SERMON XXIII.

ECCLESIASTICAL PEACE RECOMMENDED.'

(Delivered before the Annual Convention of the Congregational Min isters of Massachusetts in Boston, May 31, 1827.)

ROMANS XIV. 19.

Let us, therefore, follow after the things which make for peace, things wherewith one may edify another.

and

Serious as are the duties, which constantly call for the anxious cares and indefatigable labors of the Christian minister, there is not an occasion of his life, which inspires so great an awe, or awakens so deep a solicitude, as when he stands in this place to lead in the devotions of the assembled ministers of the commonwealth, and to offer to them the Annual Address. After much anxious thought, I have not been able to find any subject, which appears to me so important in itself, so accordant with the appropriate character of christian ministers, so suited to the state of the religious community, and, as I humbly trust, so agreeable to the will of the Great Head of the Church, as the subject pre

sented in the simple exhortation of the text. PEACE! it is the expressive word, which describes the state of heaven, where a note of discord is never heard, the hearts of all blending in a harmony as sweet, as that of their harps and voices. The title by which the Eternal delights to be known is "the God of peace." The Messiah was known in prophecy as "the Prince of peace;" and exulting angels announced his advent in those sublime and cheering words, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace."-The great object of his incarnation was to reconcile a guilty and distracted world to God and one another; and his preaching was the GOSPEL OF PEACE.

My design is a plain, practical discourse on a subject, which seems to me called for by the signs of the times. I shall not be anxious for novelty, nor careful to avoid truisms. The subject is important in a very high degree; and ought to be presented often and earnestly, till there be a better state of feeling among Christians. What I suggest to my brethren, I take to myself; and the thing farthest from my intention is to be personal or sectarian in my remarks. I enter on my task with the full persuasion, that many worthy and excellent men, who dissent from each other on some subjects, will perfectly concur in the sentiments I am about to express in favor of peace. My fathers and brethren, while we consider the obligations and importance of the duty, and the best means of securing the blessings of peace, may the God of peace breathe his own spirit upon us, and, through our word

and example, upon the religious community, in which we hold so responsible a station, andwhere our influence cannot fail to be beneficently or balefully felt by thousands.

tures.

The obligations and importance of the duty enjoined in the text are evident by the emphatic manner, in which it is mentioned in other parts of the sacred scripWords can be no stronger, than those of Paul to the Romans- "If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men." His indignant rebuke of the Corinthians for their sectarian divisions and party spirit stands, as a perpetual rebuke to Christians of a similar spirit. In almost every Epistle he pleads for peace with impassioned earnestness, beseeching Christians, "by the consolation in Christ, the comfort of love, the fellowship of the spirit to be like minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind, doing nothing through strife and vain glory, but in lowliness of mind, each esteeming other better than themselves." The other apostles are as emphatic on this point as Paul. John once asked leave to call down fire from heaven on the Samaritans; but after the day of Pentecost, when he better understood the will of his master, he joyful preached the gospel to them. In his writings this Apostle was never weary of inculcating love and peace; and to his hundredth year, when he could say no more, he said to the christian assemblieslittle children, love one another.

The mind of our divine Master, in regard to this duty is easily ascertained. The two great parties,

raging at that time, were the Jewish and Samaritan, who carried their animosity so far as to have "no dealings with each other," and to withhold common courtesy. From our Lord's conversation at Jacob's well, we learn that he thought the balance of truth and argument was on the Jewish side; but he labored to soften the animosity between the parties, and to bring the Jews to think, that sincerity and goodness might be found with their hated and execrated opponents. Hence the parable of the good Samaritan; and hence his rebuke to James and John for their persecuting spirit at the gates of Samaria. Our Lord could acknowledge sincerity and worth in persons, who in some things were deficient. Master," said the disciple whom Jesus loved, "we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and we forbade him, because he followeth not with us." But Jesus said, "Forbid him not; for

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he that is not against us is on our part."

But we need not collect our Lord's view, of the duty enjoined in the text from scattered incidents, or casual expressions which fell from his lips. It is evident from all he said and did, that he regarded peace, as a duty of supreme importance. Take the wonderful passage, which opens the sermon on the mount. There is a breathing of peace in each of the beatitudes, and in one of them, the highest possible character is given of the peace-makers-"they shall be called the children of God." His solicitude for peace among his disciples is set in a light equally strong by his new commandment, his golden rule, his law of forgiveness, his pa

rable of the unmerciful servant, and, I need only add, by his own example and dying prayer.

In what manner the duty is regarded by the blessed God himself it is sufficient to refer you to a single passage Of "six things which the Lord hateth, and of seven which are an abomination to him," the top of the climax is "he that soweth discord among brethren."

Such is the strong light, in which the subject is placed by the holy Scriptures; it could not well be stronger; and yet how justly will it appear, if for a moment we consider the evils of war and dissension, and the blessings of peace.

It has been keenly said, that war is the natural state of man. It has been, we must acknowledge, almost his habitual state. A very great proportion of human crime and wo has sprung from this source. The earth was purged by the flood, because it was filled with violence," yet with the signatures of that fearful judgment of heaven before the eyes of every age, the earth has been wet with human blood, shed by human hands, from the days of Nimrod to our own time. Blood flowed like water in the Babylonian, Persian, Grecian, Roman wars; and the wars of our own day have been scarcely less sanguinary; and these, revolting thought! in the heart of Christendom. We can have no adequate idea of the crimes and miseries of war, when they are historically or geographically distant from us. In the late short and desultory war in our own country we saw and felt something of the evil; and how its hor