■ What a Bad thing was it thai a heathen should say, No beasts are so mischievous to men as Christians are one to another.
2 Cor. II. 11.] against satan's devices. 131
peace, as those precious souls have that follow after the things that make for love and peace. The very name of peace is sweet and com- fortable ; the fruit and effect thereof pleasant and profitable, more to be desired than innumerable triumphs ; it is a blessing that ushers in a multitude of other blessings,1 2 Cor. xiii. 11 ; Isa. ix. 6.
The ancients were wont to paint peace in the form of a woman, with a horn of plenty in her hand.2 Ah ! peace and love among the saints, is that which will secure them and their mercies at home; yea, it will multiply their mercies ; it will engage the God of mercy to crown them with the choicest mercies ; and it is that that will render them must terrible, invincible, and successful abroad. Love and peace among the saints is that which puts the counsels of their enemies to a stand, and renders all their enterprises abortive ; it is that which doth most weaken their hands, wound their hopes, and kill their hearts, &c.
Remedy (6). The sixth remedy against this device of Satan is, To make more care and conscience of keeping up your peace with God. Ah ! Christians, I am afraid that your remissness herein is that which hath occasioned much of that sourness, bitterness, and divisions that be among you.3 Ah ! you have not, as you should, kept up your peace with God, and therefore it is that you do so dreadfully break the peace among yourselves. The Lord hath promised, ' That when a man's ways please him, he will make his enemies to be at peace with him/ Prov. xvi. 7. Ah ! how much more then would God make the children of peace to keep the peace among themselves, if their ways do but please him ! All creatures are at his beck and check. Laban followed Jacob with one troop. Esau met him with another, both with hostile inten- tions ; but Jacob's ways pleasing the Lord, God by his mighty power so works that Laban leaves him with a kiss, and Esau met him with a kiss ; he hath an oath of one, tears of the other, peace with both. If we make it our business to keep up our league with God, God will make it his work and his glory to maintain our peace with men ; but if men make light of keeping up their peace with God, it is just with God to leave them to a spirit of pride, envy, passion, contention, divi- sion, and confusion, to leave them ' to bite and devour one another, till they be consumed one of another,'4 &c.
Iiemedy (7). The seventh remedy against this device of Satan is, To dwell much upon that near relation and union that is between you. This consideration had a sweet influence upon Abraham's heart : ' And Abraham said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen ; for we are brethren,' Gen. xiii. 8.5 That is a sweet word in the psalmist, ' Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to live together in unity,'
1 Vbipax ibi Christus, quia Christus pax, where peace is, there is Christ, because Christ is peace. Dulce nomen 2iacis, said the orator.
" The Grecians had the statue of Peace, with Pluto, the god of riches, in her arms.
3 There is no fear of knowing too much, but there is much fear in practising too little.
4 Pharnaces sent a crown to Caesar at the same time he rebelled against him ; but ho returned the crown and this message back, Faceret imperata prius, let him return to his obedience first. There is no sound peace to be had with God or man, but in a way of obedience. [Pharnaces II. Appian, Mithr. 120 ; Dion. Cass. xiii. 45-48 ; Plutarch, Ccesar, 50 ; Suet. Jul. 35.— G.]
5 rO^Di 0n ! let ttere be no bitterness between us, for we are brethren.
132 PRECIOUS REMEDIES [2 CoR. II. 11.
Ps. cxxxiii. 1. It is not good and not pleasairit, or pleasant and not good, but good and pleasant. There be some things that be bona Bed non jucunda, good and not pleasant, as patience and discipline; and there be some things that are pleasant but not good, as carnal pleasures, voluptuousness, &C. And there are some things that are neither good aor pleasant, as malice, envy, worldly sorrow, &c. ; and there are some things that are both good and pleasant, as piety, charity, peace, and union among brethren ; and oh ! that we could see more of this among those that shall one day meet in their Fathers kingdom and never part. And as they are brethren, so they are all fellow-members : ' Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular,' 1 Cor. xii. -~i. And again : ' We are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones,' Eph. v. 30. Shall the members of the natural body be serviceable and useful to one another, and shall the members of this spiritual body cut and destroy one another ? Is it against the law of nature for the natural members to cut and slash one another?1 And is it not much more against the law of nature and of grace for the members of Christ's glo- rious body to do so ? And as you are all fellow-members, so you are fellow-soldiers under the same Captain of salvation, the Lord Jesus, fighting against the world, the flesh, and the devil. And as you are all fellow-soldiers, so you are all fellow-sufferers under the same enemies, the devil and the world. And as you are all fellow-sufferers, so are yen fellow-travellers towards the land of Canaan, 'the new Jerusalem that is above.' ' Here we have no abiding city, but we look for one to come/ The heirs of heaven are strangers on earth. And as you are all fellow-travellers, so are you all fellow-heirs of the same crown and inheritance.2
Remedy (8). The eighth remedy against this device of Satan is, To dwell upon the miseries of discord. Dissolution is the daughter of dissension. Ah ! how doth the name of Christ, and the way of Christ, suffer by the discord of saints ! How are many that are entering upon the ways of God hindered and sadded, and the mouths of the wicked opened, and their hearts hardened against God and his ways, by the discord of his people ! Remember this, the disagreement of Christians is the devil's triumph ; and what a sad thing is this, that Christians should give Satan cause to triumph !3
It was a notable saying of one, ' Take away strife, and call back peace, lest thou lose a man, thy friend ; and the devil, an enemy, joy over you both,' &c.
Remedy (9). The ninth remedy against this device of Satan is, seri- ously to consider, That it is no disparagement to you to be jvrst in seeking pea.ee and reconcilement, but rati lev an honour to you, that you have beyn n to seek peace, Abraham was the elder, and more worthy than Lot, both in respect of grace and nature also, for he was uncle unto Lot, and yet he first seeks peace of his inferior, which God hath
1 The parti-coloured coats were characters of the king's children : so is following after peace now.