THough the particular time and occa­sion of Penning this Psalm is uncer­tain, yet so much is plain, that it was after David had setled the Ark at Jeru­salem, and made that City the place of God's House, and of Religious Worship, and the [Page 2] Seat of Justice and Judgment. There was the House of God, vers. 9. that is, though the Temple was not yet built, if this Psalm was composed by David, as the Title of it signifies it was, yet there was the Ta­bernacle and the Ark of God, which for­merly was in Shilo, and afterwards removed from one place to another, till David setled it in Jerusalem: thither all the Tribes of Is­rael were to resort three times a year to wor­ship God before the Ark of the Testimony, 4 ver. There was the Imperial Seat, where David had built his Throne and Palace, and where his Posterity were to dwell and go­vern Israel; and therefore it was the Seat of Justice too, as that must be, where the Kings Throne and the House of God was placed. There are set thrones of judgment, the thrones of the house of David, 5 ver. These were the peculiar Priviledges of Jerusalem, above any other City in Jury. This was the rea­son of that peculiar affection and passionate concern, which David had himself, and ex­horts all others to express for Jerusalem, that he greatly rejoyced to go thither, and to continue there. I was glad when they [Page 3] said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord, our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem. That he exhorts all people to pray for the peace and prosperity of Jerusa­lem, and promises a Blessing to those who love it; as it is in my Text, Pray for the peace of Jerusalem, they shall prosper that love thee; peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces. All this was not for the sake of the material Buildings, the beauty of the place, or the convenience of its scituation, but because it was the Center of Unity; Which is builded as a City that is compact to­gether, whither the Tribes go up, the Tribes of the Lord, unto the Testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the Lord, 3 & 4 ver. Which shews in what respect he commends Jerusalem, that it is built as a City, which is compact together; not with regard to the U­niformity and regular Order and Union of its material Buildings, but that it was the Center of a Religious Unity and Order in Worship, where all the Tribes of Israel met and united in the same Acts of Worship and Praise to God. There was the House of God, there were the set Thrones of Judg­ment. [Page 4] So that to Love Jerusalem, to Pray for the Peace and Prosperity of it, is to love the House, the Worship, the Name of God; to love and pray for the Unity, Happiness, and Prosperity of the Church, for the flour­ishing State of Religion, and the peaceful Opportunities of Worshipping God in his Holy Temple, together with the equal and impartial Administration of Justice, which is so much for the Publick good, to promote the Temporal and Eternal Happiness of Men, that our Love to Mankind, but especially our Love to the Brethren, as well as our Zeal for God's Glory and Worship, requires this of us, For my Brethren and Companions sake, I will now say, Peace be within thee: Because of the House of the LORD our GOD, I will seek thy good, v. 8, 9.

Thus I have given you a very plain and easie Exposition of this whole Psalm, and therein have sufficiently Explained my Text; I have but one thing more to add, to make way for my intended Discourse, and that is, to shew you, that this Exhortation does di­rectly, and not meerly by Accommodation and Analogie concern Us, as well as it did the Jews.

[Page 5] For Jerusalem was but a Type of the Christian Church, as the carnal Israel, or the carnal Seed and Posterity of Abraham were of true and sincere Christians, who are the Children of Abraham, by Faith in Christ: And therefore St. Paul expresly distinguishes between the earthly Jerusalem, and the Je­rusalem which descends from above, 4 Gal. 25, 26. For this Agar is Mount Sinai in A­rabia, and answereth to Jerusalem, which now is, and is in bondage with her Children; but Jerusalem which is above, (or from above, that is, the Christian Church) is free, which is the Mother of us all. Which in 12 Heb. 22. he calls Mount Sion the city of the living GOD, the heavenly Jerusalem. And 3 Rev. 12. it is called, The city of GOD, the new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from GOD. And 21 Rev. 2. The new Je­rusalem coming down out of heaven from GOD, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband: Which is a Description of the most reform­ed and purified state of the Christian Church on Earth. So that this Exhortation, To Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem, does most proper­ly belong to Christians, because the Christian [Page 6] Church is the true Jerusalem, the new, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of Heaven from GOD, v. 10.

By this time, I suppose, you understand the meaning of my Text, and how much we are concerned in it; and there are two parts observable in the words: 1. The Duty to Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem; or of the Christian Church, Peace be within thy Walls, and Prosperity within thy Palaces. 2. The Encouragement to this, They shall prosper that love thee.

It is the first of these I shall at present speak to, The Duty to Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem; wherein I shall consider two things.

1. What we must Pray for.

2. How necessary Prayer is, to obtain the Blessing.

1. What we must for: Peace and Pro­sperity. Peace be within thy Walls, and Pro­sperity within thy Palaces.

Now the Peace of the Church signifies two things.

1. The Unity and Agreement of Chri­stians among themselves.

[Page 7] 2. The Preservation of the Church from external Oppressions and Persecutions.

1. The Unity and Agreement of Chri­stians among themselves: When they profess the same Faith, and joyn in the same Wor­ship; when they love like Brethren, and have a tender affection and sympathy for each other, as Members of the same Body: This all Christians confess to be a great and necessary Duty, and pretend to lament those many scandalous Dissensions and Divisions of the Christian Church.

This I am sure, that though Divisions and Dissentions are destructive to all Societies, yet there is no Society suffers so much by it as the Christian Church: this destroys Love and Charity, which is the true Spirit of the Gospel, and the Badge and Cognizance of our Profession; By this shall all men know, that ye are my Disciples, if ye love one another. This turns the Christian Church into a School of wrangling Disputes, and makes men more concerned what they believe, than how they live; this gives great offence to the World, representing the Christian Faith as very doubt­ful and uncertain, and Christianity it self as [Page 8] a great Disturber of the Peace of Mankind; this overthrows all Government and Disci­pline in the Church, and makes its Censures despised and scorned, when the most pro­fligate Sinners can shelter themselves in a Schism, and palliate or expiate their other Crimes by a factious Zeal; and therefore, if ever we desire to see Christianity flourish, we must Pray heartily for Peace and Unity a­mong Christians.

But that we may the better understand what we are to Pray for, let us briefly in­quire wherein the Unity of the Church con­sists; and that is, in the Unity of Faith, the Unity of Communion, and the Unity of Love and Charity.

1st, Unity of Faith: Whereby I do not understand, that all Christians must agree in all the Opinions and Speculations of Religi­on; it would be well if it could be so, but this can never be, while men have such dif­ferent Understandings and Abilities, such dif­ferent Skill and Opportunities of inquiry; but the Unity of Faith is secured by an Agree­ment in all the Fundamental Articles of Re­ [...]ion, though a little varied in some nicer [Page 9] Speculations, which are like the different features in mens faces, which distinguish them from one another, but do not alter the Humane shape: and this is the diffe­rence between the Disputes which divide Papists and Protestants, and the Disputes of Protestants among themselves: The first sub­vert the Foundations of Christian Faith and Worship, and therefore these Differences can never be Accommodated and Reconci­led; they will not part with their Errours, and we must not embrace them, if we love our Souls, for as dear a thing as Peace is, we must not part with Truth for Peace. But now the Disputes among all that are allow­ed to be Protestants, whatever mistakes there may be on any side, do not over­throw any necessary Article of the Christi­an Faith; and therefore the Unity of the Faith may be secured amidst all these Di­sputes. Some of these Disputes are only in­convenient Modes of speaking, and the diffe­rence is only in Words, when both Parties really mean the same thing; which, I be­lieve, if all Heat and Passion were laid a­side, would in a great measure appear to be [Page 10] the true State of that Protestant Contro­versie, about Justification by Faith alone. Others are meer Philosophical Disputes, in which the Christian Faith is not peculiarly concerned, for they have been, and are di­sputed in all Religions; such as the Contro­versie about God's Eternal Decrees, and the Power and Efficacy of Nature and Grace; which is only a reviving of that old Philoso­phical Dispute about Necessity and Fate, and God's concourse with second Causes to produce their Effects. And thus it is in some other Cases; now methinks such Di­sputes as these, which do not properly be­long to the Christian Faith, should not di­vide the Christian Church: let men dispute about them as Philosophers, but as Christi­ans, let it suffice them to believe what Christ and his Apostles have plainly taught us; that is enough to carry us to Heaven; and methinks it should be enough to make us agree in the Way thither.

As to Explain this more particularly, but very briefly: There is no good Protestant but will confess, That we are Justified on­ly by the Merits of CHRIST's Death and [Page 11] Sacrifice, as the only Expiation and Atone­ment for our sins: that no works of Righte­ousness which we can do, can make satisfa­ction to God for our sins, nor merit Eternal Life, which is the gift of God: that Christ is our only Saviour, and that he is the Saviour only of his Body or Church: that we are incorporated into the Body of Christ, and put into a state of Justification by Faith and the Christian Sacraments: that no impeni­tent unreformed sinner, though he do profess to believe in Christ, and be baptized, shall be saved by Him; and therefore though Repentance and a holy life do not merit the pardon of sin, nor eternal Rewards, yet they are necessarily required in all those, who shall be forgiven and saved by Christ. This I say, all good Protestants agree in, and all this is plainly taught in Scripture; and who­ever believes this, and practises accordingly, shall certainly be saved: and what need is there then of reducing all this into artificial Schemes, wherein Mens Fancies and Conceits differ? What necessity is there of disputing what the Office of Faith, or what the Effica­cy of Works is in our Justification, when [Page 12] we all agree, that we are saved only by the Mercy of God, and the Merits of Christ through Faith in his Bloud, and the Exercise of Repentance and a holy Life: to under­stand the reason and order of things, con­duces much to the beauty and perfection of Christian Knowledge; but Men may be sa­ved, and the Peace of the Church better se­cured, without such particular Determina­tions.

Thus all good Protestants agree, that all God's Works are known to him from the foundation of the World; that Christ is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world: that God knows who are his, and always did so: that we are predestinated to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, accor­ding to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved: that we are predestinated according to the purpose of him, who worketh all things according to the counsel of his own will, 1 Ephes. 5, 6, 11. that when God comes to judge the World, he will ap­pear infinitely just, and good, and merciful: that bad men shall have no reason to com­plain [Page 13] of God, and that good men shall have nothing to arrogate to themselves. This se­cures the glory of God, of his wisdom, good­ness, justice, power, and soveraignity, and what need is there to inquire any farther into the divine Decrees, than the Scripture has revealed; in the particular explication of which, when men follow their own fan­cies, they vastly differ from each other, to the great disturbance of the peace of the Church. We are assured by plain testimo­nies of Scripture, that God desires not the death of a sinner, but rather that he should return and live: that our destruction is of our selves: that all the good we do, is whol­ly owing to the grace of God, who worketh in us both to will and to do of his own good pleasure: that all the evil we do, is owing to our selves; that every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust and inticed, then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. This we all agree in, and this attributes the glory of all the good we do to God, and the shame of all the evil we do to our selves; this encourages us to do good [Page 14] in a confident assurance of the Divine Grace, and teaches bad men, that they must not think to excuse their wickedness by charging it on God: and this is all that is necessary for us to know, because it is all that is need­ful to the purposes of Religion, and a holy life.

But when men frame this into Philosophi­cal Hypotheses, they then divide as far from each other, as East and West; and all the attempts of reconciling them is vain and fruitless, for there is no Medium to unite in. The only way to Peace, is to silence all these Disputes, as matters which Mankind will never agree about, and wherein Religi­on is no more concerned, than the govern­ment of Kingdoms or States, and on which the salvation of our Souls no more depends, than the conduct of our secular affairs, or the preservation of this mortal life: for the dis­pute about Decrees, Predestination, God's power over our Wills, how God and Crea­tures produce the same effect, what belongs to God, and what belongs to the Creature in every action, (since in him we live and move) concerns every thing else as well as Religion; [Page 15] and yet in all other cases, men let Philoso­phers dispute these points, and quietly go a­bout their business, and do what is fit to be done, as if there were no Controversie about these matters; and I cannot imagine why they should not do so in Religion too: Believe what is plainly taught, and do what is commanded, use the greatest wisdom, and our utmost diligence in doing good, and depend upon the succours of the Di­vine Grace, and leave these Disputes to be decided at the Day of Judgment, and that will decide them all. By this means I am sure most of the Disputes among Protestants, which have given the greatest Disturbance to the Church, would be for ever silenced, and Christian Religion would not be clog­ged, nor reproached with such Philosophical Controversies.

2ly, The Unity of Communion: and that consists in our worshipping God toge­ther: when we resort to the same Church to offer up our united Prayers and Thanksgi­vings to God, and to partake of that holy Supper, which is the Sacrament and Symbol of our Union to Christ, and to each other: [Page 16] and this indeed is true Church-Unity, and it is greatly to be lamented, that men who profess the same Faith, and agree in all the Essentials of Worship, should divide Com­munion, and refuse to Pray together, and to Feast at the same holy Table of our Lord. We cannot indeed Communicate with the Church of Rome, because they have cor­rupted the very Essentials of Christian Wor­ship. Most men do not understand their Prayers, and therefore cannot joyn in Prayer with them: they worship Images and Pi­ctures, which is expresly forbidden by the second Commandment. Instead of praying to God in the Name of our only Mediator and Advocate Jesus Christ, they have joyned other Intercessors with him; pray to Saints and Angels, and the Virgin Mary, to pray for them, and help them. They worship the Host, which we believe to be nothing but Bread and Wine as to the substance, and therefore no Object of Worship, and turn the Sacramental Feast of Christ's Body and Bloud into a propitiatory Sacrifice for the Living and the Dead. Such a Worship as this we dare not joyn in, because it is Sinful [Page 17] and Idolatrous. But the case is quite diffe­rent among Protestants; they pray to the same God, in the only Name of the same Lord Jesus Christ, put up the same Peti­tions, offer the same Thanksgivings and Praises, observe the same Divine Instituti­ons, without any essential change and altera­tion, and yet cannot worship God toge­ther; as if it were an impious thing to put up the same Prayers, and to offer the same Praises to God in a pious, and grave, and well-composed Form of Words, which o­thers do, it may be not so well and decent­ly, in their conceived Prayers; as if the De­votion of the Communicant in receiving so inestimable a Blessing as the Sacramental Body and Bloud of Christ upon his knees, were a prophanation of that Holy Feast; as if a white Linnen-Garment, which ne­ver underwent any Religious Conjurations, and is used only as a decent Habit, without any opinion of its Vertue or Sanctity, were a just reason to drive men out of the Church, from the Christian Communion of Prayers and Sacraments. These would be surprizing stories to any Christians in the [Page 18] World, who had never heard before of such Disputes among us.

Pray give me leave to speak my mind freely upon this occasion. Upon the best and most impartial Inquiries and Observa­tions I can make, I do in my Conscience believe the Church of England to be the most Apostolical and best Reformed Church in the World: I see no reason from the na­ture of things to make any material Altera­tions in her Doctrine, or Worship; and therefore, I confess, it has given me very just Resentments to hear our Church charged with such unjust Imputations of Popery, Superstition, Idolatry, Will-worship, and what not, and to see a blind and furious Zeal ready to raze up the very Foundations of it. It has often grieved me to see such a Church as this rent and torn by Schisms, which a man of ordinary prudence might easily foresee, would give great advantage to the common Enemy of the Protestant Faith. This and the care of mens Souls, and of their temporal Fortunes too, moved several Divines of this Church, when the Government thought fit to re-enforce the [Page 19] Laws of Uniformity, to examine and an­swer all the Arguments of our Dissenting Brethren, which they performed with that good Temper, with that perswasiveness and strength of Argument, as will be a Vindi­cation of our Church to future Ages; and I wish it may upon second thoughts, have yet a better effect upon those, who were not then perswaded: and this, I suppose, will not be called Persecution, much less can the many kind Offices they did in keep­ing off Ecclesiastical Censures be called a Persecution.

And yet after all, when it is so appa­rent, that Prejudices are grown as obsti­nate as they are unreasonable, when not the reason of the thing, but the weakness of some, and the ill designs of others, re­quire some compliance and condescension, we have reason to hope, that the CHVRCH of ENGLAND, which at the begin­ning of the Reformation took such prudent Care not to offend the Papist by going far­ther from them, than was necessary, will, whenever it is likely to do good, conde­scend a great deal farther, than it is neces­sary [Page 20] to Reform, to meet the Dissenter; for while the external Decencie, Gravity, and Solemnity of Worship is secured, no wise and good Man will think much to change a changeable Ceremony, when it will heal the Breaches and Divisions of the Church: and let us all heartily Pray to GOD, that there may be this good and peaceable Disposition of Mind in all Con­formists and Non-conformists, towards a happy Re-union; and all considering Men will think it time to lay aside such little Disputes, when it is not meerly the Church of England, nor any particular Sect of Pro­testants, whose Ruin is aimed at, but the whole Protestant FAITH.

3ly, Another kind of Unity is, Love and Charity, and a mutual Forbearance. This, I confess, is a very difficult thing, when the Dispute runs so high as to divide Christian Communion; for it seems in effect to de­clare Men to be Heathens and Publicans, when we refuse to Worship GOD with them: and few Men can bear this, when so dear an Interest is concerned, as the Salva­tion of their Souls. And the truth is, that [Page 21] Forbearance St. Paul so often mentions, was to preserve Men of different attainments, and different apprehensions, in the Unity of the Church, not to countenance their Schisms and Separations.

But yet, since we are fallen into such un­happy Circumstances, that a great many Men, whom we have reason to hope, are in other respects very good Christians, and such as our common Saviour will receive with all their Infirmities, are involved in a Schism, let us still treat them as Christian Brethren, pay all that Kindness and Respect to them, which is due to the Members of Christ, to the Children of the same Father, and the Heirs of the same Promises.

The good Order and Government, and the wholsom Laws and Constitutions of a Church, trust not be presently Sacrificed to the Scruples of every good, but it may be ig [...] and indiscreet Christian; but yet in [...] Treatment of them, we must consider [...]ether we have not reason to think, that Christ will own them with all their Fa [...] and if we have reason to believe, that Christ will own them, we ought also [Page 22] to own them, and pay such Kindness to them as is due to all sincere Christians, though under some Mistakes.

Now I am very confident, after all the Heats that have been between the Church of England and Dissenters, neither of them will Damn each other upon account of such Differences as are between them: no Church-of-England-man will say, That to Pray Ex­tempore, to Baptize without the Sign of the Cross, to Officiate without a Surplice, to Receive the Sacrament Sitting, are damning Sins; and I believe there are very few, if any of our Dissenters, that will say, That the contrary Practise is Damning; and then there may be good Christians on both sides; and those who are so, ought to love one a­nother, as Members of the same Body of CHRIST, though divided in their ex­ternal Communion, by some unhappy Dif­ferences.

Schism indeed we do say, is a damning Sin; but there may be Divisions where there is not always the guilt and formality of Schism; and we hope this is the Case of all good Men, who separate from the [Page 23] Church, through some invincible Prejudices and Prepossessions.

This shews what great reason we have to love one another, notwithstanding such di­viding Disputes; but if we would practise this true Christian Charity, we must take care, that these Differences do not grow up into personal Hatreds and Animosities. Mens Opinions and Practices may differ, and while they dispute fairly, they may be Friends still; but when Self-love, Honour, Reputa­tion, and Interest, is engaged in the Quar­rel, this makes the Enmity mortal, and they must Ruin one another, though they both fall together. This I am sure is not the Zeal which descends from above, which is pure and peaceable, gentle and easie to be entreated.

2. The Peace of the Church signifies its Preservation from the Oppression and Per­secution of its Enemies: For the Church never wants Enemies, though their Pow­er be not always equal; and this, I pre­sume, I need not perswade you to Pray for, for you are all sensible what an ad­vantage [Page 24] this is. There is none of you would choose Racks and Tortures, a Gib­bet or a Stake, these are greivous things to Flesh and Bloud, the very thoughts of which make us tremble: though immortal Life, and the Joys and Pleasures of GOD's Presence, are an abundant Recompence for the loss of this present Life, and all the Sufferings of this World; yet it is a ve­ry difficult Tryal, even to the best Men, who, when they see it a coming, cannot but Pray with the importunity of an A­gony, as our SAVIOUR did, Lord, let this Cup pass from me. Though good Men prefer their future Hopes before all pre­sent Things, yet their Life, their Ease, their Liberties, their Estates, are valua­ble things too, and all Men would be glad to get to Heaven without meeting with such a Storm by the way.

Especially if it be such a Storm as threa­tens the very Ruin of the Church, and of the true Religion, to subvert the Faith of many professed Christians, to entail Ig­norance, Infidelity, or monstrous Errours [Page 25] on our Posterity; in such a case the love of our Religion, of our Country, of our Posterity will make us raise our Hearts and our Voices to Heaven, in our fervent and passionate Prayers for the Peace of Jerusa­lem. And if we do heartily Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem, methinks we should not Sacrifice our Religion to private Animo­sities: GOD forbid, were it in my pow­er, and had I never so little kindness for Dissenters, that I should ever embrace a­ny Proposals which would Ruin all the Dis­senters in England, and the Protestant Re­ligion into the bargain; and I doubt they are no Protestant Dissenters who would be contented to Ruin the CHVRCH of ENGLAND, though they introduce Popery, and set up the Church of Rome in its stead.

Thus I have shewn you, what that Peace is, which we must Pray for; and I need not add many words in the second place, to shew you, how necessary Prayer is to obtain these Blessings; for not to insist now on those common Topicks, of the Neces­sity [Page 26] of Prayer in general, and its Power and Efficacy to obtain our Requests of GOD, I shall desire you only to consider, that this Peace is such a Blessing, as none but GOD can bestow, and therefore we ought to pray for it.

1. As for Unity and Peace among our selves, this Saint Paul expresly prays for, 15 Rom. 5, 6. Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like minded one to­wards another, according to Christ Jesus, that ye may with one mind and one mouth glori­fie God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ: for it is God that maketh men to be of a mind. Whoever considers the un­ruly passions of men, their different capa­cities and understandings, and different in­terests, will not wonder that the best Ar­guments, and the most obliging Arts, do not always prevail; but God can still our passions, enlighten our minds, over-rule our interests, remove our prejudices, and unite and reconcile the most distant persons: and not to take notice now of that power he has over our Wills, and his immediate ap­plications [Page 27] to our Minds and Spirits, he ma­ny times effects this by some external and visible Providences. The Jail and the Stake presently reconciled the Differences between those two excellent Bishops and Martyrs RIDLEY and HOOPER, who before disputed fiercely about some Cere­monies, as we have done; and I pray God grant us so much Christian prudence and temper, that we may not need such means to reconcile us: and we have great reason to hope this, since the Divine Providence has in a great measure already removed the Prejudices on both sides, and convinc'd us, that we are not at such a distance from each other as our Enemies would have us, and as it may be, we thought our selves to be. Dissenters, I hope, are by this time very well satisfied, that the Church of Eng­land has no inclination to Popery, and we have reason to acknowledge, that the Body of Dissenters (for some private Intriguers on either side do not deserve our notice, nor to be thought on either side) have not such an irreconcileable Hatred to the [Page 28] Church of England, as to sacrifice her to a Popish Interest; and this bids fair for a good Understanding between us, and let us pray to God to continue and perfect it.

2. As for the Preservation of the Church from the Oppression and Persecution of her Enemies, this is God's care too, and many times nothing but an All-seeing, Vigilant, and Omnipotent Providence can secure her. Many times their Designs are laid deep and low, full of Intrigue and Artifice, un­known to all men but themselves, as it was in the Gunpowder Treason, when our King, and Nobles, and Senators, were de­signed as a rich Sacrifice to a furious and Antichristian Zeal; but when the wicked plotteth against the just, and gnasheth on him with his teeth, the Lord shall laugh at him, for he seeth, that his day is coming, 37 Psal. 12, 13.

Let us then Pray heartily to God, that he would reconcile our Differences and Di­visions, and restore Peace and Unity to his Church, that he would defend us from all [Page 29] the Plots and Machinations of our Enemies, that we being delivered from all Persecu­tions, may ever more give thanks unto him in his Holy Church, through Jesus Christ our Lord; to whom, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, be Honour, Glory, and Power, now and for ever. Amen.