finding out this subtilty punished them both together Now so shall it be with those two sinful companions the 2 Cor. 5. 10. 2 Thess 1. 7 8 9 10. soul and the body in the great day of our Lord. With Simeon and Levi they have been brethren in iniquity and so shall be in eternal misery As body and soul have been one in sinning so they shall be one in suffering only remember this that as the soul has been chief in sin so it shall be chief in suffering But O Sirs if a consumable body bâ— not able to endure burning flames for a day how will an unconsumable soul and body be able to endure the scorching flames of Hell for ever But Fifthly Our fire wasteth and consumeth whatsoever is cast into it It turns flesh into ashes it turns all combustibles into ashes but the fire of Hell is not of that nature the fire of Hell consumes nothing that is cast into it it rages but it dos not waste either bodies or souls Look as the Salamander liveth in the fire so shall the wicked live in the fire of Hell for ever They shall seek for death but they Rev. 9. 6. shall not find it They shall desire to die and death shall fly from them They shall cry to the Mountains to fall upon Rev. 6. 16 17. them and to crush them to nothing They shâ—ll desire that the fire that burns them would consume them to nothing That the Worm that feeds on them would gnaw them to Maâ—k 9. 44 46 48. nothing that the Devils which torment them would tear them to nothing They shall cry to God who first made Gen. 1. 26. â—hem out of nothing to reduce them to that first nothing from whence thâ—y camâ— But he that made them will not have mercy on them he that fâ—rmed them will not shew them so much Isa 27. 11. favour Semper comburentur nunquâ—m consumentur they shall alwayâ—s be burned but never consumed Ah how well Aug. This fire is poena inconsumpta Jerom. would it be with the damned if in the fire of Hell they might be consumed to ashes But this is their misery they shall be ever dying and yet never dye their bodies shall be alwayes a burning but never a consuming 'T is dreadful to be perpetual fuel to the flames of Hell What misery to this For infernal fire to be stâ—ll a preying upon damned sinners and yet never making an end of them The two hundred and fifty men that usurped the Priests Office were Numb 16. 35. consumed by that fire that came out armed from the Lord against them And the fire that Elijah by an extraordinary 2 Kings 1. 10. 12. spirit of prayer brought down from heaven upon the two Captains and their fifties consumed them The fierce and furious flâ—mes of hell shall burn but never annihilate the bodies of the damned In hell there is no câ—ssation of fire burning nor of matter burned Neither flames nor smoak Hell torments punish but not finish the bodies of men Prosper shall consume or choak the impenitent both the infernal fire and the burning of the bodies of Reprobates in thaâ— fire shall be preserved by the miraculous power and providence of God The soul through pain and corruption will lose its beate vivere its happy being but it will not lose its essentià liter vivere its essential life or being But Sixthly and lastly Our fire may be quenched and extinguished The hottest flames the greatest conflâ—grations have been quenched and extinguishâ—d by water Fires on our hearths and in our chimneys are sometimes put out by the Suns bâ—ams and often they die and go out of themselves Our fire is maintained with wood and put out with water but the fire of hell never goes out it can never be quenched It is an everlasting fire an eternal fire an Jerom was out when he said Iâ—feâ—num nihil esse nisi conscieâ—tiae horrorâ—m And 〈◊〉 was ouâ— who held that theâ—e are no other Hell furies than the stings of conscience unquenchable fire In Mark 9. from v. 43. to v. 49. this fire is no less than five times said to be unquenchable as iâ— the Lord could never speak enough of it Beloved the Holy Ghost is never guilty of idle repetiâ—ions but by these frequent repetitions the Holy Ghost wâ—uld teach men to loâ—k about them and to look upon it as a real thing and as a serious thing and not sport themselves with unquenchable flames nor go to Hell in a dream Certainly the fire into which the damned shall be cast shall be without all intermission of time or punâ—shment No tearâ— nor blood nor time can extinguish the fire of hell Could every damned sinner weep a whole Ocean yet all those Oceans together would never extinguish one spark of infâ—rnal fire The damned are in everlasting chains of darkness they are under the vengeance of eternal fire they are in blackness of darkness for Jude 7. 6. ever The smoke of their torment ascendâ—d for ever and ever and they shall have no rest day nor night The damned in hell Rev. 14. 11. O that word Never said a poor despairing creature on his death-bed breaks my heart They are lying Histories that â—ell us that Trajan was delivered out of Hell by the prayers of Gregory and Falconella by the prayers of Teclaes would fain die but they cannot Mors sine morâ—e they shall be alwayes dying yet never dead they shall be alwayes a consuming yet never consumed The smoak of their Furnace ascâ—nds for ever and ever Aeternis puniâ—ntur poenis They shall be everlastingly punished saith Mollerus on Psal 9. 17. And Musculus on the same Text saith Animi impiorum cruciatibus dâ—bitis apud inferos punientur The souls of the â—ngodly shall be punished in hell with deserved torments Vbi per mi lia millia annorum cruciandi nec in seculo seculorum liberandi saith August Myriades of years shall not determine or put a period to their sufferings Plato could say that who ever are not expiated but prophane shall go into hell to be tormented for their wickedness with the greatest the most bitter and terrible punishments for ever in that prison of hell And Trismegistus could say That souls going out of the body defiled were tost to and fro with eternal punishments Yea the very Turks speaking of the house of perdition do affirm That they who have turned Gods Grace Alcoran Mahom c. 14. p. 160. c. 20. p. 198. into wantonness shall abide eternally in the fire of hell and there be eternally tormented A certain Religious man going to visit Olympius who lived cloistered up in a Monastery near Jordan and finding him cloistered up in a dark Cell which he thought uninhabitable by reason of heat and swarms of Gnats and Flyes and asking him how he could endure to live in such a place he answered All this is but a
being not so much to be called offences as monsters and not to be named without holy detestation by Saints though they be committed without shame by Sodomites The Saxons who of old inhabited this Land Boniface strangled the Adulteress being taken and then burnt her body with fire and hanged the Adulterer over a flaming fire burning him by degrees till he dyed Opilius Macrinus an Julius Capitâ—linus Emperor caused the body of the Adulterer and the Whore to be joyned together and so burnt with fire Aurelianus caused the Adulterers legs to be bound to the boughs of two trees bent together and then violently being lifted up again his body was torn asunder And the Julian Law among the Romans punished Adultery with death by cutting off the heads of those that were guilty of that fact And the Turks stone Adulterers to death Zaleucus King of the Locrians ordained that Adulterers should have their eyes put out and therefore when his Son was taken in Adultery that he might both keep the Law and be compassionate to his Son he put forth one of his own eyes to redeem one of his Sons I have read of some Heathens that have punished this sin with a most shameful death and the death was this they would have the Adulterers or Adulteresses head to be put into the paunch of a beast where lay all the filth and uncleaness of it and there to be stifâ—ed to death This was a fit punishment for so filthy a sin In old time the Egyptians Diodor. used to punish Adulteâ—y on this sort the man with a thousand jerks with a reed and the woman with cutting off her nose but he who forced a free woman to his lusts had his privy members cut off But Thirdly Such who give themselves over to fornication overthrow the state of mankind while no man knoweth his own wife nor no wife knoweth her own husband and while no father knows his own children nor no children know â—heir own father Affinities and Consanguiniâ—ies are the joynts and sinews of the world lose these and lose all Now what Affinities or Consanguinities can there be when there is nothing but confusion of blood the son knoweth not his father nor the father the son But Fourthly These expressions of giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh implies First Their making constant provisions for their base lusts O the time the pains the cost the charge that such Rom. 13. ult are at to make provision for their unsatiable lusts Secondly It implies an excessive violent spending of their strength beyond all measure and bounds in all lasciviousness and Sodomitical uncleanness Pliny tells of Cornelius Gallus Pliny lib. 7. and Q. Elerius two Roman Knights that dyed in the very action of filthiness Theodebert the eldest Son of Glotharius Pontanus Fulgos lib. 6. cap. 12. dyed amongst his Whores so did Bertrane Ferrier at Bacelone in Spain Giachet Geneve of Saluces who had both wife and children of his own being carnally joyned with a young woman was suddenly smitten with death his wife and children wondring why he stayed so long in his Study when it was time to go to bed called him and knockt at his door very hard but when no answer was made they broke open the doors that were locked on the inner side and found him lying upon the woman stark dead and her dead also Claudus of Asses Counsellor of the Parliament of Paris a desperate Persecutor of the Protestants whilst he was in the very act of committing filthiness with one of his waiting Maids was taken with an Apoplexy which immediately after made an end of him Many other instances might be produced but let these suffice Thirdly It implies their impudency and shamelesness in their filthiness and uncleanness they had a Whores forehead they proclaimed their lasciviousness before all the Jer. 3. 3. Chap. 6. 15. Isa 3. 10. Gen. 13. 13. world they were not ashamed neither could they blush hence 't is that the men of Sodom are said to be sinners before the Lord that is they sinned openly publickly and shamelesly without any regard to the eye of God at all Bring Gen. 19. 5. them out to us that we may know them O faces hatcht with impudency they shrowd not their sins in a mantle of secrecy but proclaim their filthiness before all the world they had out-sinn'd all shame and therefore they gloried in their shame they were so arrogant and impudent in sinning that they proclaimed their filthiness upon the house-top But Fourthly It implies their resolvedness and obstinacy in sinning in the face of all the terrible Warnings and Alarms that God had formerly given them by a bloody War and by Gen. 14. 10 11 12. the spoiling and plundering of their Cities and by taking away of their victuals fulness of bread was a part of their sin and now cleanness of teeth is made a piece of their punishment in Gods just Judgment and by Lots admonition Gen. 19. 11. and mild opposition It is observable that when they were smitten with blindness they wearied themselves to find the door God smote them with blindness both of body and mind and yet they continued groaping to find the door being highly resolved upon buggery and beastiality though they dyed for it O the hideous wickedness and prodigious madness of these Sodomites that when divine Justice had struck them blind their hearts should be so desperately set upon their lusts as to weary themselves to find the door But what will not Satans bond-slaves and fire-brands of Hell do Sottish and besotted sinners will never tremble when Phil. 2. 12. God strikes But Fifthly These expressions of giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh implies the delight Rom. 1. 32. pleasure content and satisfaction that they took in those abominable practices They have chosen their own ways and their souls delight in their abominations They had Isa 66. 3. 2 Thes 2. 12. 2 Pet. 2. 13. pleasure in unrighteousness Luther tells us of a certain Grandee in his Country that was so besotted with the sin of Whoredom that he was not ashamed to say that if he might ever live here and be carried from one Whore-house to another there to satisfie his lusts he would never desire any other Heaven This filthy Grandee did afterwards breathe out his wretched Soul betwixt two notorious Harlots All the pleasure and Heaven that these filthy Sodomites look after was to satisfie their brutish lusts Hark Scholar said the Harlot to Apulcius it is but a bitter-sweet that you are so sond of and this the Sodomites found true at the long run when God showred down fire and brimstone upon them But Sixthly and lastly These words of giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh implies their great setled security in those brutish practices The Old world was not more secure when God swept them away
shall put them to a full improvement of that blessed stock of grace that he has intrusted them with The fire that came from Heaven was to be kept continually burning that it might never go Levit. 6. 13. out God loves to see the graces of his Children in continual exercise Neglect of our graces is the ground of their decrease and decay Wells are the sweeter for drawing anâ— grace is the stronger for acting we get nothing by dead and useless habits Talents hid in a napkin gather rust the noblest faculties are imbased when not improved in exercisâ— 2 Tim. 1. 6. Stir up the gift of God which is in thee 'T is an Allusion to the fire in the Temple which was always to be kept burning All the praise that God has from us in this life is from the actings of grace 'T was Abrahams acting of faith that set the Crown of Glory upon the Lords Head O Sirs look narrowly to it that you fail not in the activity and lively vigoâ— of your graces Look to it that your graces be still acted exercised and blown up that so they may be still flaming and shining the more you exercise grace the more you strengthen it the more you increase it Repeated The more a man plays upon an Instrument the more dextrous he grows Math. 25. 27. Prov. 10 4. acts strengthen habits t is so in sin and 't is so in grace also The more the little child goes the more strong it grows by going Money is not increased by lying in a Chest but by trading The more any member is used the stronger ' t is As the right hand is most used so 't is commonly strongest The diligent hand â—akes rich A little stock well husbanded will daily increase when a greater stock neglected shall decay and come to nothing The exercise of grace will best testifie both the truth and the life of your graces Grace is never more evident then when 't is in exercise When I see a man rise and walk and work and exercise his arms I know he is a real man a living man The more the fire is blown up the sooner 'tis seen to be fire There are many precious Christians who are full of fears and doubts that they have no love to God no saith in God no hope of Glory c. but the best way under Heaven to put an end to these fears and doubts is to be fervent in exerting actâ— of love of faith of hope c. The non-exercise of grace cast Adam out of Paradise it shut Moses and Aaron out oâ— Numb 20. 12. Caanan it brought Jacob into fourteen years hard service and bondage for had he exercised faith hope patience c. â—s he should have done he would never have got the blessing by indirect means as he did it provoked the Lord to strike Luke 1. 18 19 20. Heb. 3. 17 18. Zacharias dumb it shut thousands of the Jews out of the Land of Caanan I dare not be so harsh so rash and so uncharitabâ—e as to think that none of those that died in the Wilderness had the habits of faith the seeds of grace in their souls but 't was their non-acting of faith that kept them out of the holy Land as it did Moses and Aaron according to what I hinted but now Beloved by these instances among many others that might be produced you see that God hath dealt very smartly and severely with his choicest Servants for their not exercising of their graces as they ought to have done And though I dare not upon many accounts say that for the Saints not exercising and improving their graces God has turned London into a heap of Ashes Austin write upon that day wherein he shewed no acts of grace diem perdidi I have lost a day Oh how many days have we lost then for which God might justly visit us yet I dare say that this neglect of theirs may be one thing that added fuel to that Fire Well Sirs you had not long since many outward comforts to live upon but the Lord has now burnt them up that so he might lead you forth to live in a daily exercise of grace upon himself upon his power upon his all-sufficiency his goodness his faithfulness his fulness his graciousness his unchangeableness his promises And if this fiery Dispensation shall be so sanctified to us as to work us to a further activity of grace and to a further growth and increase of grace we shall be happy Citizens though we are burnt Citizens But Thirdly By severe Providences and by fiery Tryals God designs the growth of his people in grace Usually the graces of the Saints thrive best when they are under a smarting Rod. Grace usually is in the greatest flourish when the Saints are under the sorest tryals The snuffing of the Candle makes it burn the brighter God beats and bruises his links to make them burn the brighter he bruises his spices Rom. 5. 3 4. 2 Cor. 1. 3 4 5 6. to make them send forth the greater aromatical savour Fiery tryals are like the Tezel which though it be sharp and scratching it is to make the cloth more pure and fine God would not rub so hard were it not to fetch out the dirt and spots that be in his people The Jews were always best when they were in their lowest condition Well-waters arising from deep Springs are hotter in the Winter then they are in the Summer Stars shine brightest in the darkest nights and so do the graces of the Saints shine brightest in the darkest nights of affliction and tribulation God will sometimes more carry on the growth of grace by a Cross then by an Ordinance yea the Lord will first or last more or less turn all fiery tryals into Ordinances for the helping on the growth of Heb. 12. 10. Jam. 1. 3 4. 1 Pet. 1. 6 7. grace in his peoples souls Look as in the lopping of a tree there seems to be a kind of diminution and destruction yet the end and issue of it is better growth And as the weakning of the body by Physick seems to tend to death yet it produceth better health and more strength And as the ball by falling downward riseth upward and as water in pipes descends that it may ascend So the Saints spiritual growth in grace is carried on by such divine methods and in such ways as might seem to deaden grace and weaken it rather then any ways to augment and increase it We know that winter is as necessary to bring on harvest as the spring and so fiery tryals are as necessary to bring on the harvest of grace as the spring of mercy is Though fiery tryals are grievous yet they shall make us more gracious Though for the present we cannot see but that such and such severe providences and fiery tryals as the loss of house estate trade friends will redound much to our prejudice and damage yet in the
green and dry trees and that all these things were dark and of obscure to them they put off all the Prophet spoke as Allegorical as Mystical and as Aenigmatical and as dark visions and as dreams and imaginations and divinations of his own brain and therefore they needed not much mind what he said Now mark these Athâ—ists what do they do they provoke the Lord to kindle a fire a universal fire an unquenchable fire an inextinguishable fire in the midst of Jerusalem which is here termed a Forest by reason of its barrenness and unfruitfulness and the multitudes that were in it and because it was fit for nothing but the Ax and the fire Atheiâ—m is a sin that has brought the greatest woes miseries destructions and desolations imaginable upon the most flourishing Kingdoms and most glorious Cities in the World Holy Mr. Greenham was wont to say that he feared rather Atheism then Popery would be Englands ruine O Sirs were there none within the Walls of London that said in their hearts with Dâ—vids Atheistical Psal 14. 1. fool There is no God Caligula the Emperor was such a one and Claudius thought himself a God till the loud Thunder affrighted him and then he hid himself and cryed Claudius nâ—n est Dâ—us Claudius is not a â—od Leo the X. Hilderbrand the Magician and Alexander the vI and Juâ—w the II. were all most wretched Atheists and thought tâ—aâ— whatever was said of Christ of Heaven of Hell of the day of Judgment and of the â—mmortality of the Soul were but dreams impostures toys and old wives fables Pope Paul the III. at the time of his death said he should now be resolved of three Qâ—estions that he had doubted of all his life 1. Whether the Soul was immortal or no 2. Whether there were a Hell or no 3. Whether there were a God or no And another grand Atheist said I know what I have here but I know not what I shall have hereafter Now were there no such Atheists within the Walls of London before it was turned in ashes The Atheist in Psal 10. 11. say He will never see and in Psal 94. 7. they rise higher they say The Lord shall not see neither shall the God of Jacob regard it They labour to lay a Law of restraint upon God and to cast a mist before the Eye of his Providence And in Isa 29. 15. they say Who seeth us who knoweth us And in Ezek. 9. 9. they say the Lord hath forsaken the earth and the Lord seeth not These Atheists shut up God in Heaven as a blind and ignorant God not knowing or not regarding what iâ— done on the Earth they imagine him to be a forgetful God or a God that seeth not Psal 73. 11. they say How doth God know and is there knowledge in the most High Thus they deny Gods Omnisciency and Gods Omnipresency which to do is to ungod the great God as much as in them lyes Now were there no such Atheists within the Walls of London before it was destroyed by fire O how did practicaâ— Atheism abound in London How many within thy Walls O London did profess they knew God but in their works did deny him being abominable and disobedient and unto Titus 1. 16. every good work reprobate O Sirs some there are that live loosely under the Gospel that run into all excâ—ss of riot and that in the face of all promises and threatnings mercies and Judgments yea in the very face of life and death of Heaven and Hell and others there are that sin freely in secret that can be drunk and filthy in the dark when the eye of man is not upon them Certainly those mens hearts are very Atheistical that dare do that in the sight of God which they tremble to do before the eyes of men How many are there that put the evil day far from them that flatter themselves in their sins that with Agage conclude surely the bitterness of death is past and that Hell and wrath is past and that they are in a fair way for Heaven when every step they take is towards the bottomless pit And divine vengeance hangs over their heads ready every moment to fall upon them Are there not many that seldom pray and when they do how cold how careless how dull how dead how heartless how irreverent are they in all their addresses to the great God Are there not many such Atheists that use no prayer nor Bible but make Lucian their Old Testament and Machiavel their New Are there not many that grant there is a God but then 't is such a God as is made up all of mercy and thereupon they think and speak and do as wickedly as they please And are there not some that look upon God as a sin-revenging God and thereupon wish that there were no God or else that they were above him as Spira did And are there not others that have very odd and foolish conceptions of God as if he were an old man sitting in Heaven with royal Robes upon his back a glorious Crown upon his head and a Kingly Scepter in his hand and as if he had all the parts and proportion of a man as the Papists are pleased to picture him Some there are that are so drowned in sensual pleasures that they scarce remember that they have a God to honour a Hell to escape a Heaven to secure Souls to save and an Account to give up And others there are who when they find conscience begin to accuse and terrifie them then with Cain they Gen. 4. 1 Sam. 18. 6. 10. Job 31. 24. Phil. 3. 19. go to their buildingâ— or with Saul to their musick or with the Drunkards to their cups or with the Gamesters to their sports Some there are that make their gold their God as the Covetous others make their bellies their God as the Drunkard and the Glutton Some make Honours their Amos 6. Math. 23. God as the Ambitious and others make pleasures their God as the Voluptuous Some make religious Duties their God as the carnal Gospellers and others make their moral vertues their God as the civil honest man Now what abundance of such Atheists were there within and without the Walls of London before the fiery Judgment past upon it The Scripture attributes the ruine of the old world to Gen. 6. Atheism and Prophaneness and why may not I attribute the ruine and desolation of London to the same Practical Atheists are enough to overthrow the most flourishing Nations and the most flourishing Cities that are in all the World But to prevent all mistakes in a business of so great a concernment give me leave to say That if we speak of Atheists in a strict and proper sense as meaning such as have simply and constantly denied all Deity then I must say that there was never any such creature in the world as simply and constantly to deny that there is a God It is an
Maâ—k 16. 11. And Secondly There was a place where the Priests executed their Ministry which was holier than that that the people stood in and is therefore called the Holy Place Lev. 16. 30. And Thirdly There was a place which the High Priest might only enter into and that but once a year anâ— that is called the Holy of Holies the holiest place of all Heb. 9. 3. But now since the death of Christ there is no place in the world that is holier than other The prayer of faith is as powerful and as prevalent with God in one place as in another Paul describes the faithful to be such as call upon 1 Cor. 1. 2. 1 Tim. 2. 8. Matth. 18. 20. God in every place And I will saith he that men pray every where And where two or three saith Christ are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them That every place should be free for the people of God to worship the Lord in was foretold by the Prophets as a singular privâ—lâ—dge that should come to the Church in the dayes of the Gospel Zeph. 2. 11 And men shall worship him every one from his place even all the Isles of the Heathen That is all Countâ—â—ys though not encompassed with the Sea for the Jews â—aâ—lâ—d â—ll Lâ—â—ds Islands whither they could not come but by Waâ—â—r Mâ—n should worship not only at Jerusalem as oâ—â—â— but in all plâ—ces They should lift up pure hands and hearts without wrath or doubting both in Church and 1 Tim. 2. 8. Chamber any place whatsoever shall be a sufficient Oratory so that God be worshipped in Spirit and in truth Mal. 1. 11. For from the rising of the Sun even to the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles and in every place not in Judaea only incense shall be offered unto my name Here thâ— Prophet frames his words to the capacity of the peoâ—le and by the Altar and Sacrifices he meaneth the spiritual service of God which should be under the Gospel when an end shall be put to all these Legal Ceremonies by Christs only Sacrifice and a pure offering for my name shall be great among the Heathen saith the Lord of Hosts The poor blâ—nd bâ—sotted Jews thought that God was so tyâ—d to them that if they did not worshâ—p him at Jerusalem he would have no service nor worship in the world But God tâ—lls them that they were under a very high mistake for he would take care of his own name and glory For from the rising of the Sun even to the going down of the same my name shall be great that is the knowledge of it and of the right worship of it among the Gentiles this is an excellent Prophesie of the cutting off the Gentiles and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name My Worship saith God shall not be confined to Judaeâ— or Jerusalem See Isa 66. 19 20. Chap. 60. 8. and Chap. 19. 19. or the Temple but in every place I will have a people that shall worship me and that shall be still offering of prayers and praises and thanksgivings to me Christ by his death hath taken away all difference of places And indeed it was but necessary that when the body was come the shadow should cease Yea since Christs death all difference of persons is taken away For in every Nation under heaven such Act. 10. 34 35. Gal. 3. 28. as fear God and work righteousness are accepted of him There is neither Jew nor Greek there is neither bend nor free there is neither male nor female for ye are all one in Christ Jesus And therefore all difference of places must needs also be taken away for this difference of places was as a partition wall between the Jews and the Gentiles Now mark since the Ephes 2. 14 15. destruction of the Temple and City of Jerusalem the Lord hath not sanctified any other place in the world or consecrated it to a more holy use than the rest and it is only Gods institution and word that can make any thing or any 1 Tim. 4 4 5. place holy Nothing can make any place or any thing else holy but the Ordinance and institution of God It is Judaisme it is a denying of Christ to be come in the flesh to hold or affirm that one place is holier than another I know the Papists put more holiness in some placâ—s than thâ—y do in others for they hold that it is more advantagioâ—s 〈◊〉 the dead to be buried in the Church-yard than out of it And in the Church more than in the Church-yard and in Chancel more than in the Church and nâ—ar the high Alâ—ar more than in any other place of the Câ—ancel and all out of a superstitious conceit that these places are consecrated and hallowed that they are holier then other places are But Christians that live undâ—r a bright shining Gospel understand the folly and vanity of these mens spirits principles and practices Such as are wise in heart know that since Christ by his death hath taken away all religious difference of places England is as holy as Canaan and London as Jerusalem and our houses as the Temple Ne. 12 27 28. Psal 30. Title A Psalm aâ—d Soâ—g at the Dâ—dication of the housâ— of David While the Ark brought the Plague every one was glad to be rid of it but when it brought a blessing to Obed-Edom they looked upon it as worthy of entertainment Many will own a blessing Ark a prosperous truth but he is an Obâ—d-Edom indeed that will own a persecuted tossed banished Ark. Under the Law they were wont to dedicate their houses and consecrate them to God before they dwelt in them Deut. 20. 5. And the Officers shall speak unto the people saying what man is there that hath built a new house and hath not dedicated it by Prayers Hymns and other holy solemnities let him go and return to his house lest he dye in the battel and another man dedicate it Now thouâ—h this were done in those times with sundry ceremonies which are now abolished yet the equity of the duty still remains And doubtless the best way for a man to bring down a blessing upon himself and his house is to dedicate himself and his house to God 2 Sam. 6. 11. And the Ark of the Lord continued in the house of Obed-Edom the Hittite three moneths and the Lord blessed Obed-Edom and all his houshold Versâ— 12. And it was told King David saying the Lord hath hlessed the hâ—use of Obed-edom and all that pertaineth to him because of the Ark of God In this Scripture you see that when men do any thing to the advancement of Religion or to the furtherance of Gods Worship and Service he takes it kindly at their hands The meanest service that is done to Christ or his Church hath a Patent of eternity Again in this Scripture you may run