Cafting them out of friendship or religious SE RM. communion. Peace-makers will part with XIV. fome of their rights, rather than by rigidly infifting on them caufe difcord; and condescension in that cafe, though proud men may look upon it as defpicable, is really honourable; fuch condefcenfion as we read of in the history of Abraham and Lot, Gen. xiii. when their herds and flocks greatly increased, in which the riches of thofe times chiefly confifted, and debates began between their fervants about convenient pafturage, left the difference should grow to any offenfive height, Abraham, in his great follicitude for peace, made this propofal to his nephew to preserve it, that the part of the land which they at present poffeffed, being too ftrait for them, he might have his choice, either to continue where he then was, or remove to a greater distance in the uninhabited country; thus giving up a right which he himself might have claimed as being every way fuperior. But ftill it is to be remembered, that they are only private rights, and fuch as are abfolutely in our own power, which may and ought to be refigned; the rights of conscience are inviolable, and not to be yielded up on any pretence whatever, not even for peace itself; for indeed they are not properly our own

SERM. but God's. To
To betray the cause of truth,
XIV. of pure religion and virtue, or of publick li-
berty, in compliance with the unreasonable
humours and wicked demands of men, is
not to make peace, but to deftroy the only
foundations on which it ought to fubfist;
and proceedeth not from a generous defire to
promote the good of others, which is rather
hindered by it, but a basely selfish view to
provide for our own eafe at any rate, or to
ferve our worldly intereft. No man was ever
more devoted to the peace and edification of
the christian churches than St. Paul; he be-
came the fervant of all men for the fake of it; to
the fews, he was as a few, to them that were un-
der the law, as under the law, to them that were
without law, as without law, 1 Cor. ix. 20.
He abated his juft demand of a reward from
them to whom he preached the gospel, nay,
he would by a voluntary resolution deny his
liberty of eating flesh while the world food,
to prevent offence, and take away all handle
of vexatious debate among chriftians; and
yet when compliances were required under
the pretence of peace, which tended to the
fubverfion of liberty and truth, and to coun-
tenance human additions to the gospel terms
of acceptance with God and of religious com-
munion, which Chrift himfelf hath the fole

right of establishing, and hath actually efta- SER M. blished, in that cafe he would not give place, XIV. by subjection, so much as for one hour; nay, and withstood to the face men otherwife of great and juft reputation in the churches, who in that inftance weakly yielded, charging them with diffimulation, as we read in the 2d chapter of the epiftle to the Galatians. We may then conclude, that the peace which our Saviour would have his disciples to promote, is not built upon the surrender of our religious principles and privileges, or the ruins of honefty; fuch a peace would rather be a confpiracy against him; but every man by a faithful adherence to his own particular duty and the regular difcharge of it, is a preferver instead of being a disturber of peace, provided always he acteth with charity, and all the condefcenfion to others, which confcience can allow.

upon

Secondly, Another ingredient in the character and fpirit of a peace-maker is a zealous affection to the intereft of fociety as fuch. As the inftincts of nature and our reafon direct us to enter into focieties of various forts, which hath been already obferved, and the ends of the chriftian religion and exprefs declarations of fcripture teach us to form the focieties

very

SERM, focieties called churches, the former of our XIV. fpirits within us hath endued us with publick as well as private affections. The proper object of benevolence is every individual of mankind; but the idea of a system is a natural one, and collective bodies of men are the objects of a praife worthy affection. Now, peace properly belongeth to them (though every fingle member feeleth the benefit of it) for it is the amiable refult of mutual good-will common to all. A hearty difpofition to ferve the several civil publicks of which they were members, hath been always thought a moft commendable quality in men, celebrated by the name of patriotifm: But our Lord Jefus Chrift hath fixed the nearest and most endearing relation that can be between his followers, making them children of the fame family, and members of the fame body, whence ariseth the ftricteft obligation to ferve the the intereft of the whole, and to promote its peace. The allufion to the natural body and its members, as reprefenting the intimate union of chriftians, and the part which every one ought to act voluntarily and of choice for the fafety and peace of the whole, and all their fellow chriftians; like the functions which the members of the natural body perform for

the

the good of the whole, the head and the feet, SER M. the eyes and the hands, contributing each to XIV. the common safety and advantage, and to the fafety and advantage of every one of the rest, even as to their own; this allufion, I fay, is frequently infifted on by the apostle Paul, to teach us that there ought to be no fchifm, that is, no uncharitable divifions in the body of Christ, and that they ought by love to ferve one another; not caring each for their own things feperately, but ftudious to promote the peace and welfare of the whole. These are the difpofitions effentially neceffary, which, when they prevail and exert themfelves as opportunity offereth, will produce the offices, and conftitute the character, of a peacemaker. I come,

Secondly, to confider the high appellation given to the peace-makers, denoting both the dignity and happiness of their state, they shall be called the children of God. This title is upon different accounts given in fcripture to feveral kinds of created beings, and particularly to men. God as the Creator of all things, the Almighty maker of heaven and earth, is ftiled the Father, of whom are all things, that is, from whom they derive their being; but they are not therefore all called his children. This title is appropriated to

thefe