christians that thinke it an happinesse to enjoy the free use of religion Let whosoever desire to see good dayes and the lives of them and theirs prolonged and prospered upon earth Let us all that have beene tormented with the furies of a long Warre joyne in a maine army of Supplicants and Pray for the peace of Ierusalem Before these causelesse Warres began causelesse for though the meritorious was too apparent yet the next immediate cause is somewhat mystick and wondrous Before I say these causelesse Warres had cut asunder the Gordian knot of our well-setled peace God had advanced this Nation above all Nations with so rare and continued course of prosperity that all the world and all the ages in the world could hardly patterne it for which so much we owed unto his heavenly bounty as we were never able sufficiently to pay And therefore if we did not give him an infinite number of thankes and prais'd him with our mouthes magnified him in our hearts and glorified him in our lives and did all we could to set forth and celebrate his matchlesse goodnesse and indulgence towards us we were the most ingratefull and consequently the most hatefull people under heaven For God in the first of Esay summons all the world with a tragicall Prosopopeia to wonder at such as monsters rather then men Heare O Heaven give eare O Earth and be astonished I have nourished and brought up children and they have rebelled against me Doubtlesse this black sinne of ingratitude our unthankfulnesse in not acknowledging and our dissolutenesse in abusing such singular favours made us longer unworthy of them For besides that Warre and Destruction having taken their progresse through the neighbouring Countries according to the ordinary destinie of earthly things our turne was likely to be next Did not our ripe sinnes expect the sickle Did not their extreame enormity leaving scarce any feare that we could be worse and their brazen impudencie leaving as little hope that we would be better argue the measure of our iniquities to be brim-full hath not our more then heathenish profanenesse and impiety our exorbitant pride and foppish gayetie our ranke voluptuousnesse riot luxury and most ungracious abuse of Gods innumerable mercies provoked his Justice to bring upon us the same or worse calamities then have so long and doe still afflict the wretched Territories of the dismembred Empire Therefore it is high time now that we are at the pits mouth of utter undoing ready to be tumbled in with penitent hearts and teary eyes with all fervency and importunity to pray uncessantly for the peace of Ierusalem When from this generall which is confess'd on all sides I descend to the inquisition of more particular and nearer causes of our present miserie I am struck silent with amazement my thoughts are all confounded I know not what to say to it unlesse I should ascribe the division of States to the conjunction of Starres unlesse men at certaine periodicall times were carried into it by a fatall sway that such eager and mortall contention should flame from little or no provocation Or if there be any cause other then fatall was it that we were come to the desperate resolution of Aesops Asse who made no haste to fly from the enemies presuming they could not load her with heavier burdens then her Master It cannot be denyed but such Asses were numbers in the Kingdome till sad experience the fooles Mistrisse made them finde and feele to their cost the little finger of the Rebels to be heavier then was the hand loynes and whole body of the King Or shall I thinke Religion that most specious pretext the onely sound whereof for dull soules they skill little of the substance of it doth so mightily bewitch and inveigle the people Shall I think this to have been the true genuine cause Nothing lesse For our religion of old was saith Lactantius and still is to be defended especially against those whom God hath set over us not by fighting but by dying not by cruelty but by patience not by wickednesse but by faith not
peace and tranquillitie of all Seeing then an inclination to peace was the originall spring of civill communities and the establishment of peace the very end whence they had their beginning and seeing the end is bonum primae intentionis though obtained last yet desired first first in our purposes and wishes this is a duty which hath none before it to pray for peace the peace of Ierusalem 2. But if peace be not larded with prosperity 't is not worth the praying for for as prosperity without peace is but an uncertaine felicity so peace without prosperity is but secure misery Did we dwell in a barren desert or a pestilentiall aire in the Acherusian fens or under the North-pole we should find cold comfort in our peace But peace here peace in the language of the Holy Ghost doth signifie the confluence of all earthly blessings the entire masse of humane welfare Some render it Salutate Ierusalem for the Iewes saluted them to whom they wished all happinesse with this complement Peace be unto you Peace then according to the sacred idiome is the Rendezvouz or Magazine of all that good is For all that good is either honesium jucundum utile honest pleasant or profitable as for decorum it is but a glosse set upon the rest or a reflection from them 1. Peace is honest for it is nothing but a sweet resultance from the due observation of good Lawes Shee 's the daughter of righteousnesse saith the Prophet Isa. 32. 17. 't is a fruit of the holy spirit saith the Apostle Gal. 5. 22. Righteousnesse and peace kisse each other as the Psalmist sings most sweetly 't is founded in charity which is the comprehension of all Christian vertues 2. Whether peace be pleasant or no I appeale to your now quickned experience What is more wished or would be more welcome then peace What is better or sweeter then peace What is more splendid and beautifull then peace Peace is that faire Astraea that linketh men together in the golden fetters of mutuall amitie and maketh them to live as if their persons being many their soules were but one Peace is the harmony of the world the smile and serenity of the earth the hansell and image of our happinesse in heaven the tutelar Saint of Kings and Princes the very forme or soule of a Common-wealth the nursery of Arts shortly a Paradise where all accommodations for this life and the next do grow O how good and pleasant a thing it is to see Brethren to dwell together in unity If there were no positive pleasure in peace yet as it is the greatest torment to be depriv'd of Heaven so it is not the least of pleasures to be freed from Hell {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} saith the grand Philosopher 't is a pleasure to be rid of that which displeaseth us to be freed from this hell of â—â—rre the fire and brimstone stormes and tempests plagues and vexations of it if for no other reason then this how pleasant a thing is peace 3. Peace is profitable for in that encomiastick Psalme of Peace it is not onely compared to the fragrant oyntment of Aaron but also to the prolifique dew of Hermon fructifying the fields of Sion Pacis alumna Ceres peace and abundance go together therefore she is emblem'd in a faire woman holding a Copia-Cornu a horne full of flowers and fruits in one hand and leading Plutos the good of riches in the other to paint out unto us that riches and plenty are the inseperable companions of peace O what a blessed Trinity conspire in this Vnity Certainly they know not what is good for themselves who doe not pray for peace the peace of Ierusalem 3. The greatest benefit of peace is to improve it to that end for which God had given it namely the advancement of religion and the exaltation of his service 'T is a most unthankfull alienation of his favours to abuse them as as we have done turne his grace into wantonnesse consume our fertile peace in making provision for the flesh to satisfie the lusts thereof to make our backs fine and our bellies full Better follow the warres then thus to staine our peace God sends peace for holyer purposes that we should lead quiet lives in all godlinesse and honestie 1 Tim. 2. 2. that we should sow the fruits of righteousnesse in peace Iam. 3. 17. that being delivered from the hands of our enemies we should serve him without feare Luc. 1. 74. If Hannibal were at the Ports Rabshache upon the Walls the Rebels now within our Workes what a wilde confusion would rout your attention Put men into a bodily feare and quite marre their devotion The Iewes were thrice a yeare to worship God in Ierusalem now in the time of Warre 't was ill travailing the Countrey men were then affraid to say what David was so glad to heare Let us goe into the House of the Lord The Psalmist therefore being exceedingly delighted to behold these meetings and wishing in his heart they might never be interrupted from the desire of his soule breathed this flagrant ejaculation O pray for the Peace of Ierusalem Indeed it is the very beauty of peace a blessed spectacle to see men trooping to Church endearing themselves with the mutuall offices of pietie like those in the eighth of Zachary lovingly inviting calling and exciting one another heare you neighbour friend brother Let us goe into the House of the Lord The free and solemne exercise of religion is so great an happinesse as we can enjoy no greater till we come in Heaven and the principall meanes to bring us thither Therefore it is as much as our soules are worth to pray for peace the peace of Ierusalem But after we have beene so cruelly swing'd with the iron flayle of warre sure no man can be so mercilesse to himselfe as not to be glad of peace To most of those who were so forward at first to blow the coale of this terrible conflagration if S. Austin's question were now put Vultis pacem would yee have peace how greedily would they answer Cupimus amamus volumus yes with all our hearts But how shall we repossesse our selves of it Hic labor hoc opus est for we are growne to desperate extremities we have lost our selves in a Labyrinth of most perplexed difficulties and can finde no clew to winde us out of it our breach is too wide to be healed our wrongs too great either to be suffered or to be satisfied our quarrels by mutuall slaughters incensed to implacable hatred and our peace so ruin'd beyond all reparation that a temper now reconciliation now may seeme impossible But what is impossible with man is possible with God therefore Pray He he alone can recollect the pieces of this shattered Kingdome and joyne them together againe in a firme and lasting peace therefore pray doe but aske and have speake and speed Pray for the peace of Ierusalem 1. God the