Selected quad for the lemma: city_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
city_n	call_v	holy_a	place_n	4,457	4	5.1998	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A46802	The burning yet un-consumed bush, or, The holinesse of places discuss'd held forth in two farewel-sermons at Christ-Church London, August 17th, 1662 / by William Jenkins.	Jenkyn, William, 1613-1685.	1662 (1662)	Wing J633; ESTC R28952	23,187	40

which he hath made in praise and in name and in honour and that thou mayest be an holy people unto the Lord thy God as he hath spoken God is said there to avouch his people to bee his and his because he is said to have Separated them For this take two Scriptures more 19 Deut. 2. 7. verses Thou shalt separate three cities for thee in the midst of thy land which the Lord thy God giveth thee to possesse it Wherefore I command thee saying Thou shalt separate three Cities for thee And in the 20th of Joshua and the 2d verse and so on That which in one place is called Separation in the other place is called Sanctification And hence it is that a thing is said to be unholy when it is Common and not set apart to holy Uses Acts 10.14 But Peter said Not so Lord for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean Hebr. 10.29 Of how much sorer punishment suppose ye shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden under foot the Son of God and hath counted the bloud of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace Secondly This setting apart of places for holy uses must have two properties 1. It must be alienated from other uses to holy uses the imploying of them to civil uses must be lookt upon as sinfull and unlawfull when Times or Things or Persons are reputed holy when they are to be exempted from Common Imployment The Sabbath day an Holy day Common imployment must not be done on that day The vessels of the Tabernacle they were holy not to be imployed in ordinary uses Some accounted this to be the sinne of Belshazzer because he used the vessels of the Temple Thus the oyl and the oyntment fore-mentioned 2dly More particularly concerning this Holinesse This must be such a separation as a service done to God in those places must be accounted and look'd upon as a Bet●er service and more acceptable thon if it had been don elswhere As places are said to be holy because they only are to be for Holy services Holy services are only to be done in those Holy places My Brethren I defire you to take Notice Places were said to be Holy which did sanctifie the Worship that was done in them and sanctified the Worshipper The very places were part of Worship These places were not only those in which God was worshipped but by which God was worshipped Thus the Sabboth was sanctified and so the Altar when that was Holy and Sanctified it made the Gift to be so Mat. 23.19 Ye fools and blinde for w●ether is greater the gift or the Altar that sanctifieth the Gift The Altar you see sanctified the gift and the incense the Services done in such Garments more acceptable because done in such Garments More generally in respect of separation the cause and foundation of a place or any other things holinesse is its belonging to God Gods propriety and peculiar relation to it therefore to be holy and to be Gods are in Scripture equivolent its being Gods and God having relation and propriety to it makes it become holy Exodus 13.2 Sanctifie unto me all the first-born whatsoever opens the worth among the Children of Israel both of man and of beast it is mine God commands that they should sanctifie to him all the first born they shall be holy to me whatsoever opens the womb it is mine The cause and reason of its being holy it because it is Gods Luke 2.23 As it is written in the Law of the Lord every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord. This command is there again repeated but in other words as it is written every male that openeth the womb shall be holy unto the Lord That which in one place is said to be separated is here said to be holy and therefore holy because separated by God Yet more particularly the declared propriety that God hath in any place or its belonging to God is declared two wayes 1st From his presence 2d From his precepts 1st From his presence extraordinary or ordinary 1st Extraordinary the extraordinary presence of God is seen by his miraculous discovering of himself by some sign as here in the Bush Joshua 5.15 And the Captain of the Lords bost said unto Joshua loose thy Shee from off thy foot for the place whereon thou standest is holy and Joshua did so Hence it is that in 2 Pet. 1.18 And this voyce which came from Heaven we heard when we were with him in the holy Mount The Mountain of Christs transfiguration is called the holy Mountain There was an extraordinary manifestation of Gods presence so long as that continued that was called an holy Mountain this ceasing the holynesse of the place ceased likewise Peter did not call it holy because it was so when he writ but because it had been so otherwise it would have been unlawfull to have imployed it to any other use 2d His ordinary presence makes a place holy the presence of the standing Residency by some externall Symboll 2d His speciall presence in the religious Services of his people concerning the first of these this was confirmed in the Time of the Ceremonial Law as instance the Altar the Temple the Ark the Mercy-Seat They were all Symbolis and signes of Gods presence amongst his people That God was truly present in a more then ordinary way to do them good He recorded his name there Psalm 68.1 where it s said Let God arise and his Enemies be scattered Hence it was they mourned so much for the taking of the Ark because the visible sign of Gods presence was taken away so long as these continued He was look'd upon as there and thither the people went to worship 2. Gods ordinary presence is considerable in the religions services of his people This I call the Spiritual presence of God in his Ordinances 18 Matth. verse 20. Where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them Not in the Midst of the place but of the people Praying Preaching Sacraments in the due dispensation thereof he is present to accept them His Spiritual presence to blesse them His presence there to Assist in the due performance of them Neither can his presence be ordinarily expected but in his own wayes 2dly As the presence of God is the cause of a place its holinesse so Gods propriety and relation to a place is declared by his precept He may choose whom he will and what place he will He unto whom all things belong may more peculiarly have something belong to him than others Thus the Temple and the Tabernacle of old they were consecrated and set apart for God by vertue of his divine command 1st He must have them Just according to the pattern 2. He commanded them to be done in such a place and in no other Here in this place is

Typified Christ and therefore God commanded the people to come to this place to worship Three times a Year as in Exodus 23 verse 17. Three times a year all thy males shall appear before the Lord God 3dly He commanded that people should reverence these places and forbid all Civill Imployment to be done there 4thly He made a promise to that place that he would accept the duties done there because done there That was the reason why the people prayed in the Temple rather then in their own Houses and when they could not be present there if they but looked toward the Temple God accepted 1 Kings chap. 8. vers 44 45. If thy people go out to battel against their enemy whithersoever thou shalt send them and shall pray unto the Lord toward the City which thou hast chosen and toward the House that I have built for thy name Then hear thou in heaven their prayer and their supplication and maintain their cause c. This shews the reason and foundation of any place its Holinesse The Presence of God and the Precept of God Now I come to the resolution of this Question viz. How one place can be said to be more Holy then another in the Times of the Gospell and I shall resolve it First by granting what must not be denyed 2dly By denying what must not be granted First By Granting that which must not be denyed and herein I shall Grant these 4. things First That in the Time of the Gospel it is not only Lawfull but very commendable to design and dedicate places to Holy Services When I say it is Lawfull and commendable to design and dedicate places I do not say to Consecrate and Sanctifie them There 's a vast difference between the designing or appointing or dedicating and the Cons●crating that place First Concerning the designing or appointing of a place for any holy Imployment differs much from Consecrating it A day may be appointed for the doing of any work in but it is not consecrated We may design to meet in such a place and if prevented may meet in another Secondly The place we dedicate must be our own in our own right to give so to give it as not to recall it It is Lawfull for a Rich man to dedicate such a place to such an use or such a summe of money to Build a School or an Almes-house so that it shall not be in his power to recall it By the way this Dedication in Times of the Gospel differs from the Dedication of any thing or place unto God in Times of the Law for they were immediatly dedicated to God as part of Worship whereas now it is not so Those things were holy not because of their Dedication but because of Gods promise of Acceptation Consecration is a great deal more That makes it so Holy that there must nothing be done in it but what it is appointed to The Services performed in those places must be more acceptable to God and efficacious to the performers that do perform them 2dly I grant some places are to have their Religious Services performed in them rather then others I mean places of greater conveniency places appointed for publick meeting rather then private where we have the example of good to joyn together and go along with us thus those of old overcame the Omnipotent I desire you to bear me witnesse this day that I plead for publick Ordinances where Ordinances are pure without humane mixture I do here professe and do avowedly declare it s my judgement if they may be injoyed purely I am for publick Ordinances 3dly During the time of performing Religious Services we are not to use secular or civil imployments as eating drinking c. all which is lawfull at other times but unlawfull then being contrary to an expresse command Let every thing be done decently and in order We are to abstain from these things when the Minister is preaching you are not then to clap your self upon your knees as is the custome of too many that plead for Vniformity in that and in many other practises they crosse the thing they most plead for 4thly I grant that after the performance of holy duties in these places wherein we meet it s our duty to abstein from not only filthy and undecent actions but from those civil lawfull actions that may reflect any dishonour on the work that hath been done there all that is to be done that may render the place unmeet for Religious Services afterwards This is reverence not due because the place is more holy but for decency and order things subservient to Religion call for reverence and are not to be used so that Religious Services are to be made despicable The Bread of the Sacrament is not to be cast to unreasonable Creatures because it reflects a dishonour upon the Service neither should dirty puddle be put into the Communion Cup because it reflects dishonour to the use it s appointed to this is civil reference due to any place where there is a Senate met in a Parliament house in a Kings bed-chamber c. I come now to deny what is not to be granted and likewise I deny four things 1st That it s not now in the times of the Gospell in any mans power to set a part a place for Religious duties so but it may be lawfull upon a due occasion to use it for a civil imployment or it s not unlawfull to alienate such places to other uses then it was designed The Bread and Wine in the Sacrament after publick using them is not unlawfull to be eaten in a civil way so that we do not dishonour God thereby neither is there any more holinesse in them then before The Synagogues were as holy as our Churches are they were appointed for prayer and preaching and reading and were dedicated to holy Uses yet there were Civil imployments in those places Here among us we Consecrate places I doe affirm only God can make a thing or place so holy that it shall be a sin to imploy it to any other use And if the Governours of the Church shall substitute other things or other places for divine imployment fitter then those formerly used then those former places and things returns to their accustomed use again for the Pulpit or Communion table or the Surpliss or any other Vestment when done using are not to be burnt or buried under the Altar but may be used to Common and Ordinary Imployments the Communion Cup is no more holyer then the Wine they may be used as Common things without fear of Sin to Consecrate moveable things or unmoveable things so as others may not use them is abominable Superstition God hath not appointed these things to be used so as none may ever use them otherwayes These things are not holy in themselves 2ly No place in the times of the Gospell hath such holinesse either from Institution or use as to sanctifie or make acceptable or effectuall