There are two corollaries that may be drawn from hence : — (1.) If the chiefest care must be for purity, then i)eace may be broken in truth's quarrel. It is a zealous speech of Luther, that rather heaven and earth should be blended together in confusion than one jot of truth perish. 4 It is a sleepy zeal that letteth errors go away quietly without conviction. If the gospel stir up uproars in Ei)liesus, Acts xix., yet it is better it were preached than forborne. Though shrine- makers lose their craft, it is better than the whole city should lose their souls. Calm lectures of conteni[)lative divinity please more ; but the wolf must be hunted out, as well as the sheep foddered. (2.) Truth nmst never be violated for i)eace's sake, nor any accommodation agi- tated to the disservice of religion,-' lest while we make peace with man, we make a breach with God. The world would have stirs ended ; desire peace, but not with holiness : Mark ix. 50, ' Have salt in your- selves, and peace one with another.' Doctrine must be kept whole- some, and truth retain its savour and acrimony, and then look after peace. Well, then — (1.) Truth must not be embased by unworthy mixtures for jjcace's sake, as in the design of tho InUrhn. God hateth those colhurnvs, socks in religion, when truth is made to serve every
' ' Kpe'iTTwv evTraOoui bfj.ovoiai ij viripfvaejieias Sidaraais.' So Xazianzen (though a mau zealous for peace) Orat. 2, de Pact.
* ' Si dimidio ChriHti cunteiiti e.saemus, facile transigeremus omnia.' — Calvin.
3 ''OuOfv oCtwj Icx^pov TTpbi fip-qvriv wj irtpl Tov Oeov avfi(f>uvia.' — Naz. uhi stipra.
* ' I'otius ruat ccclum quara pireat una mica veritatis." — Luth.
' 'JS'e dum humana foris jurgia metuant, interni ftjcderia discussione feriantur.' — A mbros.
JaS. ill. 17.] UPON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 3l7
man's turn, and is mollified to a compliance with all factions. Xa- zianzen observeth of his father, that he always hated this daubing and temporising,^ when truth is made to speak ' half in the language of Canaan, and half in the language of Ashdod.' (2.) Truth must not be injured by promiscuous tolefations.2 This were to love our ease more than God. (3.) Truth must not be proscribed and suppressed. M^n double their troubles by hoping to free themselves this way. The Jews rolled a stone against Christ's sepulchre, and set men to watch it, but Christ rose again. Though carnal policy conspire against it, yet truth will have a resurrection. The Eomans came, though the Pharisees thought to provide against that fear by killing Christ, John xi. 48. Maximinus, that he might enjoy a continued peace, inter- dicteth the profession of Christianity, and then presently followeth a civil war, which was his undoing. ' The dwellers on earth' rejoiced w^hen the witnesses were slain, but they revived again to their woe and tor- ment, Kev. xi. 10, 13. Carnal policy lifted up against truth never thriveth.
Obs. 4. !N'ext to purity we must regard peace. He doth not only say, 'first pure,' but ' then peaceable.' Truth is to be preferred, yet peace is not to be neglected. We are bidden to follow after, SicoKetv TTjv elpijvTjv, to ' prosecute peace,' Heb. xii. 14. There are many com- mendations of it in scripture : ' It is a good and pleasant thing,' Ps. cxxxiii. 1. It is a note of religion, John xiii. 3.5, 'By this shall all men know,' &c. The curtains of the tabernacle were to be looped to- gether; so should Christians. It is the beauty, the glory of the church : Cant. vi. 9, ' My dove is but one ; the daughters saw her, and blessed her.' It is the church's strength against common adver- saries : broken forces are soon dissipated. When Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek combine, should we stand single ? It is the nurse of piety ; truths have less power when controverted. It is the j^leasure which the godly have in the world : the best part of the present w^orld is the church. Now when the church groweth full of strifes, the godly grow weary of it : Ps. cxx. G, ' My soul hath too long dwelt with them that hate peace.' Strigelius desired to die, to be freed ah implacabilibus odiis theologorum, from the implacable strifes of divines. Well, then, use all endeavours to purchase this great bless- ing. See how it is enforced, Eom. xii. 18, '' If it be possible, and as much as in you lieth,' kc. Deal with God ; treat, yield, comply with men, as far as you can with religion and a good conscience : 2 Thes. iii. 16, ' The Lord give you peace always, and by all means,' &c. We must be earnest with the Lord, use all ways and means with man. You should not stick at your own interests and concernments. Curtius, a heathen, ran into the gulf to save his country. Naziauzen saith, If I be the Jonah, throw me into the sea to allay the storm. Usually we stick here : ' All seek their own things, and not the things of Jesus Christ,' Phil. ii. 21. Nay, mostly our strifes are for carnal interests, sovereignty and greatness, who shall bear sway ; as the disciples were in controversy ' who should be greatest,' till their noise