Barwick bridge: OR ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND COUPLED.  
In a Sermon tending to peace and unity.  
Preached before the King at Saint ANDREW'S in SCOTLAND.  
Anno Domini. 1617. julij. 13.  
By ROBERT WILKINSON Dr. in Divinity, and Chaplain to his Majesty.  ESAY 19 23. In that day there shall be a path from Egypt to Ashur, and Ashur shall come into Egypt, and Egypt into Ashur, etc. 
LONDON, Printed by EDWARD GRIFFIN for William Aspley. 1617.   

TO THE HIGH AND MIGHTY JAMES, BY the grace of God, King of great BRITAIN, FRANCE and IRELAND, etc.  
REnowned and Beloved of God and man: As the Wisemen followed the star in the East, so have we followed your Majesty into the North, at your appointment we have preached, and now at your command I have put myself into the press; To which I might have answered, as one of the sons in the Gospel, yea, as one of your Presbyterian spirits lately answered you; Nolo, in flat terms I will not obey you; for why should so many men, the choice of two famous Churches, of so much greater learning of more and more excellent gifts, whom you have heard not with attention only, but with admiration too, why (I say) should such and so many escape the publishing, & I only to be set upon the stage? yet I ask it not of your Majesty, but of myself; and I think I have found the reason of it, for as Izaak could not but know, that jacob was better than Esau, and yet loved Esau for the meat which he brought him, so your Majesty knoweth that there be in our society, who like Rebecca can make better venison of a kid, than I have done of venison, & yet you have thus designed on me; therefore it was not I, but the argument, even the peace (I spoke of) which so affected you; especially to hear of peace in Scotland, but more especially to hear of peace betwixt England & Scotland, the very meat undoubtedly which your soul loveth: and therefore while I seem to publish my Sermon, I print unawares your majesties praise, and make known to the world how highly your Highness apprizeth peace; yea we have lately seen it with our eyes, that justice & Peace are met in you, we have seen you sitting in Parliament ten days together, & we are witnesses that once you sat from one at noon to ten at night; so much is justice beholden to you; And we have hard from your Majesty nothing here sounding but love & peace, you have in your open Parliament professed your love to our English Nation; you have proclaimed great punishment on such as should abuse the meanest of our nation; you have been of nothing more careful then of our entertainment, & such as have kindly entertained us, you have openly thanked, you have knighted & honoured them for it; that as the Babylonians said of Cyrus, The King is become a jew, so your Majesty at this time hath been wholly English but it is your love, as in England to cherish Scots, so in Scotland to tender us, and every where to be kind to strangers, & it is your wisdom so to love us both, that your example might work love & peace in both. And since we are returned in peace, first, with jacob we set up a pillar of thanks to him who hath kept us in our journey; & next to your Majesty we give, at least we repay the thanks which you yourself vouchsafed your own Subjects in our behalf▪ & for those your Subjects, we rejoice to think that in all this time of our intercourse & abode amongst them, we have had no combat, but of kinds with them, & in kindness (we confess) they have overcome us: yea, from the great Lo: Chancellor of Scotland to the College hals & burghers houses, we are debtor & prisoners, & for entertainment of that quality, as if any man shall deprave it, he is like those men which rail on the Sun, & like the dogs which bark at the moon; yea, if any man shall embase what we have found so honourable, if he were partaker of the journey, I say, he is wilfully malicious, but if he speak by hearsay, his hearsay is heresy, & he is falsely & uncharitably credulous, yea if Scotland were as barren, as some report, which have not seen it, we might report it for a wonder, that God hath prepared us a table in the wilderness, for every where we have found cheerful welcome, willing attendance, and of all things such abundance, as nothing could be complained of, but excess, or if any thing were worse than that excess, we ourselves brought it with us, it was our own unthankfulness: yea if our beasts could speak, they would acknowledge fullness of the crib, & say out of the Prophet Esay, we have eaten clean provender winnowed and fanned, and show themselves more thankful to their benefactors, than many of their owners have been to God. That God, who hath every where abundantly fed us, who hath kept us abroad, & brought us safely home, that God make us thankful to himself, & loving to them who have well deserved of us, and upon your Majesty (we beseech him) so to derive the peacemakers blessing here, as you may be called eternally the son of God hereafter.  
Your Majesties ever most obliged and dutiful Chaplain Robert Wilkinson.   

THE PRAISES OF PEACE. A Sermon preached at Saint ANDREW'S in Scotland.  PSAL. 133. 1. Behold how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in one. 
Most Excellent:  
RIght Honourable, Right Reverend, Beloved and Christian Brethren; we are here assembled a mixed and great assembly of two great Kingdoms; for which cause I have taken a text of congratulation: and we are met among other reasons (as I conjecture) to give thanks that we may thus meet, to rejoice in God, and to be mutually merry, and for that cause I have chosen a text out of a Psalm; yea, I have chosen a text out of a Psalm, which (as Austin saith) is notus & nominatus, a Psalm well known to every man, and much spoken of in every mouth; and he saith of the text, that it is sonus ita dulcis, so sweet a sound, as many which knew not the Psalter, yet could sing the verse, & divers which could not read, yet had it by rote, Ecce quam bonum etc. Behold how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together. The Psalm was penned by David, and at that time (as it is thought, when after long war betwixt the two houses of Saul and David, some of the Tribes taking one part, and some another, they all came in at last, and swore fealty to David, and made him King; the sweet sense whereof makes him to write this Psalm, and to break out into this exclamation, Behold how good and pleasant it is, etc. And it is as if he had said, Compare the time present with the time past, and see what a change is made, while you had two Kings, you had them as two swords reveling in the bowels of the Kingdoms, but now God hath set an union in your divisions, & quietness in your borders, yea, he hath stamped unity upon your coin, Faciam eos in gentem unam, all to have one King, & all to make as it were one Kingdom; while you were divided into parts, one part was still a prey to another, and as Abner spoke to joab, the sword of each devoured other: but now God hath broken your swords into mattocks, and your spears into scythes: Fight is now turned to feasting, and force of arms to mutual embracing, so as now you may safely visit the Coasts, and Countries, and Towns, and Cities, and Churches, and Universities, and Colleges each of other, Ecce quam bonum, Behold how good and pleasant this is.  
The main subject of the text is Peace; not the peace betwixt a man and his own conscience, which Matth. 11. is called Rest to your souls: nor yet the peace betwixt God & man, where of Rom. 5. 1. Being justified by faith we have peace toward God: but it is the peace betwixt brethren, that is, betwixt man and man; concerning which we may in the text observe these five things. First, it is described by a phrase of dwelling together: Secondly, it is limited, only among brethren. Thirdly, it is commended to be good and to be pleasant. Fourthly, it is admired, How good and How pleasant. Fiftly, it is pointed at, Behold how good, and Behold how pleasant: of all which by your patience and God's assistance, I will speak in order.  
And first of the first; The peace here mentioned is styled a dwelling, and a dwelling together; and first a dwelling, for peace is as a man settled and quiet in his own house, which follows not vain pomp & pride, nor yet the tumults and restless troubles, nor tossing and tumbling up and down the world, but peace saith as God saith in the Psalm next before, Hic requies mea, here will I dwell. But they to whom there is no peace, they are like the raging sea which cannot rest, Esay 57 and Prou. 4. they cannot sleep unless they have done evil; and no marvel; for Satan their head is a ranger, he dwells no where, but every where, He compasseth the earth, and walketh in it job 1, and 1 Pet. 5. He walketh up and down like a roaring Lion, seeking whom he may devour: The tyrants of the earth which are his left hand, they dwell or rest no where, but run out to the North and South, and East and West, and extend their Dominions over the whole earth. Dan. 8. Again, pharisees & false Prophets, which are his right hand, they compass sea & land to make a man of their profession. yet their diligence makes no warrant for their ill endeavours; It is said of the harlot Prou. 7. that her feet cannot abide in her house, but now she is without, and now in the streets, and lieth in wait at every corner. The mystical propagation of schism and seducing heresy: for so do the Priests, but especially the restless jesuits, they are no where settled, but wander up and down like Apostles, and though S. Paul said, that God had set forth them the last Apostles. 1 Cor. 4. yet they are Apostles later than the last, and because God will not send them out, they therefore send out themselves, and run to the Indies East and West, to Mexico and Peru, to the Moluccas, and to the great Magueere, and if we may believe their own reports, they have been in the remote and mighty kingdom of China, they have been at all Coasts and Capes, and seas and ways, only the way of peace they have not known. Again, peace is not a dwelling only, but a dwelling together? together? how! not simul in crimine, like Simeon and Levi, brethren in iniquity, combined in sin together: nor simul in certamine, as Ephraim and Manasses; or as of late two popish prelate's in England for mere precedency, & in a Church, flatly by the ears together; but together is here cohabiting together, in a city, in a house, in a Church together, and sometime as Acts 1. 13. in a chamber together: and which is the morality of all this, of one heart and soul together. Acts 4. 32. And indeed we see in nature, that the peaceable and harmless creatures do flock together like doves, and fold together like sheep: but wolves, and lions, and bears, which lie in wait for blood, they live in the wilderness and apart, and owls come out in the night and apart, and make a noise when all the rest of the birds are asleep, but they are neither good intympano, nor in choro, they sing not in consort, and when they sing alone, it is the very horror of music; and so it is observed among men; if a man be too much retired, and solitary, and melancholy, & hang down his head like Cain, & like Shemaiah become a Recluse and shut up himself, every man strait will use the proverb upon such an one, Omnis solitarius aut Deus aut Daemon, such a man may be a Saint, and he may as well be a Devil; It was the advantage which Christ had of john the Baptist, that he lived in cities & towns, and did eat and drink, and was sociable, so as he baptised, and all men came to him: joh. 3. but john Baptist lived in the wilderness austerely and sourly, and came neither eating nor drinking, so as they which knew not the mystery of it, said plainly, that john had a Devil, Matth. 11. And we see for the most part that these close and sullen spirits, look whatsoever way they take, they become by their singularity hurtful; if they have to do in the state, they become proud and contentions, and breed factions there: if they have to do in learning, they prove dogmatical, full of paradoxes and of opinions there; but if in the Church, they are not only schismatical, but turbulent and pragmatical, and with Corah, Dathan and Abiram, ready to make riot, if all be not to their will; oh how peaceable had it been for the Church, how strong for the field, and how happy for the whole world, if such Churchmen had been made soldiers; but every man if he be a Saint is of the Communion of Saints, and they which be truly brethren, do dwell, and live, and die together; The word in the text importeth more, even to dwell together in unity, or in one. Now as Bernard saith, there be many ways of one, there is unitas collectiva, as when many stones make one heap, & there is unitas constitutiva, as when many members make one body, and there is unitas coniugativa, as when man and woman make one flesh, and there is unitas nativa, as when flesh and spirit make up one man, with divers other kinds; but why should I exceed in division pretending to preach peace? but of all the rest, why should I so infinitely divide that which the holy Ghost contracteth into one? therefore I find this multiplicity reduced into two heads, either Habitare in unum, subjectively into one which is God, or Habitare in uno, for things of less moment, yet (if it be possible) to agree in one; Into God, one God, one faith we are necessarily grafted as into a stock, without which there is no peace, no religion, no love, no life; and for other things, though not so necessary, yet Saint Paul exhorts to be of one mind, and one judgement, Philip. 2. Therefore if it be possible, let us Habitare in uno, all to follow one way, one government, one discipline: but howsoever it fall, let us Habitare in unum, still to hold our grounds, one Gospel, one Faith, one God: that is, if we can, let us all agree in an uniformity, but if not so, yet let us still hold the grounds of unity: yea, and though we cannot Habitare in uno; that is, to keep all one fashion, yet because we are all of one faith, to hold even our differences in peace, and to do nothing through contention.  
The limiting of peace is only among brethren; which because it is a word of great equivocation, the distinguishing of the kinds of brethren, will sort out the divers kinds of peace; therefore first there be brethren by creation, and so we be all, as we be all the sons of one God; for as it is Malach. 2: have we not all one father! hath not one God made us all? and thus we are all tied to peace, so far as peace is taken for a mere cessation from war, for to that purpose speaketh Saint Paul, Rom. 12. If it be possible and as much as in you lieth have peace with all men; yea, there is a kind of peace to be maintained even with Turks, and Infidels, and we have no reason to invade the possessions of Infidels, only for being Infidels, but rather to live brotherly and humanly by them, because they be men: Why, but did not the Israelites invade the land of Canaan? it is true, they did so; yet they had for so doing a special command from God: but what reason had David to make war upon the Ammonites? 2. Sam. 12. he had for his warrant a provocation from themselves, 2. Sam. 10. and in such cases with such brethren it is lawful to break the peace, but otherwise as Austin saith, Cùm tu Christianus Paganum spolias etc. When thou a Christian dost rob and spoil a Pagan, thou robbest God of a convert, & as much as in thee lieth, thou divertest a Pagan from being a Christian. Secondly, there be brethren by blood, either descended all immediately of one father, as jacobs' sons Gen. 42. We be 12. brethren, the sons of one father, or else, mediately descended of the same Ancestors, even as james and john, though but the kinsmen of Christ, yet called Math. 13. the brethren of Christ. And by this brotherhood we are tied to that 2. Pet. 1. called brotherly kindness: and it was the reason whereby Abraham persuaded Lot to peace, Gen. 13. Let there be no strife between thee & me, for thou and I are brethren. For what shall persuade us to live peaceably in the world, if not this, that we are all descended of one womb, and if such contend in the world, what can they do more, unless with jacob and Esau, they return into the womb, & spurn, and kick, and fight it out there. Thirdly, they are said to be brethren who are all of one Country, Countrymen. In which sense God speaketh, Deut. 23. To a Stranger thou mayst lend on usury, but not unto thy brother, that is, unto thy fellow Israelite: now the union of such brethren is the strength of the kingdom, but when such fall off, it is a kingdom divided, and cannot stand. In the Schism betwixt Ephraim and Gilead there fell in one field two and forty thousand, judg. 12. and the falling away of the ten Tribes from the two, was occasionally the ruin of both the kingdoms; and he that readeth our Chronicles, shall find that we English and Scots have spent more blood in domestical broils, then when one of us in time of hostility opposed an other, but now it is peace here, and peace at home, and when we English shall return home, and call to mind how kindly our Scottish brethren have used us here, we cannot but acknowledge their kindness, and own them as brethren, yea if national brotherhood could not, yet very shame shall drive us now to love both them & ourselves more mutually at home. Fourthly, they are said to be brethren who are all of one profession, & in that sense, Kings who under God divide the earth, do call each other brethren; yea even when the two kings had newly fought a bloody field, the King of Israel asked concerning the King of Aram, Is my brother yet alive? 1 King. 20. And there is nothing more needful either for Church or commonwealth, than that Kings do live peaceably, and as brethren; for when it is otherwise, Delirant Reges, plectuntur Achivi: great and mighty men run a madding, and the poor Peasant must pay for it, & while Benhadad sitteth quaffing in his tent, his Captain and his Soldiers fall by thousands in the field; and therefore Kings by name must so be prayed for, as the people may live honestly and quietly under them, 1. Tim. 2. but he that soweth sedition between kings, or hinders their just peace when it is intended, he is a firebrand between two kingdoms, the fatherless and widows shall curse him, the blood of the massacred (like the blood of Abel) shall cry against him, the God of peace shall confound him, and the Devil whom he serveth, in this shall pay him his wages. Again as Kings, so the Apostles for their like profession did call each other brethren, for so did Peter call Paul his beloved brother, 2. Pet. 3. and Austin saith that this text bred Monasteries, and brought the Monks and Friars together; but sure he meaneth the old Monks, and the ancient Friars, for the later breed come not so high as from the Psalms, but they may rather seek themselves, where Saint Paul unluckily found himself, Inter falsos fratres, 2. Cor. 11. and as the Apostles, so we their successors for unity of affection and consent of judgement, ought all to be as brethren; yet not as brethren in equality, for the King and his subjects by the mouth of God are all called brethren, Deut. 17. to teach the King to think of his subjects, as of brethren, & yet he were a proud subject that should so equalize himself, as out of that text to call the King brother, so brotherhood in the Church concludes no parity of Church functions; yea the peace here mentioned is not well maintained in a parity, for see in the Psalm the propagation of peace, and how it runs, It beginneth at the head, it falleth down by the beard, and so to the skirts of the clothing; It beginneth at the head first, which is the high Priest, the figure of Christ, it goeth down by the beard, the mouth of the Minister, and so down to the skirts, even to the lowest of the people, and how shall the people be anointed with peace, when Aaron's beard is defiled with sedition, or how shall we build up the people in peace, when ourselves like the vale of the Temple are rend in sunder? yea what ruin and confusion shall not follow the rapture and disjointing of the Ecclesiastical body? Eusebius saith that before the great and fearful persecution under Dioclesian there was even in the Churchmen themselves a provoking of God unto it, for they were all one deadly set against an other, Episcopi in Episcopos, & pastors repulsa pietatis norma etc. both Bishops, Priests, and people were all fired & inflamed one against another, & then came Dioclesian, as a firebrand cast up out of hell to burn and consume them all: but let peace begin at the Prelates and Priests of God, and then no doubt, but the lowest of the people shall be anointed with it. Fiftly & lastly, they are called brethren who be all of one religion; and in that sense even Paul, though a jew and borne at Tarsus in Cilicia, yet calleth the Romans brethren; I beseech you brethren by the mercies of Christ, etc. Rom. 12. and there is no peace like this, yea there is no peace without this: for let a man not be at peace with God, and he is no brother to us, there is no dwelling with him: and that befalleth two ways, either when men fail in fundamental points of faith, or when they stray notoriously in wickedness of life. If any man bring not this doctrine, bid him not God speed (saith S. john) for what comfort is in that peace which is entertained with an Infidel, an Atheist, and Heretic, or an obstinate Papist, with whom a man may eat and drink, but not at the holy table; he may be merry with him, but not sing Psalms with him; he may talk with him, but he cannot pray with him; and he may walk with him but they must part at the Church door, yea there is no peace with such, but when we make peace with them, we break peace with God, for all peace and love is founded first in religion, and in God, and if we agree not first in religion, all other agreement is horrible in the eyes of God. Again, though a man profess the same faith, yet if he live a wicked life, there is no dwelling or living with him. If any that is called a brother be a fornicator, or a drunkard, or a railer, with such an one eat not. 1 Cor. 5. with such an one eat not, that is, converse not; and why? first because it is uncomfortable, for woe is me (saith David) that I dwell in Meshech, etc. Psal. 120. Secondly, it is not suitable, for righteousness & peace have kissed, but what fellowship hath light with darkness? Thirdly, it is not safe for infection, for Commisti sunt inter gentes, & dedicerunt opera eorum, saith the Psalmist, even Gods own people were mingled with the Heathen, and learned their works, and if we sleep with dogs, what marvel is it, if we rise with fleas? yea, as the coldest iron comes red hot out of the fire, so the best natures are corrupted by ill company. Lastly, it is not safe for fear of confusion, for they which dwell in Babylon shall be partakers of her plagues. Revel. 18. even as the mariners in the ship with jonas, (though clear of the sin) yet had their part in the storm.  
Now for the commendation of peace, it is first reported good and then pleasant: First good, quia omnia fundantur in bono, good is the ground of every thing; and it is good first as Tobit commended Raphael, to be of a good stock: so Peace hath God to her father, who seven times in the Gospel is styled, The God of Peace: Again, peace is good, as David said of Ahimaaz: a good man and bringeth good tidings, So Pax in terris, is the best news that ever came into the world. Luc. 3. Again, peace is far fetched, for it came from heaven; and it is dear bought, even by the blood Christ; and if it be so, that is, if far fetched and dear bought, ye know for whom it is good then; it shall then befit the greatest Ladies, rather with Pilat's wife, to persuade their husbands to peace, then with jobs wife and jezabel, to make them fall out with God and man: Again, peace is good by divine resemblance, for as God is in persons three, and in substance one, even so doth Christ pray for the Church, that according to that pattern it may be one. Io. 17. again, peace is good by natural comparison, for all other creatures are borne with a kind of armour into the world, either horns to gore, teeth to bite, or nails to rend and tear, but man (as job saith) is borne naked into the world, to show a peaceable creature borne into it: Thus God sent peace, heaven bred it, the Angels brought it, Christ jesus purchased it, when he died he bequeathed it, and he died to make it: this must needs be good: But all these praises are external: peace is good in itself, and In sensu morali, It is good, because it maketh good; for first it buildeth us into the Church, yea it buildeth the very Church; David the soldier might not build the Temple. 1 Chron. 28. 3. but Solomon the peaceable; and Scotland hath now felt, that they which writ Beati pacifici, have not been the worst friends and builders of their Church; and when Solomon built the Temple, there was neither hammer, nor axe, nor iron to be heard in it, while it was a building. 1 King. 6. The pharisees and Sadduces were not yet come with their hammers to deface and pervert the Law, nor Arrius with his axe to cut off the Godhead of Christ, nor were there either Marcionists, Manichees, or Nestorians as yet, to make a a noise in the Church; but all was peace: & as the Temple was built up in peace, so is every Christian engrafted into the Church in peace, and when we are once in, it is merely peace, that holds us in, for the unity of the spirit is kept in the bond of peace. Ephes. 4 and what good can we do, while we are not in peace? we come to Church and cannot hear well: for if ye love on another, then are ye verily my Disciples, saith Christ, joh. 13. but not else. Again, we pray worse, if we be not in peace, for we pray for forgiveness with a stop; we say, Forgive us our trespasses, but dare go no farther: and so we make a full point, where Christ made but a comma: but without peace we communicate at the holy table worst of all, for we eat and drink at it even to our own damnation. but the peaceable man is free from all this, he heareth profitably, he receiveth comfortably, & he prayeth devoutly, even for his enemies and persecutors, for so did Stephen even when the stones and the blood ran down by his ears. Acts 7. oh see and behold how good peace is. And as there is no Church, so no Commonwealth without peace, for by peace men multiply into families, family fill whole Countries, and Countries build up Kingdoms, but war kills up all: for where in peace the sons commonly bury their fathers, the fathers in war oft bury their sons; yea, war kills up both Laws and justice: When Antigonus entered Asia with a strong and mighty army, one salutes him at his entrance with an eloquent oration in praise of justice, but Antigonus told him, he was a fool to speak of justice to a King with a drawn sword in his hand; yea, war and contention kill up even conscience itself; for how many be there, who while they be not stirred, live like Saints and Angels, but being once heated, they offend God and man, and fall to plots and fowl practices, and become foxes and lions in war, who were lambs in peace; even as David, who had he not smelled too much of the sword, could never have conspired against Vriah as he did: but that and other things, did clean put him by the building of the Temple; yea, war killeth even humanity itself, and taketh from many all sense of blood and cruelty: for was it not a strange speech of Abner to joab, Let the young men arise and play: 2 Sam. 2. and what was their play? they went out twelve to twelve, and fought so long that all fell down dead: but it was a cruel heart which thought killing but a play, and it was a miserable play where all were losers: This was nought, but peace is good.  
Yea, peace is not good only, but pleasant too: now good and pleasant to concur is rare, for many things are pleasant which are not good, even as job 20. wickedness was sweet in his mouth: again, many things are good which are not pleasant, yea, few things which are good are pleasant: In medicines the best are bitter still, and affliction, which David said was good, Psal. 119. yet Hebr. 12. is unpleasant for the time, and though it be more blessed and better to give then to take, Acts 20. yet Lawyers and all trades can tell, it is much more pleasant to take then to give: but good and pleasant do both meet here: Now of pleasure, the nearest judge to us is natural sense, but peace is pleasant, and delightful to all the senses; As first and for example to the smell, for which in this Psalm it is compared to a precious ointment, but that which smelleth sweet, every man draweth nearer to it, even as Cant. 1. Because of the savour of thy good ointments, we will run after thee. So peace hath an attractive power, for though men naturally love their own Country best, yet every man liketh best to live and dwell where it is peace; Izaak left Gerar when they strove with him, and went to Sitnah for peace, and when they strove with him there, he went to Rehoboth and Beersheba for peace. Gen. 26. and England can tell, and so I think can Scotland too, what a conflux of French and Dutch, and other strangers hath been to us sometime for the shadow of our peace, even for that peace which our friends have admired, our enemies envied, & Satan hath often pushed at, but God hath so enlarged, as we are become like Nebuchadnezzars tree, a shade and refuge for all the beasts and fowls of the field. Secondly, as peace is pleasant in sent so in sight too; David when he wrote this was not rattling in harness, nor in the horrid aspect of a soldier, for the garrisons were all dissolved, and the wars now done, but David now was turned reveler, and with a troup of gallants, thirty thousand picked and chosen men, he marcheth before the ark, and singeth, and playeth, and danceth, and like a Priest putteth on a linen Ephod. 2 Sam. 6. oh it was a glorious sight, and the triumph of their new achieved peace, only Michol scoffed at it, as many Schismitiques and ill-affected men do now, to see the ornaments and attires of the Church in the time of her peace; for when the Church came out of Egypt (whatsoever she wore before and in the days of her bondage) yet then being freed and settled, God would have her put on silk and scarlet, and fine twined linen. Exod. 28. and what if Elias and john Baptist living in the wilderness and lamenting the times, went up and down in haircloth, and girt with leather girdles, must we now do it in the days of our peace? no: but as Solomon was Christ, and salomon's house the Church of Christ in figure, so are we in verity the servants of that Solomon, and of that Christ, whose sitting, and order, and attire (though Michol scoffed at) yet a wiser woman, the Queen of Sheba admired; 1 King. 10▪ and we, we I say (for I keep not others vine, nor meddle with other Churches) but we of the Church of England do serve and minister to God in white, & yet we neither revive the dead rites of the jews, nor temporize with the popish Churches, but we wear white by the Text, partly to signify the pureness and integrity which should be, as Reu. 19 8 and partly to give thanks to God, and to testify our rejoicing for the peace of the Church, which is, according to that which is written Eccles. 9 8. Thirdly, peace is pleasant to the ears too; for define peace, and it is but harmony, and the best harmony is of high and low, and base and mean, etc. David said Psal. 101. He would sing of mercy and judgement. A strange kind of skill to put mercy & judgement both i● a song, but it was in music, & David was the sweet singer of Israel. 2 Sam. 23. and the best Musician that ever was in the world; and as Music is nothing else but harmony or agreement of disagreeing parts, so is peace. Peace in the body is a due temperature of contrary humours, peace in the mind is a concurrence of affection with reason, peace in the man is a body subdued to the soul; peace among men is when the superiors govern justly, when inferiors obey willingly, and equals love mutually, & peace in the Church is, when there is one God, one faith, one heart: when they whom God hath placed above, are obeyed as Bishops, and they beneath are respected as brethren; when one plants, and another waters; when one preacheth a truth, and another comes and confirms it, this is harmony, and this is peace: but Heretics and Schismatics still sing out of tune. Fourthly, peace is pleasant to the feeling too, that is, it is profitable, for which in this Psalm it is compared to the dew of Hermon, which made the mountains fruitful. But war (as one compares it) is like the Basilisk, which scorcheth and poisoneth the very grass, and the ground whereon he goeth, so war depopulates and destroys all; we need not seek far for witness; witness in our Scottish and English borders, the woods and forests wasted, the fields yet untilled, the towns yet unbuilt, and for towns and houses mere kennels for dogs, shrouds fit for beasts, but far unfit for men, and yet we see in our travels no great superfluity of beasts neither, only they were beasts which made this desolation, and whosoever were captains and soldiers, the Devil on both sides was leader of the field: Nay, let it be but a suit in Law, and it is wonderful to see how a man wasteth by it; one Lawyer must be feed, Ne noceat, that he do no hurt, and another takes a fee, and doth in truth a very little good; and money runs while all be run out, and the fees of the suit exceed many times the benefit of the sentence, and many a man becomes poor at the victory, who had been rich, if he had forborn the combat, but in peace men plant and build, and sow, and reap, and grow exceeding rich, and as in the peaceable days of Solomon, Every man sits under his vine and his figtree, and there is none to make afraid. Fiftly and lastly, peace is pleasant to the taste too: I speak it in the sense of David. Psal. 34. O taste and see how gracious the Lord is, the taste and relish of a good conscience; for he that is not in peace, hath his conscience full of horror: If he but see another prosper, he is afflicted at it, but if he see it continue, he plotteth and practiseth how to impeach it: yea, Saul was more troubled at David's rising, then at all which the Philistims did against him; yea, Haman was not ashamed to confess, that his riches, & his children, and his honours, and all the grace the King had done him, yet did nothing avail him, so long as Mardochai was in his eye. Ester 5. oh how ill tasted is that, which takes away the taste of all other pleasures from us: but the peaceable minded man is free from all this, he tasteth pleasures in his prayers, he tasteth pleasure in his sleep, yea, he lies him down & sleeps in peace. Psal. 4. he envieth no man, but saith with David, we have wished you good luck, even to the ten Tribes that were against him. Psal. 122. he asketh not the death of his enemy, much less contriveth it, but though he have Saul in the cane, yet he loseth his advantage, and letteth him go, and he that can do thus, when he dieth shall find it true, which Abigail said to David, It shall be no grief of mind to thee, that thou hast not avenged thyself.  
The fourth point general is, that peace is not only commended good, but admired, behold How good, and How pleasant; for as Di●nysius saith of God appearing in a vision, he that thinketh he hath seen God non vidit Deum, sed aliquid Dei, he did not see God, but some glimmering of him, so that peace whose goodness a man may limit and determine, it is not the true peace, but some shadow of it, for that peace passeth all understanding; and indeed to be good, is the meanest commendation that can be given to any thing, for God made nothing, but what was good, and that which is not good is of the Devil: but the point is here, How good, and How pleasant which is spoken by way of admiration, & may admit a fourfold interpretation, & first with a reference to the story, for when we see a thing come to pass, which passeth common power, yea, and our expectation too, we fall a wondering strait, even so doth David here, that Reuben, and Simeon, and Gad, and Asher, and Zebulon, and Nepthali, and all the Tribes should come in to judah, and ten submit themselves to one or two, this was good indeed, but How good? A Domino factum est istud, this was no wit, nor policy, nor power of man, but a work wrought by the hand of God; and to draw this to ourselves and our own use: when God at any time hath composed any trouble in the state, any faction or persecution in the Church, or hath made any peace which we expected not, how can we do less, then lift up hearts, and hands, and eyes to God, and wonder at it: or secondly this strange demonstration, behold How good, is but an excessive kind of praise: and the highest style of praise is to profess our unability of expressing, even as the Psalmist useth to speak of God, O how excellent is thy name, and how great is thy goodness? he could not comprehend the one, nor was he able to express the other: so since we cannot sufficiently set out the praise of peace, we will only ask how good it is, and praise it by saying nothing of it. Or thirdly, this admiration comes in by way of obiurgation, as if he said, Oh ye that know not how good peace is, behold and consider how good it is; for we commonly wonder at those things which are unwonted to us, and since we are such strangers to peace, it is spoken with a kind of check, that we should learn to know that with admiration, whereof we cannot be ignorant, but to our great shame. Or else four and lastly this admiration is mystical, for as David was a figure of Christ, so David's peace was a figure of the peace in heaven, even of that peace which eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard, and which hath not entered into the heart of man, but as Austin saith of it, Facilius est consequi quam ennarrare, it shall be easier to attain it, then to define it: & therefore since we can only ask questions of it, How good, and How pleasant, but cannot answer, when we have asked, our way is only to believe it, and so to live, as they that expect and look for it.  
And so we come to the last point, Behold, which though in rank & order of words it stand first, yet arising out of the Text, as an use out of the doctrine, it cometh in good method to be handled last: for peace being so good & so pleasant, how can we do less than look upon it. Behold how good, etc. Behold: how! why Behold in contemplation of mind, or behold in experience; behold in understanding, or behold in sense; Behold it, that is, search or seek to know it; or else behold it, that is, only look out and see it; Behold it with the mind first, for it is true in every thing, Quantum intelligitur tantum diligitur; we love things so far as we know them, but no man can extend his love beyond his knowledge, The sons of God saw the daughters of men, and then became enamoured of them, but if they had not seen them, they had never loved them; and David where he professeth to love the Law, showeth the reason of it, for it was his continual meditation, Psal. 119. that is, he did nothing but study it, and it is the cause of all profaneness in the world, that men do not extend their consideration to behold the goodness of God, and the beauty of virtue; The timbrel, pipe and wine are in their feasts (saith Esay) but they consider not the works of the Lord. Esa. 5. But if thou knowest the gift of God, saith Christ to the woman of Samaria. joh. 4. and again, had they known the mystery of the Gospel, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory, 1 Cor. 2. yea, and for peace, Oh if thou hadst known (saith Christ) the things that belong unto thy peace. Luc. 19 for if men did behold Peace in her perfect beauty, and consider of what account it hath ever been in the Church, they would not break the peace as they do; that is, they would not fall out for trifles, nor forsake the unity of the Church for their own fancies, nor write, nor rail, nor preach one against another, nor spurn against authority as they do; for the holy Apostles strained far to keep peace, and saluafide, became all things to all, rather than to break the peace: and in the primitive Church they professed it less heinous to sacrifice to Idols, then to break the peace: but now as S. Paul said to the Church at Corinth: we have all knowledge, and know all things. 1 Cor. 8. we know how to govern the Church, and we know how to make combustion, and to stir up sedition, and to set both Church and Commonwealth on fire, but no man beholds or knows how good & how pleasant peace is. Again, beholding here is not only considering, but David's meaning is to behold it in sense, for Ishbofeth and he sought both for a kingdom, but they sought it with their swords, and so lost peace, but now they have recovered it, especially David for his part, and to that point he speaks, and he speaks it with his finger, Ecce, Behold in sense, how good peace is; for indeed to behold it in speculation only, that is, to behold it, and not to have it, what a beholding call you this? yea, to behold peace, as the beggarly Philosophers did write their politics & speculate of Kingdoms, & as poor Mathematicians turn heaven and earth about in a globe, and then want money to buy a loaf of bread, this is a cold contemplation: yea, thus to behold peace that is, to see the goodness of it, and then to want it, oh it is one of the plagues of hell: but Behold it (saith David) that is, behold and see how God hath sent it: even as Luc. 10. Blessed are your eyes, for they see.  
And this beholding is with thanks, which if it be not an only cause, yet ought it to be one use of our meeting in this kingdom; and all the curses of unthankfulness shall light upon us, if thus beholding peace we be not thankful for it: and what cause have we of thanks, I refer it to you Lords, Knights, and Gentlemen, Beloved and Christian brethren of both Kingdoms: Two things in this Island hath been much & long affected: one especially by us English, that God would at length combine together the two disagreeing Families of York & Lancaster, by whose schism and contention such effusion of blood so many years was made. The other, that God by some good means would reduce and bring together these two great Kingdoms into one; The former though done before our days, yet still we enjoy the goodness & pleasure of it: but the other, these golden days of ours have seen the doing of it: But oh how many consultations were there before it could be done? It was seen in both Kingdoms for many reasons good, that is, we beheld it good in speculation, and many motions and means were made, and much endeavour was to do it, but the Devil who breaks off all good purposes, and we ourselves still backward enough to better things, found means evermore to stand aloof, and to mischieve one another; and when truces were taken, yet were they but the binding of Satan for a time, for time still undid what time had done; but now it is done, and we behold peace in sight, and see peace, not as our neighbours the States, nor as the Churches in France, nor as the poor Churches in Greece, who see peace abroad, and want it at home, and are forced either to stand upon their guard, and to sleep with their swords under their pillows, or to prostitute themselves to slavish conditions: but we have such a peace as ourselves desired, and God hath so established, as only ourselves shall be able to impeach it; and unless, as Hierome said of his own time, Nisi nostris peccatis Barbari fortes facti, unless our sins and unthankfulness give victory to our enemies, the gates of hell shall not prevail against us,  
And we must so behold our peace, as we see God in it; Peace indeed is like a precious ointment, but it is also like the dew upon the mountains: the ointment is powered on by the hand of a man, and our peace is well promoted by inferior means: but the dew comes from heaven, and it is God that sendeth it, and from God in heaven comes this our peace and union. Who would have said to Abraham, that Sarah should have borne him a son? Gen. 21. and who of late when he saw in England, a King with a son and two daughters, all like enough to live, and leave a royal issue, who would have said to England, that Scotland even in that age should have bred and brought them up a King? but God, that God (by whom King's reign) hath thus devolved it for our good: and if God have coupled us, who then shall put asunder what God hath joined together? yea, what man either for his own, or for the common good would have this union sundered? while we were divided into parts, that some followed Tibui, and some followed Omri, that some were for Saul, and some for David, and one part English, and another Scottish, we were not strangers only, but enemies too? and our very names were mutually odious; our borders were like the pillar which jacob and Laban pitched up, as a bar to keep the one from the other, a bar indeed to keep out peace, but what could then debar us from mischeeving one another; but God, the God of peace, hath now sounded a retreat, for where before the very ground of one was still a snare to the other, our houses now are become mutual harbours, our Colleges are reciprocally conferring their honours, yea, and our pulpits open each for other; ours of late for you, and yours now for us, for our Prelates, and for our Preachers, and for me also now, the meanest of ten thousand, to commend and plead for peace; and let the hugest of these mountains drop down upon his head, which openeth his mouth to speak against it.  
Oh you that have traveled far, & seen in your travels the confines and divisions of other Countries: Tell me, did ye ever see in any two Kingdoms so little cause of division, yea of distinction, as in ours? There are no huge Pyrenean hills or mountains to divide us, as betwixt the two Kingdoms of France and Spain, unless pride of heart stand up as a hill betwixt us: nor are we severed with wild forests or Herculean woods, as Bohemia is from Germany, unless ourselves grow wood-mad with envy, and envy creep up and down, as a wild beast betwixt us; nor are we walled asunder as China is from Asia, unless some Hiel or Bethelite shall arise, and build again the walls of jericho, nor is the confusion of Babel fallen upon us, to make us different language, only one saith shibboleth, and the other shibboleth, very mean and insensible differences: and I hope we shall not be so mad (as Ephraim and Gilead) to fight a field for these; yea, if the Devil do not put more odds in our hearts, than God hath done in our mouths, we shall need no French comment or interpreter to stand between us, we shall with little help understand each other, we shall speak, and talk, and converse familiarly, and love and live together: Lastly, there is no raging Ocean or sea to sunder us, as betwixt us and the Indies, unless we rage in hatred one against another; only there runs a pleasant Siloam, or Kedron betwixt us; you call it Tweade, I think it came from twayed, because by it we are made unkindly two, but when the bridge is finished, Twayed shall then be Tied, and we shall all be one; we are not the sons of Hamilcar, who swore Hannibal yet a child, that he should never be at peace with the Romans, which oath he took at the altar, and kept to the end, but we are not so; Popish ignorance of old time made us enemies, and the Pope who makes war and peace (as best may serve his purpose) he (I think) did little good to make us friends; but we have now shaken of him, as the Prince of contention and darkness, and being better instructed, we have done better, and better knowledge hath brought forth better fruits; and it will ever be spoken in the ages to come, that one and the same age hath both freed us from the tyranny of the Pope, & knit us both into one Kingdom: A Domino factum est istud: this peace is like the dew, and distilled even from the hand of God: Blessed be that God that sent it, blessed be the man that makes it, & blessed be they all which do embrace it: & God Almighty makes us all so to dwell & live together here, that we may live eternally in the Kingdom of Christ jesus hereafter; to whom for our meeting at this time, for our joyful meeting in this Kingdom, & for all the blessings severally, and for the peace now jointly bestowed upon us, to him (I say) with the father & the holy Ghost, be all thanks & praise, now & for ever. Amen.  
FINIS.