The City of Peace, Title page – Dedication
Eirenopolis: THE CITIE OF PEACE.
Surueyed and commended to all Christians.
By THO. ADAMS.
LONDON, Printed by Aug. Matthewes for Iohn Grismand, and are to bee sold at his Shop in Pauls Alley, at the Signe of the Gunne. 1622.
ERRATA.
PAge 7. for proposition, read pro portion. page 18. for imitates, reade intimates. page 19. for if reade as.
To all that louelove PEACE and TRVTH.
PEACE, take it with all faults, is better then Warre: and the ende of a iust warre, is but Studium Pacis, the intention of a right peace. The Subiect then is beyond exception, to all that louelove Peace. But commonly they, with whom it meddles, refuse to meddle with it. Let such take the course of their vnhappy precipice into euerlasting vnquietnesse, who wilfully reiect the cure of their affected maladie: denying their consciences a trouble that may saue them, for feare of loosing a trouble that …o…h please them. As if a man were lesse then mad, that will leap into the fire, o auoid the smoke. There is Pax fundamenti, the peace of Doctrine: and Pax Ordinis, the peace of Discipline. The Heretike would pull downe the first Pillar, the Schismaticke the other: The former would break our peace with Christ; the latter with our selues & the Church: both these are almost desperate. But there is a third, Pax Politica, a ciuill Peace: and the common disturbers of this are such contentious spirits; that either vnprouoked, out of mischieuous intention: or being prouoked, out of malicious reuenge; set all in vprore, make a mutiny in manners, an ataxie in the course of life. To cure this Babel, if at least shee will bee cured, is the scope of this Tractate. Peace was Christs blessed Legacie to his Church; and we are the Ministers whom he hath chosen to see it payed. Executours are often sued for the bequests giuen by dead Testators: Loe here a Legacie without suing from a liuing Father. Embrace it, and bee regulated by it: so shall your hearts finde present comfort, and your soules eternall life in it.
The heartie desirer of your Peace. TH. ADAMS.
THE CITIE OF PEACE.
PEACE is the Daughter of Righteousnes, and the moher of knowledge, the nurse of Arts, and the improuement of all blessings. It is delectable to al that taste it, profitable to thē that practise it; to thē that look vpō it, amiable; to them that enioy it, a benefit inualuable. The building of Christianity knows no other materials: if we looke vponupon the Church it self,Ephes. 4. 4 There is one body: if vpō the very soule of it, There is one Spirit: if vpō the endowment of it, There is one Hope: if vponupon the head of it, There is one Lord: if vponupon the life of it, There is one Faith: if vponupon the doore of it, There is one Baptisme: if vponupon the Father of it, There is one God, and Father of all.
Peace is a faire Virgin, eueryevery ones LoueLove,The Picture of Peace. the praise of all tongues, the obiect of all eyes, the wish of all hearts; Pacē …te poscimus omnes. She hath a smiling looke, which neuer frowned with the lest scowle of anger: snowy armes, soft as Downe, and whiter then the Swannes feathers; alwaies open to pious embracements. Her milken hand carries an Oliue branch, the Symbole and Embleme of quietnesse. She hath the face of a glorious Angell, alwaies looking towards righteousnesse, as the two Cherubins looked one vponupon the other, and both vntounto the Mercy-Seate. Her Court is the inuincible Fort of integrity; so guarded by the diuiue prouidence; that Drummes, Trumpets, and thundring Canons, those lowd Instruments of war, (I meane Blasphemy, Contention, Violence) may affront her, but neuer affright her. Shee hath a bounteous hand, virtuall like the Garment of Christ; if a faithfull soule can come to touch it, to kisse it; all her vexations are fled, her conscience is at rest. Her bowels are full of pitty: shee is alwayes composing salues for all the wounds of a broken heart, Sedition and tumult her very soule hates: shee tramples iniuries and discords vnderunder her triumphant feet. Shee sits in a Throne of Ioy, & weares a Crown of Eternitie: and to all those that open the doore of their heart to bid her welcome, shee will open the doore of Heauen to bidde them welcome, and repose their soules in euerlasting Peace. The requisitenesse & revvard of Peace.In these continuall Dogge-daies of ours, wherein louelove waxeth cold, and strife hote, wee had need set our Instruments to the tune of Peace. This was the blessed legacie which Christ bequeathed to his Church: the Apostle from his Master sent it as a token to the Corinthians: and I from the Apostle commend it as a Iewell to all Christians;2. Cor. 13. 11 Liue in Peace, and the God of LoueLove and Peace shall bee with you. Which conclusion of the Epistle containes the blessing of the Apostle': a Valediction, and a Benediction. They are in part Hortatory, in part Consolatory: the vertue to which he perswades them, and the reward which hee promiseth them. There is a sweet symphony, and respondent proposition betweene the Counsell and the Comfort; the Actiue Peace, and the Factiue Peace: for seeking peace on Earth, we shall find peace in Heauen: for keeping the peace of God, wee shall bee kept by the God of peace. The one is the regular Compasse of our life on Earth, the other is the glorious Crowne of our life in Heauen.
That wee may not cherish too weake an opinion of this duty, wee must know, that this Apostolicall counsel is an Euangelicall law;The forme of a right Lavv. and binds vsus all to the peace. Liue in Peace: there are in it all the concurring qualities, that define a good law; as Lycurgus taught: Generalitas, Bonitas, Possibilitas. It must be Generall, Good, Possible.
Generall, so that all be tied to the obedience of it. Else it were like Anacharsis law, a cobweb to catch flies: or those tyranous cēsures, which are made to vex Doues, while they are indulgent to Buzzards.
It must be Good, for none are bound to the obedience of vniust things. If it hauehave an indifferent extent to good or bad, there is easily found some colour of euasion.
It must bee Possible; for if things be imposed vltra posse, and so men be made lyable to the mulct, when they are not culpable of the guilt; they may obiect that Naturae dictamen. Nemo tenetur ad impossibile: none are to be tyed to the obedience of impossible things. Such are Tyrants Lawes; not vincula, sed retia: not limits to confine, but netts to ensnare: not Pales, but Toiles.
But the Law of Peace is General,the equity of Peace none can plead immunitie. Good, none taxe it of iniquitie. Possible, none can say, it is beyond their abilitie. But it may be obiected. If you require it Generall, it is not Possible: for wee cannot hauehave peace with all men. If it were Possible, yet is it not lawfull and good; for wee may not hauehave peace with all men. To direct vsus in this, the Apostle inserts two cautions. If it be possible, Ro. 12. 18 foreign, and foreignas much as lyeth in you; liue peaceably with all men. For there are some cases in which foreign, it is not possible.… Cor. 6, 15 What communion hath light with darkenesse! and what concord hath Christ with Belial! Wee must hauehave no peace with it, if there be no grace in it.Psalme 1 Blessed is hee that walketh not in the counsell of the vngodly, &c. Forbeare not only to sit in the Chaire of pestilence with them, which is Sinne raigning: Peccatum dominans, Peccatum delectans, peccatum …n…ans.but euen to stand and discourse with them, which is Sinne delighting: yea euen to walke a turne with them, which is Sinne entring: teaching vsus to shunne the very acquaintance of their counsels.
But wicked men cannot be auoided;The termes of Peace distinguished. and so long as wee are in this world, wee must con uerse with men of the world. To answer this, we must distinguish betweene offenders, and offences: we may hauehave no peace with the one, true peace with the other. There are two names,August. Homo & Peccator: a Man, and a Sinner. Quod Peccator est, corripe: quod Homo, miserere. As he is a Sinner, reforme him: as he is a man, the Image of God, pitie him. Doth thy Brother sinne of ignorance? Dilige errantem, interfice errorem: kill the error, preserue thy brother. Doth hee offend of frailty? Bee at peace (cum hominibus, non cummoribus) with the man, not with the manners. Trespasseth hee of malice? Hate (vitium, not virum) the disease, not the patient. Howsoeuer these infirmities are ineuitable, still wee may hauehave Peace, Cum malis, licet non in malis: with euill men, though not in euill matters.
Indeede let him that hath anthority, correct malicious offences: for that is not like a rauisher to abuse, but like a Chā pion to vindicate the honour of peace. Yet still Cum corrigat malitiam, diligat personam; let him correct the transgression, louelove the person.
But how shall we answere that of the Psalmist?Psal. 59. 5. Be not mercifull to them that sinne of malitious wickednesse. This was not Precantis votum, sed Prophetantis vaticinium: not the request of a Petitioner, but the prediction of a Prophecier. Hee did not wish it should be so, but saw it would be so.
But if all this be true, wee may then admit peace with Rome? Wee doe accept a Ciuill, not a Religious peace. In a treatise of pacification, both parties must yeeld somwhat: but nothing is to be yeelded that may preiudice the Truth. In a Musicall Instrument the strings that bee out of tune, are set vp, or set downe to the rest: the strings that be in tune, are not stirred. Our Doctrine and Profession are tuned to the blessed Gospell, that infallible Canon of Truth, and therefore must not bee changed. Their Faith and Religion iarreth and erreth from that; therefore must bee proportioned to ours, if they will endenour a perfect Harmony.
Thus far,The life of Peace. & vponupon these tearmes wee may hauehave peace, if we seeke it: we may liue in peace, and peace may liue in vsus, if we desire it. Therefore still foreign Liue in peace. Caluin renders it, Pacem agite, Doe peace. Or, as if God should say to men, whom he found quarrelling, or too lowd; Peace. The word is emphaticall, and imitates a continual habite: wee may call it, The Exercise of peace, or the Practice of peace.
Some hauehave a good mind to peace,The neglect. but they will bee at no labour about it: many are content to embrace it, but they are ashamed to seek it: most men louelove it, few practise it. The vse commends the vertue: the beautie and praise of peace consists not in motion, but in action: nor is the benefit of it in a knowing discourse, but in a feeling sense. A Speculatiue peace, is like an Historicall knowledge: such as he that hath bin alwayes confined to his study, may hauehave of forraine countries: so wee make a conquest of peace, as the byword sayes, our Fathers wonne Boloigne; who neuer came within the report of the Canon. Or if the Grecians kept Philosophy in their leaues, but kept it not in their liues. A ieiune and emptie speculation, like some subtill ayre in the head, onelyonly breakes out into crochets: it is experience that brings the sweetnesse of peace home to the heart. Vse breeds perfectnesse, and disuse looseth the most seruiceable things. Gold looseth more of the waight by rusting in corners, then by continuall running in commerces, the proper end it was coyned for. The best land will yeeld smal encrease, if it be not tilled: though some hauehave the most profitable trades, the want of industry hath made them the poorest men. The throne of peace is in the heart, not in the head.
To recouer,The Method. therefore the swouning life of this vertue, I will compare Peace to a Citie: if you will, to this City: which should be like Ierusalem, A Citie of Peace. And so much we will pray for it; that it may preserue peace, and peace may preserue it, to the worlds end.
Let the walles of this Citie be Vnitie and Concord. Let her hauehave foure Gates; Innocence, and Patience; Benefaction, and Satisfaction. The first gate of peace is Innocence; she must doe no wrong. The second is Patience; she must suffer wrong. The third is Beneficence; she must doe good in stead of wrong. The fourth is Recompence; she must make liberall and iust satisfaction for any committed wrong. There is also a Posterne Gate, and that is Humility. A gate indeed, but a small and low one; whosoeuer enters the Citie of peace that way, must stoop before he get in. The enemies of this Citie are many; diuided into two bands; Hostilitie and Mutinie The Gouernour of it, is Magistracie: the Law, Religion: the Palace, the Temple: the life of the Citizens is LoueLove. It is serued by the Riuer of Prosperitie; the State of it, is Felicitie: the Inheritance, eternall Glory.