old Sins Let us not be high-minded saith the Apostle but fear indeed If God be for us who can be against us saith the same Apostle Rom. 8. 3. But how can he be Friends with us when we walk so cross and perversly with him His Name that ought not to be mentioned without highest Reverence is continually Blasphemed Isa 52. 5. Nothing hated but Holiness and the Lovers of it made the Song of the Drunkards and By-word of the People and a desire to walk with God according to our Christian Profession Soberly Righteously and Godly Tit. 2. 12. made a derision all the day c. Neither let us think to appease him and hold his Friendship with a few Sermons and Ceremonies of outward Service as the tything of Mint Cummin and Dill when we neglect Justice and Fidelity a Gospel Reformation of our Lives and Conversations and the weighty things of the Law and Gospel as our Lord speaks Matth. 23. 23. See what the Lord speaks by the Prophet Jeremiah For I spake not unto your Fathers nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the Land of Egypt concerning Burnt-offrings and Sacrifices But this thing commanded I them saying obey my Voice and I will be your God and ye shall be my People and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you that it may be well unto you Jer. 7. 22 23. When in the mean time we hold his truth in Unrighteousness when I know not for what politick respects we prefer Musical Delight Am. 5. 23. and Solemnity in his Service before the Spirit and Understanding 1 Cor. 14. 15. and Justifie by our practice the Idol-Service which we accuse in our Books and Preaching And now O ye Priests this Commandment is for you saith the Prophet Malchi If ye will not hear and if ye will not lay it to heart to give glory to my Name saith the Lord of Hosts I will even send a curse upon you and will curse your Blessings yea I have cursed them already because ye do not lay it to Heart Mal. 2. 1 2. I will dash them a Man against his Brother the Father and the Son together saith the Lord I will not pity nor spare nor have mercy but destroy them Jer. 13. 14. and 16. Give Glory to the Lord God before he cause Darkness and before your Feet stumble upon the dark Mountains and while ye look for Light he turn it into the shadow of Death and make it gross Darkness These things are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the World are come 1 Cor. 10. 11. Excellently doth Ezra express the Affection Resolution and Reformation of the Jews after their Escape and Deliverance from Babylon and return to Zion with these words And after all this is come upon us for our evil Deeds and for our great Transgressions seeing thou our God hast punished us less than our Iniquities deserve and hast given us such a Deliverance as this should we again break thy Commandments and joyn in affinity with the people of these Abominations Wouldst not thou be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us so that there should be no remnant nor escaping Ezek. 9. 13 14. Let us take heed that we fulfill our Ministery as the Apostle exhorts Timothy 2 Tim. 4. 5. that we lose not our Church it self wherein Men glory so much your Glorying is not good saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 5. 6. that it flee not away like a Bird as the Glory of Ephraim from the Birth and from the Womb and from the Conception as the Prophet Hosâ—a speaks and our selves also The Dissenters as we call them are like to steal it away from us and leave us naked and bare to read Prayers to bare Walls and empty Pews as many do already in City and Country Behold your house shall be left unto you desolate saith our Lord to the Jews What house The Prophet Isaiah tells us Our Holy and Beautiful House where our Fathers praised thee is burnt up with Fire and all our pleasant things are laid waste the only Cathedral that God had in all the World wherein was the Glorious Symbol of his Presence and the great Mystery of Godliness that praefigured Christ with all his Benefits This was done afterwards by the Caldeans He tells them further Therefore I say unto you the Kingdom of Heaven shall be taken from you and given to a Nation bringing forth the Fruits thereof Matth. 21. 43. What is meant by this Kingdom of Heaven The Church visible the Phrase often used in the beginning of St. John's Preaching and Christ's Matth. 3. 2. and 4. 17. and in the Parable of the Sower This Phrase is taken from Daniel And in the days of those Kings shall the God of Heaven set up a Kingdom and the Kingdom shall not be left to another People but it shall break in pieces and consume all these Kingdoms and it shall stand for ever Dan. 2. 44. The Church visible is now to be made up of the Gentiles as of old of the Jews chiefly our Lord having taken down the Wall of Partition that was set up by God himself between them why may not Men take down and demolish even to the Foundation the Wall of Separation dawbed with intempered Mortar of Malice and Envy set up in their Heart against their Brethren unless there be such a great Gulf fixed between them by it so that they which would pass from hence cannot nor can they pass to us that would come thence as Father Abraham speaks to the rich Man in Hell that would fain have changed his Quarters and Post for any Ease or mitigation of pain Luk. 16. 26. The Evangeilst Matthew tells us That this saying is commonly reported among the Jews to this day Matth. 28 15. that Christ's Disciples came by Night and stole him away while the Watch-men slept Mary Magdalen upon a double mistake thought that the Gardiner had stolen him out of his Grave Joh. 20. 15. We read of a great quarrel between the ten Tribes and the Jews about the stealing away of King David in his own Presence And behold all the Men of Israel came unto the King and said unto the King why have our Brethren the Men of Judah stolen thee away 2 Sam. 19. 41. The good and wise King could not decide the controversie without a Mutiny and sad Dissention as follows in the Text Moses tells us that Jacob stole away the Heart of Laban the Syrian when he fled from him Gen. 31. 20. upon the fall of his Countenance towards him with all that he had and that his Daughter Rachel stole away his Teraphim his Gods there was a Heartless and Godless Man left and what had he more Judg. 18. 24. as Micah speaks to the Men of Dan yet after all his fierce pursuing after Jacob with all his forces and overtaking him and searching all his stuff he found nothing of his to accuse Jacob of
Peace of God See 1 Cor. 1. 10. Now I beseech you brethren by the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ that ye all speak the same thing and that there be no division among you that ye be perfectly joyned together in the same mind and in the same judgment Exhort Let us then for the better calming of our Passions bethink us and ask our selves these few Questions First Who and what we are and were Our Lord resolveth this Question chiefly in his Epistle to the Church of Laodicea Because thou sayest I am rich and encreased with goods and have need of nothing and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire that thou mayâ—st be rich and white rayment that thou mayest be cloathed and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear and anoint thine eyes with eye-salve that thou mayest see Rev. 3. v. 17. 18. Secondly Who it is that calls us When our Lord commanded blind Bartimeus to be called that cried after him Jesus thou son of David have mercy on me And they call the blind man saying unto him be of good comfort rise he calleth thee and he casting away his garment rose and came to Jesus Mark 10. 50. So ought we to cast away all our Animosities and petty Dissentions and admit this sweet and easie Yoak of the Peace of God to rule in our hearts for faithful is he that calleth you who also will do it saith the Apostle 1 Thess 5. 24. And again God is faithful by whom ye are called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord saith the Apostle Peter 1. 2. 9. 2. From the dominion of sin and Satan unto the glorious liberty of the children of God Rom. 8. 21. Gal. 5. 1. From the troubles of this tumultuous World that is like the raging Sea that cannot rest and the Christians are as weary of it as David was of Mesek when he said Wo is me that I sojourn in Mesek that I dwell in the Tents of Kedar my Soul hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace I am for peace but when I speak they are for war And again he said O that I had wings like a Dove for then would I flye away and be at rest Psalm 55. v. 6. Upon which account our Lord calleth his Church from the World the Seat of cruel men to Heaven in these endearing expressions Come with me from Lebanon my Spouse with me from Lebanon loâ—k from the top of Amana from the top of Shema and Harmon from the Lions Den from the Mountain of the Leopards Cant. 4. 9. Fourthly Unto what are we called God hath called us unto peace 1 Cor. 7. 15. Let our Calling admonish us of our Duty We are called unto Peace saith this Text also Peace peace to him that is afar off and to him that is near saith the Lord and I will heal him Isa 57. 19. Knowing this that we are thereunto called that we should inherit a blessing saith Peter 1 Pet. 3. 9. And what greater blessing than peace that in the bowels of it hath all blessings lodged And our Apostle tells us above Sixteen hundred years ago That the God of peace shall bruise Satan the grand Enemy of our peace under our feet shortly Rom. 26. v. 20. That we may know in this our day the things that belong to our peace that they be not hid from our eyes as our Lord spake when he wept over Jerusalem Luke 19. 42. I will conclude this first Reason Why the peace of God should bear rule in our hearts Because we are called thereunto with our Lords charge to his Disciples in bidding them Beware of offences He concludes his Speech thus Have salt in your selves and have peace on with another Mark 9. 42. 50. Where the Salt of true Grace is it will make the means of peace sweet and savoury and no stain of corruption or the least unsavouriness shall remain to disrelish any squeamish Stomach Let us remember withal That he that is the God of peace that hath called us to peace is also the God of all grace Who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus as Peter speaks 1 Pet. 5. 10. And so an entrance shall be ministred unto us abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 1. v. 1 1 where we shall enjoy everlasting peace Reas 2. The second Reason why the peace of God should rule in our hearts is this That we are in one body For that this is a distinct Reason appears because he says Not unto our body 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in one body This Similitude more fully is as much as to say You Christians with Christ make as it were a body Therefore as it were monstrous if one body should yield members fighting one against another and making as it were a civil war in the natural body So it is if disorder be found amongst you Christians that which Christ makes up a mystical body The resembling Christians to a body is at large exemplified and garnished 1 Cor. 12. and in divers other places of Scripture mentioned Val. Max. Flor. tit 1. P. 27. Yea we read in the Roman History That upon a time there was a great Sedition in the City of Rome the Commons complaining of the Senate and Nobility rose up tumultuously against them One Menenius Agrippa wiser than the rest brought them to peace and unity again by this very Similitude of Members and Body and made such an Oration unto them At what time said he in man's Body the Members did not as now agree in one but each had his several counsel and speech the rest of the parts had indignation that by their care labour and industry and ministry all things were provided for the Belly it being quiet and at ease in the midst did nought else but enjoy the Pleasures that were given it Whereupon they conspired that the Hand should not reach any meat to the Mouth nor the Mouth receive it being given nor the Teeth chew it Whilst thus enraged they would needs master the Belly with Famine The Members themselves withal and the whole Body came to an extream Consumption whereby appeared that the Bellies Service was not the worst nor slackest that it did not less nourish than receive nourishment yielding back into all the parts the life and blood which having digested the meat it laboureth thereout and divideth withal into the Veins and Conduits of the whole Body Such said he is the Civil Discord and Anger of the People against the Senate By this means he perswaded the People to lay down their Arms and so turned their Minds from their intended Hostility and Violence to Unity and Peâ—ace And indeed the Apostle's Speech If ye bite and devour one another take heed that ye be not consumed one of another Gal. 5. 25. tends to the same
when there seemed to be but a step between us and ruin which I write not to puff us up with Pride nor Himself whose not the least Praise is that he delights not in the hearing of his own Praise but to make us thankful and to stir us up to pray heartily to God for him that he would keep his Mind in him for evermore and confirm his love to him for ever Bless Lord his substance and accept the work of his Hands for thy Church and People smite through the Loyns of those that rise up against him and of them that hate him that they rise no more which is Moses's Prayer for Levi. Deut. 33. 11. See David's Prayer 1 Chron. 29. 18. O Lord God of Abraham Isaac and Israel our Fathers keep this for ever in the Imagination of the Thoughts of the Heart of thy People and prepare their Heart unto thee that at length our Eyes may behold that joyful sight That Mercy and Truth are met together that Righteousness and Peace have kissed each other Psal 85. 10. as the Psalmist speaks and the full Accomplishment of that Evangelical Promise Violence shall be no more heard in thy Land Wasting nor Destruction within thy Borders that Men may call our Walls Salvation and our Gates Praise Isa 60. 18. that when he rests from his Labours his Works may follow him My next Address is to you my Reverend Brethren of the Ministry of the New Testament to you in a special manner is the Word of his Salvation sent Acts 13. 26. as the Apostle speaks to the Church of Corinth being by nature as hateful to God and hating one another Tit. 3. 3. as those that are embodied with you Let the Peace of God rule in your Hearts into which ye are called not only in one Body Mystical as all Christians are but also into one Body Ecclesiastical and be ye thankful that ye be all of one Mind 1 Cor. 1. 10. We are Embassadors for Christ the Prince of Peace the King of Peace upon whom the Chastisement of our Peace was laid Isa 53. 5. That came and preached Peace to you that were afar off and to them that were near saith the Apostle Eph. 2. 17. and hath left us a Legacy of Peace and hath committed unto us the Ministry of Reconciliation 2 Cor. 5. 19. the Gospel of Peace Rom. 10. 15. O that it might be said of us under the New Testament as he speaks of Levi in the Old He walked with me in Peace and Equity and did turn many from Iniquity Mal. 2. 6. Let us be diligent in our Master's work like faithful and wise Stewards whom our Lord hath made Rulers over his Houshold to give them their portion of meat in their due season Blessed are those Servants whom our Lord when he cometh shall find so doing of a Truth I say unto you that he will make them Rulers of all that he hath Luk. 12. 42 43 44. That we may recover poor Sinners out of the Snare of the Devil who are taken Captives by him at his Will 2 Tim. 2. 25. That when the chief Shepherd shall appear we may be found of him in Peace without spot and blameless and receive a Crown of Glory that fadeth not away 1 Pet. 5. 4. 2 Pet. 3. 14. That being Teachers sent of God to teach the way of God in Truth may shine as the brightness of the Firmament and by turning many to Righteousness as the Stars for ever and ever as the Prophet Daniel speaks Dan. 12. 3. Now since God by this Text as by the tenor of the whole Book of God calls us to Peace how many of our Profession are counted the greatest Enemies to it in the whole Kingdom as being neither Peace-makers nor Peace-keepers with our Neighbours but by Austerity and Severity exacting our dues to the utmost Farthing with such rigour as the Sons of Eli did use that were Sons of Belial and knew not the Lord 1 Sam. 2. 12. contrary to that Spirit of the Gospel which Christ's own Disciples were ignorant of when they would have consumed the Samaritans with Fire from Heaven as Elijah did the Guards of Ahaziah Luk. 9. 55. and putting their Parishioners into the Court often for very small matters as if they sought not them but theirs so contrary to the Apostle as if Destruction and Misery were in their ways and the way of Peace they had not known as the Apostle speaks of the Gentiles Rom. 3. 17. Hence it is in the first place that Men prosper not under the means of Grace as thinking it impossible that the same Fountain should at the same place or spring-head send forth sweet Water and bitter as St. James speaks Jam. 3. 11. And that Men abhor the Offerings of the Lord as if all soughe their own and not the things which are Jesus Christs Phil. 2. 21. which the Israelites are recorded to have done of old for the vileness of their Priests that with Force and Cruelty ruled over them and many depart from them with Indignation to more peaceable Assemblies of Christians without any purpose to return because their Shepherds have caused them to go astray as the Prophet Jeremiah speaks ch 50. 6. And since our Liturgy that we read daily is so full of good Prayers Collects and Requests for Peace that God who is the Author of Peace and lover of Concord would give to all Nations Unity Peace and Concord Let this Charity begin at home and let us with our Apostle follow after the things that make most for Peace and the things wherewith we may edifie one another Rom. 14. 17 19. and ye shall be named the Priests of the Lord Men shall call you the Ministers of our God ye shall eat the Riches of the Gentiles and in their Glory shall ye boast your selves as the Evangelical Prophet speaks Isa 61. 6. lest the Lord divide us in Jacob and scatter us in Israel as he did Simeon and Levi that were Brethren in Evil but not in any good to their perpetual in famy remembring always that he that soweth Discord among Brethren is one of the seven things that are an Abomination to the Lord as Solomon speaks Prov. 6. 16. Again our Brethren that profess the same Faith of Christ crucified with us yet dissent from us in some Externals and Circumstances about Religion lay to our charge that we hang all our Religion and Ministration upon certain stinted Forms and Canonical Offices upon Persons and Places Times Canonical Hours Vestures Postures and Gestures c. and that under the Fig-leaves of Formality in the worship of God we cover all Iniquity as the Church of Rome doth whose whole Religion is nothing else but a Congeries of such insipid stuff And that of late we were ready upon the advance of Popery to turn Papists rather than part with our Livings perceiving some to be turned aside already after Satan like fallen Stars and others with Demas to forsake us
Proverb says If one will not another will Doeg the Edomite did readily obey the word of Command and made no Bones of it to butcher Fourscore and five persons that did wear a Linâ—â— Ephod and this Obedience tended to the eternal Destruction of the wicked Commander and cursed Obeyer and for shedding so much innocent Blood in the Massacre of their City Nob. They murdered themselves in the overthrow at Mount Gilboa 1 Sam. 31. 4 5. Servants must not run away at every word as Hagar who tells the truth to the Angel that called to her in her flight slayed her course and sent her back again Hagar Sarah's Maid whence comest thou and whether goest thou And she said I flee from the Face of my Mistress Sarah and the Angel of the Lord said unto her Return unto thy Mistress and submit thy self unto her and she did so and tarried with her till she was brought to Bed of her Son Ishmael and many years afterward for her Son was thirteen Years old when he was Circumcised and Isaac but eight Days Gen. 17. 24. Servants must not answer again with lying and swearing as too many do Gehezi sheltered his base Covetous Mind with Lyes to his Master Elisha to enrich himself by the Bounty of Naaman the Syrian but it brought a plague of Leprosie upon him and his Seed for ever and he went out of his Masters presence a Leper as white as Snow 2 Kin. 5. 27. but came in no more to serve him They must not despise their Masters but count their own Masters worthy of all Honour that the Name of God and his Doctrin be not blasphemed as the Apostle speaks to Timothy 1 Tim. 6. 1 2. They must not speak evil of them as wicked Ziba did of his Master Mephibosheth whom he had falsly accused of High Treason to the King For he said to day shall the House of Israel restore me to the Kingdom of my Father 2 Sam. 16. 3. Upon which false Accusation the King doth rashly bestow all his Estate upon his Treacherous accuser but the Holy Ghost testified his Loyalty to the King who rode out to meet the King at his return and having made the whole time of the the King's absence as it were a day of Humiliation and had neither washsed his Feet nor trimmed his Beard nor washed his Cloaths from the day the King departed until the day he came in Peace 2 Sam. 19. 24. and cleared himself to the King in shewing the baseness of his Servants My Lord O King my Servant deceived me 2 Sam. 19. 26. else I had gone along with Your Majesty for all my Lameness and he also hath slandered thy Servant unto my Lord the King And the King mends the matter well I have said thou and Ziba divide the Land And Mephibosheth said unto the King yea let him take all forasmuch as my Lord the King is come again in peace into his own House A most noble Expression of a Loyal Subject concerning one that had betraved his Master and look'd for the forfeiture of his Estate that had justly deserved a shameful Death Servants must not discover Family Secrets unless in such a case as Jonathan discovered to his Friend David his Fathers Indignation and bloody design against him Nor purloin their Goods as the Steward of a certain rich Man did that was accused unto him that he had wasted his Goods Luk. 16. from the first verse to the ninth His Master commends his Policy but not his Honesty that cheated his Master for his future Accommodation But and if that Servant say in his Heart my Master delays his coming and shall begin to beat the Men-Servants and Maidens and to eat and drink and to be drunken the Lord of that Servant will come in a day that he looketh not for him and at an hour when he is not aware and cut him in sunder and will appoint him his portion with Hypocrites and Unbelievers Luk. 12. 45 56. saith our Lord. How faithful was Moses in all God's House as a Servant Heb. 3. 5. and Daniel in Darius's House Dan. 6. 3. Joseph in Pharoah's House Mordecay in Ahashuerus's House that discovered the bloody Plot of Treason against his Life Est 2. 21 22. How famous is the History of Eliezer Abraham's Servant that was sent Ambassador to Mesopotamia to the City of Nahor to take a Wife for Isaac How scrupulous is he to undertake so great and so honourable an Embasey How zealous in Prayer to God for his Direction and Blessing How thankful for the return of his Prayer according to his Faith and earnest Desire How Courteous to the Lady that was given in to his Prayer of Faith How careful not to eat nor drink till he had discharged his trust and told his Errand Last of all How resolute to return immediately after he had obtained what he went for His Commission being out he will not stay one day longer but make haste home to his Master that sent him for a Blessing to his Son Isaac all this is very remarkable and imitable by all Servants that fear God and honour their Masters Gen. 24. throughout Gracious and Godly Servants have been and may be Instruments of much good in their Masters House as that little Girl that was taken Prisoner out of the Land of Israel by the Syrians was the occasion of her healing of her foul Leprous Master Naaman the Syrian and of his Conversion also from Idolatry to serve the Lord God of Israel And consequently of his Salvation all she said unto her Mistress was this Would God my Lord were with the Prophet that is in Samaria for he would recover him of his Leprosie He went to him and was healed and converted and made a solemn Protestation that he would cleave to the God of Israel as is recorded by the Holy Ghost 2 Kin. 3 4 5. Sozomen tells us l 2. 6. a like History of the Conversion of the Queen of Iberia by a Captive Christian Maid in the days of Constantine the Great and of the Conversion of the King and Kingdom from Paganism by the same Maid afterward The History is well worth Translating which is thus The Queen being taken with an incurable Disease and miraculously restored to perfect Health at the Invocation of the name of Christ by this Christian Woman devoted her self for ever to Christ her Deliverer The King admiring at the Queen 's so suddain Recovery commands to reward this Captive Damsel with rich Gifts The Queen told him I relate the words of Sozomen that though these things be of great value she regards them noâ— she cares not for such things the only thing she values is the Worship of her God If therefore we mind to gratâ—fie her afterwards and live peaceably and happily Let us also worship that powerful God and Saviour for he it is if he please that can make Kings enjoy that degree of Honour in which they are and can easily cast down great
I did it to God's Glory that I might express my Thankfulness to him and the joy of my Heart in doing him Service whom since the rest know not they are not to be respected if they scorn nor is it to be wondred if they be strangely affected with it as above the compass of their Conceit Fifthly How without hope of Requital are all yea the least of God's benefits that call for Thankfulness a cup of cold water only given to drink in Christ's name because ye belong to Christ shall not lose a just and superabundant requital saith our Lord Mar. 9. 41. See the full and final requital of all good and charitable Deeds Matth. 25. 34 35 36. Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world For I was an hungry and ye gave me meat I was thirsty and ye gave me drink I was a stranger and ye took me in naked and ye cloathed me I was sick and ye visited me I was in prinson and ye came unto me The Wicked he requites here sometimes in their own Coin as Adoni bezek acknowledgeth when his thumbs and great toes were cut off As I have done to threescore and ten Kings so hath the Lord requited me Judg. 1. 7. We are all ready enough to requite Evil for Evil to give him quid pro quo as good as he brings as the Proverb rimes as Sampson served the Philistines As they have done unto me so have I done unto them Jud. 15. 11. But it being impossible to requite God in any thing it is a most heinous Provocation of his justice to render Evil for Good Do ye thus provoke the Lord O foolish people and unwise saith Moses with Astonishment and Abhorrency Deut. 32. 6. 'T is left as a sad blot in Hezekiah's Scutcheon tho' otherwise a good Man and a good King by God's own Testimony He trusted in the Lord God of Israel so that after him there was none like him among all the Kings of Judah nor any that were before him But Hezekiah rendred not again according to the benefit done unto him for his heart was lifted up therefore there was wroth upon him and upon Judah and Jerusalem 2 Chr. 32. 25. For after the defeat of Senacherib's Forces by an Angel of God that slew in one night an hundred fourscore and five thousand men of war in the Assyrian Camp and after the recovery of his Health confirmed by a sign from Heaven in the Sun's Retrogradation by ten degrees and the addition by Patent from God of fifteen years to his days with exceeding much Riches and Honour yet for all this he was not so careful to please God in an humble and thankful Acknowledgment of such great Favours as God was to pleasure him in them all Sixthly Consider from what odds the Person giving to our baseness have been all his benefits he being the great Independent Jehovah greatness is stampt upon all his Benefits to us and we a Seed of evil Doers a people laden with Iniquity children that are corrupters our spot is not the spot of his Children we are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked and in want of all things as our Lord writes to the Church of Laodicea Rev. 3. v. 17. Lastly Consider with what advantage of time and order in first bestowing have his Benefits been to us No eye pittied thee to have compassion upon thee I said unto thee when thou wast in thy Blood live saith the Lord Ezek. 16. 5 6. we love him because he first loved us saith the Apostle 1 Joh. 4. 19. His love to us is an antecedent love we love him with a consequential love because he hath cast his love upon us first and therefore is no way indebted to us for our love The Apostle asks this question Who hath first given unto him and it shall berecompenced to him again for of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory for ever Amen Rom. 11. v. 35 36. It is said by some we can never requite our Parents by some also we owe more to our Masters and Teachers than to Parents in as much as one gave being the other well being doubtless in both respects we cannot requite God and Christ First Our Parents begat our Bodies he gave us our senses who is therefore styled by the Apostle The Father of our Spirits Heb. 12. 9. 2. Our Masters and Teachers gave us with God's Blessing Knowledge and Learning Christ teacheth us the way to Heaven who is the Way the Truth and the Life Christ gave himself to us and for us to wash us from our Sins in his own Blood Joh. 14. 6. without which it had been better for us to have been any thing rather than men yea at all not to have been Let us with the Psalmist again and again say What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me Psal 116. 12. all his benefits are above us even the one also of our former means to express Gratitude here fails us what can we wish or desire to the most absolute and perfect Being Only we may acknowledge the Benefits and the Excellency and Liberality of the Giver which further may desire that all others would do the like this is our utmost unless further to endeavour not to be disobedient to this Heavenly Author of much good to us which yet is our duty otherwise the less we have means to the former the more ought we to be in this and say with the Man after God's own Heart I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live I will sing praises to my God while I have my being my Meditation of him shall be sweet I will be glad in the Lord Psal 103. 33 34. and in another At Midnight will I rise to give thanks to thee because of thy righteous Judgments Psal 119. 62. Let us beg of him as another Benefit that he will give us Grace and a mind to do these things who hath given the ground an occasion of them even the same our Lord Jesus Christ Now because the Apostle Peter saith no Prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation 2 Pet. 1. 20. so neither are all of sole private application but some are of a larger Extent and Compass than others if I should have studied long for a fit Text Psal 119. 16. Thy commandment iâ— exceeding broad and turned the whole Scripture I could not have had a fitter passage or greaâ—◠〈◊〉 in all the Book of God he calls more both for private and publick application than this that is in so strange a manner laid open before us to look into it and yet no more strange than true as the truth is in Jesu before whom I stand for this Doctrin of the Peace of God that ought to rule in the Hearts of all Believers gives great help advantage and admonition to Kings Law-makers Rulers to
the Founders and Conservers of Cities Countreys and Kingdoms to the end and purpose of defending and preserving them from Evils in a cordial and blessed Submission to the ever-ruling and over-ruling Peace of God If the Peace of God did bear rule in the Hearts of all Christians which our Apostle requires in these of Colosiae all the World would become Christians A digression as if it had been in the presence of his Majesty for exercise sake And here let me with all Humility use the Psalmst David's Expression I will speak of thy Testimonies also before Kings and will not be ashamed Psal 119. 46. and therefore in the first place methinks this Scripture gives me just occasion to speak to Their Majesties in a word or two that which I am sure their noble minds will take more pleasure to hear than to be profuse in their praise which no Man can lightly pass over if the Peace of God rule in your Hearts whom the supream Ruler of the World hath chosen and sent to rule over us his People O happy shall ye be and it shall be well with you and happy shall all your Subjects in these three Kingdoms be that by you are redeemed from thraâ—dom and brought again from the Depths of the Sea of misery Psal 68. 22. that were sold for nought to the Man of sin to be destroyed to be slain and to perish as Queâ—â— Esther speaks to King Ahasuerus in a like case concerning Hamnus's Plot Esth 7. 4. Sir You were called many years ago by God himself into one Body conjugal with your Royal Consort that is all glorious within and without and now by the same God to the ornamical and Political to lead these three Nations as also to lead the Military Body of the Confederates of many Nations as Captain general of the Lords Hosts like another Moses that led the Children of Israel out of the Land of Egypt out of the House of Bondage or another Cyras that enlarged God's People out of the Babilonish Captiviry as it is no small Honour to be God's King upon so high and honourable Account as none of your Royal Predecessors were ever called unto so it asks no small Duty Reverence and Thankfulness at your hands to himwards Sir Thus it is you Princes as well as other Folks be accomptable to God as arise your Receipts to a higher proportion so must your Allowances and Payments be greater or less You will find in a greater Arrearage when it comes to a reckoning where much is bestowed much is called for again Consider if your self advance any Man above others upon equal and perhaps less desert if you do not think you ought more to repose in the Faithfulness and Loyalty of such a one be ye well sure God looks for the like at your Hand It behoves you therefore to be mindful of his Honour which I dare be bold is the greatest that you have that you are God's King as eminently as he of whom the Lord said yet have I set my King or as it is in the Hebr. anoynted my King upon Sion the hill of my holiness Psal 2. 6. that so in the Regiment of his People your Subjects and of your self you may demean your self as God's King There is no need that I descend to particulars in general I say that God's King may not behave himself as the remnant of Kings do that are either Paganish or Popish that rule only for their own Pleasures and Appetites without regard of Justice Peace or Honesty that presume to make Religions of their own to appoint a God or any thing as a service of God which he hath not commanded which is to tye God to their baubles as Jeroboam to the Golden Calves at Dan and Bethel 1 Kin. 12. and Nebuchadnezzar to the Golden Image in the Plain of Dura Dan. 3. to appoint a service in the Latin whom the People understand not contrary to the rule of Edification set down 1 Cor. 14. 26. When Men presume to bind Consciences to their Knees under pain of sin and forbid to reason of their biddings under severe Penalties this is a tyranny against God True it is that Penal Laws may be made to bind in many respects But let Men beware lest they exact with greater severity obedience to their own Precepts than God's there is but one Law-giver that can save and destroy saith James 4. 12. when they forbid what God commands and commands what God forbids its Tyranny as did Antiochus and other Heathen Emperors forbid to Circumcise to read the Law and commanded to offer to Idols and to eat Swines Flesh and all under pain of present Death 2 Macc. 7. Rulers must know their places have moderate and just and Godly Government not usurp on God's Right on their Subjects Conscience and tho' Faith be the Gift of God and cannot be taught nor forced nor Conscience be compelled to assent yet Men may be obliged to the outward hearing of Gods Word and Factious Fire-brands repressed and quenched Sozomen tells us That Athanasius the Patriarch of Alexandria was upon a time walking in the Streets in that City and that a Raven did flee towards him croaking which the Heathen that stood near observing began to deride him and reproach him as if he had been a Praestigiator or Conjurer and so making towards him asked in derision what the Raven said to him He modestly smiling answered in Latin Eras for he dictates unto you That to morrow will be a most bitter day for to morrow you shall receive the Emperor's Edict that you shall celebrate no more your Heathenish Solemnities And acaccordingly it came to pass for the next day the Magistrates received orders from the Roman Emperor that their Heathen Gods should be no more worshipped but destroyed utterly with all their Idolatry and Superstition in which they were bred Which being abdicated they immediately embraced the Gospel Blessed is the people that know this joyful sound Psal 89. 15. And thanks be to Jesus Christ in many things already you have shewed your self God's King in coming out to help the Lord against the mighty Jer. 9. 3. in being valient for his truth at home and abroad in scattering the Proud in the Imagination of their Hearts and bring the Wheel upon them in taking down 〈◊〉 Partition Wall of Separation that your Subjects might not destroy one another for fashions sake you have put your Life into your Land to fight the Lords Battles that teacheth your hands to war and your fingers to fight Psal 144. 1. and have wrought with God this great Salvation in our Israel as all Israel said of Jonathan that overthrew the vastest Army that ever the Philistines had consisting of thirty thousand Chariots six thousand Horses and people like the sand which is on the Sea shoar for Multitude 1 Sam. 13. 5. In his name that giveth Salvation unto Kings and that hath delivered your Royal Person from the Sword like another David