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SERMON XIV.

The Bleffedness of those that are Good, both Here and Hereafter.

The Second SERMON on this Text.

PSAL. XXXVII. 37.

Mark the Perfect Man, and Behold the Upright; for the End of that Man is Peace.

H

Aving already confider'd,

If, The Character here given of a Good Man, He is a Perfect and Upright Man; and

Ildly, The Regard that is due to himMark, (fays the Pfalmift) and Behold him: I come now to Confider in the

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IIId Place,

III

Place, the Blessedness that attends him The End of that Man is Peace.

Peace on Earth is the Choiceft of Earthly Bleffings, and a Type of Heaven; and is therefore a kind of Heaven upon Earth. If a Man has but Peace and Satisfaction in his own Mind, he can never be very Unhappy in any Condition: For he has a fafe Retreat, a Refuge from any Storm or Trouble. Nor can a Man without it, though never fo prosperous in this World, be truly Happy, or have any right Enjoyment of himself and his Worldly Profperity. Peace and Quietness make all States and Conditions of Life Easy : But the most exalted Station or State of Life can never be Easy without it.

Peace is so very valuable a Bleffing, and fo neceffary to Happiness, that it is commonly us'd to fignify All Things whatsoever that are requifite to Happiness, as Safety, Tranquillity, Health, Wealth, Plenty, Profperity, and all other Ingredients of Worldly Happiness, as being the Comprisal of them All. Thus fays our Saviour weeping over Luke xix. Jerufalem, If thou hadst known in this thy Day the Things that belong unto thy Peacethat is, if thou would't have confider'd in time the Things that make for thy Happiness. It was therefore the common Form of Salutation amongst the Jews-Peace be unto you-Which was as much as wishing them all Health and Profperity, and All that their Hearts

Hearts could wish. As when David was fending to greet Nabal in the civilest manner he could, it was in this Form-Thus fhall ye fay to him-Peace be both to thee, and Peace be to thine Houfe, and Peace be to all that thou haft; 1 Sam. xxv. 6. And their Friendly Dismission was, Go in Peace; or Depart in Peace; which was as a kind Farewel, wishing them Welfare and Profperity, and Success in all their Undertakings.

When our Bleffed Lord, the Prince of Peace, came into the World, the First Blef fing that was proclaim'd to it upon his Birth, was the Bleffing of Peace; and that by a Multitude of the Heavenly Hoft, praising Luk.ii.14 God, and faying, Glory be to God on high, and on Earth Peace: And when he was about to leave the World, after he had promis'd his Disciples the Holy Ghost to Comfort them, the Bequeft he made them was the Bleffing of Peace John xiv. 27. Peace I leave with you, my Peace I give unto you Accordingly after his Resurrection, when he was to take his final Leave of them, he did leave his Peace with them as his Farewel-Bleffing, when he gave them their Divine Commiffion, and breathed on them the Joh.xx. 2 2 Holy Ghoft, Then faid Jefus unto them, Peace be unto you: As the Father bath fent Me, fo fend I you: And when he had faid This, he breathed on them, and faid, Receive ye the Holy Ghoft.

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But

But though Peace is fometimes thus us'd in a large Sense, to fignify Happiness in general, which is the Sum of all Bleffings; in its restrained Sense it properly fignifies a State of Repose and Tranquillity; the Quiet and Comfortable Enjoyment of a Man's self, free from Trouble and Disturbance, both Inward and Outward Trouble. And This is, generally Speaking, the Good Man's Lot; It is the Happiness of the Perfect and Upright Man to be in Peace: It is his Happiness both in This, and in the Other World: He fhall be very likely to have Peace now in this Present time, but in the World to come Everlasting Peace.

But fince Peace is here faid to be the particular Bleffing of the Perfect and Upright Man, I fhall diftinctly confider,

1. What Peace he has in this Life.

II. What Peace he has at his Death: And III. His Peace and Happiness in the other World.

I.

I. We are to confider, what Peace he has in this Life.

The Text indeed Promifes it only at the Laft-That his End shall be in Peacethat his Innocence and Uprightness fhall bring him Peace at the Laft-But That is spoken, not exclufively of Other Times, as if he was never to have it till Then; never to expect Peace but at his latter End: No, it is spoken

only

only Emphatically, and in oppofition to the State of the Wicked,That he fhall Then Efpecially have it, when it will most avail him, and do him moft Good; He fhall Then chiefly have it, when other Men's Happinefs fails them; He fhall Then have Peace, when the Wicked most of all want it, but fhall not find it He fhall then be most Happy, when the Wicked come to be most Miferable.

But though the Bleffing of Peace is promis'd to the Good and Upright Man, particularly in the Day of Distress, at the Time of Need, yet I fay, it is not Exclufively of Other times, as if he were never to have it till Then: No, he is certainly in the most likely way of having Peace at All Times, even the Peace of this World.

But the Peace fuch Men have in this World is Twofold, Outward and Inward Peace; Outward Peace with Men, and Inward Peace; Peace with God, and Peace with their own Confciences.

Ift, As to the Former of these, Outward Peace, or Peace with Men, one would think that the Good Man could never want it. Solomon tells us,-When a Man's ways pleafe Prov. xvi. the Lord, he maketh even his Enemies to be 7. at Peace with him;-And how eafy is This Prov. xxi. for God to Do, if (as he tells us in another 1. Place,) the Hearts of Men are in his hand, to turn them by a fecret Bent, which way soA a 4

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