XXX sermons lately preached at the parish church of Saint Mary Magdalen Milkstreet, London to which is annexed, A sermon preached at the funerall of George Whitmore, Knight, sometime Lord Mayor of the City / by Anthony Farindon.

[illustration] blazon or royal coat of arms of England and Wales

HONI •…•…T QVI MAL Y PENSE

THE NINETEENTH SERMON.

1 THES. 4.11.

And that you study to be quiet, and to doe your own businesse, and to work with your own hands, as we have commanded you.

THe summe of religion & Christianity is to do the will of God; and this is the will of God, even our Sanctifi∣cation, at the 3. v. of this chapter. This is the whole duty of man, and we may say of it, as the Father doth of the Lords prayer, quantum substringitur verbis, * 1.1 tan∣tum diffunditur sensibus, though it be contracted, and comprized in a word, yet it poures forth it self in a Sea of matter and sense. For this holinesse unto which God hath called us, is but one virtue, but of a large extent and compasse; 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, but one virtue, but is divided into many, and stands as Queen in the midst of the circle and crown of all the graces, and claimes an interest in them all; hath patience to wait on her, compassion to reach out her hand, longanimity to sustain, and this 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, this placability of mind and contentation in our own portion and lot, to uphold her, and keep her in an equall poyse and temper, ever like unto her self; that we may be holy in our faith, and holy in our conversation with men, without which though our faith could remove mountains, yet we were not holy. Tot ramos porrigit, tot venas diffundit, so rich is the substance of holinesse, so many branches doth she reach forth, so

many veines doth she spread into; and indeed, all those virtues which commend us to God, are as the branches and veins, and Ho∣linesse, the bloud and juice to make them live. I doe not intend to compare them one with the other, because all are necessary, and the neglect of any one doth frustrate all the rest; and the Wise-man hath forbid us to ask, Why this is better then that, for every one of them in his due time and place is necessary. It hath been the great mistake and fault of those who professe Christianity, to shrink up its veines, and lop off its branches, contenting themselves with a partiall holinesse: some have placed it in a sigh or sad look, and calld it repentance; others in the tongue, and hand, and calld it zeale; others in the heart, in a good intention, and called it piety; others have made it verbum adbreviatum, a short word indeed, and called it faith: few have been solicitous and carefull to preserve it in inte∣gritate totâ & solidâ, solid and entire, but vaunt and boast themselves as great proficients in Holinesse, and yet never study to be quiet; have little peace with others, yet are at peace with themselves; are very religious, and very profane; are very religious and very turbulent, have the tongues of Angels, but no hand at all to do their own busi∣nesse, and to work in their calling. And therefore we may observe, that the Apostle, in every Epistle almost, takes paines to give a full and exact enumeration of every duty of our lives, that the man of God may be perfect to every good work; teacheth us not onely those domesticke and immanent vertues (if I may so call them) which are advantageous to our selves alone, as faith, and hope, and the like, which justifie that person onely in whom they dwell; but emanant, publick, and omiliticall vertues of common conversation, which are for the edification and good of others, as patience, meeknesse, liberality, and love of quietnesse and peace: my faith saves none but my self; my hope cannot raise my brother from despaire; yet my faith is holy, * 1.2 saith Saint Jude, and my hope is a branch and vein of holinesse, and issues from it. But my patience, my meeknesse, my bounty, my love and study of quietnesse and peace, sibi parciores, foris totae sunt, * 1.3 exercise their act and empty themselves on others; these link and unite men together in the bond of love in which they are one, and move together as one, build up one anothers faith, che∣rish one anothers hope, pardon one anothers injuries, beare one ano∣thers burden, and so in this bond, in this mutuall & reciprocall dis∣charge of all the duties and offices of holinesse, are carried together to the same place of rest. So that to holinesse of life more is re∣quired then to believe, or hope, or poure forth our soules, or rather, our words before God; tis true this is the will of God, but we must go farther, even to perfection, and love the brethren, and study to be quiet; for this also is the will of God, and our Sancti∣fication. What is a sigh, if my murmuring drown it? what is my devotion, if my impatience disturb it? what is my faith, if my

malice make me worse then an infidell? what are my prayers, if the spirit of unquietnesse scatter them? will we indeed please God, and walk as we ought? we must then, as S. Peter exhorts, adde to our faith virtue, to our virtue knowledge, to knowledge patience, to patience brotherly kindnesse, and to brotherly kindnesse, love, * 1.4 or as Saint Paul here commands, not onely abstain from fornication, from those vices which the worst of men are ready to fling a stone at, but those gallant and heroick vices, which shew themselves openly be∣fore the Sun and the people, who look favourably and friendly on them, and cry them up for zeale and religion, even from all ani∣mosity and turbulent behaviour; we must 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 we must study to be quiet, and be ambitious of it. Thus our Apostle be∣speaks the Thessalonians, we beseech you brethren, that you in∣crease more and more, and in the words of my text; that you study to be quiet, and do your own businesse, and work with your own hands, as we have commanded you.

In which words, first a duty is proposed, study to be quiet. 2^ly. the meanes promoting this duty are prescribed, or causae producentes, and conservantes, the causes which bring it forward and hold it up, laid down; the first, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, to do our own businesse; the 2. to work with our own hands; the first shuts out 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, all pragmaticall cu∣riosity, and stretching beyond our line, and that compasse where∣in God hath bound and circumscribed us; the 2. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, all unactive∣nesse and supine negligence in our own place and station. And the 3. and last makes it a necessary study, and brings it under a com∣mand; sicut praecepimus vobis, you must do it as I have commanded you.

Or because to be quiet is here proposed as matter of study, we will consider, 1. the object, or thing it self in which our study must be seen; and it is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, a quiet and peaceable behaviour. 2. the act, which requires the intention of our mind, thoughtfulnesse, and a diligent luctation and contention with our selves, we must make it our study, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, be ambitious of it. Thirdly, the method we must use; we must meddle with our own businesse, and work with our hands. And last of all, the warrant of this method, I have commanded it; and of these we shall speak in their order.

Ut operam detis, that you study to be quiet &c.

And first, to be quiet is nothing else but to be peaceable, to keep our selves in an even and constant temper, to settle and compose our affections, that they carry us not in a violent and unwarranted moti∣on, against those with whom we live, though they speak what we are unwilling to hear, and do what we would not behold; though

their thoughts be not as our thoughts, nor their wayes as our wayes, though they be contrary to us; That there be (as S. Paul speaks) no schisme in the body, * 1.5 but that the members may have the same care one of another; That we doe not start out of the Orb wherein we are fixt, and then set it on fire, because we think it moves disorderly; but that we look on all with a charitable and Evangelicall eye; not pale be∣cause others are rich; not sick for our neighbours vineyard; not sul∣len because others are cheerfull; not angry because others are weak; not clouded with envy and malice, because others in some respects out-shine us; but as S. Paul speaks, leading a quiet and peaceable life in all Godlinesse and Honesty; * 1.6 (for the Gospel of Christ hath left us no other eye but that of charity to look abroad with) that this peace of Christ may rule in our hearts, * 1.7 to the which also we are called in one body; may rule in our hearts, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, sit as judge there, for so the word signifies, being in its native propriety spoken of the Judge in the Olympick games: Let peace rule in your hearts, let it have this office, let it be the onely judge to set an end to all Controversies, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, to stand in the midst between two contrary sides, and draw them together, and make them one; to be a Mediator between the offence that is given, and the smart that is felt; to command our patience against rhe injury; to awake the one to conquer and annihilate the other, and so bury it in oblivion for ever.

And that we may better understand it, we must sever it from that which is like it; for likenesse is the mother of error, from whence it is, that there be so many lovers of peace, and so little of it in the world; that when ambition and covertousnesse harrass the earth, when there be warrs and rumours of warrs, when the kings of the earth rise up, when the people are as mad as the Sea when it rageth, when the world is on fire, yet there is not one that will be convinced, or perswade himself, that he ever raised one spark to kindle it. It was a just and grave complaint of Saint Hierom, non reddimus unicui{que} rei suum vocabulum, we are guilty of a dangerous misnomer, and do not give every thing its proper name; and think we study quietnesse when we are most bent to war, and ready to beat up the drumme. Alii Dominationem pacem appel∣lant, some call tyranny peace, and nothing else, and think there is no peace, unlesse every man understand and obey their beck; unlesse all hands subscribe to their unwarrantable demands; quiet they are and peaceable men, when like a tempest they drive down all before them; to him that tyrannizeth in the common-wealth, he is rebell that is not a parasite; and to him that Lords it in the Church, he that bows not to every decree of his, as if God himself had made it, is an heretick, a schismatick, an Anathema; then this peace, and not till then, when every look, and word, when every

lye of theirs is a law. Others call even disobedience it self peace, and are never quiet, but with their quod volumus sanctum est; but when they are let loose to do what they please, are filii pacis the the children of peace, when they digg her bowells out, as the Do∣natists in Saint Aust. who were the greatest peace-breakers in the world, yet had nothing so much in their mouths as the sweet name of peace; and how is she wounded by those who stand up in her defence? we call that peace which hath nothing of it but the name, and that too but of our own giving; and esteeme our selves as quiet and peaceable men, when we are rather asleep then set∣tled, rather senselesse and dead then delighting our selves in those actions, which are proper to us in that motion which tends to rest; rather still and silent then quiet, bound up as it were with a frost, till the next thaw, the next faire weather, and opportunity as faire, and then we spread abroad, and run out beyond our limit and bounds, nor can we be conteined or kept in them. Again, others there be, such as Tacitus speaks of, who are solâ socordiâ in∣nocentes, who are very quiet and still, and do little hurt, by reason of a dull and heavy disposition, and therefore saith Tully, do removere se à publicis negotiis, step aside and remove themselves out of the publick wayes; withdraw themselves out of the company and almost out of the number of men, who do no harme because they will do nothing, whose greatest happinesse is nihil agere, nihil esse, * 1.8 to do nothing and to be nothing; whose soules are as heavy and unactive, as those lumps of flesh, their bodyes, and so raise no thoughts but such which lye levell with their present condition, and reach not so high as to take in the publick interest; who know not what to think, and so care not how unevenly or disorderly the course of things is carried along, so it be not long of them, being as much afraid of action, as others are weary and sick of rest; as unwilling to put forth a hand to support a shaking and falling commonwealth, as others are active and nimble to pull it down. Nay some there are of so tender and soft disposition, ut non possint in caput alterius nè testi∣monium dicere (as the orator observes in Senecas controversies) that they cannot be brought to bear witnesse to that truth which may endanger the life of any man; so heartlesse, that they cannot speak the truth, having so much of the woman, and the coward, that they know not how, but count it as a punishment to be just and honest men.

May we not take these now for quiet and peaceable men? no: these are not quiet, for they never studied it; and the orator will tell us mores naturâ non constant, there is more required to the com∣posing of our manners, and the raising and fixing this virtue in our mind, then that which the hand and impression of nature left in us; 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, saith Nazianzen, * 1.9 for those imbred

dispositions, those naturall virtues do not reach home. Who thanks the sire for its heat, or the water for its moisture, the snow for being cold, or the sun that it doth shine? and may we not truly say of these low and tender dispositions, whom no disorder can affect, no violence move, that they are Lambs, that is, have as much quietnesse as nature instil'd and put into them?

Again, as there is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, a naturall quietnesse, so there may be also 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, a constrained quietness, wrought in us by neces∣sity; the quietnesse of Esau, which would last but till his fa∣thers funerall; the quietnesse of a Philistim under the yoke and harrow, I might say the quietnesse of Goliah when his head was off. And indeed, this forced quietnesse is like that of a dead man, of whom we may say, quiescit he is at rest and quiet, because he can∣not move. Absalom and Achitophel, Theudas and Judas, Catiline and Cethegus, and all those turbulent boutefeaus which history hath delivered to the hatred and detestation of posterity, were as quiet before opportunity and hope set their spirits a working, as now they are in their urnes or graves. Much quietnesse the world hath yield∣ed in this kind, and many men who have been quiet against their will, who have stood still, because they were bound hand and foot, or as little able to break forth into action as those that are, whilest authority was too strong for them and held them in, they were as silent as the night; but when the reines were slacked, and the bit out of their mouths, as raging as the Sea, and as loud as the noise of many waters, (as Virgil describes his horse, stare loco nescit—) they could not be quiet, they could not stand still, and keep their place; or (as Job characters out his) they swallowed up the ground for rage and fiercenesse, they mockt at feare, and turned not back from the sword; like those wild horses which set the world on fire, and threw Phaeton out of the chaire; when they were weak and low, upon their knees, tendring supplications, but when their strength increased, reaching forth their demands on the point of their sword.

These Pageants the world shews every day, but this is not to be quiet in Saint Pauls sense; for nemo pius qui pietatem cavet, no man is good or quiet, who cannot or dare not for some danger that is neere him and hangs over his head, be otherwise; 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, saith Basil, we commend those men, and call them good and quiet men, who are so by choice and election, and not by necessity. For as he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, so is not he a peaceable man who is so outwardly, and for a time, nor is that qui∣etnesse which is outward in the flesh; but he is quiet who is so in∣wardly, and quietnesse is that of the heart, in the spirit, whose praise is not of men but of God; for if the love of peace be in the heart, the lips will be sealed, and the hands bound up for ever.

So that, to be quiet consists in sweet composure of mind, in a calme and contented conversation, in a mind ever equall, and like unto it self; and he is a quiet and peaceable man, who is not mo∣ved when all things else are; stands upon his own basis, when all a∣bout him is out of frame; when the world passeth by him, and in∣verts its scene, and changes its fashion every day, now shining and anon lowring; now flattering, anon striking; now gliding by us in a smooth and delightfull streame, and anon raising up its billows a∣gainst us; in every change is still the same, the same when the sword hangs over him, and peace shadows him; the same when riches in∣crease, and poverty comes towards him as an armed man; the same when religion flourisheth, and the commonwealth hath nothing praeter obsessum Jovem, & Camillos exules, but God dishonoured, and good men opprest; the same when the world runs crosse to his desires, as when he can say, So, So, thus would I have it; 〈◊〉〈◊〉 in rebus no∣vis nihil novum, to whom nothing comes as new and unexpected; who stands as a rock, and keeps his own place, and station; not swelling at an error, not angry with contempt, not secure in peace, not afraid of persecution, not shaken with feare, not giddied with suspicion, not bowed down with covetousnesse, nor lifted above himself with pride; who walks and is carried on in every motion by the same rule in cujus decretis nulla litura, whose decrees and resoluti∣ons admit no blot, who doth not blot out this daies quietnesse with to morrowes turbulency (as Aristides spake of Pericles) who is not unquiet or troubled for any rub, or interposition, * 1.10 for any affront in his way, but keeps himself in an even and constant course, as constant in his actions as his knowledge; as if you should ask him a question of numbers, he will give you the same answer to day which he did yesterday, or to morrow which he did to day, and many yeares before; who by his patience possesseth his soul, and will not yield or surrender it up to any temptation or provocation whatsoever, there to be swallowed up and lost; whom another mans evil doth not make evil, another mans riches doe not make pale, another mans honor doth not degrade from himself, whom another mans noise doth not disquiet, another mans riot doth not discom∣pose, another mans fury doth not distract, another mans schisme doth not divide from the Church: in a word, who changeth not colour with the world, nor is altered with that confused variety, and contradiction of so many humors of so many men, and applyes himself to every one of them as a Physician to supple and cure, and not to enrage them, this man is quiet, hath gained this 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 this quietnesse of mind, this man cannot but be at peace with himself, and all the world.

And to this, Christianity, and the religion which we professe doth bind us; this is a plant which our heavenly Father alone doth plant in our hearts; in which when it is planted, it will shoot forth

and grow up, and raise it self far above the love of the world, a∣bove covetousnesse, and envy, and malice, and fraud, which first disquiet and rack that breast in which they are, and then breath forth that venom which blasts the world, and troubles and provokes those which are neere us; sometimes gnashing the teeth, which eats and consumes us; sometimes breathing forth hailestones and coales of fire which fly back in our faces and destroy us; sometimes laying of snares in which our selves are caught, for envy is the rot∣tennesse of the bones, saith Solomon, and anger killeth the foolish; and the Bread of deceit though it be sweet at first, yet it shall fill the mouth with gravell: nemo non in seipsum priùs peccat, saith Austine, no man disturbs the peace of another, but he breaks his own first; no man repines at his brothers good, but he makes it his own evil, and his vice is his executioner; no man breaths forth malice, but it ecchoes back upon him; no man goes beyond his brother, but hath outstript himself, and the Psalmist tells us that evill shall bunt the violent man to destruction. But when this plant, this peace is deeply rooted in us, it spreads its branches abroad over all, over all crosse events, over all injuries, over all errors and miscarriages, over envy, malice, deceit, and violence, and shadows them, that they are not seen, or not seen in that horror which may shake it; spreads it self over the poore, and relieves them; over the malici∣ous, and melts him; over the injurious man, and forgives him; over the violent man, and overcomes him by standing the shock; keeps it self to its roote, is fixt and fastened there: and when this wind blows, when this raine falls, when all these beat upon it, when the tempest is loudest, is ever the same, is peace still. And this is the work of the Gospel, the summe of all, the end of all that it teacheth, to work this quietnesse and peace in us that we may raise it up in others, that this peace may beget and propagate it self in those who are enemies to it, that the kid may feed with the wolf, and the Lamb with the Leopard, so long as the moone endu∣reth; that there may be no deceit, no envy, no violence, no invasion, no going out, no complaining in our streets. This is the Evange∣licall virtue, this is peculiar and proper to the Gospel and Christi∣an religion, proper in the highest and strictest degree of propriety, every good Christian is a peaceable man, and every peaceable man is a good Christian. Look into your prisons, saith Tertullian, to per∣secuting heathens, * 1.11 and you shall find no Christians there, and if you do, it is not for murder, or theft, or cozenage, or breach of the peace; the cause for which they are bound and confined there, is onely this, that they are Christians. This is that height of Perfection, which the vanity of Philosophy, and the weaknesse and unprofitable∣nesse of the law could not reach; nor could the Jews bring any thing ex horreis suis out of his granary, his store or basket, or the philo∣sopher è narthecio suo, out of his box of oyntments, out of his book

of prescripts, which could supple a soule to this 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, this tran∣quillity and quietnesse, which might purge and sublime, and lift it up above the world, and all the flattery and terror that is in it; hu∣mane reason was too weake to discover the benefit, the pleasure, the glory of it; nor was it seen in its full beauty, till that light came into the world, which did improve, and exalt, and perfect our rea∣son; the Philosophers cryed down anger, yet gave way to revenge; laid an imputation upon the one, yet gave line and liberty to the o∣ther; both Tully and Aristotle approve it, as an act of Justice. The language of the law was, an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. It was said to them of old, you shall love your neighbour, * 1.12 and hate your enemy; but the return of the Gospel is a blessing for a curse, love for hatred, a prayer for persecution; whatsoever the Law required, that doth the Gospel require, and much more; an humility more bending, a patience more constant, a meeknesse more suffering, a quietnesse more setled, because those heavenly promises (which the Philosopher never heard of) were more, and more cleerly pro∣posed in the Gospel then under the Law; for is not eternity of blisse a stronger motive, then the basket, or glory, or temporall enjoyments? is not heaven more attractive then the earth? under the Law this peace and quietnesse was but a promise, a blessing in expectation, and in the Schooles of Philosophers it was but a fancy, the peace and quietnesse they had was raised out of weak and fail∣ing principles, de industria consultae aequanimitatis, non de Fiducia compertae veritatis, saith Tertullian, * 1.13 out of an industrious affected endurance of every evill, that it might not be worse, out of a po∣litick resolution to defeat the evill of its smart, but not out of con∣science, or assurance of that truth, which brought light, and immor∣tality to settle the mind, to collect and gather it within it self, in the midst of all those provocations and allurements, which might shew themselves to divide and distract it, but remaine it self untoucht, unmoved, looking forward through all these vanishing shadows and apparitions, which either smile or threaten, to that glory which cannot be done away. This Christianity only can effect; this was the businesse of the prince of peace, who came into the world, but not with drumme and colours, but with a rattle rather; not with noise, * 1.14 but like rain into the mowen grasse; not destroying his enemies, but making them his friends; not as a Caesar, or Alexander, but as an Angel, and Embassadour of peace; not denouncing war, but pro∣claiming a Jubilee; and with no sword, but that of the spirit, who made good that prophesie of the Prophet Micah, that swords should be turned into plow-shares, and speares into pruning hookes; * 1.15 that all the bitternesse and malice of the heart should be turned into the love and study of modesty and peace; that every man should sit under his own vine and under his own figtree, and gather his own fruit, and not reach out his hand into another mans vineyard, not offer vio∣lence,

nor feare it, nor disturb his brothers peace, nor be jealous of his own; not trouble others, nor be afraid himself; that the earth might be a temporall paradise, a type & representation of that which is eternall. For this he came into the world, and brought power enough with him to performe it, and put this power into our hands, that we may make it good; and when he hath drawn out the me∣thod of it, when he hath taught us the art to do it, when there is nothing wanting but our will, the prophesy is fullfilled, for it was never yet foretold by any Prophet, that they should be quiet, who made it their delight, their study, the businesse of their whole life to trouble themselves and others. What could he in wisdome have done more then he hath done? he hath digged up dissention at the very root, malè velle, malè dicere, malè cogitare ex aequo ve∣tamur, saith Tertullian, to wish evill, to speak evill, to think evill are alike forbidden in the Gospel, which restrains the will, binds the hand, bridles the tongue, fetters the very thoughts, commands us to love an enemy, to surrender our coate to him, who hath stript us of our cloake, to return a blessing for a reproach, and to anoint his head with oyle, who hath struck us to the ground; which pu∣nishes not the ends onely, but the beginnings of dissention; which brings every part to its own place, the flesh under the spirit; the will under the law of charity, which is the peace of the soule, the obedience of faith under the eternall law, which is our peace with God; which draws with it the servant under the master, the child under the parent, the subject under the magistrate; which is the peace of an house, of a commonwealth, the peace of the world, which makes every part dwell together in unity, begets a parity in disparity, raises equality out of inequality, which keeps every wheel in its due motion, every man in his right place, is that in∣telligence which moveth the lesser sphere of a family, and the grea∣ter orbe of a commonwealth composedly and orderly, which is its peace, for peace and quiet is the order and harmony of things; the Father calls it a Harp, and it is never well set or tuned but by an Evangelicall hand, which slacketh and letteth down the string of our self-love, to an hatred of our selves, and windeth up the string of our love to our brother in an equall proportion to the love of our selves; we must hate our life in this world, John 12.15. and we must love our brother as our selves, Matth. 22.39. nay it lets it lower yet, even to our enemies, and the sound of it must reach unto them, and talk what we will of peace, if it be not tuned and touched by charity, if it take not its rise and spring from this peace here, from the peace of the Gospel, it will be but a dreadfull sound, as Job speaketh, 15.21. either in the soule, or in a family, or in the Church, or in the Commonwealth.

This is the nature, the power, the virtue of the Christian Law;

this it doth even when it is not done, for if the Gospel might take place, it would most certainly be done; that there is so much heat, so much distraction, so much bitternesse amongst Christians, that one kingdome riseth against another, and almost every kingdome is divided in it self, that the Church is moulder'd out into schismes, and parcelled out into conventicles, that every man almost is be∣come a Church unto himself by a wilfull separation from the whole, that Christians, whose marke and badge is was, by which they were known and distinguisht from all the world, that they did love one another, that they would dye for one another, should hate one ano∣ther, revile one another, proscribe one another, Anathematize one another, and kill one another, and do that bloody office sooner then a Turke or Jew; that Christendome should thus be made a stage of war, and a field of blood, is not from the Gospel or Chri∣stian religion; no, these winds blow not out of this Treasury, but rather out of the pit of hell, from the swellings of pride, which Christianity beats down; from the love of the world, which Chri∣stianity conquers; from desire of supremacy, which Christ anity stifles; from envy, whose evill eye Religion puts out; from an hol∣low, deceitfull heart, which Christianity breaks; from those evills which are the onely enemies, which the Prince of peace, the au∣thor and finisher of the Gospel came to fight against and destroy. Look back upon the first Christians, who had rather suffer the greatest wrong then do the least; who when for their multitude they might have trod their enemies under their feet, yet yielded themselves to their fury and rage; who did so out-number them, that only to have withdrawn themselves, had been to have left their persecutors in banishment, to wonder and lament their own pauci∣ty and solitude, and yet bowed down their necks to their yoke, and delivered up their lives to their cruelty, and more willing to rest in their graves, then be unquiet; and in them this prophesy was fulfilled, their swords were indeed turned into mattocks, and their speares into pruning hookes, for all the weapons they had were their Innocency and Patience. And thus it was for well-neere four hun∣dred yeares together; but look forward and then see blacknesse and darknesse, noise and tempests, even in the habitations of peace, Christians reviling and libelling one another, as in the Councel of Nice; Christians killing and treading one another under foot, as in the Councel of Ephesus; Christians killing one another, as in the quarrell or schisme of Damasus and Ursicinus; and then let your eye passe on through all the ages of the Church, and if it can for dropping, look upon this last, and you will see that which will be as a thorne in your eye, and heare that which will make your eares tingle; see blood and war, tragedies, and massacres, tumult, & confu∣sion, Christians defranding, cursing, tormenting robbing one another; you should see — but the time would faile me to tell you, what

you should see; but you would think that Christendome were a wildernesse, not a place where the Leopard did lye down with the kid, or the wolf feed with the Lamb, but where the kid was turn'd into a Leopard, and the Lamb into the wolf; you will think that either this prophesie was false, or that Christ the Prince of peace was not yet come in the flesh. But as our Saviour said to his Dis∣ciples, when they were affrighted, and supposed him to be a Spi∣rit, why are you troubled? * 1.16 for if you be troubled you mistake Christs, and think him to be what he is not; For for all these dismall and horrid events, so contrary, so unproportioned to the promise of God, Christ is come in the flesh, and the prophesie is fulfilled; for all Christians are peaceable men; and whosoever is obedient to the Gospel, doth feele and can demonstrate this power in himself: what though we see violence and strife in the Church? yet the Church is the house of peace; what though Appius be unchast? we cannot libell the Decemvirat; what though Judas be a Son of perdition? 'twas the traytor, not the Apostle which betrayed Christ: If there be controversies, Religion doth not raise them; if there be schismes, Religion doth not make them; if there be war, Religion doth not beat up the drum; if there be busie-bodies, Religion doth not imploy them; if there be incendiaries, Religion did not enrage them; if there be a fire in the Church, the Chri∣stian did not kindle it, but the Ambitious man, the mammonist, the Beast that calls himself by that name; for Religion cannot do that which she forbids, cannot do that on earth, which damnes to hell; cannot forward that design, which is against her; cannot set up that which will pull her down; in brief, Religion, Christian Religion cannot but settle us and make us quiet and peaceable; cannot but be it self; for that which unsettles us, and makes us grievous to our selves and others, is not Christian Religion. For Religion is the greatest preserver of peace, that ever was, or that Wisdome it self could find out, and hath laid a fouler blemish on discord and dissention, then Philosophy ever did when she was most rigid and severe; she commands us to pray for peace, 1 Tim. 2.2. she en∣joyns us to follow peace with all men, Heb. 12.14. she enjoynes us to lose our right for our peace, Mat. 5. motus aliena naturae pace nostrâ cohibere, as Hilary speaks, to place a peaceable disposition as a bank or bulwark against the violence of anothers rage, by do∣ing nothing to conquer him who is in armes; to charme the hissing Adder, with silence; it levels the hills, and raiseth the valleys, and casts an aspect upon all conditions of men, all qualities, all affections whatsoever, that they may be settled, compact, and at unity with themselves and others. This was Christs first gifts, when he was born, and it was conveyed unto us in an Hallelujah; Luk. 2. peace on earth, and this 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, as Basil calls it, his last gift, when he was to dye, John 14.27. Peace I leave with you, and so

conclude, this is it which Saint Paul here commends to us as a lesson to be learnt of us, the word is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, we must labour and study to be quiet.

There is nothing in the world which deserves true commenda∣tion but must be wrought out with study and difficulty; nor is the love of peace and quietnesse, obvia & illaborata virtus, an obvious and easie virtue, which will grow up of it self. Indeed, good incli∣nations and dispositions may seeme to grow up in some men, as the grasse and the flowers of the field, and to be as naturally in them as the evill; for man that is born to action brought with him into the world those practick principles, which may direct him in his course; there is saith Basil, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, one part of piety which we never learnt, but brought with us, as an impression made in us by the hand of Nature it self. And these naturall and in-bred dis∣positions do not alwaies grow up as we do in stature, but shew themselves, and soone disappeare, like the embryon or child in the womb, they live and dye, and never see the sunne; they bud and blossome in us, and beare this glory with them for a while, but when they should ripen and be that fruit which we hope to see and look on with delight, either through our neglect, or the malignant aspect of ill example, they are nipt, and withered, and lost, and there grow up worse in their place, so unlike to their first shew, and those hopes which we conceived, that we upbraid the end with the beginning, the harvest with the spring, and wonder how that which in its putting forth was a flowre, should in its growth and culmination become a thistle; how that which was a Lamb in the morning, should be a fox or Lion before its evening; how these good dispositions, like a faire temple which is in raising, should sink and fall and be buried in the rubbish. But these dispo∣sitions and good inclinations we look upon as upon promises, which may be kept or broke; nor can we commend them far∣ther then by our hopes, which are sometimes answered, but too oft deluded, nor can we call them virtues, because they are not voluntary. That which is truly praise-worthy, and must fit us for Eternity, will not shoot forth of it selfe, * 1.17 nor grow and flourish in its full beauty, till the soule and mind of Man be well cultivated, be drest, manur'd and water'd; is a work of time, and must be wrought out in us, by us, even against our selves, against the reluctancies of the flesh, against all solicitati∣ons, and provocations which will beround us, and compasse us in on every side; for else we shall not be long quiet, but uncertain and desultorious, leap out of one humour into another, like those whom we must study and deprehend, and so meet and apply our selves unto them in every mode and disposition, or else they will vent and break forth, and trouble us, whom we cannot make our

friends, unlesse we make our selves their parasites. We are not what we should be, till we labour and study to be so; when we shake off our mist, and shine, then our light is glorious; when we are flesh, and make our selves spirituall, then we are active; when we quit our selves of that leaden weight of our corrupt nature, as Nazianzen calls it, * 1.18 and are carried up by our reason above all that may disquiet us, or work us out of our selves to the molestation of others, then we are quiet; then we are a fit spectacle for God, for Angels, and men to look upon and delight in; we read indeed of infused habits, and the Schooles have furnished us with many such conclusions; but have not given us those premises which may inforce them; which they could not do, because neither rea∣son nor revelation will afford them: but if they be infused, as they are infused into us, so they are not infused without us, they are poured not like water into a Cisterne, but into living vessels fit∣ted and prepared for them; for if they were infused without us, I cannot see how they should be lost; if wisdome were thus infused into us, we could never erre; if righteousnesse were thus infused, the will would ever look upon that wisdome, and never swerve, nor decline from it; if Sanctity were thus settled on the Affections, they could never rebell. The understanding could never erre, for this wisdome would ever enlighten it; the will could not be irre∣gular, for this righteousnesse would ever bridle it; the affections could not distract us, for they would ever be under command; for as they were given without us, so bringing with them an ir∣resistible and uncontroublable force, they would work without us, and we might sit still upon our bottomes, and fill our selves with vanity, in expectation of such an infusion, of such a dew which would fall into us whether we will or no; and so virtue would be an Ancile, as a buckler sent down from heaven which we never set a hand to, and we shall be worse and worse upon this account, that we shall better, and look upon grace as Caligula did upon the moone, * 1.19 when she was full and bright, and wonder she doth not fall down out of her orb, and hasten to our embraces, and so we may be deceived, as he was, and it may never come. No, 'tis most true, grace is sufficient for us, and 'tis as true, grace is not sufficient for us, unlesse we cherish it; quietnesse is the gift of God, but it is a conditionall gift, which exacts something from him who must receive it: if we will be quiet, we must study to be so, that is, earnestly and unfeignedly desire it, and the earnest desire of any practicall virtue, is the study of it; when the heart is prepared, the will made conformable, then are we perfect Scholars in this art of conversation.

And to this end we must, first, make it our meditation day and night, and fill our minds with it, and this is like the conning

of a part which we are to act, and will make us ready to performe it with a grace and decorum, and so receive a plaudite, * 1.20 an Euge from him who is our peace. For Meditation is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, is a kind of augmentation and enlargement of the object we look upon, and by our continuall survey of the beauty of it, by fixing our thoughts up∣on it, and by renewing that heat and fervour in us, by thinking of it, and an assiduous reviving and strengthning those thoughts, we make it more visible, more cleare, more applyable then before; make that, which written, is but a dead letter; or spoken, but a sound; as the voyce of God himself, of force and energie to quicken and en∣liven us. It is like to those Prospectives which this later Age hath found out, by which we discover Stars which were never seen, and in the brightest of them find spots which were never discerned; We see the glory of tranquillity, and the good it brings to our selves and others; what a heaven there is in love and peace, and what a hell and confusion in Anger, and debate; We find out the plague of our hearts, the Leprosie of our soules, which before appeared as a spot, as nothing, and this helpe we have by Meditation. For though it be most seene, as the Pilots skill is, cùm stridunt funes, & gemunt gubernacula, in a rough and well-wrought Sea, in times of trouble and distraction; yet our study and desire of it wants no opportunity of time or place, & inter medios rerum actus invenit aliquid vacui, in the midst of our businesse and imployments finds leasure, and makes its closet in the very streets. Every day, eve∣ry houre of our life we may contemplate it, and prepare our selves to be at peace with all men. That when the tempest doth arise, which may disquiet us and throw us from our station, we may be ready and able, if not to be calme and slumber it, yet to becalme our selves, and stand as quiet and upright as if no wind did blow. As the young man in Xenophon did 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 exercise his limbs and fingers at home, and framed them to that gesture, and elegancy of motion, which might win the favour and com∣mendations of those who beheld him abroad; so may we enter in∣to our closet and be still; tell our selves what a blessing it is to be our selves, what a divine thing it is not to be moved; how like to God we are, when we see distastfull objects and are not chang∣ed; how meritorious and heroick a thing it is, to save our selves in the midst of a froward generation; thus prepare and fix our hearts, think that God may lay us as he did Job in the dunghill, and resolve to be patient; that I may live amongst perverse and froward men, and be ready to addulce and sweeten them; amongst those whose teeth are arrowes, and hold up our buckler; that the heathen may rage, and tumultuously assemble, and comfort our selves, that God shall have them in derision; that we may live in the midst of the enemies of peace, and provide to keep it; sup∣pose that such a Lion as Nero, or some worse beast should rore a∣mongst

us, commune with our selves, and be still, and fly to no other Sanctuary then our teares and our prayers.

And therefore in the next place, we must not onely meditate and contemplate it, but upon all occasions put it in practice; for meditation may be but the motion and circulation of the fancy; the businesse, or rather the idlenesse of such men who send their thoughts abroad, as boyes throw smooth stones upon the surface of the water, which are lost in the making; which look and gaze on virtue, and then fly aloft in the contemplation of it, but like those birds of prey which first towre in the Aire, and then stoop at carrion. We must therefore second our meditation, and ratifie, and make it good by practise, faciendo discere, con it more perfectly by being not moved at the incursion of any evil; learne to passe by a petty injury, that we be not cast down with a greater; not to be envious against evil doers, that we may be lesse troubled at what they do; not to repine at the prosperity of evil men, that we may not be too far exalted with our own, by accustoming our selves to the suffering of this or that evil, proceed and grow up to that composednesse, that we may endure all; to learn with a foile, that we may fight with a sword, as Demosthenes used to repeat his Orations on the beach, that having stood the roaring of the Sea, he might be the lesse troubled at the noise and insolencie of the people in the Pleading-place.

And this study is no easie study, for dedocendi priùs quàm do∣cendi, we must unlearne many things, before we can be taught this; we must abandon our former principles, out of which we drew so many dangerous conclusions, before we can make any progresse in this divine science; we must pull down our former de∣sires, before we can raise up new. In a word, we must empty our selves before we can be quiet.

And first we must cast out self-love, I meane, we must not love our selves so irregularly, so ridiculously, so perniciously, so mortally as we do; for there is no adamant, no milstone more un∣yielding to the stroke of the hammer, then the heart of man when once it is possest with the love of it self: then every thing that flyes, crosses us, troubles us; every apparition is a monster; every man is our enemy, every look is a threat, every word is a sword, every whisper is thunder; he that thus loves himself cannot long be quiet with any man. Our blessed Apostle where he tells us that in those perillous times which were to come, * 1.21 there should be 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, lovers of themselves, that is, blind to themselves, ignorant of them∣selves; he brings in a train after them, an Iliad of many evills that should follow, whilest self-love led in the Front. First lovers

of themselves, and then Covetous, Boasters, proud, disobedient to Pa∣rents, Traitors, Heady minded, lovers of pleasures more then lovers of God; and such men can never be quiet.

2ly. We must root out that root of all evill, Covetousnesse, which will never suffer us to be quiet; is ever busie abroad seeking to add house to house, and land to land, to draw all unto it self; nam & avaritia amat unitatem, saith Aust. For even covetousnesse is a lo∣ver of unity; and commands, and drives us from place to place, e∣ven through the world, till it collect all into one, and make it its own: and to this end we must confine our desires, and begin not to stand in need of Fortune; for if we let them run out, they will be ever running, and never at an end, and throw down whatso∣ever is against them; for what our desires are let out, and upon the wing, we speak to every man which stands between us and the object they fly to, as Joab did to Asahel, 2 Sam. 2. Turne thee aside or we will smite thee to the Ground. This fills the hills with Rob∣bers, the Sea with pirates, the Commonwealth with theeves, and cheats, and oppressors; this raiseth sedition, tumults, wars. Au∣rato Capitolio bella gessimus, * 1.22 saith the Orator, whilest Rome was poore, peace was within her walls, but when the Capitol was gilded, rich and glorious, then war brake in. The Gods and Reli∣gion might be the pretence, but Covetousnesse and Ambition beat up the drumme.

And therefore we must in the next place pull back our Ambiti∣tion, which is a busie, troublesome, and vexatious evil; carrying us over our brothers necks to that pitch, from whence we com∣monly fall and break our own, never quiet till then.

And then we shall the more easily bind our malice which is ever lurking and prying for the prey; and bridle our anger, which will ne∣ver suffer us to be at quiet in our selves or with others, but will drive us from our selves, and put us in the posture and motion of mad∣men, make us run out of our own house to burne our neigh∣bours, and afflict our selves to trouble others. And last of all, empty our selves of all suspicion and evil surmizing, of all discon∣tent, which never want fuell to foment them; which feed on shadows, on whispers, on lyes, empty reports, and draw con∣clusious out of any, out of no premises at all; which call small benefits injuries, and every frown a persecution; which levell us in our best estate, impoverish us in riches, raise a tempest in a calme, and strike us on the ground, when no evill breatheth in our coasts; which have a miraculous power to turne a rod into a serpent, a creating power to work not good out of evil, but evil out of no∣thing; are quick and apprehensive, strike at every guat, and

make it a Camel to choke us; in brief, which are that worme which gnawes us continually, which kindle a hell on earth, torment us in pleasure, bruise us on profit, bind us in liberty, lay us on our bed, fright us with visions and dreams, and fearefull appariti∣ons, which turnes a seraglio into a prison, a talent into a mite, and a mite into nothing; and whatsoever comes neere into a punishment, which is worse then nothing. These are the evill spirits which torment and teare us, and strike us to the ground, and make us wal∣low and fome, and when we have dispossessed our selves of these, we shall sit quietly, and in our right minds; or if we move, we shall move in our own sphere and compasse, which is a motion in our place, and such a motion is rest.

This is our spirituall exercise, and this we must study; this is the labour and work of our faith, and we must practice it every day; and when we have practiced it, practice it again, repeat our lesson over and over, and be jealous of our selves, that we are not yet perfect; as Petrach counsells students, Sic philosophari ut philosophiam amemus, so study to be quiet, that we may love it, love it as that, which will purchase us the love of the God of Peace.

And if we take the proper signification of the word here, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, our love must be of that nature, that we must love it as that which will crown us with glory, we must be ambitious of it. And how do ambitious men stretch, and rack their wits? how do they stu∣dy to attain first one degree of honor, then another, and then the top of all, and then study again to be higher then the highest? for ambition though it do begin with the end, yet it is alwaies a beginning, and this is proper to it, that it never looks back, or considers how high it hath soar'd; it begins at one kingdome, and then begins at another, and though it make way ad cubile solis, to the end of the world, yet it doth but begin there. Thus should we be ambitious of quietnesse of a setled mind and a peaceable behaviour, which no mans height can sink, no mans greatnesse can diminish, no mans anger can move, nomans malice can shake, no mans violence can disorder; as others are of honor, which they must win with fire and sword, * 1.23 and so make up Nazianzens num∣ber, who tells us there be three things which cannot be over∣come or disquieted, God, and an Angel, and a good Christian; for God is not troubled when he is angry; though for our sakes he tells us he is, even pressed as a Cart under sheaves, and 'tis our sin not wrath that whets the sword of the destroying angel; and shall we not be ambitious to make up the third? to be like unto our heavenly Father, to be like unto the Angels in this? to be quiet, and keep the same temper and evennesse in the midst of so many hu∣mours as men; to be the same, when others run severall wayes, and

all to trouble us; to be humble, when one scornes us; to be meek, when another rageth; to be silent, when this man doth raile; not to be transported with what others do, but to stay at home with our selves, and be still; when the world is out of order, not to pull it to pieces in seeking to settle it; not to enrage a fire by attempting to quench it; to establish this order, this peace, this heaven within our selves, and as much as in us lies, keep it with all men. This is truly Religion, not to hear, and talk, and fill the world with noyse and confusion; not to exercise our selves in things too high for us, but to fight against our lusts, and trouble none but our selves; though this aged world is grown over-wise, and hath found out a way to divorce Religion from honesty and peace. This is truly Christianity, the command and practice of Christ, who would not be an Arbitra∣tor between two brethren; For who, saith Christ, hath made me a Judge or Divider over you? my businesse is to give you generall precepts, which you must draw down to particular cases, and not to put my hand to help to manage the affaires and businesse of parti∣cular men, who came down into the world as rain into a fleece of wooll, to beget us with his Word, that we his children might move and walk in the world as he came down into it, that is, without noyse.

Lastly, this is truly honourable, a mark which the ambition of a Christian should flie to; for it is an honour to cease from strife, Sedere, Quiescere, so it is rendred, to sit still and be quiet; possesse your selves, * 1.24 saith S. Paul, in sanctification and honour, in sanctity, which is your hon∣our, by which you honor & adorn the Temple of the holy Ghost. We count it indeed an honor to make our tongues our own, & speak what we list; to make our hands our own, and do what we please; to pursue our enemies and take them, & beat them as small as the dust before the wind; we count it an honour to stand in the valley, and to touch the mountaines till they smoke; to reach at that which is above us, and pull it down; to divide that which is united, to shake that which is establisht, to violate that which should not be toucht, and are ever moving and heaving upward to be more than we should be, to be what we should not be; vile, and ignoble, and dead in our own place, & never honorable (we think) till we have left it behind us, to gain us a name, though it be by firing a temple, or setting the world it self in Combustion.

Thus honors are dispenced amongst the children of men, a∣mongst the Sonnes of Belial; honourable Schismaticks descended from Jeroboam the Son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin; honou∣rable Revengers of the tribe of Simeon and Levi, those brethren in evill; honourable hypocrites, Pharisees and the Sons of Pharisees, a generation of vipers; honourable murderers, of their Father the

devil, who was so from the beginning. Ambitious, humorous, covetous, discontent, forlorne and desperate persons.

Quosque suae rapiunt sceleratae in praelia causae.

These are the Grandees, the honourable persons of this world; but in the Court, and Heraldry of heaven, we find no such titles of honour. No, Write these men desolate, who shall not prosper, though they do prosper; write them down Haters of God, Despight∣full, Boasters, Inventers of evill things, Fools without understanding; but the man, who is quiet, and peaceable, he is the honourable man, though he lye on a Dunghill, though he sits amongst the dogs of the flocks; like unto the Angels, nay like unto God, and holding resemblance with him, transformed from glory to glory; the same though the fashion of the world change every day; not stealing into honour, as those great theeves of the world, Alex∣ander, and Hanibal, and Marius, and Sylla, errore hominum, by the error and mistake of men, who call fools Politicians, and Madmen valiant; but Judicio Dei, by the Judgment and sentence of God, himself made proprietary of it, being his Souldier, who hath fought against none but himself; being his Priest, who hath sacrificed himself, all his lusts, and desires, and animosities; being his King too, who hath awed, and commanded, and govern'd him∣self in peace, and hath subdued every thing that might disquiet either himself or others; and so made a Royall Priesthood unto the Lord. Thus, thus shall it be done to the man, whom the King of kings will honour. This honour have all his Saints in this life, and in the next, Everlasting Glory.

You see then, brethren, your calling; you are called to holi∣nesse, and you are called to peace and quietnesse; you see the study you are imployed in by the blessed Apostle, as a hard, so an hono∣rable study; and in the wayes of honour, who would not move? we must therefore make one step further, and learne the method which is prescribed, or the meanes to keep us at peace with our selves and others; we must 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, we must do our own bu∣sinesse, and labour with our hands, as he hath commanded. But of this in the next.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Tertull. de orat.
• * 1.2

  Jude 20.
• * 1.3

  Ambros.
• * 1.4

  2 Pet. 1.5.6. v.
• * 1.5

  1 Cor. 11.25.
• * 1.6

  1 Tim. 2.2.
• * 1.7

  3 Coloss. 15.
• * 1.8

  Honestum pacis nomen segni otio imposuit. Tacit. de Tur∣piliano Annali. 14.
• * 1.9

  Nazianz. orat. 31.
• * 1.10

  Aristides in Photii. Bibl.
• * 1.11

  Tert. Apol.
• * 1.12

  Math. 6.
• * 1.13

  Tertull. de A∣nimax. 1.
• * 1.14

  Tertull. cont. Judaeus.
• * 1.15

  Micah. 4.3.
• * 1.16

  Luk. 24.37.38.
• * 1.17

  Deorum virtus naturâ excellit, hominum autem industriâ. Cicer. Top.
• * 1.18

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. Naz. or 31.
• * 1.19

  Suet. Caligula.
• * 1.20

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. Arist. Rhet. 3. x.
• * 1.21

  2 Tim. 3.
• * 1.22

  Sen: Controv.
• * 1.23

  Naz. or. 18.
• * 1.24

  Prov. 20.3.