IR DIEV ET MON DROIT. HONI SOIT QVI MAL Y PENSE. royal blazon or coat of arms HONI· SOIT· QVI· MAL· Y· PENSE. royal blazon or coat of arms THE PEACEMAKER: OR, GREAT BRITAIN'S BLESSING. Framed For the continuance of that mighty Happiness wherein this Kingdom excels many Empires. Showing the Idleness of a quarreling Reputation, wherein consists neither MANHOOD nor WISDOM. Necessary for all Magistrates, Officers of PEACE, Masters of Families, for the confirmation of Youth, and for all his majesties most true and faithful Subjects: To the general avoiding of all Contention, and bloodshedding. LONDON, Printed by THOMAS PURFOOT: An. Dom: 1618. CUM PRIVILEGIO. HONI· SOIT· QVI· MAL· Y· PENSE. royal blazon or coat of arms ❧ To all Our true-loving, and Peace-embracing SUBJECTS. THE Glory of all Virtues, is Action; the Crown of all Acts, Perfection; the perfection of all things, Peace and Union. It is the Riches of our Being's, the Reward of our Sufferings, the Music on our Deathbeds: Never had so great a Treasure, so poor a purchaser, for man hath the offer of it. The God of peace sent it, the Lamb of peace brought it, the Spirit of peace confirmed it, and We still seek to practise it. With what power then may the good purpose of this work arrive at the hearts of all faithful Christians? and with what cheerfulness and freeness ought it to be embraced of all our loving Subjects, having so many Glorious seals of Honour, Power and Virtue to strengthen it, all that is required of Us from you, is a faithful and hearty welcome, and that bestowed upon man's best and dearest Friend, either in Life or Death. For peace that hath been a stranger to you, is now become a sister, a Dear and Natural sister; and to your Holiest loves we recommend her. THE PEACEMAKER. The Book itself in glory of its name, is proud to tell from whence the subject came. PEACE be to you; I greet you in the blessing of a God, the salutation of an Apostle, and the Motto of a King: My Subject hath her being in Heaven, her Theory in holy Writ, and her practic in England, Insula pacis. The Land of Peace, under the King of Peace. Like Noah's Dove, she was sent out to seek a resting place, to see if the whole world were not yet covered with the perpetual deluge of Blood and Enmity, & only here she found the Olive leaf; Hitherto hath she been Pilotto the Ark, & here it first touched shore: here now it hath remained full Fifteen years, I am proud to report it. Rejoice O England with thine espoused Scotland, and let thy handmaid Ireland joy with thee. Let all thy servant Islands be glad, yea, let in strangers to behold and taste thy blessings. The disturbed French, seek succour with thee, the troubled Dutch fly to thy confines, the Italian leaves his hotter climate; These and many more all seek shelter under the sweet shadow of thine Olive Branches. O London, blessed Mrs. of this happy Britain, build new thy Gates there's peace entering at them. The God of peace hath sent this peace of God, o ever love her, that she may never leave thee, salute her, and invite her. Let White-Hall (fit emblem for her purity) be her chief Palace, and let it say, Ades almasalus. Peace and Contention lie here on earth, as trading Factors for life and death. Who desires not to have traffic with life? who (weary of life) but would die to live? Peace is the passage from life to life, come then to the factory of peace, thou that desirest to have life: behold the substitue of peace on earth, displaying the flag of peace, Beati pacifici. Let Contention enjoy (without joy) large Empires; here we enjoy (with all joy) our happy Sanctuary. It was borne with him, he brought it with him, after Five and Thirty years increase, and here hath multiplied it to Fifty with us: o blessed jubilee, let it be celebrated with all joy and cheerfulness, and all sing, Beati Pacifici. And are not the labours blest with the workman? England & Scotland, (though not malicious enemies, yet churlish Neighbours) are reconciled. Feast, love, live, and die together, are indeed no more neither what they were, but a new thing betwixt them, more firm and near in their loving Union, than ever divided in their hearty unkindness; and now both say, with one tongue, Beati Pacifici. Ireland, that rebellious Outlaw, that so many years cried blood and death (filling her Marish grounds with massacres, affording many preys of slaughtered bodies to her ravenous Wolves, and in their wombs keeping the brutish obsequies) would know no Lord, but grew more stubborn in her chastisement, till this white ensign was displayed; then she came running with this hallowed text in her mouth, Beati Pacifici. Spain, that great and long-lasting opposite, betwixt whom and England, the Ocean ran with blood not many years before, nor ever truced her crimson effusion: their Merchants on either side trafficked in blood, their Indian Ingots brought home in blood, (a commerce too cruel for Christian Kingdoms) yet now shake hands in friendly amity, and speak our blessing with us, Beati pacifici. Nay, what christian Kingdom that knows the blessing of peace, has not desired & tasted this our blessing from us? Come they not hither as to the Fountain from whence it springs? here sits Solomon, and hither come the Tribes for judgements: Oh happy Moderator, blessed Father, not father of thy Country alone, but Father of all thy neighbour Countries about thee. Spain, & her withstanding Provinces (long bruised on both sides) thou hast set at peace, turning their bloody Leaguers, to leagues of friendship: do not those children now live to bless thee, (who had else been buried in their Parents wombs?) and say Beati pacifici. Denmark and Suevia, Suevia and Poland, Cleve and Brandenburg: have not these & many more come to this Oracle of Peace, and received their dooms from it? If the members of a natural body, by concord assist one another; if the politic members of a kingdom help one another, and by it support itself; why shall not the Monarchal bodies of many Kingdoms, be one mutual Christendom? if still they sing this blessed lesson taught them, Beati pacifici. Let England then, (the seat of our Solomon) rejoice in her happy government, yea, her government of governments; and she that can set peace with others, let her (at least) enjoy it herself: let us love peace, and be at peace in love. We live in Beth-salem the house of Peace, then let us ever sing this song of peace, Beati pacifici. Detraction snarls, and tempts fair Peace to show the plenty of her fruits, and how they grow. SEd ubi fructus? Detraction to Peace. Where are all these rich and oppulent blessings that this tender white robbed Peace hath brought with her? Aetes' parentum peior avis etc. Our Grandfathers (for the most part) were honester men than our Fathers, our Fathers better than we, and our Children are like enough to be worse than ourselves. Does Peace keep a Palace where Charity may warm herself? Shame murmurer, Peace answer. hadst thou rather with the forgetful Israelites, go back to the Flesh-pots of Egypt (bought with blows and burdens,) then eat Manna in the way to Canaan. Dost thou thirst here? 'tis for want of Sacrifice to him that should refresh thee then. Thy Grandfather prayed for this that thou enjoyest, and though he had it not himself, yet prepared it as a blessing on thee. The Sun that daily shines on thee, thou lettest it pass with a careless & neglective eye; but were it hid from thee, the change of a Moon, thou wouldst then welcome it, with all alacrity & cheerfulness. Were blows more bountiful to thee? Did blood yield thee benefit? War afford thee wealth? Didst thou make that thine own by violence, which was another's by right? It may be, the Handmaid was fruitful, and the Mistress barren; But Sarah has now brought forth, and in her seed are the blessings come. Hagar is despised, Peace hath conceived, and smiling Isaac hath left us jacob, a new Israel, a Prince of God, a man that hath prevailed with God to plant his peace with us. The trading Merchant finds it, who daily ploughs the Sea, and as daily reaps the harvest of his labours. What wants England that the world can enrich her with? tire sends in her Purples; India her Spices; Africa her gold; Muscouie her costly skins of beasts; All her neighbour Countries their best traffic, & all purchased by friendly commerce, not (as before) by savage cruelty. The fear less trades and handicraft men sing away their laborsal day (having no note drowned with either noise of Drum or Cannon) and sleep with peace at night. The frolic Countryman, opens the fruitful Earth, and crops his plenty from her fertile bosom: Nay, even his toiling beasts are trapped with bells, who taste (in their labours) the harmony of peace, with their awful governors. The Magistrate, constantly draws his sword of justice on offenders, not ore-awed by party-headed contentions. The kingdoms beauty, the Nobility, who were wont to be strangers in their native country, leading the ranks of blood and death against their enemies, have now no enemy, but keep their practice amongst themselves, to pastime with (Nun haec meminisse voluptas?) And now (more sweet and holy) are Pillars at home, that were enforced to be prodigies abroad; all being (by a heavenly Metamorphosis) transhaped to become the becoming branches of the great Olive Tree of Peace. And doth not Charity dwell here with Peace? o blind detraction. Has not in foretimes, unwilling necessity, erected two Hospitals? and now most free and willing Charity, hath (in augmentation of her glory) raised Twenty Almshouses; yea, so many for one, and give her true testimony. Nay, has she not done the great wonder? built some Churches, repaired many, and still her hand is dealing? Is not the sum of all, Religion, established by her? Are not the Flesh-eating fires quenched, and our Faggots converted to gentler uses? O, but those cornfields must never be without some tars, until the general Harvest: Israel must not at once, destroy all the Inhabitants of the land of promise, but by little & little, lest they boast and say, it was our strength, and not the Lords hand that did it. Nor shall our peace (in her young Plantation) enjoy so full and perfect a tranquillity, but that there will be with us contentious Canaanites, seditious jebusites, crafty Gibeonites, drunken Amorties, and arrogant Anakims'. Envy shall stand between, and hold two Brothers of either hand of her; Sectarists and Schismatics shall break the peace of God, wound the mother of peace (the Church) and bind together false Brotherhoods, to dissipate the unity and bonds of peace. Law shall wrangle with her; Ebriety & drink shall strike her, Pride and Ambition shall seek to overthrow her: yea, even her oily and most dangerous enemy Hypocrisy, shall get within to strangle her, yet still shall she stand, and reign, and conquer. invidiam pax prosternet, she shall mount to Heaven, and throw her enemies as low as Hell, where peace shall never come. Envy shall gnaw her own entrails, Schism shall perish, Law shall be silent, Drunkenness shall burst itself, Pride shall be humbled in her own habitation, and hollow-harted Hypocrisy, shall find no peace. Vbi Deorum numen praetenditur sceleribus, Flamen. Consul. subit animum timor. Where the Majesty of God, is made a colour for mischief, a fear comes into that breast: his peace shall be tremble, & doubts, and horrors; his heart shall then faint, that told him before like hart-stealing Absalon in his Father's gates, thy cause was good, Ezech. 13. 10. when it was not so. Or like the false & foolish Prophets, that told the people it was pax, pax, peace, peace, when it was no peace. The walls were daubed with untemperd mortar, and they shall fall, yet still shall Truth have Peace, and the Peacemaker shall preserve the truth; They shall dwell together, and live together. The heavenly Soldiers have sung it, the Father hath sent it, the Son hath brought it, the blessed Dove shall preserve it; ever comfort us with it, our Anointed hath received it, we do enjoy it, and see it plentiful in Israel. Peace takes a view of such as do molest, and kindle most unquiet in her breast. Put up the Bel-bearer first, than all the flock will follow: Pride has lost her place, or comes behind for her greaterstate, 'tis Drunkenness that leads now; and mark the Herd that troup after her. Lust follows close, Contention at her sleeve. Emulation on other side; Envy keeps the sent like a Bloodhound; Revenge and Murder come coupled together. The smaller headed Beasts are unseen yet, as Breach of Friendship, unlocking hearty secrets, Slander, Oaths, & Blasphemies, fearful Invocations, (all which, custom hath driven so far distant from the Souls eye, as the Moon from the ocular sight whose body overbulks the Earth's large Centre, yet seems as little as her Figure taken on the tavern sign, where these brutish orgies are celebrated) abuse of Time, Riot, Prodigality, and lineal succeeding poverty; All these are peace's professed Enemies, her domestic foes, who unless this fore-battel be repulsed & suppressed in the first assault, the rest will follow, though to their own perdition. Non ignota refero, these are no wonders with us, there may be Monsters among them, but too familiar with our acquaintance, examine the Ring leader, Drunkenness is no stranger in the world, she came in with the Earth's first general Curse, and he that scaped that Inundation of Waters, tasted the Deluge of Wine. Shame fell on him, and his Curse to posterity; Noah tasted one, and Cham felt the other, Lot had his portion in her: There Drunkenness begat Incest (an unnatural Issue of a brutish Mother) and her succession, two wicked Generations; Moab and Ammon. Drunkenness played the part of a Headsman with Holofernes, stooping his neck to the weak arm of a Woman, and he that stopped the Waters of Bethulia from others, had so much of his own Wine as made him senseless of either Wine or Water ever after. Alexander (inter epulas) clitum charissimum transfodit, the friend hath sprinkled his Wine-bolles with the dear blood of his friend: Oh brutish Sacrifice! Oh Man unmanned! Oh absent Man! where (out of thyself) dost thou remain, while this Fiend possesseth thee? But why do we seek Antiquities for proof of a practice so present with us? Had Israel any sin that England hath missed? Was Noah drunk, one of the Ark, and one of the eight reeling there? it is eight to one, that seven of eight do stagger here (if not the whole Vessel.) It was a shame to one then, but custom hath made it no shame for all now. Did Lot commit Incest with his own daughters? Could we not wish Drunkenness to excuse us now? Does not Lust (her hellish handmaid) challenge this Weapon hers? The example was too soon found, and yet too late to remember: Oh, would that had been the first, and that we might never know a second. Nec linguam nec manum continet ebrius, how many bosomed counsels have been vomited out of the mouth of a Drunkard, though to the ruin & destruction of his former friend? Oh Insania voluntaria! Oh wilful Madness of Man, to depress & quench out all thy faculties of Reason with this puddle Drunkenness! Thou (that armed in thine own Lordly Fortitudes) canst reach the Stars, measure the Earth's large Globe, search and understand the Seas profound Abyss; yet in this sottish Ignorance, canst not find the depth of thine own stomach. The jews old Proverb hath carried his full sense quite through Christendom; Homets' Ben jin. Wine must needs acknowledge itself the Parent of Vinegar; meaning, that a good Father may have a different and saucy Son: But we have from him the Daughter of a worse hair, this common Strumpet Drunkenness, whom almost all sorts do sleep with: not Vinum egrum, but aegrotum, is our Issue, a sick and unwholesome Harlot; yet hath spread herself into large Offsprings, in most lineal and natural Children, as Lust, Envy, Revenge, Murder, etc. all impious and turbulent Peace-breakers. Oh Peace! shall we not fear thy longer abode with us, if we embrace thee with no better love? How many loving friends have broke that Diamond of Amity (whose pieces once dissevered, can never be reconciled) for the embrace of a lascivious Courtesan, whose arms are like the Iron Idol, that crustht the cursed Sacrifices in pieces? Envy! Oh what does that ulcus animae amongst us? That Aetna in a Man, that continually burns itself, intus & extra, within and without, that (like the Cantharideses) found feeding on the fairest and flourishing Roses, so Envy is ever opposed against the most Sweet, Noble, Flourishing, and Peaceful Blossoms. Were she as rare as the Comparison, I could call her Phoenix, and wish, that this day she would burn herself, and leave her ashes Issueless. Revenge! Whence have we borrowed thee? Oh Salmoneus Terror, shall we play with Thunder and Lightning, and follow thy precipitated Fate? Shall we snatch the Sword (the peculiar Sword) from the Almighty hand? Have we received wrongs on Earth? Consider then, if we have done no wrongs to Heaven. If we stand guilty there (as, Quis non?) Do we then revenge? No; we stand disobedient and repugnant to our own just punishments: We have a milder Sister given in her stead, justice, the Arbitrer of our Injuries: but Vengeance is Gods alone; which no man ought to take in hand, but as delivered from his hand; nor so to imitate his Majesty and Greatness, that does it not but by Authority, and in the way and path of his Goodness. Murder! Oh Cain-created Sin! Cursed Catastrophe of all the rest! This is Summum opus: Here is the full point and end of the Labour; all the precedent travelers are here at home; the end hazarding the endless end: Fearful Spectacle! Here is capital Sacrilege; the Temple of a holy Spirit robbed and ruined: Here is Treason in the highest degree; the Workmanship and Image of the Creator defaced; unhappy Passive, but more, and most of all, unhappy Active! Thou that dost Murder, dost first deface him in thyself; then, in thy Brother. God is the God of Peace, of Mercy, Meekness, Long Suffering, and Loving Kindness: All these hast thou expulsed from thyself, and lost thy shape with them; there is neither Peace, mercy, Meekness, Sufferance, nor Love in thee. Then in thy Brother thou destroyest them: His Blood is Vox Clamans; and he is enforced in Death, from the many mouths of his Wounds, to cry out for Revenge. But is Heaven far off, and will not that move us? Look upon the Deed then with Natural Pity (or a Conscience which is as inseparable as thy Soul, that shall not leave thee living:) Behold a Brother weeping over his Brother; a distraughted Mother tearing her hair, and rending her heart, for her Child's loss; a Friend (with Tears) embalming his dear Friends Body; a raving Father, ready to send his Soul after his Son; yea, perhaps his only Son, his Name and Posterity destroyed with him. Then Brothers, Friends, Mothers, Fathers, all their Curses to be thrown on thee. Are Heaven & Earth both dull motives to thee? O beware the third place; let Hell affright thee, and let thy conscience describe it to thee. I return to that which I would wish thee never to pass, and then thou canst not come to the unblessed discovery of it: and its Paths (before recited) that lead thee to it (Peace:) stay and abide with her, and thou shalt never know her Enemies, Gods Enemies, and thine own Enemies: Let them that seek Peace, find Peace, enjoy Peace, and have their Souls laid up in Eternal Peace. Of Wise men I discourse, by Injuries never shaken; What Reputation is, I show, a thing so long mistaken. IN this small Particle consists the ground of all Quarrels whatsoever, either by suspecting false things, or by aggravating small things. Now how far these two are from the ways of a Wise man, and how ill becoming, Reason makes manifest: for Suspicion and Aggravation are the Offsprings of Passion, and a Wise man is free from Passion. Nor can there be a greater argument of defect, and despair of merit in man, than Suspicion; and mark her Nutriment, what strange food Passion hath provided for it: It feeds upon false things; for indeed, true things are not to be suspected: and how just the punishment meets with the offence; in erring from the Truth, it hath Falsehood for a reward. But in peiora ruunt omnia, the worse Devil is behind. The Aggravation of small things, when a spark shall grow to a flaming Beacon, a Word to a Wound, the Lie to a Life; when every man will be the Master of his own Revenge, presuming to give Law to themselves, and in rage, to right their own wrongs: At which time, the Sword is extorted out of the hand of Magistracy, contrary to the sacred Ordinance of the Almighty. Now the wise and understanding man is not subject or exposed to any of these Injuries whatsoever; neither cares he, how many darts of Malice or Contumely are shot against him, since he knows, that he cannot be pierced: Even as there are certain hard Stones which Iron cannot enter; and the Adamant will neither be cut, filled, nor beaten to powder, but abateth the edge of those Instruments that are applied unto it; And as there are certain things which cannot be consumed with fire, but continue their hardness and habitude amidst the flames; And as the Rocks, that are fixed in the heart of the Sea, break the Waves, and retain no impression of the Storms that have assailed them; so the heart of a wise man is solid, and hath gathered such invincible force, that he stands as secure from Injury, as those insensible Substances I made mention of. Not that Injuries are not offered him, but that he admits them not; so highly raised above all the attaints of worldly wrongs, that all their violences shall be frustrate, before a wise man be offended. Even as Arrows, or Bullets, that are shot into the Air, mount higher than our sight, but they fall back again, without touching Heaven: And as Celestial things are not subject to human hands; and they that overturn Temples, do no way hurt the Godhead to whom they are consecrated; So, whatsoever Injuries are attempted against a wise man, return without effect, and are to him but as Cold or Heat, Rain or Hail, the Wether of the World. And for words of Contumely, it is held so small, and so slight an injury, as no wise man complains, or revengeth himself for it: therefore, neither do the Laws themselves prefix any penalty thereunto, not imagining that they would ever be burdensome. Quis enim phrenetico Medicus irascitur? For what Physician is angry with a Lunatic person? Who will interpret a sick man's reproaches to the worst, that is vexed of a Fever? Why, the same affection hath a wise man toward all men, as the Physician hath toward his sick Patients; not offended to hear their outrages, he looks upon them, as upon intemperate sick men; therefore is not angry with them, if during their sickness they have been so bold, as to speak injuriously against him. And as he sets light by all their words of honour; so torments he himself as little with all their despite & insolences. For he that is displeased for an injury that is done him, will likewise be glad to be honoured at his hands that did it; which a wise man is free from. For he that revenges a Contumely, honours him that did it, in taking it so much to heart, & respecting it. Art thou angry with thy Superior? Alas, Death is at hand, which shall make us equals. Dost thou wish him, with whom thou art displeased, any more than Death? Although thou attemptest nothing against him, he shall be sure of that; thou losest thy labour then, in offering to do that, which will be done without thee. We laugh, saith the wisest of Philosophers, in beholding the Conflict of the Bull and Bear, when they are tied one to another; which after they have tired one another; the Butcher attends for them both, to drive them to the Slaughter-house. The like do we. We challenge him that is coupled with us, Brother, or Friend, we charge him on every side: mean while, both the conqueror and conquered, are near unto their ruin. Rather let us finish that little remainder of our life in quiet and peace, that our end may be a Pleasure to no man. Thou wishest a man's death! and there is always but a little difference betwixt the day of thy desire, and the affliction of the Sufferer. Whilst we are therefore amongst men, let us embrace Humanity; be dreadful and dangerous to no man; let us contemn Injuries and Contumelies; for but looking back, we may behold Death presently attend us. Pisistratus, that lived a Tyrant in Athens, being for his cruelty mocked and reproved by a druuken man, answered, That he was no more angry with him, then if a blindfold fellow, having his eyes bound up, should run upon him. Another said to his friend, I prithee chastise my servant with strokes, because I am angry, intimating thus much, That a servant ought not to fall into his power, that is not master of himself. But now the compounding of Quarrels is grown to a Trade: And as a most worthy Father of Law and Equity speaks, there be some Council learned of Duels, that teach young Gentlemen, when they are beforehand, and when behindhand, and thereby incense and incite them to the Duel, and make an Art of it: the spur and incitement, false & erroneous imagination of Honour & Credit, when most commonly those golden hopes end in a Halter. That Folly and Vainglory should cast so thick a mist before the eye of Gentry! to fix their aim and only end-upon Reputation, and end most lamentably without it; nay, farthest from it: first, to hazard the eternal death of their Souls, and the surviving Bodies, to die the death of a Cutpurse. A miserable effect, and most horrid resolution, when young men, full of towardness and hope, such as the Poets call Aurorae filii, the Sons of the Morning, in whom the sweet expectation and comfort of their friends consists, shall be cast away and ruined for ever in so vain a business. But much more is it to be deplored, when so much Noble and Gentle blood shall be spilled upon such Follies; which adventured in honourable Service, were able to make the fortune of a Day, & to change the fortune of a Kingdom. It is evident then, how desperate an evil this is, which troubles Peace, disfurnishes War, brings sudden calamity upon private Men, Peril upon the State, and Contempt upon the Law. They pretend above all things to regard Honour, yet chiefly seek the dishonour of God and of justice; and which is worse than Madness in those men, that adventuring to leave this life in Anger, presume to press into the next, to the Supper of the Lamb, which is all Peace & Love, without Peace, Love, or Charity. O that Gentlemen would learn to esteem themselves at a just price, how dearly they are bought, how most precious their Redemption! The root of this Offence is stubborn; for it despiseth Death, which is the utmost of all Temporal punishments, and had need of the Severity used in France; where the Manslayers, though Gentlemen of great Quality, are hanged with their Wounds bleeding, lest a natural Death should prevent the example of justice. This punctuality of Reputation, is no better than a Bewitching Sorcery, that enchants the spirits of young men, like the Smoke of fashion, that Witch Tobacco, which hath quite blown away the Smoke of Hospitality, and turned the Chimneys of their Forefathers, into the Noses of their Children. And by all Computation (if Computation may be kept for Folly) I think the Vapour of the one, and the Vainglory of the other, came into England much upon a voyage, and hath kept as close together, as the Report follows the Powder. For when, but in the laternesse of these times, hath so much private and domestic Blood been shed? Like the three jewish Brothers, in that perplexed History of Jerusalem; who wanting Enemies, still flew upon themselves. So these malicious, unthankful Spirits, fattened with the abundant Blessings of a mellifluous Peace, disgorge themselves upon their Christian Brothers; like those that surfeit upon too much Honey. And well may this Vainglory, or opinion of Reputation, be called a Satanical Illusion, and Apparition of Honour, against Religion, Law, Moral Virtue, and against all the honourable Precedents and Examples of the best Times, and valiantest Nations. For hereby have Gentlemen lost the true knowledge and understanding of Fortitude and Valour. For true Fortitude distinguisheth of the grounds of Quarrels, whether they be just; and not only so, but whether they be worthy; and sets a better value upon men's lives, then to bestow them idly; which are not so to be trifled away, but offered up and sacrificed to honourable Services, public Merits, good Causes, and Noble Adventures. And behold here thy Folly; thou attemptest a way, freely to lose thy Soul eternally, but not thy Reputation. Fool that thou art, in offering to save that, which indeed is nothing, thou losest all! For Reputation is but another man's Opinion, and Opinion is no substance for thee to consist of. For how canst thou consist of a thing that is without thee? Which may be any man's at an instant, as well as thine; and when thou hast it, it is but a breath: And of what certainty or permanence is it, when they must die that give it thee? Perhaps, because some have said, that Fame hath a perpetuity; thou hastensst to lose thy Soul, to provide for thy Name: How much thou deceivest thyself? Why, it is no more than the Echo of a glory: For as an Echo no longer resounds, than it is fed with a voice, no longer does Fame sound forth man's Praises, than it is supplied and cherished with deservings: For when thy noise ceases in itself, it will quickly cease the noise of thee. How ever, at the farthest, a general Dissolution will come, when Fame, that is next to nothing now, shall have no being then at all. Happy is then the wise and understanding Spirit: for though he be injured, he can lose nothing thereby, neither his Fame, nor Reputation; for a wise man entertains nothing that is subject to loss. Fortune takes nothing but what she hath given; she gives not Virtue, nor Wisdom; therefore cannot take that away. The more thou thinkest upon Reputation, the farther off thou art from all contention, unless custom in Ignorance, or wilfulness in Nature, make thee throw an abuse upon the Word. For what is Reputation, but Consideration? A diligent weighing, considering, and revolving in the mind? And that is quite opposite to Rashness: Truth will shame thee, if thou confess not so much. There can be then no Reputation in Rashness, that is manifest: And what are Quarrels, but the fruits of Rashness? There can be then no Reputation in Quarrels And as it is Consideration, it were dreadful to think, that any man, in the state of his best counsel and advisedness, should attempt to destroy the Image of his Creator, in the life of his Christian Brother. And therefore divinely have our human Laws bend their hate & punishments against the abhorred Act, committed in cold blood; which is as wilful an opposition against man's life (considering what he does) as Blasphemy against the Word of Truth; the Conscience knowing it offends of set purpose (the only sin against the Holy Ghost.) And as the body of every true Christian is said to be the Temple of the holy Ghost, 1. Cor. 3. 16. What does the accursed manslayer, but in the blood of his Brother, destroys the Temple, as the Blasphemer wounds the Lord of the Temple? Behold then, not without a face of Horror, the miserable condition the Sons of this Age run into. All they venture for, is to bring the bloodiness of their Action into the compass of Honour (as if Honour consisted in destruction.) Now what impossibility follows that labour, even the weakest may conjecture. For Honour is the Rumour of a beautiful and virtuous Action, which redoundeth from our Souls to the view of the World, and by Reflection into ourselves, bringing to us a Testimony of that which others believe of us: which turns to a great peace, and contentment of mind; Blessings which were never yet found in a Bloudshedder, let his cause be never so glorious. And where there is no Peace, all other benefits have a cessation. It is the only health of thy Soul; and that once lost, thy soul sickens immediately, even to death, and can no more taste or relish a joy after, than a sick man's Pallet his Nutriment. Is not this then a delusion of Honour? Nay, can there be any thing more delusive? Alas, when it is at the greatest height of human glory, it is of a small and slender efficacy, uncertain, a stranger, and as it were separated in the Air from him that is honoured: For it does not only, not enter into him, nor is inward and essential unto him, but it does not so much as touch him. A poor and miserable purchase at the best, for so great and eternal a hazard! Flatter not thy Soul then to her everlasting ruin, in thinking Reputation consists in Bloodshedding. Sanguis clamat, as the Almighty speaks in the Letter of his own Law; Blood cries, and with a louder voice, to Heaven, than thy Fame can sound on Earth, Rumours, ten thousand tongues, are hoarse to that: they compass but some Nook, or Angle of the World; the other reaches from the Field to Heaven. The voice of thy Brother's Blood crieth unto me from the Earth, Gen. 4. 10. And no sooner the Cry comes, but the Curse follows, in the very next words: Now therefore thou art cursed from the Earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy Brother's Blood from thy hand. And immediately in the next, AV agabond and a Runagate shalt thou be on the Earth. Which shows the horror of the guilty Conscience, which after the deed done, would fain fly from itself: A distraction which follows all the Children of Wrath unto this day. Well may peace then have the excellency of her glorious name advanced above all Titles and Inscriptions: And so much the rather, in that it pleaseth the Almighty Creator himself, to be called the God of Peace, and the Author, 1. Cor. 14. 33. Nay, Love itself, delighting in the Name. 1. john 4. 16. GOD is love, and he that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him. And 1. Thess. 5. 23. Now the very God of Peace sanctify you throughout, etc. Christ the Saviour of the World, the Lamb of Peace. john 11. 29. Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the World. There is Peace made in taking sin away, which is the only fuel of Wrath. And Ephes. 2. 14. Christ is our Peace, which hath made of both, one, and hath broken the stop of the partition wall. Moreover, the heavenly Soldiers, at the Birth of Christ, praising God, said: Glory be to God, in the high Heavens, and Peace in earth, and toward men, good will. And as his most blessed Nativity was the Fountain of Peace, there wanted not the fruits that sprang from that sacred Fountain in his departure, john 14. 27. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor fear. Let not your heart, speaking to many, because all his ought to be of one heart, which is a work of Peace. And not leaving, but in the same Evangelist, 16. 17. I will pray my Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever. Intimating thereby, the eternal Peace of Soul and Conscience, by the coming of the Holy Ghost: calling him in the words immediately following, Even the Spirit of Truth, whom the Father will send in my Name, 26. he comes all Peace, and in the name of Peace, of Christ our Saviour. And to add more glory to the Name of Peace, behold how the incomprehensible Godhead desires to be comprehended, all into Unity, Trinity in Unity: Which shows, that Unity is the Conserver, Sustainer, and Comprehender of all things, both in Heaven and Earth. Thou therefore, that in the madness of thy blood, attemptest to destroy Unity, thou seekest to destroy that which Heaven and Earth is sustained by. Most miserable of Creatures, thy Soul hath but one Supporter, and in the tempest of thy fury thou ouerturnest that and all. Peace enters here in Arms, and overthrows, By force of her own strength, her strongest Foes. ANd first behold her contending with her most honourable enemy, even he that with better authority may slay his ten thousand; then any other his thousand; I his hundred, yea, one single life: Either the haughty Challenge, the curious Duel, or the blood-thirsty Revenge, to wit, War itself: sometimes a principal Arrow, shot from the heavenly Bow of justice, a forced Arbiter betwixt different Kingdoms, and often proves the dear Moderator. Yet this great Soldier, with all his Attributes of Fame and Honour, falls far short of our high-throned Empress, Peace. Mark how the Philosopher hath ordered this Battle, and given the Colonies, to both these great Commanders, Pacem cum omnibus habebis bellum cum vitijs. Have Peace with all the world, only war with thy sins. Melior, & tutior est, certa pax, quam incerta victoria: for more safe and noble is a certain Peace, than a doubtful Victory, with all his Honours attending. But let us believe no cowardly Philosophers: let him that in his hand holds both, and from his hand sends both, be the judge betwixt us. When was War sent as a Blessing, or Peace as a punishment? Let his judges judge our cause, judg. 5. vers. 8. They chose new gods, than was War in the Gates. Here is an Offence, and here is a Punishment, Idolatry, and War. Again, They turn to the Lord, and the Land had Peace forty years. Here is Penitence, and here is the Blessing, Serving God, and Peace. If then the General of Blood and Death, even War itself be a Prodigy, a Curse, and not a Blessing, What shall his base Imitator be? What Honour shall the Challenger lay challenge to? What blood shall the Revenger dare to shed? or what Fame shall the Schoolmaster of Duels achieve, with all his vainglorious and punctual Orders of firsts and seconds; lengths of weapons, distances of place, heights of grounds, equalities of wind and Sun? O wicked Ashkelon and her Suburbs, let them be taken, and destroyed together. Why do we quarrel? What is the end of the fairest War? to enjoy Peace: See how the Servant labours for the Mistress, and foolish they that enjoy their Inheritance, yet know it not: Thriftless Gamesters to play for their own Money. Is thy Night quiet, and sweet with Peace? Embrace her in the Day, and keep her continually: If thou lettest blood into thy bosom in the Day, Peace will not stay with thee at night: Peace wears no particoloured Coat, no mixed Scarlet and White, but White in her Purity, nor fat, nor blood, must be eaten in the Peace-offering, Leviticus 3. Now ascend Abarim, and climb up to the Mountain of Nebo, and see some part of the Land of Promise, whither this blessed Peace shall lead thee, if she be thy conduct: but be sure to look upwards, and then thou canst not fear the depth beneath thee. Behold the Father, the God of Peace; the Son, the Lamb of Peace; the blessed Spirit, the Dove of Peace; the Angels, Servants, and Ministers to this power of Peace; Infinites and all rejoicing at one soul's entrance into Peace. Behold the new jerusalem, Kiriath-salem, the City of Peace; that which was Militant, and troubled in the Wilderness (the Church) behold it there triumphant in ever blessed Peace. That Peace which as it is un-intelligible, so is it most unutterable. Then, if we desire to be Inhabitants in this Land of Promise & Peace, observe our entrance. We have yet two Mountains to pass over jordan by, Geresim and Ebal; and the twelve Tribes placed on each side, both to bless or curse us. EBAL. here we have our choice; and we are ever going on, in this Passage. O let us pass by Geresim the Mount of Blessings, the right Hand, and the right Hill. Turn thy back to Ebal, but let none of her Curses fall upon thee. GERESIM. Pride. Humility. Malice. Mercy. Ambition. Charity. Schismatical contentions. Faith. Revenge. Peace. Impiety. Piety. Be thou strong or weak, thou mayest with more ease bear six on thy right hand, than one on thy left. Pride is a great weight, able to overthrow the strongest man. Malice, a ponderous Load, turning thy sleeps to unquiet slumbers, and even there haunting thee in restless Dreams. Ambition, a Mountain itself, to sink thee. Schism, a Spirit, and Conscience-troubler. Revenge, an Impostume of Blood; which broken once, strangles thee with thine own Corruption. Impiety, a Cloud and Mist of Darkness, turning thee from thy way. When as on the other side, how light and easily mayest thou bear about thee Humility? How sweet a Companion is Mercy? How loving a Fellowship is Charity? How sure a Friend is Faith? How nourshing a Cordial is Peace? How bright a Lamp is Piety? And then, how glorious a Reward is Eternity, and Peace in Eternity? Now let us bind ourselves to the Peace, put in Security for our Good Behavious. Let our Souls be bound for our Bodies, our Bodies for our Souls, and let each come in at the General Sessions, to save his Bail; where we shall find a merciful judge. If there we can answer, we have not broke his Peace, our Bonds shall be canceled. As we have kept the Peace, we shall be rewarded with Peace, and kept in Eternal Peace. Amen. FINIS.