Christs Love and Affection Towards Jerusalem, Chapter 21
CHAP. 21.
The things of Chriſt and the Goſpell, make peace on earth amongst men.
3 TOuching peace with men, this is alſo an attendant upon the Goſpell, and an inſeparable companion of the two former: hee that is at peace with God, and findes the ſweetneſſe of peace within his owne ſoule, he cannot but love peace, and deſire to live in peace. There was a generall peace through all the world at the birth of Chriſt aHieron. com. in Ioel. cap. 3.; the Temple of Ianus, which uſed alwayes to ſtand open in time of warre, was then ſhut upbSueton. in vita Auguſti. & Pint. in Eſa. c. 2. v. 4.; a ſigne, that faire weather and halcion dayes of peace were to follow after; and fit it was that it ſhould be ſo, becauſe the Prince of peace was then borne, and came into the world. The dew uſeth not to fall in ſtormes and tempeſts, when the face of the heaven is blacke with Clouds, but in cleare and faire weather, when the skie is bright, and the windes ſilent, as the Philoſopher obſerves cAriſtot. Mete…r. l. 1. c. 10.no marvell then if it bee a calme and peacable ſeaſon, when Chriſt the dew of the morning, was to fal from heaven. When the Halcyon or Kings-fiſher makes her neſt in the ſea, and brings forth her young, the Mariners dAmbroſ. Hexamer. l. 5. ca. 13. Vbi undoſum fuerit mare, poſitis ovis Halcyonis ſubitò miteſcit, & omnes cadunt ventorum procellae, &c. tantam gratiā avis minuſcula divinitus indultam habet, ut hos dies nautici praeſumptae ſerenitatis obſervent, quos et Alcionidas vocant, quibus nullos motus procelloſae tempeſtatis horreſcant.preſume of calme and faire weather; and when the Prince of peace was to make his abode and habitation amongſt the ſonnes of men, it might well preſage great peace towards them: it was the bleſſed fruit of his birth, that the partition wall betweene Jew and Gentile, which Moſes ſet up, was taken downe, and both Nations peaceably united into one people; his comming into the world did not onelyonly erect and ſet up Iacobs Ladder, a Ladder that reached from earth to heaven, that the ſons of men might have peaceable entercourſe with that place, but alſo it did prepare and make way for Iſaiahs Bridge eIſa. 19.23.a Bridge that ſhould reach from Aſhur to Egypt, and from Canaan to them both; that is, a way and paſſage for a generall peace betweene nation and nation, that there might bee free and peaceable traffique & commerce amongſt them. That which the Poet ſpeakes of Auguſtus Caeſar, that in his time the rough ages of the world ſhould grow into a more civill and peaceable agreement, and that the gates of warre ſhould be ſhut up fVirg. Aeneid. l. 1. Aſpera tunc poſitis miteſcent ſaecula bellis, Claudētur belli portae, &c., the Prophet Iſaiah moſt truely foretels it of Chriſt, who was borne in the dayes of Auguſtus, that in his time Nation ſhall not lift up a ſword againſt nation, neither ſhould they learne to fight any more, but ſhould breake their ſwords into mattocks, and their ſpeares into ſythes gEſay 2.4.. The world indeed hath ever beene jealous of Chriſt and the Goſpell, as if they were enemies and diſturbers of her peace. Ahab could put the word upon Elijah, h1 King. 18.17.Art not thou he that troubleth Iſrael? and it hath ever beene the ordinary courſe of the men of this world, when they have ſmarted for their owne ſinnes, to father all their troubles upon the Chriſtians, and true religion. But alas, they are far wide, and much deceived; for there is not a ſtronger tye and obligation under heaven, to link men together in the bond of peace, than the Goſpel is; and what ever may be pretended by ſome that profeſſe the Goſpell, yet if any be of a troubleſome and contentious ſpirit, a hinderer of peace, or an enemy to it, either in family, Church, or Common-wealth, ſure I am, that hee never learned that from Chriſt and the GoſpelliPacem, qui accepit, teneat; qui perdidit, reparet; qui amiſi, exqui…at; quoniam qui in eadem non fuerit inventus, abdicatur à Patre, exhaereditatur à Filio, à Spir: ſancto alienus efficitur, reſpuit n. munus oblatum, qui datae legis contempſerit bonū, nec poterit ad haereditatem Domini pervenire, qui teſtamentū noluerit obſervare: non poteſt cōcordiā habere cum Chriſt, qui diſcors eſſe voluerit cum Ch…iſtiano. Aug. to. 10. de temp. ſer. 67.: for the wiſedome that Chriſt and the Goſpell teacheth, is firſt pure, then peaceable kIam. 3.17.: and though there be many other doctrines in the Goſpell that are much preſſed, and ſtrongly put on by the Apoſtle, yet ye ſhall ſcarce finde ſuch quickning paſſages in all the Scripture beſides, as when hee comes to perſwade unto peace: take one place for all,lRom. 12.18. If it be poſsible, and as much as in you lies, have peace with all men. It is poſſible for a man, and it lies in his power to doe much, if hee will ingage himſelfe upon it. Now the Apoſtle preſſeth him, by all that is poſſible for him to doe, by all that lies within the compaſſe of his power, to bend himſelfe for peace. Why doth hee uſe ſuch moving ſtraines, and preſſing incentives, but to ſhew that above all other duties, men are moſt backward to this, and have moſt need to have it ſpoken home unto them, as being that which knits all together: like mortar in the wall, that faſtens the ſtones, and makes them lye firme in the building. So that the Goſpell is ſo farre from troubling or diſturbing the peace that ſhould be amongſt men, that there was never any doctrine that did more ſtrongly conclude for itmAug. to. 10. de temp ſerm. 169. Meritum Chriſtianae virtutis vileſcit in cunctis, ſi unitatem nō habet pacis, nec pervenit ad vocabulū filii, niſi per nomen pacifici: pax eſt, quae dat nomē ingenuum, mutat com conditione perſonā, ex famulo liberum, filiū facit ex ſervo, &c. amicū facit ex Deo, patrem reddit ex Domino, &c. En filius Dei eſſe incipit, qui pacificus eſſe coepit, non vult filius dici, qui pacificus noluerit inveniri, negat ſibi patrem Deū, qui haeres pacis eſſe nequivit., nor ever any that were found more peaceable, than thoſe that have beene the moſt ſincere profeſſors of it. It is one of the principall bleſſings promiſed in the new Covenant,nJer. 32.39. I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may feare me for ever. And it was fulfilled in the Primitive Chriſtians, as St. Luke hath recorded it,oActs. 4.32. The multitude of them that beleeved were of one heart, and of one ſoule. Like Ezechiels wheeles pEzec. 10., faſhioned ſo like one unto another, and ſo framed and ſet together one within another, that they ſeemed to be but one wheele: when one moved, all the reſt went with it; and when one ſtayed, all the reſt ſtood ſtill. Or like as it is with the wheeles in a clock, though ſome be greater, and others leſſe, yet ſuch a proportion and correſpondency there is betweene them, that all finiſh their courſe and motion within the ſame ſpace of time, they move together, and reſt together, and conſpire together,Chap. 22. to make the clock ſtrike at the appointed houre: even ſo where Chriſt and the Goſpell are entertained and imbraced, ſuch a peaceable harmony doe they worke in the mindes of men, that they make them all conſpire in one for the promoting of Gods glory, and the publike good. And therefore the things of Chriſt and the Goſpell are things that belong to this peace.